Since the middle of the 18th century, the Bombay Presidency has been sometimes aggressive, some times on its defence. In 1756, in alliance with the Peshwa, the stronghold of Savandrug was captured, and the same year Admiral Watson and Clive stormed Gheria or Viziadrug.
The first war with the Mahrattas, 1774-1782, ended ingloriously, some districts being retained and some delivered up. In the second war, 1802, the British regained some tracts in Gujerat ; and in the third war, 1817, the Peshwa Baji Rao was defeated in the Dekhan, and the greater part of what is now the present Bombay territories, Ahmadabad, Nasik,Ahm adnaggur, Poona, Belgaum , Dharwar, Kaladgi, Sholapur, and the Koukan, fell to the British. At the same time Kandesh was obtained from Holkar. In 1843 Sind was conquered. In 1848 Sattara lapsed from want of heirs. In 1860 Sindia ceded the Panch Mahals ; and in 1861 North Canara was transferred from the Madras Presidency. The territory thus noticed lies be tween lat. 13° 53' to 28° 47' N., and long. 43' to 76° 30' E. Its seaboard, and, the rivers Indus and the Gulfs of Cutch and Cambay, 8000 square miles, and the harbours of Bombay and Karwar afford every facility for commercial operations. Its fertiliz ing rivers being the Mahi, Sabarmati, and Tapti ; and its mountains, the Suliman in Sind, the Sali yadri, the Satpura, and the Satwala or Ajunta, are marked features in the landscape. The Manchur lake is on the right bank of the Indus, near Sch wan, and the Ran or Runn, is a level tract partially flooded during the rainy season of the S.W. mon soon. Thurr and Parkur, in Sind, is a sandy desert. The desert talukas of Omerkot consist of a narrow strip of sandhills and waste lying north of the Runn of Cutch, and stretching about 130 miles from District Mahomed Khan's Tanda on the west, to the Jodhpur frontier on the east. The principal town is Omerkot, situated between the desert and the plains. It has long been the acknow ledged capital of that part of the country, and with its mud fort was considered the key to the desert, commanding the high road between Marwar and Sind.
Aden is under the jurisdiction of Bombay. Al most the most southerly point on the Arabian coast. It is situated in lat. 12° 47' N., and long. 45° 10' E. It is a peninsula of about 15 miles in circumference, of an irregular oval form, 5 miles in its greater, and 3 in its lesser diameter, con nected with the continent by a low narrow neck of land, 1350 yards in breadth, but which is iii one place nearly covered by the sea at spring tides.
Bombay city in 1872 had 644,405 inhabit ants. In 1881 the number was 773,196. The island has two hills of very moderate height, which rise from low lands formerly liable to be flooded. A stone embankment called the Vellaurd was built in 1833-34, to connect the Colaba and the Bombay islands. Malabar Hill is on the south-western side of Bombay island. At the north is Mahalakshmi, a ridge 200 feet high, with a handsome Hindu temple. About its centre are the Parsee dokhmas, or exposure towers. At the south end is Walkeshwur, a Brahman village, with interesting temples. Malabar Point, or Shir gundi, its south extreme, forms the north-west limit of the Back Bay. Back Bay lies between Malabar Hill and Colaba, is 24 miles wide, and unsuccessful efforts to reclaim it have been made.
The Bombay group, indeed, consists of fifteen or twenty islands in all,—the island of Bassein, about thirty miles to the northward of that which gives the cluster its name ; Dravee and Versova, just off the shore of Salsette; Salsette, by much the largest of them ; Tromhay, conspicuous for the mountain called Neat's Tongue, which attains the altitude of 1000 feet ; Bombay itself, united on the northward to Trombay and Salsette, as these are united to each other by bridges and embankments, and to the southward are Old Woman Island and Colaba. Ilenery and Kenery are far south. In the spacious harbour formed by the islands of Caranja, Colaba, Bombay, Salsette, Elephanta, Trombay, and the continent, several smaller rocky islands are scattered, bearing dif ferent names. Of these are Elephanta,and Butcher Island, called Dipa-devi, or the island of the gods, or holy island; it is low, less than a mile from Elephants, in the direction of Salsette. Bombay harbour is very capacious, being from N. to S. 8 or 10 miles, with a general width of from 4 to 6 miles; its shores are irregularly indented by bays and inlets. Bombay Island has five or six bands of trap rock, chiefly grcenstone and amygdaloid, separated by beds that have an appearance of being of sedimentary origin. The sea-breeze is felt through the island : the anchorage extends along the eastern face ; and it is along this face of tho island that the most densely crowded parts arc. Owing to the value of property in that quarter, much new land has been reclaimed from the sea. The chief public buildings are the fort, the town hall, the government house, museum, and docks.