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BALASORE , a See also: town and See also: district of See also: British See also: India, in the See also: Orissa division of See also: Bengal
.
The town is the See also: principal one and the administrative headquarters of the district, and is situated on the right See also: bank of the See also: river Burabalang, about 7 M. from the See also: sea-See also: coast as the crow flies and 16 m. by the river
.
There is a station on the See also: East Coast railway
.
The See also: English See also: settlement of Balasore, formed in 1642, and that of Pippli in its neighbourhood seven years earlier, became the basis of the future greatness of the British in India
.
The servants of the East India See also: Company here fortified themselves in a strong position, and carried on a brisk investment in country goods, chiefly cottons and muslins
.
They flourished in spite of the oppressions of the See also: Mahommedan See also: governors, and when needful asserted their claims to respect by arms
.
In 1688, affairs having come to a crisis, Captain See also: William Heath,
See also: commander of the company's See also: ships, bombarded the town
.
In the 18th century Balasore rapidly declined in importance, on account of a dangerous See also: bar which formed across the mouth of the river
.
At See also: present the bar has 12 to 15 ft. of See also: water at spring-tides, but not more than 2 or 3 ft. at low water in the dry season
.
Large ships have to anchor outside in the open roadstead
.
The town still possesses a large maritime See also: trade, despite the silting-up of the river mouth
.
Pop
.
(1901) 20,880 . The district forms a See also: strip of alluvial See also: land between the hills and the sea, varying from about 9 to 34 M. in breadth; See also: area, 2085 sq. m
.
The See also: hill country rises from the western boundary
See also: line
.
The district naturally divides itself into three well-defined tracts —(1) The See also: salt See also: tract, along the coast; (2) The arable tract, or See also: rice country; and (3) The submontane tract, or See also: jungle lands
.
The salt tract runs the whole way down the coast, and forms a desolate strip a few See also: miles broad
.
Towards the See also: beach it rises into sandy ridges, from 50 to 8o ft. high, sloping inland and covered with a
vegetation of low scrub jungle
.
Sluggish brackish streams creep along between See also: banks of fetid black mud
.
The sandhills on the See also: verge of the ocean are carpeted with creepers and the See also: wild convolvulus
.
Inland, it spreads out into prairies of coarse long grass and scrub jungle, which harbour wild animals in plenty; but throughout this vast region there is scarcely a See also: hamlet, and only patches of rice cultivation at long intervals
.
From any See also: part of the salt tract one may see the boundary of the inner arable part of the district fringed with long lines of trees, from which every See also: morning the villagers drive their cattle out into the saliferous plains to graze
.
The salt tract is purely alluvial, and appears to be of See also: recent date
.
Towards the coast the See also: soil has a distinctly saline taste
.
Salt used to be largely manufactured in the district by evaporation, but the industry is nowSee also: extinct
.
The arable tract lies beyond the salt lands, and embraces the chief part of the district
.
It is a long dead-level of See also: rich See also: fields, with a soil lighter in colour than that of Bengal or See also: Behar; much more friable, and See also: apt to split up into small cubes with a rectangular cleavage
.
A See also: peculiar feature of the arable tract is the Pats (literally cups) or depressed lands near the river-banks
.
They were probably marshes that have partially silted up by the yearly overflow of the streams
.
These pats bear the finest crops
.
- As a whole, the arable tract is a treeless region, except around the villages, which are en-circled by See also: fine See also: mango, pipal, banyan and See also: tamarind trees, and intersected with See also: green shady lanes of See also: bamboo
.
A few palmyras, date-palms and screw-pines (a sort of See also: aloe, whose leaves are armed with formidable triple rows of See also: hook-shaped thorns) dot the expanse or run in straight lines between the fields
.
The sub-montane tract is an undulating country with a red soil, much broken up into ravines along the See also: foot of the hills
.
Masses of See also: laterite, buried in hard ferruginous See also: clay, crop up as rocks or slabs
.
At Kopari, in Kila Ambohata, about 2 sq. m. are almost paved with such slabs, dark-red in colour, perfectly flat and polished like plates of iron
.
A thousand See also: mountain torrents have scooped out for themselves picturesque ravines, clothed with an ever-fresh verdure of prickly thorns, stunted gnarled shrubs, and here and there a See also: noble See also: forest See also: tree
.
Large tracts are covered with sal jungle, which nowhere, however, attains to any See also: great height
.
Balasore district is watered by six distinct river systems: those of the Subanrekha, the Burabalang, the Jamka, the Kansbans and the Dhamra
.
The See also: climate greatly varies according to the seasons of the See also: year
.
The hot season lasts from See also: March to
See also: June, but is tempered by cool sea-breezes; from June to See also: September the weather is close and oppressive; and from See also: October to See also: February the cold season brings the See also: north-easterly winds, with cool mornings and evenings
.
Almost the only crop grown is rice, which is largely exported by sea
.
The country is exposed to destructive floods from the hill-See also: rivers and also from cyclonic See also: storm-waves
.
The district is traversed throughout its entire length by the navigable Orissa coast canal, and also by the East Coast railway from See also: Calcutta to See also: Madras
.
The seaports of Balasore, Chandbali and Dhamra conduct a very large See also: coasting trade
.
The exports are almost confined to rice, which is sent to See also: Ceylon, the Maldives and See also: Mauritius
.
The imports consist of See also: cotton twist and piece goods, See also: mineral oils, metals, betel-nuts and salt
.
In 1901 the population was 1,071,197, an increase of 9 % in the See also: decade
.
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