GHAZIPUR  , a

town and district of British India, in the Benares division of the United Provinces . The town stands on the left bank of the Ganges, 44 M . E. of Benares . It is the headquarters of the government opium department, where all the opium from the United Provinces is collected and manufactured under a monopoly . There are also scent distilleries, using the produce of the rose-gardens in the vicinity . Lord Cornwallis, governor-general of India, died at Ghazipur in 18o5, and a domed monument and marble statue (by Flaxman) are erected over his grave . Pop . (1901) 39,429 . The district of Ghazipur has an area of 1389 sq. m . It forms part of the great alluvial plain of the Ganges, which divides it into two unequal portions . The northern subdivision lies between the Gumti and the Gogra, whose confluences with the main stream mark its eastern and western limits respectively . The southern tract is a much smaller strip of country, enclosed between the Karamnasa and the great river itself .

There are no hills in the district . A few lakes are scattered here and there, formed where the

rivers have deserted their ancient channels . The largest is that of Suraha, once a northern bend of the Ganges, but now an almost isolated sheet of water, 5 M. long by about 4 broad . Ghazipur is said to be one of the hottest and dampest districts in the United Provinces . In 1901 the population was 913,818, showing a decrease of II % in the decade . Sugar refining is the chief industry, and provides the principal article of export . The main line of the East Indian railway traverses the southern portion of the district, with a branch to the Ganges bank opposite Ghazipur town; the northern portion is served by the Bengal & North-Western system .