Chapter I. — General remarks and previous notices. 

 The province of Kutch lies on the northern part of the West Coast 



of India, between the twenty-second and twenty- 

 General description. . i-. ■ i i_-\ 

 fourth parallels of north latitude and sixty-eighth 



and seventy-second of east longitude, being crossed by the parallel of the 



tropic of Cancer about 14 miles north of the capital, Bhooj. It is longer 



than wide, extending east and west for 160 miles, and from north to south 



it has a width of 50 miles at its widest part. 



Four considerable detached portions forming a chain of hilly islands 

 in the Grand Runn lie northward of the main tract. The most eastward 

 of these, Chorar, does not, however, come within the political limits of 

 Kutch. 



The province has an area, including its detached islands, of 6,608 

 square miles, while the Runn is estimated to contain about 10,000, 

 inclusive of the Bunnee, a low-lying tract scarcely distinguishable from 

 the Runn except by some coarse vegetation which exists upon it. 



The entire province and its outlying portions are isolated] from 

 the sandy deserts of Sind to the north by the broad salt Runn, and 

 from Gujrat on the east by narrower portions of the same; from 

 Kattiwar on the south-east by the lesser Runn and the Gulf of Kutch, 

 while its soutb-western shore is washed by the Arabian Sea. 



The province belongs to His Highness the Rao of Kutch, by whom 



it is governed under British protection.* 



It lies almost beyond the regions of the south-west monsoon, so 



far as rain is concerned, though the winds are 

 Monsoon. 



strongly felt, indeed calm weather rarely occurs. 



* For general information regarding the history, &c., of the province, see a series 

 of Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government, No. XV, edited by R. Hughes 

 Thomas, Assistant Secretary, Political Department, printed for Government at the Bombay 

 Education Society's Press, 1855. 



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