Bombay

Bombay, the western Presidency and Governorship of British India. Including Sind and Aden, it contains twenty-four British districts and nineteen feudatory States; area, 197,877 square miles; population, 23-1/2 millions. Bombay is divided into two parts by the Nerbudda, the northern part being the alluvial plains of Guzerat, with the peninsulas of Cutch and Kathiawar; and to the south the Mahratta country, including parts of the Deccan, Carnatic, and coast-districts. The Portuguese have the small territories of Goa, Daman, and Diu, with an area of 1,062 square miles. The irregular coast-line is broken by the Gulfs of Cambay and Cutch, and there are several good natural harbours, of which Bombay and Kurrachee are the chief. The Indus waters and fertilises Sind; the Nerbudda flows west into the Gulf of Cambay, and the Subarmati and the Mahi flow through N. Guzerat. The Tapti flows through the Khandesh district into the sea above Surat. The hill streams which dry up during the hot season become torrents during the monsoons. The mountains run mostly north and south. The Khirthar Mountains are in the north; the W. Aravalli range in the south-east; and south of the Tapti the Western Ghats run almost parallel with the coast. The Satpura range, running east, separates the waters of the Tapti from those of the Nerbudda. There are few minerals and no coal, though some iron is found in Dharvar, and there is a gold-producing quartz. The presidency derives its salt chiefly from the Runn of Cutch, which is about 8,000 square miles in area. There is good building-stone, lime, and slate. The mean temperature in Lower Sind is 98° during the hottest months, though in the dry sandy districts it sometimes reaches 130° in the shade. In Cutch and Guzerat the heat is slightly less; and the climate of the Deccan table-land is agreeable, except during the hot season. The coast districts have a rainfall in the rainy seasons of 300 inches, and are hot and moist. There is a bishop, and there are over 6,726 schools aided or inspected by the Government. There is a university, founded 1857, and there are many newspapers. The headquarters of the army is at Poona, and the province has now more than 3,500 miles of railway, the first Indian railway having been opened in India in 1853. There is a telegraph cable from Bombay to Aden, and Karachi (Kurrachee) is the headquarters of the Government Indo-European telegraph department. The cotton famine during the American Civil war gave a great impulse to the trade of Bombay, and now competes with Manchester in the Indian market, and exports its own manufactures to the extent, in 1887, of nearly £4,000,000 sterling. In 1887 there were in the presidency 14,926 looms and nearly two million spindles. Opium, wheat, and seeds are largely produced, and the Government draw a clear revenue of two millions from the opium trade. The other exports are chiefly drugs, fibres, raw wool, woollen shawls, sugar and tea, and the exports amounted in 1887 to over 5-1/2 millions sterling. Among the imports are coal, liquors, machinery, metals, and there is a, considerable trade in Arab horses. Ahmedabad, Nasik, Poona, Surat, have silk-weaving; Ahmednagar makes carpets; leather-work and pottery are carried on in Sind; armour, cutlery, and gold and silver work are made in Cutch, and Bombay city, Nasik, and Poona are noted for brass-ware. The Hindu race forms an overwhelming majority in the population.