Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 9.djvu/43

F A R F A R 33 on the Lusiad (2 vols., Madrid, 1839) excited the suspicion of the inquisitors, caused his temporary incarceration, and led to the permanent loss of his official salary. In spite of the enthusiasm which is said to have prescribed to him the daily task of twelve folio pages, death overtook him before he had completed his greatest enterprise a history of the Portuguese in all parts of the world. Several portions of the work appeared at Lisbon posthumously, under the editorship of Captain Faria y Sousa: Eurojia Portugueza, 1667, 3 vols. ; Asia Portugueza, 1666, 1674, and 1675, 3 vols.; Africa Portugueza, 1681. As a poet Faria y Sousa was nearly as prolific ; but his poems are vitiated by the prevailing Gongorism of his time. They were for the most part collected in the Fuente de Aganipe, of which four volumes were published at Madrid in 1644-46. A series of " Moral Dialogues," as the author intended to have called them, obtained from the publisher the fantastic title of j the " Brilliant Nights " NocJies Claras, Primera Parte, j 1624. FARIDKOT, a feudatory state of Xorth-Wostern India, ( under the political superintendency of the government of the Punjab, situated between 30 3 40 and 30 56 N. lat., and between 74 22 and 75 9 E. long. It is bounded on the W. and N.E. by the British district of Firozpur, , and on the S. by Nabha State. Area, 600 square miles ; | estimated population, 68,000; estimated revenue, 30,000. The raja s military force consists of 200 cavalry, 600 ! infantry and police, and 3 field guns. During the Sikh wars in 1845 the chief exerted himelf in the English cause, and was rewarded with the title of Raja and an in crease of territory. In the mutiny of 1857, too, he did | good servica by guarding the Sutlej ferries, and in attack ing a notorious rebel, whose stronghold he destroyed, FARIDPUR, or FURREEDPORE, a district of British India, in the Dacca division of Bengal, lies in 22 47 53" 23 of 55" N. lat., and in 89 21 50" 90 16 0" E. long. It is bounded on the N. and E. by the Ganges or Padma river, separating it from Pubna and Dacca districts; on the W. by the Chandna and Madhumati rivers, separating it from Jessor ; and on the S. by Bakarganj. The general aspect of the district is flat, tame, and uninteresting, although in the northern tract the land is comparatively high, with a light sandy soil, covered with water during the rainy season, but dry during the cold and hot weather. From the town of Faridpur the ground slopes, until in the south, on the con fines of Bakarganj, it becomes one immense swamp, never entirely dry. During the height of the inundations the whole district may be said to be under water. The villages are built on artificially raised sites, or the high banks of the deltaic streams. Along many of the larger rivers the line of hamlets is unbroken for miles together, so that it is difficult to say where otic ends and another begins. The huts, however, except in markets and bazaars, are seldom close together, but are scattered amidst small garden plots, and groves of mango, date, and betel-nut trees. The plains between the villages are almost invariably more or less depressed towards the centre, where usually a marsh, or lake, or deep lagoon is found. These marshes, how ever, are gradually filling up by the silt deposited from the rivers ; in the north of the district there now only remain two or three large swamps, and in them the process may be seen going on. The climate of Faridpur is damp, like that of the other districts of Eastern Bengal : the average annual rainfall is 85 42 inches, and the average mean temperature 76 - 9 F. The principal rivers of Faridpur are the Ganges, the Arial Khan, and the Madhumati. The Ganges, or Padma as it is locally called, touches the extreme north-west corner of the district, flows along its northern boundary as far as Goalanda, where it receives the waters of the Jamuna or main stream of the Brahmaputra, and whence the united stream turns southwards and forms the eastern boundary of the district. At the confluence of the two great rivers, the current is so strong, and the eddies and whirlpools so numerous, that the most powerful river steamers proceeding up stream during the flood season are often unable to make headway, and have to lie for days at Goalanda point until the river subsides. The Padma is navigable by the largest cargo boats and river steamers throughout the year, its channel being estimated at an average of 1600 yards. The Arial Khdn is the principal branch of the Padmd. It takes off from the right bank of the parent stream a few miles below Faridpur town, and runs a south-easterly and southerly course till it leaves the district and flows into Bakarganj. The river is navigable by large cargo boats throughout the year, and has an average breadth during the rainy season of 1600 yards. The third great water channel is the Madhumati (a continuation of the Gardi branch of the Padma), which forms the western boundary of the dis trict. These rivers, but particularly the Padnui, are subject to constant alluvial changes on a large scale, and to re peated alterations in their course. Rice, the great crop of the district, is divided into four distinct species, each with many minor varieties These arc the aman or winter rice, which forms the prin cipal harvest, and is the great staple of export ; the dus or autumn rice ; and the spring boro and rdida rice, both grown in swamps and deep water, and forming the common food of the people. The other cereal crops are wheat, barley, oats, and Indian corn ; pulses, oilseeds, vegetables, fibres, sugar cane, date palms, indigo, safflower, betel-leaf, comprise the remaining important agricultural products. The area of the district, prior to recent changes of boundary, was 1506 square miles, of which 1143 were returned in 1871 as under cultivation, 133 as uncultivated but capable of till age, and 230 as uucultivable. More than one-half of the whole cultivated area is under rice. The only natural calamity to which the district is subject to any serious ex tent arises from floods, which occasionally cause a general destruction of the crops. The three principal lines of road in Faridpur are the Calcutta and Jessor imperial road, 19 miles in length ; Faridpur and Kalinagar road, 16 miles ; Faridpur and Talma road, 10 miles. The Eastern Bengal Railway runs for 22 miles from west to east through the north of the district, having its terminus at GoAlanda, at the junction of the Padma and Jamuna rivers. The census of 1872 showed a population of 1,012,589, 497,8."4 males and 514,735 females, inhabiting 2307 villages and 167,518 houses. The Mahometans number 588,299, or 581 per cent, of the whole; the Hindus, 420,988, or 41 6 per cent. ; Christians, 463; and "others," 2839. The material condition of the population has considerably improved of late years, owing to the increase of tillage and the general rise in prices of agricultural products. Two towns contain a population exceeding 5000, viz. (1) Faridpur, the chief town and administrative headquarters of the district : population in 1872, 8593 ; municipal revenue, 319, 3s. 7d. ; expenditure, 213, 19s. 2d. ; and (2) Sayyidpur : population, 6324 ; municipal revenue, 91, 4s. 9d. ; expenditure, 13t>, 3s. 2d. The other towns or villages of importance as places of trade are Bhanga. on the Kumar ; Gopdlganj, on the Madhumati ; Boalmari, on the Barasia ; Madhukhali and Betanga, on the Chandna ; Kanaipur, on the Kumar ; and Goalanda, on the Padma. The district has rapidly advanced in prosperity under British administration, especially of late years. In 1844-45 the total net revenue amounted to 9616, and the expenditure to 6004 ; in 1870-71 the net revenue was 58,868, and the expenditure 2o,r>13. The land revenue, which in 1850 amounted to 3803 paid l>y 448 proprietors, had increased in 1870-71 to 27,263, derived from 3126 proprietors. The regular police force consisted in 1871 of 341 officers and men, costing 6425. A small municipal force of 20 men is kept up in the municipal towns of Faridpur and Sayyidpur. The rural police consisted in 1871 of 2026 men, and cost 7658, contributed by the landholders and villages. The schools in 1872-73 numbered 176, with 6497 pupils. IX. - 5