grapes prepared by suffering them to remain on the vine until they are perfectly ripe, and then drying them in the sun, or by the heat of an oven. The difference between raisins dried in the sun and those dried in ovens is very obvious. The former are sweet and pleasant, but the latter have a latent acidity mixed with the sweetness, which renders them much less agreeable.

The common way of drying grapes for raisins, is to tie two or three bunches of them together whilst yet on the vine, and dip them into a hot lixivium of wood-ashes, mixed with a little of the oil of olives. This disposes them to shrink and wrinkle; after which they are left on the vine three or four days, separated on sticks in an horizontal situation, and then dried in the sun at leisure after being cut from the tree. The finest and best raisins are those called in some places Damascus and Jude raisins; which are distinguished from the others by their size and figure. They are flat and wrinkled on the surface, soft and juicy within, and nearly an inch long; and, when fresh and growing on the bunch, are of the size and shape of a large olive.

RAJAH, the title of the Indian princes, the remains of those who ruled there before the Moguls.

RAJAH CHOHNANS, a wild, rugged, and mountainous country, very little cultivated, in the province of Gundwana, and situated between the 23d and 24th degrees of north latitude. The principal town is Somnath, the usual residence of the Corair rajah. This tract of country is inhabited by the wildest tribes of India, and presents one continued succession of deep gullies, ravines, chasms, and defiles. The inhabitants are very poor, being collected in villages, which consist of not more than four or five huts each. A little rice, Indian corn, and a few other smaller grains, are the chief products. The country affords abundant cover for game of all sorts; and tigers, leopards, tigercats, and large black bears, abound in its woods and jungles.

RAJABARY, a considerable trading town of Bengal, in the district of Dacca, situated on the western bank of the river Megna. Long. 96. 21. E. Lat. 23. 25. N. Rajah, signifying prince, is the proper name of numerous towns in Hindustan.

RAJAHNAGUR, a town of Bengal, in the district of Dacca, situated on the eastern bank of the Ganges. Long. 93. 14. E. Lat. 23. 22. N. There is another place of this name in the Northern Circars, 12 miles north-east of Rajamundry.

RAJAMUNDROOG, a town and fortress of Hindustan, in the province of Bejapore, and district of Concan. It was taken by General Matthews in 1783, but afterwards ceded to Tippoo. It commands the entrance into the estuary and river Mirjee. Long. 73. 30. E. Lat. 14. 30. N.

RAJAMUNDRY, an extensive district of Hindustan, in the province of the Northern Circars, bounded on the north by Cicacole, and on the south by Ellore; on the west by the territories of the Nizam, and on the east by the Bay of Bengal. This district is intersected by the Godavery, and lies chiefly to the north of that river, though part of it is also to the south. At the distance of about thirty-five miles from the sea, this river divides itself into two great branches, and forms the island of Nagur, comprehending, within a triangular space, 500 square miles, but much greater in value than in extent. The whole district includes an area of 1700 square miles. The island of Nagur is intersected by lesser branches of the Godavery, which, supplying abundance of water, render it very productive, being fertilized by the slimy mould carried down by this great Rajamundry, the capital of the above-mentioned district, and the residence of the British civil establishment, is situated on the east bank of the Godavary, forty miles from the sea. It formerly possessed a good brick fort, which is now in ruins. Long. 81° 54' E. Lat. 16° 59' N.

RAJEGHUR, a town of Hindustan, in the territories of the Mahrattas, and province of Malwah, situated on the western bank of the Sopra River, sixty-seven miles north-east from Oojain. Long. 76° 27' E. Lat. 23° 56' N. There is another town of the same name in the province of Allahabad, situated on the river Cane, eighteen miles south-east from Chatterpoor. Long. 80° 5' E. Lat. 24° 44' N. Rajeghur is also the name of a range of hills in the province of Bihar.

RAJEMAL, or RAJEMARAL, an extensive but unproductive district of Bengal, situated about the twenty-fifth degree of north latitude. It has on the north Purneah and Dinagepoor, on the south the large seminary of Ranjeshy, on the east Dinagepoor and Ranjeshy, and on the west Monghir and Purricab. It is situated on the western bank of the Ganges, and comprises a great extent of waste and mountainous territory, inhabited in many parts by the aborigines of the country, who speak a distinct language, and differ entirely from the Hindus of Bengal in their manners, as they eat without scruple all kinds of animals. They are mostly low in stature, but strong and well proportioned. There are many of them under five feet ten inches, and more under five feet than above it. They have generally flattened noses, and lips thicker than the inhabitants of the plains. The country is for the most part barren and sandy. The soil in the vicinity of Rajemahal is said to be composed of a mixture of granite rock, which is not to be found lower down the river. The plains produce wheat and barley, and the villages abound with mango-trees of excellent quality. Indian corn and other grains form part of the crops, as well as rice, the mulberry tree, and the indigo plant. The castor-oil plant is raised in great quantities in the field; and in the jungles, which occupy large tracts of the country, the grass grows to the height of eight or ten feet, and is adorned at the top with a beautiful white down, resembling swans' feathers. These jungles afford shelter to numerous tigers, bears, and other wild beasts.

It was in this district that the experiment was first tried of granting lands to the native invalid officers and soldiers, on condition of their residing upon them and cultivating them. In this manner was formed in the wilds the village of Sicilgully; and this measure has been attended with the best effects, so that the traveller now passes with as much safety from human foes, in this district, as in any other part of the country. The territory is separated from Bahar by a range of hills, the Rajemahal Hills, compared by Bishop Heber to the hills of Cheshire, and consisting of a coarse granite. Through these hills are several passes, the chief of which is Terragully, up a narrow winding road, where there is a ruined gateway and fort, which formerly commanded the high road leading from Mourshedabad to Patna, and was considered as the key of Bengal. The roads are generally indifferent, owing to the force of the torrents during the rains, which bar up the bridges, and carry devastation throughout the country. The principal articles of traffic are common Hindustanee bedsteads, wood, planks, charcoal, cotton, honey, plantains, and sweet potatoes, which are exchanged for salt, tobacco, rice, cloth, iron heads for arrows, hatchets, crooks, and iron instruments. Their domestic animals are hogs, goats, and fowls, besides cats and dogs. The people of these mountains, observes Bishop Heber, and of all the hilly country between Sicilgully and Burdwan, are a distinct race from those of the plain, in features, language, civilization, and religion. They have neither castes nor Hindu deities, and are even said to have no idols. They are still more naked than even the Hindu peasants, and live chiefly by the chase, pursuing their game with bows and arrows. Some few of them have fire-arms. Until within the last fifty years, a deadly feud existed between them and the cultivators of the neighbouring lands, upon which they were continually making forays; and being both thieves and murderers, they were shot without mercy by the zamindars, in the same manner as tigers or other wild beasts. But by the wise and benevolent management of an excellent young man, judge and magistrate of Bogipoor, these rude tribes were reclaimed from their barbarous habits by just and merciful treatment, all violence on the part of the zamindars being forbidden, and promptly punished. He took other methods of conciliating their favour, and engaged several of them to enter his service; he established bazars at the villages nearest them, and encouraged them to bring for sale game, millet, wax, hides, and honey, which are produced abundantly in their hills; he gave them wheat and barley for seed; and, finally, he raised amongst them a corps of Sepoys, who were established at Sicilgully, and gave the command of them to a native chief, named Jowrah, who, Bishop Heber remarks, was the Rob Roy, or more properly the Roderick Dhu, of the Rajemahals, but who fully justified the judgment and discrimination of Mr Cleveland's choice. "This good and wise man," adds Bishop Heber, a pattern himself of the same qualities, died in 1784, at the early age of twenty-nine. In honour of his memory, a monument, in the form of a pagoda, was erected by the zamindars and others, at the expense of government." The principal towns are Rajemal and Mauldah, and the chief river the Ganges, but it is intersected by a variety of smaller streams in all directions.

RAJEMAL (the royal residence), the capital of the above district, is situated on the western bank of the Ganges, at the foot of a range of hills. The modern town consists only of one street, composed of stone, generally two stories in height, with the ruins of a palace, which has been much injured by the encroachments of the river. Its empty halls, marble porticoes, and half-decayed vaults, still presentiments of its former grandeur. An inconsiderable traffic continues to be carried on with the inhabitants of the hills; and there are quarries which supply the neighbourhood with flags and millstones. This place decayed from various causes, namely, an inundation of the Ganges, which swept away a con- Rajoorah, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Aurungzebe, forty miles south-west from Nandere. Long. 77. 15. E. Lat. 18. 38. N.

RAJPOOR, a town of Hindustan, in the province of Bejapoor, and situated on the sea-coast of the Concan district. This was formerly a much-frequented port, and was taken from the king of Bejapoor by the Mahratta chief Sevaje in 1670. It was also of considerable importance during the wars between Aurungzebe and the Mahrattas, and formed the principal station of the fleet. Long. 73. 3. E. Lat. 16. 48. N. It is also the name of a small village in the province of Gujerat, near its western boundary. The surrounding country is covered with thick jungle, which is the resort of numerous thieves. It is likewise the name of a town in the province of Berar, situated on the river Wurda, which here makes a considerable curve to the eastward. It is ten miles south-east from Chandah. Long. 80. E. Lat. 19. 56. N.