Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 10 (2nd edition).pdf/551

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PALAVPUR STATE. 539 481 prisoners were adnitted into the Agency jail, and 927 into the State prisons. At the three dispensaries, 11,677 persons were treated in 1882-83. Except near the hills, the Palanpur States are liable to drought from want of rain. The years held in remembrance as times of scarcity and famine are 1747, 1756, 1785, 1791, 1804, 1813, 1825, 1834, 1839, 1842, and 1849. Of these, the severest was the fanine of 1813. To such straits were the people brought, that some are said to have lived on human flesh. In such numbers did they die' that the survivors could not carry away the dead. Villages were left desolate, and parts of the country, formerly cultivated, have ever since lain waste. The price of grain rose to 6 lbs. the rupee (25.). On the 15th December 1882, an earthquake occurred with minor shocks and rumbling noise at intervals of a few days, ceasing in April 1883. The damage done thereby to buildings is estimated at £15,000. Palanpur. — Native State under the British Political Agency of Palanpur, in the Province of Gujarát, Boinbay Presidency; lying between 23° 57' and 24° 41' n. lat., and between 71° 51' and 72° 45' E. long. Area, 3150 square miles; i town and 451 villages. Population (1872) 215,972; (1881) 234,402, namely, 122,051 males and 112,351 females, dwelling in 52,389 houses. Hindus number 193,317; Muhammadans, 27,256 ; and others,' 13,829. Bounded on the north by the Sub-division of Márvár and Sirohi; on the east by Sirohi and Dánta States, the Aravalli range forming the boundary'; on the south by and on the west by other States under the Palanpur Agency Length, east and west, 60 miles; north and south, 45 miles. he southern and eastern portions are undulating and tolerably wooded. Towards the north the country becomes mountainous, with much forest; the villages are far apart, and generally poor and small; the hills afford excellent pasture; and the woods contain many useful timber-trees. In the north-west, bordering on Márwar and Tharád, the country is a level plain, with a poor and sandy soil, generally producing but one crop during the year; in the southern and eastern portions, on the contrary, it is a rich black loam, yielding three crops annually. For the first crops slight rain is sufficient, but for the two latter heavy rain is required, when the yield is very abundant. Prices current in March 1883 per rupee (28.)—bújra, 34 lbs.; wheat, 30 lbs. ; gram, 44 lbs.; and rice, 16 lbs. The State is watered by the Banás river, which flows through its whole length. The Saraswatí also crosses a part of the eastern tracts. The climate is dry and hot, and fever is prevalent. Rainfall (1882), 26 inches. The principal products are wheat, rice and other grains, and sugar-cane. The high road from Ahmadábád to Páli in Marwar, and also the road from Ahmadábád to Nasirabad, Ajmere, Delhi, and Agra t'ia Dísa (Deesa), pass through the State. Consider