CONFIGURATION AND DRAINAGE. 115 



eastern longitude. Its length north to south is about 2,000 miles, 

 and its greatest breadth, including Burma, is about the same. 

 The total area and population, according to the census of 1911, 

 are as follows : — 



Total . . 1,802,112 .. 315,086,372 .. 175 



It is beyond the scope of this book to give a detailed account of 

 all the points on which the forest policy of India depends ; a few 

 notes on the physical configuration of the country, its geology, 

 soils and climate must suffice. 



1. Configuration and Drainage. 



Apart from Burma, India has, on the whole, a triangular shape 

 with the Himalayas on the north, the Arabian Sea on the west, 

 the Indian Ocean on the south, and the Bay of Bengal on the east, 

 Burma lies to the east of the latter. India proper may be divided 

 into three great sections : the Himalayas, the Indo-Gangetic 

 plain and the Peninsula. 



The Himalayan range stands out like a lofty wall on the north, 

 separating India from the high plateau of Thibet. Commencing 

 in the west, it runs first in a south-easterly and then in an easterly 

 direction from one end of India to the other ; on the west and the 

 east other ranges run almost due north and south. The space 

 within these three ranges, immediately to the south of the 

 Himalayas, forms a broad belt of low land, commencing in the 

 west at Kurrachi on the Arabian Sea, including Sind, the Punjab 

 plains, the greater part of Rajputana, the United Provinces, 

 Behar and Lower Bengal down to the Sunderbuns beyond 

 Calcutta on the Bay of Bengal. This belt of mostly alluvial land, 

 not more than a few hundred feet above the level of the sea, is the 

 richest part of India. 



Proceeding across this belt of low land in a southerly direction 

 stiff escarpments are met, indicating the commencement of the 

 great highland plateau of the Indian Peninsula which, at eleva- 

 tions varying from 2,000 to 8,000 feet, extends to the southern 



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