NATIVE STATES is a term in general use fo designating the dominions ruled by princes i alliance with the British, and the term occasionall is loosely applied to the frontier states of Kashmit Nepal, and Bhutan, as well as to the territories c the king of Burma. The principalities of a: grades have already been detailed under the head ing British India, and the following is a tiler seminary of the British Indian Provinces and c the states under Native rule :— the Hindu Kush. The army is recruited among Dogra Rajputs and hairnet], and the artillery guns are of excellent native manufacture. It holds the salient angle of the British position with regard to Afghanistan and Central Asia.
The subjects of the Mahratta States of Baroda. Gwalior, and Indore are largely of the aboriginal non-Aryan races, who, at most, have only become semi -Ifinduized. Their populations number 6,250,000; their State revenues, £3,300,000; and they maintain standing armies of a total of 59,000 men, and 115 guns.
The Hindu States, chiefly of Rajputana, Cen tral India, with populations of 27,000,000, and revenue of £8,000,000, have armies with a total of 188,476 men, and 3096 guns.
Kashmir, with a population of 1,500,000, and a revenue of £600,000, has 27,000 men, and 1G0guns.
The Muhammadan States of Hyderabad, Bhopal, etc., have a population of 14,300,000, a revenue of £5,240,000, and standing armies of 74,760 men, with 865 pieces of artillery.
Thus Feudatory India, with a total population of 54,675,597, with a revenue of £17,14U,000, is maintaining armies of 349,835 men, and an artillery of 4237 guns.
N.1V. Frontier.—Between British Indian terri tory and Afghanistan in the north, and British India and Baluchistan in the south, independent Pathan tribes hold the Sulaiman range from Abbot abad to Kach'hi, and they number their fighting men at 150,000. But they have no cohesion; their government is essentially democratic.
Baluchistan has an estimated area of 80,000 square miles, and a population of 350,000, with an annual revenue of 5 lakhs of rupees, or £50,000. With this income, the Khan maintains 3000 armed men ; and his principal dependent, the Jam of Las, has about 1000 more. Two regiment 8 of the British Indian army have been raised from the Baluchistan tribes, and they make excellent soldiers.
Nepal is an Independent State ruling over numerous tribes, the more powerful being the dominant Gurkha, who in 1767 succeeded the Newar. At the close of a war with the British in 1814-15, Sir David Ochterlony made a treaty in which most of the Gurkha conquests and the Terri were ceded to the British. Since then
there have been great dynastic convulsions, which ended in the minister Jung Bahadur becoming the ruler. His family are still dominant. The population is about 3 millions. Its army is about 100,000 strong, well armed, raised amongst the Gurkha tribes, with whom also the British India Government has formed a brigade of 5000 men.
Bhutan, geographically, is within the area of British India. It is an Independent State, under a ruler styled the Deb Raja, and in 1772 and 1866 has been at war with the Indian Govern ment. On the first occasion, the plains of Koch Bahar were successfully defended; and on the second, the fertile Dwar districts were ceded to the British, and the Bhutanese subjects are now restricted to the remote recesses of their moun tainous region, where their immoral system, based on their practice of polyandry, has effectually prevented all national development. The Bhutan country is a fertile region in one-half of it, and in the other half contains some of the grandest scenery along the Himalaya.
The more important States of Central India are Bhopal, Dewas, Dliar, Gwalior, Indere, and Rewah. Those of Rajputana are Bhurtpur, liikanir, Bundi, Dholpur, Jeypore, Kerrowlee, Kishengarh, Kotah, Marwar, Mewar, Tonk, and Ulwar. In the Panjab are Busahir, Bahawulpur, Bilaspur, Kashmir, Jheend, Kapurthala, Keon thal, Maier Kotla, Nabha, Patiala, and Sirnitir.
In Bombay the more important are Baroda, Cambay, Cutch, Janjira, khairpur, Kolhapur, Maliikanta, Rewakanta, and Sawuntwari.
In the Madras side, Banaganapilly, Cochin, Hyderabad, Mysore, Puducottah, Sundur, Travan core.
The Kashmir rider by treaty annually contri Manipur, a Hill State on the north-east frontier of British India, lying south of Assam, and touching on its southern side territory, which, though nominally Burmese, is really inhabited by independent tribes. The maharaja rules from his capital of Impha], 125,000 subjects, who occupy territory described as being 12,500 square miles. His revenue does not exceed 6 lakhs annually, but the people also give military service, and his army consists of 500 artillery, 400 cavalry, and 4400 infantry. On several occasions this force has co-operated with the British troops in repress ing the turbulent tribes on the south, and the maharaja has been uniformly friendly.