SATYRS

SATYRS. See BACCHUS.

SAUGOR and NERBUDDA TERRITORIES, an extensive tract of India, forming the S.W. portion of the presidency of Bengal, lying between N. Lat. 21. 16. and 25. 15., E. Long. 76. 53. and 82. 51.; bounded on the N. by Bundelcund and the British districts of Banda, Allahabad, and Mirzapore; E. by Mirzapore and the native state of Korea; S. by the dominions of the Rajah of Berar, and of the Nizam; and W. by those of the Rajah of Bhopal and of the Scindia family. Length from E. to W. 380 miles, breadth 190, area 27,632 square miles. The greater part of these extensive territories is governed directly by the British; but there are also comprised within their limits the independent allied state of Rewah, and the petty states of Kotce, Myhr, Docheyra, and Sohawul, feudatory to the British government. The territories are subdivided as follows:—

The country is elevated and mountainous. Its eastern portion is occupied by a tableland, which rises in the summit of Amarakanak, at the extreme S.E., to the height of 3463 feet above the sea, but gradually slopes westwards to the valley of the Nerbudda, which flows through the middle of the territories from E. to W. This valley is inclosed on the N. by the Vindhya range, which is not very high, few summits exceeding the height of 2000 feet; and on the S. by the Mahadeo mountains, which have an average height of 2000 feet, and in some places are believed to attain to 2500 feet, or even higher. These ranges separate the waters of the Nerbudda from the affluents of the Ganges and Jumna on the one side, as well as from those of the Godavery on the other. Among the mineral productions of the land, iron and coal are the most important, and they are found in great abundance in various places. Good sandstone and limestone are also quarried in different parts of the territories. As to the soil, it is in the greater part of Saugor and Nerbudda productive of cotton; but some portions of the surface are covered with dense and gloomy forests, occupied by savage Indians of the Ghond tribes. There are few important events connected with the history of these territories. Ruled originally by Ghond princes, they were conquered by Akbar about 1599, and thus annexed to the empire of Delhi. On the fall of that empire, the peishwa obtained a nominal supremacy over these lands; but they were afterwards conquered by the Rajah of Berar, and finally ceded to the British in 1818.