131 
HINDO 
'form lire leading power. All tire celebrated towns and 
cities, being,fully deicribed under their refpeftive names 
in this Encyclopaedia, need not be enlarged upon here. 
Central H'indoostan, or the Middle Provinces, are 
chiefly bounded by Gangetic Hindooftan on the north ; 
and on the weft by the limdy defert, and the ocean. The 
Southern limit is the river Kiftna, with its tributary ft ream 
the Beema; while the eaftern fide is waflred by the baji of 
Bengal. The lefigth eaft to weft, from jigat Point to 
Cape Pal'miras, is little lefts than twelve hundred Britifh 
ririles; while the medial breadth is about four hundred. 
In it are comprehended the province of Orifla, with part 
of Golconda, Berar, Dowlatabad, Candeifh, Guzeia'c, and 
other inferior diftrifts; and on the eaftern fhore are the 
Britifh provinces called the Circars. The chief cities and 
towns are Amedabad, Cambay, Surat, the Britifli fettle¬ 
ment of Bombay, Burhampour, Ellichpour, and Nag- 
pour, which may be called, the central city of Hindoo- 
itan. Not far to the eaft. of this laft-mentioned city, be¬ 
gins that extenfive and unexplored wildernefs, which is 
pervaded by the great river Bain, or Baim Gonga, and ter¬ 
minates in the mountains that bound the Englifh Circars. 
Southern Hindoostan, or what is now confidered 
us the Deccan, is bounded by the "river'Kiftna, and its 
moft northern fubficliary ftreams flowing into the Beema. 
It extends from the latitude of Bombay, to the fouthern 
point of Cape' Comorin, about eight hundred and thirty 
Britifh miles in length, and about three hundred and 
fifty of medial breadth; the weftern coaft of the penin- 
fiula being called that of Malabar, and the eaftern that 
of Coromandel. It contains nearly the whole of the 
province of Vifiapour, and the molt important part of 
that of Golconda, 'with the central kingdom of Myfbre, 
•the Carnatic, the principalities of Tanjore, Trava'ncore, 
and the Zamorins of Calicut, the pepper-coaft of Canara, 
and other diftrifts, of which Concam is fuppofed to be 
the Kumkarn which the Arabian authors mention as ad¬ 
joining to the territory of the Balhara. In this divifion 
may alfo be included the ifland-of Ceylon, the coafts of 
■which are now poftefled by the Englifh, while the native 
princes retain the inland parts. 
In this divifion of Modern India, the pofieflions of the 
Englifh are extremely valuable and extenftve. In the 
■Carnatic, is fituated our ancient fettlement of Madras, 
where the Supreme Government was long fixed, though 
finee removed to Calcutta in Bengal. And in addition 
to the territory round Madras, the Britifh power was, in 
s 799, extended over a confiderable part of the Myfore ; and 
Seringapatam, its capital, and Mangalore, its valuable and 
commodious fea-port, are now alfo in our poffeflion. In the 
Deccan we like-wife poflefs feveral other important places ; 
as Salem, and Attore, in the eaft , Dindigul, Coimbetore, 
Paljicaud, on the fouth; and on the weftern coaft Pani- 
any, Ferokabad, Calicut, Tellicherry, and our northern 
pofleftion of Carwar, is within forty miles of the Portu- 
guefe fettlement of Goa; while on the fouth we approach 
within a like diftance of Cochin. To thefe advantages 
were added, by the treaty of Bafteen in 1802, various dif¬ 
trifts belonging to the Peifhvva, fituated on the weftern 
fhores of the Deccan, which enabled the Englifh to be¬ 
come matters of the whole of the Malabar coaft ; and in 
1803, by the treaty with the rajah of Berar, the whole 
province of Cattack, with all the territories fituated to 
the weftward of the river Wurdah, in the Deccan, were 
ceded to the Englifh. And by the treaty with Scindia in 
*304, the fort and territory of Baroach in Guzerat, and 
the rort and territory of Ahmednagur in the Deccan, with 
all the diftrifts lying between the mountains and the Go- 
davery river, were added to the Britifh pofieflions in this 
part of Hindooftan. 
Not far from the weftern frontier of our fettlement at 
Madras, ftands the celebrated city cf Arcct, the capital 
of the Carnatic ; the fupreme government of which has 
Been lately aflumed by the Englifh. The nabob, who is 
-the nominal viceroy, is the ally of the Englifh ; and owes 
Vol. X No. 652. 
OSTA N. 
to them the eftablifhment ofhis fortunes and family in that 
high dignity. He refides fbmetimes at Madras, but prin¬ 
cipally at Arcot. Tanjore forms a part of the Carnatic; 
the rajah of which pays to the Britifli government 160,cool, 
per annum, for their proteftior.. 
Beiides the cities and towns already mentioned, this di¬ 
vifion contains Tranquebar, a noted Danifh fettlement, in 
the province of Tanjore. This fettlement was formed 
about the year 1617, and has been chiefly remarkable on 
account of the Lutheran mifiionaries, who reforted hither 
to convert the Hindoos ; but have contributed much more 
to the illuftration of natural hiftory. Pondicherry, on 
this peuinfula, was the principal fettlement of the French, 
founded in 1674; and was then a large and beautiful city. 
On the weftern coaft, or Malabar fide, ftands Cochin. 
This city,remained fuhjeft to the Portuguefe till 1660, 
when it v/as taken from them by the Dutch. To the north 
of the Britifli territories, in this divifion, (lands Goa, the 
famous fettlement of the Portuguese, and feat of their I11- 
quifiiion. 
The principal cities of the Deccan remaining to the na¬ 
tive princes, are, Poonah, the capital of the weftern em¬ 
pire of the Mahrattas 5 Vifiapour, alfo called Bejapour, 
once the capital of a large kingdom of the fame name; 
Aurangabad, the capital of the nizam’s territory ; and 
Hyderabad, -another metropolis of die n-izam, in the cele¬ 
brated kingdom of Golconda; in the neighbourhood of 
which are the fo much valued diamond-mints, under the 
viceroyalty of the nizam. In this diftrift alfo ftands Cal- 
berga, formerly the capita! of the powerful kingdom un¬ 
der the Bamineah dynafty, as noticed above. The ni¬ 
zam of the Deccan has now for many years approved him- 
felf the firm ally of the Englifh, whofe armies fupport and 
defend him ; but Should any grof’s defection hereafter 
take place on his part, fo as to induce a refentful war on 
the part of the Britilh government, it is more than pro¬ 
bable that thofe rich mines, which have fo long operated 
as a mine of bloodshed and (laughter to the Hindoos, will 
become fubjeft to the king of Great Britain. 
Gangetic Hindoostan, or the divifion bordering on 
the Ganges, extends from the eaftern boundaries of Ben¬ 
gal, to the country of Sirhind ; in length about a thou (and 
Britifh miles. The greateft breadth, from the fources of 
the Chumbul to the mountains of Sewalic, is about four 
hundred and fifty Britifli miles; and the leaft, on the weft 
of the province of Bengal, about two hundred and thirty. 
It comprifes the rich and fertile provincesof Bengal, Ba- 
har, Allahabad, Oude, Agra ; with part of the provinces 
of Delhi and Agimere, and of Malwa, in the fouth ; molt 
of them having been the chofen feats of the power of the 
Moguls, and other conquerors. But the power of Eng¬ 
land now preponderates in thefe noble provinces, which 
form the moft extenfive part of Britifli India; and here, 
in confequence, the Englifh Supreme Government is feated, 
holding the key of t-lie country, by maintaining the fove- 
reignty over the Ganges, the Bay of Bengal, and the In¬ 
dian Seas. 
The diftrifts which, for many years paft, have formed 
the grand bafts of the Englifti power in this divifion of 
Hindooftan, are Bengal, Bahar, and Benares. Thefe pro¬ 
vinces alone are in extent above five hundred and fifty 
miles in length, by three hundred in breadth ; forming of 
themfelves a powerful kingdom ; but by the treaty of Luck¬ 
now, in 1801, with Afbph ul Dowlah nabob of Oude, the 
province and fort of Allahabad, the country of Rohilcund, 
and the whole of the Douab, or all that prodigious traft 
comprehended between the jurnna and the Ganges, with 
all the forts and ftrong-jioids, were ceded for ever to the 
Englifh ; and further confirmed by the treaty with Scindia 
in February 1804. The chief cities appertaining to the 
Britifh government in thefe territories are, Calcutta^ the 
capital; Dacca, or Moorfhedabad ; Hoogly, about thirty 
miles above Calcutta; Patna, the capital of Bahar ; Be¬ 
nares, on the northern bank of the Ganges; and Allahabad, 
fituated at the confluence of the Jumna and the Ganges. 
3 A the 
