I m p e r I a L g a z e t t ee r o f I n d I a vol. X i I i
much of their boat traffic, but quantities of straw and jute find their
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- Bu sahifa navigatsiya:
- Bengal and Assam.
- is the most important town, followed by Hooghly, Chinsura, Serampore, and the French
much of their boat traffic, but quantities of straw and jute find their way by them to Calcutta. The river is, moreover, connected on its left or eastern bank by various tidal channels and creeks, known as the C alcutta and E astern C anals , with the eastern Districts, and thus forms the great waterway for boat and steamer traffic from Cal cutta, through the Twenty-four Parganas and the Sundarbans, to Eastern Bengal and Assam. On
the left bank lie Calcutta with its suburbs of G arden R each and C ossipore -C hitpur , and B arrackpore , N aihati , S antipur , and N adia farther up the river. On
the right bank H owraii is the most important town, followed by Hooghly, Chinsura, Serampore, and the French settlement of Chander- nagore. The scenery on the banks of the Hooghly varies greatly. The sea approach is disappointing, and for many miles nothing can be seen but sandbanks, succeeded by mean-looking mud formations covered with coarse grass and raised only a few inches above high tide. As the river narrows above the James and Mary Sands, however, the country is not so low, and grows richer. Trees and rice-fields and villages become common, and at length a section is reached where the banks are high, and lined with hamlets buried under evergreen groves. The palm foliage and feathery bamboos now begin to assert themselves more and more strongly, and give a luxuriant tropical type to the landscape. When at length the Port of Calcutta is reached, a scene of unexpected magnificence, unrivalled in its kind, bursts upon the eye. The dense foliage of the Botanical Gardens, the long tiers of shipping, with the old houses of Garden Reach on the margin in the foreground, the Fort rising from the finely timbered plain on the bank higher up, and the domes, steeples, and noble public buildings of Calcutta beyond gradu ally unfold their beauties in a long panorama. The traveller really feels that he is approaching a City of Palaces.
situated in 22 0 55' N. and 88° 24' E., on the right bank of the Hooghly river and on the East Indian Railway. Hooghly was founded by the Portuguese in 1537 on the decay of the royal port of S atgaon . At Gholghat, close to the present Hooghly jail, the ruins are still visible of a fortress which formed the nucleus of the town and port of Hooghly. Exasperated by the havoc wrought by the Portuguese pirates at Chitta gong, and in order to revenge himself for the Hooghly governor’s refusal to assist him when he was in revolt against his father eight years previously, the emperor Shah Jahan sent a Mughal force against the
IIOOGIfLY TO IU a X 1 7 7 town in 1632, which carried it by storm after a three and a half months’ siege. Over 1,000 Portuguese were slaughtered, and more than 4,000 men, women, and children were made prisoners, and the place was then established as the royal port in lieu of Satgaon. The Portuguese were allowed to return to Hooghly in 1633, the emperor making them a grant of 777 bighas of land at
The English factory at Hooghly dates from 1651, having been established under a farmän granted by the emperor to Dr. Boughton, a surgeon in the East India Company’s service, who had cured his favourite daughter of a dangerous illness. In 1686 a dispute took place between the English factors at Hooghly and the Nawab of Bengal, and a military force was dispatched from England to strengthen and protect the Company’s factories there. An accident precipitated the rupture. In October, 1686, three English soldiers were set upon and beaten in the Hooghly bazar and taken to the governor’s house. After some street fighting the battery and the governor’s house were captured by the English, who subsequently withdrew under an armistice to Calcutta, or Sütanuti as it was then called. This was the first collision between the English and the Muhammadan government in Bengal. Hooghly was the head-quarters of the Burdwan Division from 1871 to 1875, and from 1879 t0 ^84 they were at its suburb, Chinsura; they were then moved to Burdwän, but were transferred to Chinsura in 1896. The place is now decadent and its population with that of Chinsura, with which it is incorporated as a municipality, has declined from 34,761 in 1872 to 29,383 in 1901. Hindus constitute 82-8 per cent, and Musalmans 16-6 per cent, of the total. The municipality was created in 1865. The income during the decade ending 1901-2 averaged Rs. 50,000, and the expenditure Rs. 47,000. In 1903-4 the total income was Rs. 60,000, including Rs. 28,000 derived from a tax on houses and lands, Rs. 18,000 from a conservancy rate, Rs. 5,000 from a tax on vehicles, and Rs. 3,000 from tolls. The incidence of taxation was Rs. 1-13-10 per head of the population. In the same year the expenditure was Rs. 53,000, of which Rs. 4,000 was spent on lighting, Rs. 3,000 on drainage, Rs. 28,000 on conservancy, Rs. 5,000 on roads, and Rs. 900 on education. The municipality maintains 51 miles of metalled and 76 miles of unmetalled roads. The grand trunk road, which passes through the town, and a few short lengths of road in the old cantonment are kept up by Government. The Imambära is a Shiah mosque, which was completed in 1861 at a cost of 2-2 lakhs from funds bequeathed by a wealthy Shiah nobleman, Muhammad Mohsin. The other principal buildings are the municipal office and jail; the latter has accommodation for 437 prisoners, who are chiefly employed on bag-sewing for the neighbouring jute-mills and oil-pressing. The chief educational institutions are the Hooghly College at
1 7 » HOOGIILY TOW A possessing a brunch in Hooghly itself, a training college for school masters, and the Madrasa. Hopong (Burmese, Ilopon).—A small State in the central division of the Southern Shan States, Burma, lying between 20° 38' and 20° 59' N. and 97 0 6' and 97 0 23' E., with an area (including its small northern dependency of Hailong) of 232 square miles. It is bounded on the north by Lawksawk and Laihsak; on the east by Mongpawn; on the south by Namhkok; and on the west by Yawnghwe, from which it is separated by the Tamhpak stream. Towards the north and east the country is extremely hilly, but a considerable area of irrigated rice land lies in the valleys. Taungya rice is worked by the Taungthus, and vegetables, tobacco, and thanatpet are cultivated. The population in 1901 was 11,140, distributed in 177 villages. The people are nearly all Buddhists, and according to language were divided into 7,123 Taungthus, 3,775 Shans (inhabiting the plains), and 242 speakers of other languages. The head-quarters of the Myoza are at Hopong (population, 765), on the banks of a small stream called the Namkyeng, and connected by road with Taunggyi. The revenue in 1903-4 amounted to Rs. 14,000 (mainly thatha??ieda); the chief items of expenditure were Rs. 6,000 tribute to the British Government, Rs. 3,600 spent on pay of officials and general administra tion, Rs. 2,600 on public works, and Rs. 1,800 paid into the privy purse.
Horsleykonda (‘ Horsley’s hill,’ so named from Mr. W. D. Horsley, a former Collector, who was the first to build on it, about 1870).— A small hill in the Madanapalle taluk of Cuddapah District, Madras, situated in 13 0 39' N. and 78° 25' E., about 9 miles from Madanapalle. The original name of the hill was Yenuga-Mallammakonda, and local tradition says that it was so called because in olden days a saintly lady named Mallamma lived on the top of it and was regularly fed by elephants (yenuguhi). The hill differs from the rest of those in the upland taluks of Cuddapah in that its summit, about 4,100 feet above the sea, is covered with vegetation and is not quite bare, as usual. Here there is a pretty valley full of trees, on one side of which are three bungalows belonging to the Forest department and the mis sionaries of the District. The climate is delightful, being free from fever and eighteen degrees cooler than the low country round Cuddapah town. The hill was for a long time supposed to be haunted by demons; and when building on it was first begun, it was with the greatest difficulty that workmen could be persuaded to go up. Sambar, hog, bears, and jungle-fowl are found in its ravines, and an occasional tiger visits it.
District, Madras, situated in 13° 40' N. and 74 0 58' E., at the foot of IIOSHAXGABAD DISTRICT i 7 9 a pass leading into Mysore. General Mathews won a brilliant victory here in January, 1783, on his inarch from Coondapoor to Bednur, his small force storming a formidable series of defences held by 17,000 men. Remains of the defences, once known as Haidargarh, can still be seen. Hosdurga.—South-western taluk since 1902 (previously a sub-tdluk of Holalkere) of Chitaldroog District, Mysore, lying between 13 0 35' and 14 0 5' N. and 76° 6' and 76° 34' E., with an area of 567 square miles. The population in 1903 was 45,032. The td/uk contains one town, Hosdurga (population, 2,263), the head-quarters ; and 252 villages. The land revenue demand in 1903-4 was Rs. 72,000. The Vedavati flows through the middle of the td/uk, with a nortlveasterly course, forming on the eastern border the great Mari Kanave reservoir. The Chiknayakanhalli auriferous band of hills runs through the east. Hos durga (3,226 feet), in the centre of the taluk, is the principal hill. Hoshangabad District.—District in the Nerbudda Division of the Central Provinces, lying between 21 0 53' and 22 0 59' N. and 76° 47' and 78° 44' E., with an area of 3,676 square miles. It is bounded on the north by the Native States of Bhopal and Indore ; on the east by Narsinghpur ; on the west by Nimar; while the southern border marches with Chhindwara, Betul, and Berar. The District consists of a long narrow strip forming the lower portion of the Narbada valley, with sections of the Satpura hill country on the southern border. The Narbada is the northern boundary of the District and of the Central Provinces along its whole length in Hoshangabad, _ running from a little north of east to south of west; aspects ^ and the District extends along its southern bank for * a length of over 120 miles, while its width varies from 22 to 40 miles. North of the Narbada lie the Vindhyan mountains, in places seen only as a far-off outline, with the plains of Bhopal or Indore spread out below, in other places running in and following the line of the river, the water of which washes their base for miles. In these spots outlying spurs and hills are generally found on the southern side. One such spur, known as the Black Rocks, crops up close to Hoshangabad and supplies the town with building and paving stone. With the exception of these outliers, the portion of the District adjoining the Narbada consists of an open black-soil plain of great fertility. In the south the Satpuras generally run in successive ranges parallel to the line of the valley and trending to the south-west. The portions included in the District consist of the block of the Pachmarhl or Mahadeo hills in the south-east, a low outer range of the Satpuras running through the Hoshangabad and Harda tahsils with the valley of the Denwa behind it in the centre, and another wild tract of hill and forest on the south-west called Kalibhlt \ which extends to the Tapti on the border 1 Transferred to Nimar District in 1904. N 2 HOSHANGABAD district of Berar. Most of the peaks of the Satpuras rise to about 2,000 feet, or a little over, but in the Mahadeo hills there are three with an elevation of over 4,000 feet. Hoshangabad town is 1,011 feet above the sea, and the fall of the Narbada in this part of its course is rather less than 3 feet in a mile. From the Satpuras numerous streams run down through the valley to the Narbada, having in the east, where the slope of the valley is rapid and direct, a very straight course and a length of only about 24 miles from the base of the hills to their confluence, while in the west they make a circular sweep and usually flow for about 40 miles through the plain. The principal of these streams are the Dudhi on the east, dividing Hoshangabad from Narsinghpur, the Tawa flowing through the Hoshangabad iahsil, the Ganjal separating Seonl-Malwa and Harda, and the Machak on the west. These bring down with them large quantities of sand in their floods, which are very high and rapid, and deposit it on the banks, causing deterioration in the soil to a considerable distance. Where two or three rivers escaping separately from the hills draw close together, the whole of the land enclosed between them is generally poor soil overrun with jungle. Notable instances of this are to be seen in the system of rivers which unite near Sohagpur, and those which join the Indra east of SeonI, in both of which cases a large belt of forest reaches nearly down to the Narbada. The plain portion of the District is covered by alluvial soil, consisting of a stiff reddish, yellowish, or brownish clay, with numerous interca lated bands of sand and gravel. Kankar abounds throughout the deposit, and pisolitic iron granules are of frequent occurrence. The thickness of the alluvial deposits, as exposed along the banks of rivers, usually does not exceed a maximum of 100 feet. In the west, rocks belonging to the transition system, consisting of quartzite, hornstone- breccia, and limestone, occur near Handia. The hilly tract to the south, embracing the Paehmarh! or Mahadeo hills, forms part of the great Gondwana system. At the base of it occurs the Talcher group, consisting mainly of greenish silt beds, breaking up into small splintering fragments and hence called needle shales, and green, brown, or whitish felspathic sandstones, in both of which pebbles and large boulders are often irregularly scattered. The Talchers are overlaid by the Damuda series, which is made up chiefly of thiek-bedded, often coarse felspathic sandstones, with subordinate beds of carbonaceous shale and coal. The Government forests cover the hills on the southern border and also extend into the plain, especially along the banks of the rivers in the eastern tract. Almost pure teak forest is found on the alluvial flats along the rivers, and on red stony soil on the lower hill-sides. Mixed forest of sdj (Terminalia tomenlosa), teak, dhaura (Anogeissus la tif olid), haldu (Adina cot difolia), tinsd (Ougeitiia dalbergioides), and bijdsal HISTORY (Pteroccirpus Marsupium) occurs on the middle and lower slopes of the hill belt. On the dry stony hill-tops and plateaux, more especially those of sandstone formation, salai (Boswellia ‘serrata) is predominant, with stunted trees of other species, mainly khair (Acacia Catechu) and lendia (Lagerstroemia parviflora). Sal (Shorea robusta) is found on the Pachmarhi plateau, and anjan (Hardwickia binata) appears in the Denwa forests of the Sohagpur range, but does not attain any size. The forests are fairly well stocked with game, including bison in the Borl and Rajaborari tracts, and tigers, leopards, and the usual kinds of deer over most of the wooded area. Antelope are plentiful in the open country. Of birds, peafowl are the most numerous, and the other land game-birds are also common, but duck and snipe are found only in scattered localities. Mahseer may be had in the rivers. Rainfall is registered at the four tahsil head-quarters and at Pach marhi. The annual fall at Hoshangabad town is 50 inches, and this may probably be taken as representing the average for the plain. In the hills the rainfall is much heavier. Until within recent years the District has very rarely suffered from marked deficiency of rain. Thunderstorms occur with comparative frequency in the hot season. Hail is not uncommon and is much dreaded, but dust-storms are unknown. The climate is on the whole healthy. The cold season is characterized by bright cloudless days and cold nights with piercing winds ; frost is known, but water never freezes. The summer months are hot and dry, and during the rains the weather is somewhat steamy and oppressive, especially in the town of Hoshangabad. Little is known of the history of the District before the Maratha invasion. The town of Hoshangabad is believed to take its name from Sultan Hoshang Shah Ghori, the second of History the Malwa kings, who reigned from 1405 to 1434. ' Hoshang Shah may have passed through Hoshangabad on his way to Kherla in Betiil, the head-quarters of a Gond dynasty, which he is said by Firishta to have reduced in 1433. In Akbar’s time Handia was the head-quarters of a sar/cdr, and was occupied by a Faujdar and
Hoshangabad is not mentioned at all. Several reasons point to the conclusion that the eastern part of the District was never conquered by the Muhammadans, but was thought too wild and valueless to wrest from the Gonds who occupied it. On the decay of the Mughal empire the District again reverted to the Gonds, who were probably its original masters. In the early part of the eighteenth century the eastern portion of the Rajwara pargana was ruled by four Gond Rajas of Sobhapur and Fatehpur, who were feudatories of the Mandla kingdom. The ccntre formed part of the territories of the Deogarh dynasty, and in 1 8 2 HOSHAXGABAD DISTRICT the west were the petty chiefs of Makrai and Makla. About 1720 Dost Muhammad, the founder of the Bhopal family, took Hoshangabad town and annexed a considerable territory with it. In 1742 the Peshwa BalajI Baji Rao passed up the valley on his way to attack Mandla and subdued the Handia pargana. Eight years later Raghuji Bhonsla of Nagpur overran the whole range of hills from Gawllgarh to Mahadeo, and reduced the country east of Handia and south of the Narbada except the portion held by Bhopal. Hostilities between the Bhopal and Nagpur rulers commenced in 1795 and lasted with little inter mission for twenty years. Hoshangabad was in that year taken by the Nagpur troops, but was retaken in 1802 by Wazlr Muhammad, the celebrated minister of Bhopal. The Bhopal dominions north of the Narbada were finally lost to the Marathas in 1808. During these wars the Pindaris, first summoned by Wazlr Muhammad to his assistance, but afterwards deserting to his enemies, plundered the country impar tially in all directions. It is estimated that not a single village escaped being burnt once or twice during the fifteen years for which their depredations lasted, and the greater part of the District was entirely depopulated. The Pindaris were extirpated in 1817; and in 1818 the portions of the District belonging to the Nagpur kingdom were ceded, under an agreement subsequently confirmed by the treaty of 1826. In 1844 the Harda-Handia tract was made over by Sindhia in part payment for the Gwalior Contingent, and in i860 it was permanently transferred and became British territory. The Mutiny of 1857 disturbed the District very little. There was some trouble with the police at Harda, a petty chief rebelled in the Mahadeo hills, and Tantia Top! crossed the valley in 1858; but the authority of the British officers was at 110 time seriously shaken. The small Feudatory State of Download 5.53 Mb. Do'stlaringiz bilan baham: |
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