BOMBAY PRESIDENCY

[s. 117] : One of the chief administrative divisions of British India, of which the capital is the city of Bombay. Its territory lies in the western part of India, and its boundaries are on the northwest, Balu chi stan and Khelat; on the north, the Punjab; on the northeast, the native states of Rajputana; on the east, the native states of Central India, the Central Provinces, West Berar, and the dominions of the Nizam of Haidarabad; on the south, the Presidency of Madras and the native state of Mysore, and on the west the Indian Ocean. It includes 24 districts in India, besides the little district of Aden, in Arabia, having altogether an area of 124,123 square miles, with a population (1901) of 18,559,561; within the territorial hmits of the presidency are a number of native states under the general supervision of the Bombay Government. These include an additional area of 65,761 square miles, with a population of (1901) The surface of the presidencj’ pre6,908,648. sents three well marked types of physical appear northern part the regions of Gujerat In the ance. and Sindh, with the peninsulas of Kathiawar and Cutch, are for the most part flat, and in their northern and western portions merge into sandy and arid deserts. South of the Narbada River, Bombe Braliino SoiuaJ and for the most part about thirty miles from the sea, stretches the range of mountains known as the Western Ghats. Between them and the sea the narrow strip of land is Ivnown as the Konkan, and consists largely of detached ranges of hills, with fertile valleys between, through which flow numerous tidal creeks. East of the mountains is the great upland of the Deccan, nearly 2,000 feet above the level of the sea at its western edge, where it is buttre ed by the Ghats. The prevailing religions are Hinduism and Mohammedanism. Christians and Parsees and a few Jews make up together hardly more than two per cent, of the population. It is worthy of note, however, that while during the decade 1891-1901 the whole population of the presidency decreased by 318,753 souls through famine and plague, the Christian population increased by 50,000 from 170,000 to 220,000. The languages in use in the province of Bombay are Marathi, which is used by nearly one-half of the population; Hindu stan i or Urdu, used by Gujarathi, Kanarese, and the Mohammedans; Sindhi, which taken together are the speech of more than one-third of the population. The mi ionary societies carrying on operations within the borders of this presidency are the following, named as far as po ible in the order of their entrance into the province: LMS (1820); CMS (1820); (1813); CSFM (1825); UFS (1843); Basel Mi ionary Society (1837); SPG (1825); PCI (1842); PN (1872); Poona and Village mi ion; (1870); the Christian and Mi ionary Alliance; the Ramabai A ociation; the Mi ion to Lepers; the Kurku and Central India Hill Mi ion the Industrial Mi ions Aid Society; the Zenana Bible and Medical Mi ion, the Salvation Army, and some others which do not publish statistics. BOMBE A settlement about 20 miles N. of the seat of government of the Kamerun Colony, W. Africa; station of the Basel Mi ionary Society (1897), with 3 mi ionaries, one with his wife, 24 native workers, 15 outstations, 16 village schools, and (1902) 161 communicants. 118