manufactory of hosiery for export to Moscow and St Petersburg. The traffic of the town is considerable, Tver being an intermediate place for the trade of both capitals with the provinces of the upper Volga.
Tver dates its origin from 1180, when a fort was erected at the mouth of the Tvertsa to protect the Suzdal principality against Novgorod. In the 13th century it became the capital of an in dependent principality, and remained so until the end of the loth century. Mikhail Yaroslavovitch, prince of Tver, was killed fighting against the Tatars, as also was Alexander Mikhailovitch, who boldly fought for the independence of Tver against Moscow. It long remained an open question whether Moscow or Tver would ultimately gain the supremacy in Great Russia, and it was only with the help of the Tatars that the princes of the former eventually succeeded in breaking down the independence of Tver. In 1486, when the city was almost entirely burned down by the Muscovites, the son of Ivan III. became prince of Tver; the final annexation to Moscow followed four years later. In 1570 Tver had to endure, for some reason now difficult to understand, the vengeance of Ivan the Terrible, who ordered the massacre of 90,000 inhabitants of the principality. In 1609-12 it was plundered both by the followers of the second false Demetrius and by the Poles.
TWEED, a river in the south of Scotland, has its rise in the south-west corner of Peeblesshire, not far from the Devil's Beef Tub in Dumfriesshire. The stream flowing from Tweed's Well, about 1500 feet above sea-level, is generally regarded as its source, although the honour is also claimed for other streams issuing from a higher elevation. For the first 36 miles of its course it intersects the county of Peebles—frequently on this account called Tweeddale—in a north-easterly direction, passing between verdant hills separated by valleys watered by its numerous affluents. Having passed several picturesque keeps and castles, it reaches the town of Peebles, shortly before which it receives the Lyne Water from the north and the Manor Water from the south. The valley now widens; the scenery becomes softer and richer; and the river, bending in a more easterly direction, passes Innerleithen, where it receives the Leithen from the north and the Quair from the south. It then crosses Selkirkshire in a south-easterly direction, and, having received the Ettrick from the south on the borders of Roxburghshire, flows northward past Abbotsford, forming for about 2 miles the boundary between the counties of Selkirk and Roxburgh. After receiving the Gala, the Tweed crosses the north-western corner of Roxburghshire past Melrose and its abbey, and, after being joined by the Leader from the north, winds past Dryburgh abbey round the south-western corner of Berwickshire. The remainder of its course is in a north easterly direction through Roxburghshire past Kelso, where it receives the Teviot from the south, and then between the counties of Berwick and Northumberland, past Coldstream and Norham castle to the town of Berwick, where it reaches the North Sea. It receives the Eden Water from the north at Edenmouth, the Leet Water from the north at Coldstream, and the Till from Northumberland between Coldstream and Norham castle. The last 2 miles of its course before reaching Berwick are in England. Though the latter part of its course is through a comparatively level country, the scenery along the river is full of charm, owing to the picturesque variety of its finely wooded banks. The associations connected with the keeps and castles of the Tweed have supplied materials for several of Sir Walter Scott's poems and romances; and its varied beauties have been sung by Hogg, Leyden, Thomson, and many others. The bed of the river is pebbly and sandy, and, notwithstanding discolorations from manufactures, the stream, from its clear and sparkling appearance, is still well entitled to the name of the "silver Tweed." The total area drained by it is about 1870 square miles, and its total length is 97 miles. Next to the Tay it is the largest river in Scotland. The Tweed has, however, no estuary, and its traffic is chiefly confined to Berwick. But for a short distance up the river some navigation is carried on by barges. The river is one of the best in Scotland for trout and salmon fishing.
See Sir Thomas Dick Lauder's Scottish Rivers and Prof. Yeitch's River Tweed, 1884.
TWEEDS.See Woollen and Worsted Manufactures.
TWENTY-FOUR PARGÁNAS, the metropolitan district of the lieutenant-governorship of Bengal, India, takes its name from the territory originally ceded to the East India Company, which contained twenty-four parganas or sub-districts. The district lies between 21° 55′ 20″ and 22° 57′ 32″ N. lat. and 88° 6′ 45″ and 88° 20′ 51″ E. long. It has an area of 2124 square miles, and is bounded on the north by Nadiya, on the north-east by Jessore, on the south and south-east by the Sundarbans, and on the west by the river Hugli (Hooghly). The country consists for the most part of a vast alluvial plain within the delta of the Ganges, and is everywhere watered by numerous rivers, all branches of the Hugli. In the northern portion the soil is very rich, but the southern or seaboard part consists of the network of swamps and inland channels known as the Sundarbans. The Hugli and six other streams are navigable by the largest boats throughout the year. The district is well supplied with canals, the most important being Tolly's Nala (10 miles long), which connects the Hugli with the Bidyadhari. The Twenty-Four Parganas was once famous for its sport, but owing to the extension of cultivation game is now scarce. Tigers are seldom met with; leopards are more numerous; there are several varieties of deer. The district has many roads, and is traversed by the Eastern Bengal Railway and the Calcutta and South-Eastern State Railway.
In 1881 the population of the district, exclusive of Calcutta, numbered 1,869,859 (males 975,430, females 894,429), embracing 1,153,040 Hindus, 701,306 Mohammedans, and 13,976 Christians. The ten following municipalities had each a population of upwards of 10,000 South Suburban, 51,658; Agarpara, 30,317; Barangar, 29,982; Naihati, 21,533; Xawabganj, 17,702; Basurhat, 14,843; South Dum Durn, 14,108; Baduria, 12,981; Rajpore, 10,576; and Barasat, 10,533. The administrative headquarters of the district are at Alipur, a southern suburb of Calcutta. Rice forms the staple crop of the district; other crops are pulses, oil seeds, sugar-cane, tobacco, &c. Its principal exports are rice, sugar, pan leaf, fish, pottery, &c.; the imports comprise pulses of all kinds, oil-seeds, spices, turmeric, chillies, cloth, cotton, &c. The objects of the rural manufactures are sugar, cotton curtains, brass and iron work, horn sticks, and cotton and tasar silk cloth. The gross revenue of the district in 1885-86 amounted to 338,895, of which the land-tax contributed 155,181. The district was ceded to the East India Company by treaty by the nawab naziin of Bengal in 1757. Since then several changes have been made in its boundaries, the latest in 1863.
