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Native States:-

Baroda Central India Agency Hyderabad Mysore Rajputana Agency Bengal... ..

North-West Provinces.

Punjab....

Central Provinces.

Madras Bombay. ......... ...... ........ 868,314 544,862 198,790,853 228.9 8,570 3,012 2,185,005 254.7 75,079 31,506 9,261,907 123.4 ... 81,807 20,398 9,845,594 120.3 24,723 17,655 4,186,188 169.3 129,750 30,001 10,268,392 79.1 36,634 16,059 2,845,405 77.6 5,125 3,322 741,750 144.2 35,817 18,546 3,861,683 107.8 28,834 11,242 1,709,720 59.3 9,638 4,97 1 I 3,344,849 359.4 73,753 13,191 6,941,249 94.1 Total Native States 509,730 169,903 55,150,456 108.4 1,378,044 714,765 253,982,595 184.3 Grand Total India The province of Upper Burmah recently annexed is variously estimated to have an area of 140,000 to 180,000 sq. m., of which half, with an estimated populalation of three millions, is under direct administration, and half is in the dependent Shan State, with a population of two millions.

CLIMATE. Extending as it does from a few degrees N. of the equator to the latitude of California and Southern Spain, Hindoostan possesses a great range of temperature and an infinite variety of production. It has but two seasons-the rainy, from June to December, and the dry, which covers the first half of the year, The soil is very productive, and fields which have been cultivated for many centuries still give excellent returns to careful tillage. Rice is the staple food; corn, millet, barley, and wheat are also grown in large quantities. Cotton, indigo, opium, and sugar-cane are among the most important products, and are largely exported. Teak, sandalwood, ironwood, bamboo, banzan, and many other tropical trees flourish. Of domestic animals, the horse, ass, cow, and goat are the chief, and the yak and elephant are made useful. The tiger, leopard, and maneless lion abound in the forests, which also contain herds of elephants; and the rhinoceros, bear, hyena, antelope, and many species of deer are abundant. Monkeys, wild birds of gorgeous plumage, crocodiles, and over 100 varieties of venomous serpents are found in India.

HISTORY.-Little is known of the early history of India, for its own chronicles, extending over millions of years, and in which gods and men, dynasties and supernatural events, are jumbled together in inextricable confusion, are unquestionably fabulous. It is believed that the first settlement by the Aryan Hindoos occurred at least 15 centuries before the birth of Christ, and that the Brahmanical religion and the institution of caste prevailed at that time in a supplementary form. Ten centuries later, Darius, King of Persia, conquered the north-western provinces on the Indus, and in 327 B. C. Alexander the Great, having overthrown the Persian empire, invaded India with an enormous army, defeated Porus, and reached the Sutlej, but did not enter India proper. Contemporary historians give accounts of the manners, customs, and religion of the conquered race at that time, and in all essential respects they are yet unchanged. Alexander's possessions were divided on his death, and the Indian provinces which he had conquered became a part of the new kingdom of Bactria. The first Mohammedan incursion was in the year 715 A. D., when Sindh and the Southern Punjab was conquered. Forty years later the Mohammedans were expelled by the Hindoos, but about the year 1000 they returned in great force, and before the end of the 11th century had acquired control of all Northern India to the banks of the Ganges. Three centuries of internal war and anarchy followed. The government was alternately divided or centralized according as the prince of the reigning dynasty proved successful or the contrary. In 1398, Timour the Tartar, better known as Tamerlane, penetrated to Delhi, where he caused himself to be proclaimed Emperor of India. He destroyed cities and temples, and on his abrupt retirement, after 15 days' occupation of the city, devastated the entire country. After many years of internecine strife and civil war, Baber, the Mogul Sultan of Cabool, invaded India and became the master of Delhi in 1526. His son was driven out, but returned 16 years later, and re-established the Mogul dynasty. Of the emperors of this line, its founder Baber; Akbar Khan, who reigned over 50 years; Aurungzebe, under whom almost all the peninsula was brought under control; and Mohammed Shah, are the best known. The Mahratta adventurers attained great power in the early part of the 18th century, and in 1739 Nadir Shah, the greatest of modern Persian rulers, crossed the Indus, defeated the Imperial forces with immense slaughter, and captured Delhi, which he plundered of over $100,000,000 worth of gold, precious stones, and valuables. Again the Mogul dynasty was restored, and again the Mahrattas carried the fire and sword through the northern provinces. In 1761 they came in conflict with the Afghans, and a battle was fought at Paniput, in which 400,000 men were engaged, and which resulted in the total defeat and practical extermination of the Mahrattas. Meanwhile European nations had made settlements upon the coast, the first to do so being the Portuguese, between 1510 and 1600. They held Goa, Caligut, Bombay, and many other ports on the Malabar or western coast, but were finally expelled by the Dutch.