PANCH MAHALS ( = Five Districts)  , a

district of British India, in the northern division of Bombay . Area, 16o6 sq. m., pop . (1901), 261,020, showing a decrease of 17% in the decade, owing to famine . The administrative headquarters are at Godhra, pop . (1901), 20,915 . Though including Champaner, the old Hindu capital of Gujarat, now a ruin, this tract has no history of its own . It became British territory as recently as 1861, by a transfer from Sindhia; and it is the only district of Bombay proper that is administered on the non-regulation system, the collector being also political agent for Rewa Kantha . It consists of two separate parts, divided by the territory of a native state . The south-western portion is for the most part a level plain of rich soil; while the northern, although it comprises some fertile valleys, is generally rugged, undulating and barren, with but little cultivation . The mineral products comprise sandstone, granite and other kinds of building stone . Mining for manganese on a large scale has been begun by a European firm, and the iron and lead ores may possibly become profitable . Only recently has any attempt been made to con-serve the extensive forest tracts, and consequently little timber of any size is to be found .

The

principal crops are maize, millets, rice, pulse and oilseeds; there are manufactures of lac bracelets and lacquered toys; the chief export is timber . Both portions of the district are crossed by the branch of the Bombay and Baroda railway from Anand, through Godhra and Dohad, to Ratlam; and a chord line, opened in 1904, runs from Godhra to Baroda city . The district suffered very severely from the famine of 1899-1900 .