BOMBAY. — The Bombay Presidency of British India is under the rule of a Governor and Council, composed of ' natives of Great Britain, and for legislation there is a Council in which Europeans and natives of India as semble. These two bodies have jurisdiction over an area of 124,516 square miles, in pro vinces extending between lat. 13° 15' and 28° 12' N., and long. 66° 43' and 76° 28' E., and over the fortified promontory of Aden in Arabia, 1600 miles away to the west, in lat. 12° 45' N., and long. 45° 4' E. The physical features of the provinces in the area here indicated are of a widely different character, and they include portions of British territory mixed with several possessions of Indian princes.
an Wand which has been joined to the mainland by means of a causeway.
The Konkan and North Canary districts aro chiefly in the lowland between the glints and the een, with an ample rainfall of 100 inches. The seaboard has several small harbours, and the people are fishing and seafaring races. In the Northern Konkan, the country between the hills and the coast is a mass of low ranges, and culti vation is carried on on the steep slopes of the hills and in the intervening valleys. In the southern part of the Konkan, the hills approach the sea, leaving little room for agriculture, but there are many small harbours with fisher races.
Gujerat, with the valleys of the Sabarmati and the %hi, and the lauds in the lower course of the Tapti and Nerbadda, excepting in its east and north-east, is a fiat country, with a good soil. Its rainfall, 37 inches, is scant. Its people, in their castes and occupations, differ more than in any other part of India. There are numerous aboriginal races, some of them landowners, sonic in a servile condition, with several aboriginal and forest tribes of whom there is no tradition. The area of Gujerat is 10,158 square miles, arranged into the five districts of Ahmadabad, Baroach, Kaira, Panch-3fahals, and Surat. The low-lying alluvial tract around the coast of Gujarat is occupied by Rajput tribes, and by Gujar, Kathi, Kali, and Kunbi. In its southern districts the
most numerous of the aboriginal classes are the Chaudria, the Duria, and the Bhil of the thing.
The Dekhan province is wholly on the table land of the Peninsula plateau, 1500 to 1800 feet above the sea, and is occupied largely by the Mahratta race. It is covered with the regur or black cotton soil, of inexhaustible fertility, but in its eastern part the rainfall is always so scant and uncertain that the tract is known as the famine belt. Its districts are Ahmadnaggur, Kandesh, Nasik, Satara, Sholapur, and Poona, 37,081 square miles. Bombay Dekhan is the name applied only to all that part of the table land stretching from the ghat range eastward to the Hyderabad and British possessions.
The Karnatic is partly above and partly below the ghats; the greater portion of it is included between the river Kistna and the Tumbudra. Its inhabitants speak the Canarcse language, and irrigate with the aid of tanks. In its south-west corner there are valuable forests, and cultivation is carried on in patches interspersed with forest. It includes the revenue districts of Belgaum, Canara, Dharwar, and Kaladgi, 18,860 square miles.
Sind is in the valley and delta of the Indus. It is the most northerly portion of the Bombay Presidency, is a highly arid region, but is fairly cultivated by means of canals led from the Indus river. Its population is of a very mixed character, differing in race, in religion, and in customs and habits.
In this presidency are some of the largest towns of India Ahmadabad, . . 124,000 Nadiad, . . 28,000 Ahmadnaggur, . 39,000 Nasik, . . . . 24,000 Belgaum, . . . 32,000 Poona, . . . . 129,02 Ilijapur, . . . 12,000 Satara, . . „ . 29,000 Bombay, . . . 773,196 Sholapur, . . . 59,000 Baroach, . . . 37,000 Surat, . . . . 107,000 Dhulia, . . . . 18,000 Bombay city is a creation of the British people.