1839] 



On the Statistics of Dukhim. 



151 



deterred from reclaiming them until the objects for which they had been 

 placed at his disposal were realized. 



In responding at last to the call of the British Association, I feel very 

 considerable embarrassment in adapting my materials to the space which 

 can be afforded to me in its annual volume. The materials, in fact, are 

 very voluminous ; and the nature of my subject embracing multitudinous 

 details, figured statements, and lengthened tables, makes it a work of no 

 ordinary difficulty to digest, abridge, and condense them without in- 

 volving my subject in obscurity, and exposing myself to the imputation 

 of ineflBcient inquiry from the hiatus which must appear. I beg, there- 

 fore, distinctly to state, that the absence of information observable in the 

 following Report, is attributable, not to paucity of matter, but to the 

 want of a sufficient field in which to display it. 



Extent and Physical Circumstances. 



I propose to give but a meagre sketch of the statistics of Dukhun ; a 

 mere enumeration of its population, products, manufactures, revenues, 

 civil divisions, &c., with little more comment than may be necessary to 

 ensure perspicuity. 



In the execution of my public duties as Statistical Reporter to the 

 government of Bombay, my researches made me acquainted with the 

 statistics of the four collectorates of Dukhun, denominated the Poona, 

 Ahmednuggur, Candeish or Khandesh, and Dharwar Collectorates ; facts 

 were also collected respecting the territories of the Rajah of Sattarah, 

 and some few details came to hand illustrative of the state of the pos- 

 sessions of the southern Mabratta Jagheerdars, which are under Bri- 

 tish protection. In adverting to the whole of these territories, although 

 I shall name them separately in describing their extent, physical cir- 

 cumstances, and civil divisions, it will only be to notice where they 

 differ from each other. 



The whole of the above territories, containing 3,285,985 inhabitants, 

 spread over 48,987 square miles, and averaging 67 inhabitants to the 

 square mile, lie upon that elevated plateau, which has an abrupt termi- 

 nation on the western side of India, in what are usually denominated 

 the Ghats, but which plateau gradually declines, occasionally by a suc- 

 cession of low steps, as is seen by the courses of rivers to the Coroman- 

 del coast, excepting in Khandesh (Khind meaning a gap or trench, and 

 Desh a country), where the river Tapty disembogues to the westward, 

 from the peculiar configuration of the narrow valley in which this col- 

 lectorate lies. Some of the platforms on the summit of the Ghats have 

 an elevation of 5000 feet above the sea, but the general level of the 



