D
D, in the English alphabet, the fourth letter, and the , third consonant, represents the dental sonant sound, to which T is the corresponding surd (see B). It is the fourth letter also in the Hebrew, Chaldee, Samaritan, Syriac, Greek, and Latin alphabets. The form of our D is the same as that of the Latins ; and the Latin D is no other thau the Greek A ; in old Latin, and in several of the Greek alphabets, including those of South- Western Italy, from which the Roman alphabet was borrowed, we find the form > : the right hand corner was rounded for convenience of writing. The Greek symbol, again, is borrowed from the ancient Phoenician character, called in Hebrew Daleth. D is found in English (according to Urimm s law) where 6 will be found in Greek, and / in Latin : thus our deer is the Greek Brjp, and Latin fera. In Old High German the corresponding word was rightly spelt with a t (tior] ; but this is now spelt thier, though the sound is the same. By the same law d appears in Greek and Latin where we find t in English and z in High German : thus we have Suo, duo, tivo, zwei. D sometimes became I in Latin ; thus Ulysses represented OSvcro-evs ; sometimes it became r, as in arbiter for ad-biter. In praenomens D stood for Decimus, and in the titles of emperors for Divus. It is also a numeral letter, represent ing Jive hundred. This may arise from the circumstance that the letter D is analogous in form to 10, the half of CIO. which is the Roman numeral expression for a thousand. With a dash placed on the top thus, D, its value is increased tenfold, or, in other words, it stands for five thousand. Used as an abbreviation, D has various significations, for which see the article Abbreviations.
DACCA [Dhaka], the principal district in the division of the same name,[1] in Bengal, British India, situated between 24 20 12" and 23 6 30" N. lat, and between 89 47 50* and 91 I 10" E. long. It is bounded on the N. by Maiman- sinh, on the E. by Tipperah, and on the S. and W. by Bakar- ganj and Faridpur. The district consists of a vast level plain, divided into two sections by the Dhaleswari river. The northern part, again intersected by the Lakshmia river, contains the city of Dacca, and as a rule lies well above flood-level. The soil is composed of red ferruginous kankar, with a stratum of clay in the more elevated parts, covered by a thin layer of vegetable mould, or by recent allutial deposits. The scenery along the Lakshmia is very beauti ful, the banks being high and wooded. About 20 miles north of Dacca city, small ridges are met with in the Madhupur jungle, stretching into Maknansinh district. These hills, however, are mere mounds of from 20 to 40 feet high, composed of red soil containing a considerable quantity of iron ore ; and the whole tract is for the most part unproductive. Towards the city, the red soil, is inter sected by creeks and morasses, whose margins yield crops of rice, mustard, and til seed; while to the eastward of the town, a broad, alluvial, well-cultivated plain reaches as far as the junction of the Dhaleswari and Lakshmia rivers. The country lying to the south of the Dhaleswari is the most fertile part of the district. It consists entirely of rich alluvial soil, annually inundated to a depth varying from 2 to 14 feet of water. The villages are built on artificial mounds of earth, so as to raise them above the flood-level.
Rivers.—Dacca is watered by a network of rivers and streams, ten of which are navigable throughout the year by native cargo boats of four tons burthen. (1) The Meghna forms the eastern boundary of the district, separating it from Tipperah. (2) The Ganges, or Padma river, marks the western and south-western boundary, separating the district from Faridpur and Bakarganj. This river, here from three to four miles in width, is liable to frequent and extensive changes in its course ; the old channel is now almost dry in the hot months. (3) The Lakshmia, a branch of the Brahmaputra, flows through the north of the district and empties itself into the Dhaleswari. (4) The Jamuna, or main stream of the Brahmaputra, only touches on the north-western corner of the district, where it joins the Ganges. (5) The Mendi-Khalf, a large branch of the Meghna, communicates with the old Brahmaputra. (6) The Dhaleswari, an offshoot of the Jamuna, intersects the district from west to east, and falls into the Meghna at Munshiganj. It has two large navi gable branches, both of which reunite with the parent- stream, viz., (7) the Ghazi-khali and (8) the Buriganga.
The wild animals comprise a few tigers, leopards, and wild elephants, deer, wild hog, porcupines, jackals, foxes, hares, otters, &c. The green monkey is very common ; porpoises abound in the large rivers. Among birds are vultures, crows, several varieties of eagles, fish eagles, kites, falcons, owls, swallows, kingfishers, woodpeckers sydmas, green paroquets, spoonbills, sdras, mdnikjors, herons, pslicans, skill ibis, adjutants, bulbuls, gulls, cormorants, coots, plovers, snipe, pigeons, doves, partridges, wild geese and ducks, <fec. A trade is carried on in bird feathers, principally in those of the kingfisher tribe. The common fishes are the shark, ray, saw-fish, amvdri or mullet, tapsi mdchh or mango fish, hilsd, chitdl, katld, rui, mirgal, kai, khalisd, crabs, cray-fish, prawns, <fcc. Crocodiles are found in most of the large rivers. Among snakes are the cobra, sanda, girgit, bamdni, gosdmp, python, <fec., and several varieties of tree and water snakes.
district. It is divided into three great classes : boro, or spring rice, sown from December to February, and reaped in April and May ; dus, or autumn rice, sown from March to May, and reaped from July to September ; and dmaii, or winter rice (the great crop of the year), sown from March to May, and reaped in November and December. Wheat and barley are cultivated to a small extent ; pulses are largely grown ; also oilseeds, such as mustard, til, and linseed. Cotton was formerly a staple product, tut since the decline of the fine Dacca muslins, due to the intro duction of Manchester goods, its cultivation has almost entirely ceased. Jute cultivation has enormously extended of late years. The other crops raised are indigo, sugar-cane, pan or betel leaf, cocoa-nut, turmeric, ginger, tobacco, and safflower. Of the area of the district in 1870 (viz., 3217 square miles) 2245 are returned as cultivated, 24 as fallow land, 672 as cultivable waste land, and 276 as uncultivable. No statistics exist showing the cultivation of each kind of crop. But roughly speaking, it may be said that in the rains three-fifths of the cultivated area is under rice, one-fifth is fallow or uncultivated, and one-fifth under jute;
and that in the dry season, two-fifths is under oil seeds
- ↑ The Division or Commissionership of Dacca is under the Lieu tenant Governor of Bengal, and comprises the districts of Dacca, Maimansinh, Bakarganj, Faridpur, and Tipperah (transferred from the Chittagong to the Dacca Division in 1875). It is bounded on the N. by the Garo Hills, on the E. by Silhet and the state of Hill Tipperah, on the S. by the Bay of Bengal, and on the W. by Jessor, Pabna, Cogra, and Rangpur. The Division contains a total area of 18,276 square miles, with a population of 9,126,863 souls.
