Punjab

Punjab (" five rivers"), a large province in the north of British India. Strictly speaking, the name applies to the wedge of territory enclosed between the Indus, the Sutlej, and the Himalayas, including the tributary basins of the Jhelum, Chinab, Ravi, and Bias; but the political boundary has been extended E. as far as the Jumna, S. to within' a short distance of Delhi, and W. to Peshawar, Bamu, and the frontiers of Dera Ismail and Dera Ghazi Khan. The whole area is 106,632 square miles, but the feudatory states of Patiala, Nabha, Bhawalpur, Kapurthala, etc., comprise 35,817 square miles. The tracts between the chief rivers are known as (" two rivers"), and that which separates the Indus from the Jhelum is traversed by the Salt Range, containing vast supplies of rock-salt. Coal and petroleum are found in this neighbourhood. The climate, though exceedingly hot in summer and cold even to frost in winter, cannot be regarded as unhealthy. Lahore is the capital, and other important cities are Multan, Ludiana, Amritsar, Ambala, Rawal Pindi, Sialkot, Muzaffargarh, and Peshawar. About half the population consists of Mohammedans, Hindus and Sikhs making up nine-tenths of the other half. Besides the ordinary native industries, carpet-weaving, silk-embroidery, shawl-making, and many special forms of ornamental art are carried on at Lahore, Multan, and elsewhere.