Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886. Empire of India. Special catalogue of exhibits by the Government of India and private exhibitors. Royal Commission and Government of India silk culture court. Descriptive catalogue / by Thomas Wardle.

Date:
1886
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Colonial and Indian Exhibition, 1886. Empire of India. Special catalogue of exhibits by the Government of India and private exhibitors. Royal Commission and Government of India silk culture court. Descriptive catalogue / by Thomas Wardle. Source: Wellcome Collection.

    32/434 (page 16)
    CHAPTER IV. CLASS A.—THE COUNTRY. DIVISION I.—PHYSICAL FEATURES. [Exhibits under Section (1) Geography, and (2) Meteorology are placed in the Economic Court Annexe; those under Section (3) Geology in the Economic Court.'] (1) Geography. Maps. 1. Raised Map of India. Seale 1 in. = 32 miles.—This model lias been made from the latest maps. On so small a scale as 1 in. = 32 miles it is necessary to greatly exaggerate the heights of the mountains, hence the vertical scale is twelve times the horizontal; though it is impossible to show minute features, great care has been taken to preserve the relative heights of the plains, plateaux, and hill tops. Geographical information is too scanty to allow of Burma or the countries north of India being accurately modelled; hence the representations of the hills end abruptly in those regions. 2. Contour Map of India. Scale 1 in. = 64 miles.—This map was prepared not to represent accurately the configuration of the hills, as its name perhaps implies, but to show the mean height of the mountain masses. On the map itself will be found a note describing how it was compiled, as also some tabular statements giving interesting information. 3. Map of Principal River Basins. Scale 1 in. = 96 miles.—A glanco at this map shows that nearly all the large rivers of India How into the Bay of Bengal. The most notable exceptions are the Indus, the Nerbudda, and Tapti. The Indus and Brahmapootra, rising from nearly the same place in Tibet, flow in exactly opposite directions, the one into the Arabian Sea, and the other into the Bay of Bengal. The tabular statements on the map itself give the lengths of the rivers and other interesting information. 4. Irrigation Map.—This map shows the canal systom, and indicates clearly how the rivers of the Himalayas have been made to water the alluvial plains of the Punjab and of the North- Western Provinces. The width of the canals is necessarily much exaggerated, since, if drawn to scale, they would hardly be visible. This cir- cumstance accounts for the apparent smallness of the area irrigated when compared with the net work of canals. The series of blocks in each province shows the actual areas under irrigation from canals, wells, and other sources, the latter head including tanks, lakes, and small rivers. The irrigation from canals is divided into snow-fed and river-fed irrigation, the differ- ence between the two being that the former is independent of, and the latter dependent on, the annual rainfall. About half of the well area is said to be independent of annual rainfall, while almost all the irrigation from “ other sources ’’ is dependent on it. 5. Railway Coal and Iron.—This map shows the railways of India constructed to date as well as those which are in contemplation. The red dots denote places where iron, and the rod splashes where coal is found. 6. General Maps of India. 7. Civil Divisions.—This map indicates (1) the Provinces under the British Government, and (2) the leading Native States of India, the former being coloured pink, and the latter yellow. A comparison of this map with the Meteorological and Geographical maps will show that a considerable portion of the yellow area, especially in North-Western Rajputana, where the country is desert, is dry and infertile. 8. Map showing Density of Population.— The interest of this map consists chiefly in the indication it gives of the way in which popula- tion crowds on the alluvial lands of the Gauges valley ; a sine indication of the fertility of Bengal, the North-Western Provinces, and the south-east section of the Punjab. This map should be compared with the raised map on the table in the Economic Court. 9. Distribution of Languages. — It will be observed that the languages of Northern and Central India belong almost exclusively to the Aryan and those of Southern India to the Dravidian group. The total number of distinct Indian languages spoken in India was estimated at the last census in 18S1 as 106. 10. Distribution of Religions.—-Of the inhabi- tants of India about 74 per cent, are Hindus, 19 per cent. Muhammadans, 1 per cent Budd- hists, and 7 per cent. Christians. Muhamma- danism is most prevalent in the Punjab and in Bengal, in which provinces its followers number about one-lialf and one-third respectively of the population. Of the Christians, about two- thirds belong to the Madras Presidency. 11. Missionary Stations.—On this map the name of every missionary station is underlined in red, and close to it are placed the symbols which denote the societies of which there are representatives at that station. It will be seen that missionaries arc considerably more nu- merous in the south of India than elsewhere, and the religion map shows that only in this part of India are Christians in any great numbers.