BASTAR 121
in 1802, the treaty by which the Peshwa agreed to maintain a British
subsidiary force, thus virtually dissolving the Maratha confederacy.
Of Old Bassein, the walls and ramparts remain in a state of good
preservation. Within the enclosure, the ruins of the cathedral, of the
Dominican convent, of the Jesuit Church of St. Paul, and of
St. Anthony's Church, built as early as I537, can still be identified.
[Dr. Da Cunha, Antiquities of Bassein (Bombay, 1876).]
Bastar.-Feudatory State in the Central Provinces, lying between
17° 46′ and 20° 14′ N. and 80° 15′ and 82° 15′ E., with an area of
I3,062 square miles. It is situated in the south-eastern corner of the
Province, and is bounded north by the Kanker State, south by the
Godavari District of Madras, west by Chanda District, Hyderabad
State, and the Godavari river, and east by the Jeypore estate in
Vizagapatam. The chief town is Jagdalpur (population, 4,762), situated
on the Indravati river, 136 miles south of Dhamtari. The town
is well laid out, with many handsome buildings and two fine tanks.
The central and north-western portions of the State are very moun-
tainous. To the east, for two-thirds of the total length from north to
south, extends a plateau with an elevation of about 2,000 feet above
sea-level, broken by small isolated ranges. The old and new capitals,
Bastar and Jagdalpur, are situated towards the south of the plateau.
The Indravati river, rising in the Kalahandi State, enters Bastar on the
plateau near Jagdalpur, and flows across the centre of the State from
east to west, dividing it into two portions. On reaching the border
it turns to the south, and forms the boundary of Bastar until it joins the
Godavari below Sironcha. At Chitrakot, where the Indravati leaves
the Jagdalpur plateau, is a fine waterfall, 94 feet high, while the course
of the river through the western hills exhibits some extremely picturesque
scenery. The rivers next in importance are the Sabari, which divides
Bastar from Jeypore on the east, and the Tel, which rises in the State
and flows south-west to the Godavari. The north-western portion of
the State is covered by a mass of rugged hills known locally as the
Abujmar, or country of the Maria Gonds. South of the Indravati
the Bailadila ('bullock's hump') range runs through the centre of
Bastar from north to south, its highest peaks being over 4,000 feet
above sea-level, while smaller ranges extend in an easterly direction to
the south of the plateau. The south-western tracts are low-lying, but
are broken by ranges of sandstone hills, all of which run from north-west
to south-east, each range ending in a steep declivity, a few miles south
of which another parallel chain commences. Great boulders of vitrified
sandstone strew the surface of these hills and gleam pink in the sun.
The rock formation belongs partly to the gneissic and transition series,
but is mainly the Lower Vindhyan, consisting of sandstones, shales, and
limestones. The forests in the south-west contain a considerable
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