RANGER 



6488 



RANJIT SINGH 



for the infantry have a base of 

 about 28 ins. For anti-aircraft 

 work a Barr and Stroud instru- 

 ment waa devised on the same 

 principle, giving simultaneous 

 reading of the range and vertical 

 height of the aeroplane. See 

 Guns; Ordnance. 



Ranger. In England, keeper of 

 a royal forest or park. The office is 

 now to a large extent a sinecure, 

 but, strictly speaking, a ranger's 

 duties consisted in walking through 

 the forest, preventing and inquir- 

 ing into trespasses, and recovering 

 beasts of the forest that had 

 strayed. Generally, a ranger is a 

 wanderer, and the name is applied 

 in the British army to the line regi- 

 ment known as the Connaught Ran- 

 gers. It was also a favourite name 

 for sporting dogs. In the U.S.A. 

 the ranger or warden patrols forest 

 land, especially that owned by 

 the state. 



Rangoon. Capital of Burma 

 (q.v. ). It lies on the Rangoon river, 

 here met by the Pegu and Pazun- 

 daung rivers, about 21 m. from its 

 mouth. There is rly. connexion 

 with Moulmein, Mandalay, Prome, 

 and Bassein, and as a seaport Ran- 

 goon ranked fourth in exports dur- 

 ing 1919-20 for British India. It 

 is the main export centre of the 

 great Burmese rice-fields, other 

 exports including teak, raw cotton, 

 petroleum, and hides. Imports are 

 miscellaneous, including cotton, 

 machinery, silk, and sugar. 



To the W. of the picturesque 

 Royal Lake lies the famous Shwe 

 Dagon Pagoda, one of the greatest 

 pilgrimage shrines of Buddhism, 

 rising to a height of 370 ft. and 

 magnificently gilded. Tradition- 

 ally founded in 585 B.C., it has been 

 little altered since the 16th cen- 

 tury. The Sule Pagoda. in the heart 

 of the town is also notable. Modern 

 buildings include Government 

 House, Jubilee 

 Hall, Anglican and 

 R.C. cathedrals, 

 and other features 

 are the native ba- 

 zaars, the lakes to 

 the N. of the city, 

 and the remains 

 of the once im- 

 portant city of 

 Syriam. In 1920 

 a bill was passed 

 for the establish- 

 ment of a univer- 

 sity. Rangoon 

 College and Colle- 

 giate School was 

 founded in 1874. 



In 1790 an East 

 India Company fac- 

 tory was established 

 in the small stock- 

 aded town. It was 



held by the British from 1824-27, 

 and was rebuilt on a new site by 

 Konbaung Min in 1841. Its de- 

 velopment since its capture by the 

 British in 1852 has been rapid. Its 

 pop. almost doubled between 1872- 

 91, and in 1911 was 293,316. 



Mysore. Silks and cottons are 

 manufactured. Pop. 10,900. 



Raniganj. Town of Bengal, 

 India, in Burdwan dist. It is 

 situated almost on the Bengal 

 boundary on the trunk road and 

 rly. from Calcutta to Benares. 



Rangoon, Burma. Plan of the city and its environs 



Rangpur. Dist. and town of 

 Bengal, India, in the Rajshahi 

 division. The disfc. is adjacent to 

 Assam and Cooch Behar, and is 

 drained by the Tista tributary of 

 the Brahmaputra. Tobacco is culti- 

 vated for trade and export. Jute 

 is an important crop, and 60 p.c. 

 of the area cultivated comprises 

 paddy fields. The annual rainfall is 

 84 ins. The town is almost in the 

 middle of the dist. Area3,479sq.m. 

 Pop., dist., 2,385,000 ; town, 16,400. 



Ranibennur. Town of Bombay 

 Province, India, in Dharwar dist. 

 It is situated in the S.E. of the 

 dist. near the borders of Mysore 

 and Madras Presidency, and is on 

 the rly. from Bombay across 



The Raniganj coalfield in the 

 Damodar valley was opened more 

 than a century ago, and has the 

 second largest production in India. 

 In the town are 

 pottery works 

 and a paper 

 mill. Pop. 

 15,500. 



Raujit Singh, 

 MAHARAJA (1780 

 -1839). Indian 

 ruler. Born 

 Nov. 2, 1780, 

 in 1797 he 

 assumed the 

 chieftainship of the Sikhs, captur- 

 ing Lahore in 1799, and Amritsar 

 in 1802. Ambitious to found a Sikh 

 empire, he aroused the suspicions 

 of the British government which, in 



Rangoon, Burma. The Shwe Dagon pagoda ; left, entrance : right, the main building 



