The extension line of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway from Bhosáwal to Nágpur intersects the district, with stations at Jalam Shegáon, Páras, Akolá, and Borgáon. Of eight main roads, three have been metalled. The first runs from Akolá to Akot, a rising cotton mart, and is 28 miles in length, running north-north-east. It is metalled, and all the smaller water-courses are bridged. The Púrná and Sháhnúr rivers, however, cross the line, and are not bridged, a circumstance which impairs the usefulness of the road during the rainy season. The second road is known as the Básim road, and runs for 24 miles southwards through the district. The third road is 12 miles long. from Khámgáon to Nándurá railway station, and is metalled throughout. The other five lines of road are neither bridged nor metalled, but only marked out and levelled. The district imports piece goods from Bombay, and food grains from the adjoining districts. Its principal exports are cotton to Bombay, clarified butter, dyes (indigo and kusambá), and cattle. Internal trade is chiefly carried on at weekly markets and by annual fairs. The principal manufacture of the district is the weaving of cotton. Carpets and coarse cloths are woven in almost every village, with turbans at Bálápur, and silk cloths for native women at Akolá and in the larger towns. The principal agricultural products are as follows:—The wet weather or kharíf crop consists of joár (eighteen varieties); bajrá (two kinds); cotton (two kinds); túr, urid, and mug (three kinds of pulse); rice and kulkar (a smaller variety of rice); Indian corn; rálá; ganjá; ajwán; indigo; and til (oil-seeds of two kinds). The cold weather or rabí crop consists of—wheat (three kinds); gram; linseed; lakh (a pulse); peas; musurí; tobacco; and mustard. The principal articles of garden produce are the following:—Sugar-cane (two kinds); Indian corn (two kinds); ground nuts; onions; garlic; coriander; pan leaves; chillies; opium; sweet potatoes; grapes; plantains; saffron; and numerous kinds of vegetables. A tenure peculiar to Akolá is that known as metkarí holdings. These consist of certain strips of land extending along the whole breadth of the district at the foot of the frontier range. They are now of considerable value, and were originally held as payment for the maintenance of a chain of outposts or watch-towers on elevated points in the ridge, with a view to giving warning of the approach of the Bhil or Gond banditti, and warding off their attacks. Seven towns are returned as containing a population exceeding 5000—viz., Akolá (the capital of the district), population 12,236; Akot, one of the principal cotton marts of Berar, and also celebrated for its cotton manufacture, 14,006; Khámgáon, now the largest cotton mart in the province, but which has only sprung into importance within recent times, 9432; Bálápur, one of the chief military stations in the Berars during the Mahometan rule, 12,631; Jalgáon, an important cotton market, 8763; Patur, 6011; Shegáon, a station on the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, and a cotton market, 7450. In 1869 there were 1 higher class, 10 middle class, and 63 lower schools for boys in Akolá district; besides 7 female schools and 1 normal school for training Hindustání and Marhatí masters, making a total of 82 schools in all. For the protection of person and property there were in 1869 13 police stations and 12 outposts, with a regular police force of 536 officers and men, equal to one man to every five miles of the district area, or one man to every 909 of the population.
Akolá Town, the headquarters of the district of the same name, and also of the west Berar division of the Haidarábád assigned territory, is situated on the Nágpur extension of the Great Indian Peninsular Railway, in 20° 6′ N. lat., and 76° 2′ E. long. The town contains three or four wealthy merchants; and two markets are held each week—one on Sundays, the other on Wednesdays. The commissioner's and deputy-commissioner's court-houses, the central jail (capable of holding 500 prisoners), the post-office, and barracks or rest-houses for European troops, close to the station, are the principal public buildings. Besides these, there are a civil hospital, a charitable dispensary, an English high school, a town-hall, and an English church. A detachment of infantry is stationed at the town. Population in 1869, 12,236.
AKRON, a town of the United States, capital of Summit county, Ohio, situated on the Atlantic and Great Western Railway, and on the Ohio and Erie Canal, at its junction with the Pennsylvania and Ohio Canal, 36 miles S. of Cleveland. By means of the canal and the Little Cuyahoga river the town is amply supplied with water-power, which is employed in a variety of manufactures; and its mercantile business is extensive. It has several flour mills, woollen factories, and manufactories of iron goods. Mineral fire-proof paint, immense beds of which are found in the vicinity, and wheat are important articles of export. Akron was founded in 1825, and was made the capital of the county in 1841. Population in 1870, 10,006.
AK-SU, a town of Chinese Turkestan, is situated in 41° 7′ N. lat., 79° E. long., 250 miles N.E. of Yarkand. It has a flourishing trade, and is resorted to for purposes of commerce by caravans from all parts of Central Asia. There are some cotton manufactures; and the place is celebrated for its richly-ornamented saddlery made from deer-skin. A Chinese garrison is stationed here, and copper and iron are wrought in the neighbourhood by exiled Chinese criminals. The district is well cultivated, and sheep and cattle are extensively reared. The population of the town is about 20,000; that of the town and district 100,000.
AKYAB, a district and city within the Arákán division of British Burmah, and under the jurisdiction of the chief commissioner of that province. The district lies along the north-eastern shores of the Bay of Bengal, between 20° and 21½° N. lat., and 92° 12′ and 94° E. long. It forms the northernmost district of British Burmah, and the largest of the three districts of the Arákán division. It is bounded on the N. by the Chittagong district of Bengal; on the E. by the Sumadoung ranges, which separate it from Independent Burmah; on the S. by the Arákán districts of Rámri and Sandoway; and on the W. by the Bay of Bengal. In 1871 the frontier or hill tracts of the district were placed under a special administration, with a view to the better government of the wild tribes which inhabit them. The present area is returned at 4858 square miles, of which 521 square miles are cultivated, 913 cultivable but not actually under tillage, and 3424 square miles uncultivable and waste. The population of the district in 1872 amounted to 263,152, of whom 192,885 were Buddhists or Jains, 47,349 Mahometans, 8687 Hindus, 13,928 aborigines, and 303 Christians. The central part of the district consists of three fertile valleys, watered by the Myu, Koladyne, and Lemyu. These rivers approach each other at their mouths, and form a vast network of tidal channels, creeks, and islands. Their alluvial valleys yield inexhaustible supplies of rice, which the abundant water carriage brings down to the port of Akyab at a very cheap rate. The four chief towns are Khúmgchú in the extreme north-east of the district; Koladyne in the centre; Arákán, further down the rivers; and Akyab on the coast, where their mouths converge. This district passed into the hands of the British, together with the rest of Arákán division, at the close of the first Burmese war of 1825.
