GEOGRAPHY. 99 



land on the southern slope of the Himalaya ; 2, the lowland of the Ganges 

 or Hindostan proper ; 3, the lowland of the Indus ; and 4, the peninsula of 

 the Deccan. The inhabitants, about 150 millions in number, may be divided 

 into Hindoos or natives in four different castes ; the so called Mongols, 

 mostly of Perso-Turkish origin, about fifteen millions ; Afghans, Arabians, 

 500,000 Parsees or Guebers, Jews and Europeans. The prevailing religion 

 is that of the Brahmins (with three principal gods, Brahma, Vishnu, and 

 Shiwa), to which about 107 millions conform; there are also about twenty- 

 five millions of Mohammedans, five millions of Sikhs or Namaks, over one 

 million and a half of Christians (600,000 Roman Catholics, 500,000 Episco- 

 palians and Presbyterians, 200,000 Jacobites, 200,000 Thomas-Christians, 

 50,000 Armenians, &c.), and 50,000 followers of Budha. 



The greater portion of the peninsula, or about 960,000 square geogra- 

 phical miles, is in possession of the English, or rather of the British East 

 India Company: most of it, with 110 millions of inhabitants, is directly 

 owned by them, and the rest in their indirect possession. The former is 

 divided into four presidencies. 



1. Calcutta or Bengal, with Assan and Arracan, embraces 96,000 square 

 geographical miles, with sixty millions of inhabitants. The capital (and the 

 cap. of all British India) is Calcutta, with 250,000 inhabitants. 2. Agra, 

 112,000 square geographical miles, pop. twenty-one millions, cap. Allahabad, 

 pop. 20,000. Other towns are Benares, pop. 500,000, Delhi, pop 300,000, 

 Mirzapur, pop. 200,000, Agra, pop. 100,000. 3. Madras, 96,000 square 

 geographical miles, pop. fifteen millions, cap. Madras in the Carnatic, with 

 a pop. of 460,000. Other important towns are Trichinopoly, Tanjore, 

 Masulipatam, Calicut, Cotschin, &c. 4. Bombay, 56,000 square geogra- 

 phical miles, pop. six millions and a half, cap. Bombay in the province of 

 xA.urungabad, with 160,000 inhabitants. Other important towns are Surat, 

 Punah, and Ahmedabad. Since 1843, the district of Scinde, with 40,000 

 square geographical miles, and one million of inhabitants (cap. Hyderabad) ; 

 and since 1849, the Punjaub (the former kingdom of Lahore or the state of 

 the Sikhs), with 128,000 square geographical miles, and eight millions of 

 inhabitants (cap. Lahore, pop. 80,000), together with the district of 

 Petschauer, have become part of the Indo-British Empire. 



The indirect territory of the East India Company, 424,000 square 

 geographical miles of extent, and thirty-eight millions of inhabitants, 

 consists of numerous states of various size. The most important are : 1. 

 The Kingdom of Hyderabad or the Deccan, 72,000 square geographical 

 miles, and ten millions of inhabitants, with the cities of Hyderabad, pop. 

 200,000, and Aurungabad, pop. 60,000. The prince, or Radscha, is called 

 Nizam or Subah. 2. Nagpur, 52,800 square geographical miles, pop. three 

 millions, with a cap. of the same name, containing 110,000 inhabitants. 3. 

 The Mahratta state of the Maharadscha Sindia, 29,760 square geographical 

 miles, with four millions of inhabitants. 4. Mysore, 20,320 square geo- 

 graphical miles, and three millions of inhabitants, with the cities of Mysore 

 and Bangalore. 5. Aude, 15,200 square geographical miles, pop. three 

 millions, cap. Lucknow, with 300,000 inhabitants. 6. The States of the 



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