NAINI TAL  , a

town and district of British India, in the Kumaon division of the United Provinces . The town is 6400 ft. above sea-level . Pop . (19or) 7609 . Naini Tal is a popular sanatorium for the residents in the plains, and the summer head-quarters of the government of the province . It is situated on a lake, surrounded by high mountains, and is subject to landslides; a serious catastrophe of this kind occurred in September 1880 . The approach from the plains is by the Rohilkhand and Kumaon railway from Bareilly, which has its terminus at Kathgodam, 22 M. distant by cart road . There are several European schools, besides barracks and convalescent depot for European soldiers . The DISTRICT OF NAINI TAL comprises the lower hills of Kumaon and the adjoining Tarai or submontane strip . Area, 2677 sq. m . Pop . (19or) 311,237i showing a decrease of 15.4% in the decade .

The district includes the Gagar and other foothills of the Himalayas, which reach an extreme height of nearly 9000 ft . The Bhabar

tract at their base consists of boulders from the mountains, among which the hill streams are swallowed up . Forests cover vast tracts of the hill-country and the Bhabar . Beyond this is the Tarai, moist and extremely unhealthy . Here the principal crops are rice and wheat . In the hills a small amount of tea is grown, and a considerable quantity of fruit . The only railway is the line to Kathgodam . See Naini Tal District Gazetteer (Allahabad, 1904) .