D A C C A —D A H O M E Y Dacca, a city of British India, giving its name to a district and division of Bengal. The city is 150 miles northeast by east of Calcutta, on an old channel of the Ganges. Bail way station, 10 miles from the terminus of the river steamers at Narayanganj. Its area is about 8 square miles. The population in 1881 was 79,076, in 1891 it was 82,321, and in 1901 it was 90,679. It still shows some signs of its former magnificence. The famous manufacture of fine muslins is almost extinct, but the carving of shells, carried on from ancient times, is an important industry in the city. The Government college had 318 students in 1896, and the collegiate school 556. There is also an unaided Hindu college, with 222 students. There are 20 printing - presses, issuing 3 English and 3 vernacular newspapers. There is a large settlement of mixed Portuguese descent, known as Firinghis. Many of the public buildings, including the college, suffered severely from the earthquake of 12th June 1897. The district comprises an area of 2797 square miles. In 1881 it had a population of 2,113,005, and in 1891 of 2,420,656, giving an average density of 865 persons per square mile. Classified according to religion, Hindus numbered 934,063; Mahommedans, 1,450,250; Christians, 10,476, of whom 223 were Europeans; “others,” 813. In 1901 the population was 2,660,631, showing an increase of 11 per cent. The land revenue and rates were Rs.6,08,761 ; the number of police was 697; the number of boys at school in 1896-97 was 75,836, being 42-4 per cent, of the male population of school-going age; the registered death-rate in 1897 was 27'97 per thousand. The district is now traversed by a line of the Eastern Bengal Railway, and it is further proposed to connect it by branches with the Assam-Bengal Railway; but most of the traffic is still conducted by water. It is a centre of the jute trade. There are 21 steam presses, employing 8000 hands, with an out-turn of 1,427,000 bales; and 10 hand presses, with a capital of Rs.24,00,000, employing 1130 hands, with an out-turn of 130,000 bales. The division of Dacca occupies the delta of the Brahmaputra, where it joins the main stream of the Ganges. It consists of the four districts of Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur, and Backergunge. Its area is 15,045 square miles. Its population in 1881 was 8,705,916, and in 1891 it was 9,844,127,—by far the highest rate of increase in Bengal,—with an average density of 654 persons per square mile. Daghestan, a province of Russia, Transcaucasia. It occupies the triangular space between the Andi ridge, the south-east portion of the main Caucasus Range, and the Caspian Sea, and has Terek in N., Tiflis in S.W., Baku in S.E., and Caspian Sea in E. With the exception of a narrow strip of land along the seacoast and a small area in north, it is entirely covered with mountains, and presents one of the most hilly parts of the world. Area, 11,492 square miles. The snowclad Andi ridge, belonging to the system of the south-west to north-east upheavals which cross the Caucasus, branches off the later at Barbalo Peak (10,807 feet), and reaches its highest altitudes in Tebulos-mta (14,781 feet), Great Kachu (14,027 feet), and Donos-mta (13,736 feet). It is encircled on the north by a lower outer ridge, the Black Mountains, pierced by the rivers, and thickly clothed with woods, composed chiefly of beech (Ichkeria). The Bozdakh and another ridge run in the same direction between the four Koisu rivers (Avarian, Andian, Kazy-kumukh, and Kara Koisu), all flowing north-east to make the Sulak, a tributary of the Caspian. The main feature of the country is, however, according to Abich, the succession of folds of Jurassic cretaceous limestones and slates, all nearly parallel to the Caucasus, forming high and barren plateaux. Many peaks
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rise above 12,000 feet, and the passes are at altitudes of 11,000 feet in the interior of the country and 9000 feet in the east, towards the Caspian. The country is altogether difficult of access, and only one military route leads from Groznyi on the Terek to the military town of Botlikh on the Andi Koisu, while the eleven passes known across the Caucasus are mere bridle-paths. The climate is severe on the plateaux, hot towards the Caspian, and dry everywhere. The average temperatures are: year 51°, January 26°, July 73° at Temir-khan-shura (42° 49' N., alt. 475 feet). The yearly rainfall varies from 21 to 17 inches. The population of Daghestan was 590,336 in 1897, out of whom there were only 5000 Russians. It consists chiefly of mountaineers, known under the general name of Lezghians, in the west, and of a mixture of the same with Tatars and Georgians in the Caspian coast region. For a long time the highlands of Daghestan were the stronghold of the Caucasians against the Russians, especially under the leadership of Shamil. The difficulties of communication between the valleys have resulted in theformation of a great number of dialects, or even languages, which have been divided by Baron Uslar into several groups. TheAvarian is a sort of inter-tribal tongue, while the Lakh or Kazikumukh language, the Kyurin, the Dargo-kaitakh, the Andi, and the Tabasaran are as many separate languages of common origin, subdivided in their turn into a number of dialects. The mountaineers breed some cattle, and cultivate with great difficulty their small fields on the slopes of the mountains. In thelittoral regions excellent crops are obtained with the aid of irrigation. The mountaineers excel also in a variety of petty trades. A railway line of great importance, connecting the North. Caucasian line, Rostov to Petrovsk, with the Transcaucasian line,. Batum to Baku, has been built of late. It runs along the seacoast from Petrovsk, through the Derbent “Gate,” to Baku. The province is divided into nine districts : Temir-khan-shura,. Avarian, Andian, Gunib, Dargo, Kazy-kumukh, Kastago-Tabasaran, Kyurinsk, and Samur. The only towns are : Temir-khanshura, capital of the province (9210 inh.), Derbent on the Caspian, (14,821), and Petrovsk, a seaport of some importance (9810). The chief towns of the districts are mere military villages or forts, of which the fort of Gunib, the last stronghold of Shamil, has only 825 inhabitants. ^ K^ Dag'll pan, the most important commercial centre in the province of Pangasinan, Luzon, Philippine Islands, and the northern terminus of the only railway in the islands. It is situated near the mouth of one of the branches of the Agno, but can be approached only by vessels of very small draught, because of a narrow bar at the river’s mouth. It has a healthful climate, and is the chief point of exportation for a very rich province, which produces rice, sugar, indigo, Indian corn, and copra in abundance. It has a shipyard in which small sailing vessels and steam launches are constructed. The principal language is Pangasinan. Population, 16,000. Dahomey.—An old West African kingdom, now a French colony, bounded on the S. by the Gulf of Guinea, on the E. by Lagos, on the N. and FT.W. by the military territories of the French Sudan, and the W. by Togoland. With a coast-line of only 75 miles, the area after the decree of October 1899 (see below) was estimated at about 59,000 square miles, and the population at about 450,000, but nothing is as yet known with any degree of accuracy on these points. The coast is very low, sandy, and obstructed by a bar. Behind the immediate coastline is a line of lagoons, where small steamers can ply: that of Porto Novo, on the east, that of Whidah, the longest (26 miles), and that of Grand Popo. The Ofe, the only important river (240 miles), drains the colony from the Bariba country to Porto Novo. The Zu is an affluent. The climate is very hot and moist. Four seasons are well marked: the long dry season, from December 1 to March 15; the season of the great rains, from March 15 to July 15; the short dry season, from July 15 to September 15; and the little rains, from September 15 to I December 1. The negroes, of whom the population
