SURAT

[s. 731] : A town in Gujarat, Bombay, India, situated on the Tapti River, about 15 miles from In the center, facing the river, is an its mouth. old castle (1540), now serving as a public office An ancient moat encloses the city on building. Among its interesting features the land side. are old Parsee temples and the tombs of the In the 17th and 18th earliest European settlers. centuries Surat was of more commercial importance than Bombay. Its population in 1797 was The 800,000, but it had fallen to 80,000 in 1847. city has revived again; it received its stimulus to growth from the American Civil War of 1861-65, and it now (1901) has a population of 119,306, of whom about 80,500 are Hindus, 21,000 JIuslims and 5,000 Jains. The climate is hot, malarious, and unhealthful. Station of the PCI (1846), with (1903) 1 mi ionary and his wife, 3 women mi ionaries, 29 native workers, 2 outstations, 1 place of worship, 3 Sunday schools, 1 printing house, 15 day schools, 3 orphanages, and 86 communicant Christians. 731