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DARJEELING

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Originally appearing in Volume V07, Page 834 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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DARJEELING , a See also:

hill station and See also:district of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:Bhagalpur See also:division of See also:Bengal. The See also:sanatorium is situated 367 M. by See also:rail See also:north of See also:Calcutta. In 1901 it had a See also:population of 16,924. It is the summer quarters of the Bengal See also:government and has a most agreeable See also:climate, which neither exceeds 8o° F. in summer, nor falls below 3o° in See also:winter. The See also:great attraction of Darjeeling is its scenery, which is unspeakably See also:grand. The view across the hills to See also:Kinchinjunga discloses a glittering See also:white See also:wall of perpetual See also:snow, surrounded by towering masses of See also:granite. There are several See also:schools of considerable See also:size for See also:European boys and girls, and a government boarding school at See also:Kurseong. The buildings and the roads suffered severely from the See also:earthquake of the 12th of See also:June 1897. But a more terrible disaster occurred in See also:October 1899, when a See also:series of landslips carried away houses and See also:broke up the hill railway. The See also:total value of the See also:property destroyed was returned at £16o,000. The district of Darjeeling comprises an See also:area of 1164 sq. m. It consists of two well-defined tracts, viz. the See also:lower Himalayas to the See also:south of See also:Sikkim, and the See also:tarai, or plains, which extend from the south of these ranges as far as the See also:northern See also:borders of See also:Purnea district.

The plains from which the hills take their rise are only 300 ft. above See also:

sea-level; the mountains ascend abruptly in spurs of 6000 to 10,000 ft. in height. The scenery throughout the hills is picturesque, and in many parts magnificent. The two highest mountains in the See also:world, Kinchinjunga in Sikkim (28,156 ft.) and See also:Everest in See also:Nepal (29,002 ft.), are visible from the See also:town of Darjeeling. The See also:principal peaks within the district are—Phalut (11,811 ft.), Subargum (11,636), Tanglu (10,084), Situng and Sinchal Pahai (8163). The See also:chief See also:rivers are the See also:Tista, Great and Little Ranjit, Ramman, Mahananda, Balasan and Jaldhaka. None of them is navigable in the See also:mountain valleys; but the Tista, after it debouches on the plains, can be navigated by See also:cargo boats of considerable burthen. Bears, leopards and See also:musk See also:deer are found on the higher mountains, deer on the lower ranges, and I2 a few elephants and tigers on the slopes nearest to the plains. In the lowlands, tigers, rhinoceroses, deer and See also:wild hogs are abundant. A few wolves are also found. Of small See also:game, See also:hares, See also:jungle See also:fowl, peacocks, partridges, See also:snipe, See also:woodcock, wild ducks and geese, and See also:green pigeons are numerous in the tarai, and jungle fowl and pheasants in the hills. The See also:mahseer See also:fish is found in the Tista. In 1901 the population was 249,117, showing an increase of 12 % since 1891, compared with an increase of 43 % in the previous See also:decade.

The inhabitants of the hilly See also:

tract consist to a large extent of Nepali immigrants and of aboriginal highland races; in the tarai the See also:people are chiedly See also:Hindus and Mahommedans. The Lepchas are considered to be the aboriginal inhabitants of the hilly portion of the district. They are a See also:fine, See also:frank See also:race, naturally open-hearted and See also:free-handed, fond of See also:change and given to an out-See also:door See also:life ; but they do not seem to improve on being brought into contact with See also:civilization. It is thought that they are now being gradually driven out of the district, owing to the increase of See also:regular cultivation, and to the government conservation of the forests. They have no word for plough in their See also:language, and they still follow the nomadic See also:form of tillage known as jum cultivation. This consists in selecting a spot of virgin See also:soil, clearing it of See also:forest and jungle by burning, and scraping the See also:surface with the rudest agricultural implements. The productive See also:powers of the See also:land become exhausted in a few years, when the clearing is abandoned, a new site is chosen, and the same operations are carried on de novo. The Lepchas are also the See also:ordinary out-door labourers on the hills. They have no See also:caste distinctions but speak of themselves as belonging to one of nine septa or clans, who all eat together and intermarry with each other. In the upper or northern tarai, along the See also:base of the hills, the Mechs form the principal ethnical feature. This tribe inhabits the deadly jungle with impunity, and cultivates See also:cotton, See also:rice and other ordinary crops, by the jum See also:process described above. The cultivation of See also:tea was introduced in 1856, and is now a large See also:industry.

See also:

Cinchona 'cultivation was introduced by the government in 1862, and has since been taken up by private enterprise. There is a See also:coal mine at Daling. The Darjeeling Himalayan railway of 2 ft. See also:gauge, opened in 188o, runs for 50 M. from Siliguri in the plains on the Eastern Bengal See also:line. The British connexion with Darjeeling See also:dates from 1816, when, at the See also:close of the See also:war with Nepali, the British made over to the Sikkim See also:raja the tarai tract, which had been wrested from him and annexed by Nepal. In 1835 the See also:nucleus of the See also:present district of British Sikkim or Darjeeling was created by a cession of a portion of the hills by the raja of Sikkim to the British as a sanatorium. A military expedition against Sikkim, rendered necessary in 185o by the imprisonment of Dr A. See also:Campbell, the See also:superintendent of Darjeeling, and See also:Sir See also:Joseph See also:Hooker, resulted in the stoppage of the See also:allowance granted to the raja for the cession of the hill station of Darjeeling, and in the See also:annexation of the Sikkim tarai at the See also:foot of the hills and of a portion of the hills beyond. In See also:August 1866 the hill territory See also:east of the Tista, acquired as the result of the See also:Bhutan See also:campaign of 1864, was added to the See also:jurisdiction of Darjeeling.

End of Article: DARJEELING

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