178 



On the Statistics of Dukfmn. 



[Jan. 



The Seena is the only river of consequence which does not originate in 

 the Ghats. It has its course at the edge of the phiteau on which the city 

 of Al mednuggur stands, about ten miles north of the city, and flows in 

 a S. S. E. direction into the Beema. 



There are several remaikable hill forts in the western part of the col- 

 lectorale, such as Trimbuck, &c. Ahmednuggur was once the capital 

 of the Ahmed Shahee dynasty of kings. 



Khandesh or CandeiJi Collector ate. — The area of the province or col- 

 lectorate of Candeish, deduced from a map in the Deputy Surveyor Ge- 

 neral's Office, including tracts belonging to foreign states and to Jag- 

 heerdars, is 12,527 square miles. It is bounded on the north by the 

 Sautpoora mountains ; on the east by the province of Berar, belonging 

 to the Nizam ; on the south by the Indyadree range of mountains, which 

 separate it from Ahmednuggur ; and, on the west, by Dang and Raj 

 Peeplee, which bring it into contact with Goojrat. It is literally a 

 Khind or Khund, a great gap between ranges of mountains, whence its 

 name of Khandesh or Candeish. Some of the northern and western 

 parts are little better than a jungle, and the whole province is miserably 

 depopulated. The populated part of the collectorate belonging to the 

 British, derived fi*om the returns of the lands of 1982 populated villages, 

 give an area of 6760 square miles, with a population of nearly 55 inha- 

 bitants to the square mile ; but supposing 1684 alienated and deserted 

 villages to have a proportionate quantity of lands, the area will be 12,504 

 square miles, with 38|- inhabitants only to the square mile, and this I 

 believe to be very near to the truth. It is curious that the area derived 

 from the village lands should approximate so closely to the area deter- 

 mined trigonometrically. 



The collectorate is divided into sixty-six pergunnahs, some of which 

 do not contain more than one village each, whilst the largest, Nandoor- 

 bar, has 251) towns and villages, Nowapoor 236, Sooltanpoor 232, Ra- 

 were 160, Jamnair 144, Amulnair 140, and Bhamere 150, including de- 

 serted villages. The total number of towns and villages is 3666 ; but of 

 this number 330 are p egusta, which means that the villages are desert- 

 ed, but that part of the lands are cultivated ; 999 are entirely deserted ; 

 but great confusion and uncertainty prevails in the details, for of this 

 number there are 51 whose limits are unknown, 12 whose sites are U7i- 

 Arwoz^-'w but names known, and 135 whose names and sites are unknown 

 but a record remains of their number. There are 227 populated Jag- 

 heer, or alienated villages ; and many amongst the Pyegusta, and de- 

 serted also, belong to Jagheerdars, so that it does not appear that more 



