the water of which is largely used for irrigation. The ferae mum-w consist of tigers, leopards, bears, wolves, and deer.
Large game birds are plentiful.
This district has no particular history of its own ; what ancient history it has is included in that of Oudh. On the outbreak of the ‘ mutiny, the raja of Gouda, aftcr honourany escorting the Govern- nrent treasure to Fyzabad, joined the rebels. llis estates, along with those of the raini of Tnlsipnr, were confiscated, and conferred as rewards upon the nraharajas of Balrampur and Shalrganj, who had remained loyal. The census of 1869 disclosed a population of 1 ,166,515 (602,862 males, and 563,653 females)—}lindus, 1,049,397; Mahometans, 117,070; Christians—European, Eurasian, and native ——48. Five towns contain a population exceeding 5000, namely, Gonda, Balra'rm ur, Colonelganz, Nawabganj, and Utranla. Rice, wheat, and bar ey are the chief products of the district. The area under cultivation is 993,858 acres. The exports are rice and food grains; the imports, cotton, European piece goods, and salt. The administration is under a deputy commissioner, aided by two European assistants. The total revenue (1875—76) amounted to £135,509; the expenditure to £15,810. The police force (1873) consisted of 484 officers and men, maintained at a cost of £6655. Education is still in its infancy. In 1875—76 there were 116 schools un ler Government inspection, attended by 5879 pupils. Fever is prevalent throughout the district. The other principal diseases are scurvy, cholera, diarrhoea, and goitre. The average rainfall during the eleven years 1865—1875 was 420 inches. The average yearly ternperatnre is 775° Falrr._. the highest recorded being 106°, the lowest 48°.
Gonda, the chief town and administrative headquarters of Gouda district, in 27° 8' N. lat. and 82° 1' E. long. The site on which the town now stands was originally a jungle, in the centre of which was a cattle fold (Gontha or Gotham), in which the cattle were enclosed at night as a protection against wild beasts, and from this the town derived its name. The place was formerly celebrated for the manufacture of shields; now it is neither of com- nrercial nor of religions importance. The town contains a civil station, dispensary, school, literary institute, court- house, and jail. Population, 13,722.
GONDAR, properly Guendar, a town of Abyssinia, formerly the capital of the Amharic kingdom, is situated on a basaltic ridge in the country of Dembea, about 21 miles N.E. of .Lake Tsana or Tana, a splendid view of which is obtained from the castle. According to Riippell, its latitude is 12° 35' N. and its longitude 37° 31' 57” E., and it lies 7460 feet above the level of the sea. Two streams, the Angreb on the east side and the Gaha or Kaha on the west, flow down from the ridge, and meeting below the town pass onwards to the lake. In the Gaha the Christian inhabitants of Gondar are accustomed to bathe in vast disorderly crowds on the feast of St John the Baptist (10th September), and again in a more decent manner on the anniversary of the Saviour’s birth. The town is divided into several districts separated from each other by wood and field,-——one being the Abun-Bed or bishop’s quarter, another the Etchege-Bed or quarter of the prior or chief of the monks, while a third takes its name from the Debra Birhan or Church of the Light, and a fourth from the Gemp or castle. This was at one time a splendid pile, designed on the plan of a mediaeval stronghold; and the solidity of its masonry, the beauty of its ornamerrtations, and the general effect of its arrangement stand in striking contrast to the mean and monotonous houses of the town, which are all erected after the cylindro-conical type. It was built in the 16th century for King Socinius by the Portuguese adventurers, who employed Indian workmen in its erection. At some distance there is another palace built ata later date for Ras Michael, which affords no bad imitation of the Portuguese style. ' Upwards of forty churches, all in the circular Abyssmran style, are said to exist in the town and immediate vicinity;_ of these the most important is the Qarsquam or Flight into Egypt, erected by Mint Wab Muntwar, the empress mother of Yasu the Great and Yasu the Little. The painting of the interior was probably executed by the Venetian artists mentioned by Bruce. The city was founded in the 15th century by emperor Fasiiidas, or A’lem-Seged ; it has been frequently sacked, and in 1868 it was laid in ruins by 'l‘heodorus, who did not spare either the castle or the churches. The population, estimated by Bruce at 10,000 families, has been brought to a very low ebb by the political distrac- tions of the country. In 1853 Heuglin thought the in- habitants might number from 5000 to 6000, and in 1861—02 he raised the figure to from 6000 to 7000. About 2000 of the number are M ahometans, and there is a considerable settlement of Jews (Falasha). Cotton cloth, gold and silver ornaments, copper wares, fancy articles in bone and ivory, excellent saddles, and shoes are among the products of the local industry. The shoes are made almost ex- clusively for the clergy, as the ordinary Abyssinians either go barefoot or wear sandals. See especially Riippell, Raise in Abyssinien, Frankfort-on-the-Main, 1838—40; Heuglin, Reise mach Abessim'en, Jena, 1868; Lejean, Fog/age en Abyssinic, Paris, 1872; and Ratfray, Afrique Occulentalc, Paris, 1876. Views of the castle are given by Heuglin and Raffray.
GONDOKORO. See Ismailia.
GONDWÁNA, a tract of country in Central India, ex- tending from the 19th to the 25th degree of N. lat., deriv- ing its name from the aboriginal tribe of Gomls, who form the predominant element in the population. The tract may be considered as comprising part of the British territory of Sfigor and Nerbudda, with the districts of Singranli, Clrota Nagpur, and Sirguja, the petty native states on the SW. frontier of Bengal, the Cnttack Malrals, and the northern portion of Nagpur. It is estimated to be 400 miles in length by 280 in average breadth. Gondwz‘ma, in its most extensive sense, includes all that part of India within the above-mentioned boundaries which remained unconquered by the Mahometans up to the reign of Aurungzehe. But Gondwana proper is limited to four districts, named Maudie, Chhatisgarlr, Nagpur, and Chanda], and it stretches south along the east side of the Wardha and Godavari, to within 100 miles of the nrontlr of the latter. The greater part of this province is a mountainous, unhealthy, and ill-watered country, covered with jungle, and thinly inhabited; and to its poverty and other bad qualities its independence may be ascribed. A continued chain of moderately elevated hills extends from the southern frontier of Bengal almost to the Godavari, and by these the eastern was formerly separ- ated from the western portion of the Nagpur dominions. This province contains the sources of the Nerbudda and the Son, and is bounded by the Wardha and Godz’ivari ,2 brrt a want of water is still the general defect, the strearrrs by which it is intersected, namely, the Mahanadi, Karim, Hatns, and Silair, being inconsiderable, and not navigable within its limits. The Gonds, or the hill tribes who took refuge in the mountains and fastnesses from the invaders of the country, are the original inhabitants of the country, and, till recently, retained all their primeval habits of barbarism. They have now adopted a form of Hinduism, but they retain nrany of their ancient customs, and abstain from no flesh except that of the ox, cow, and bull. According to the census of 1872 they numbered 2,041,27 6, or nearly 25 per cent. of the entire population of the Central Provinces. The more fertile tracts of (iondwana were sub; dued at an early period by the Marhattas, who claimed as paramount over the whole. The inhabitants were rendered nominally tributary; but it was found impossible to collect any revenue from them without military force, so that, in fact, the collection of the revenue was like a plundering expedition, the cost of which always exceeded the profit.
