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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 19, p. 114.

NIIIIAR DISTRICT decorating the interiors of houses are also made. In 1904 the District contained 26 cotton-ginning factories and 9 pressing factories. Most of these are at Khandwa; and there are two ginning factories and two presses at Lalbagh, the station for Burhanpur, and ginning factories at Nimarkhedi, Jawar, and Pandhana in the Khandwa tahsil, and at Ichhapur, Burhanpur, Shahpur, Bahadurpur, and Aimagird in the Burhanpur tahsil. The proprietors are generally Marwari Banias, Muhammadan Bohras, or Parsis, but a few are Maratha Brahmans. The large majority of the factories have been opened since 1890, and many new ones have been started within the last few years. The amount of capital invested in them is approximately 13 lakhs, and their output for 1904 was 180,965 cwt. of cotton ginned, and 202,989 cwt. pressed. A combined oil mill, timber factory, and iron foundry has been established at Khandwa, with a capital of Rs. 22,000. Raw cotton and cotton-seed, til, and jowdr are the principal exports. Most of the jowar sent from Khandwa comes from Indore and the adjoining States. Other exports include san-hemp, timber and bam- boos, flowers and seed of the mahud-tree, and ground-nuts. Salt comes from Bombay, and a coarser kind from Ahmadabad, a°ur or unrefined sugar from Poona and Northern India, and tobacco from Gujarat. Building and paving stones are obtained from Hoshangabad. The cotton trade is in the hands of Muhammadan Bhatias, and that in oilseeds is conducted by a European firm. The Great Indian Peninsula Railway line to Jubbulpore passes through the centre of the District, with a length of 89 miles and 16 stations within its limits. From Khandwa, the Rajputana-Malwa metre-gauge line branches off to Indore, with a length of 29 miles and 5 stations in Nimar. There are no metalled roads, except short feeders. The only made road is that from Khandwa towards Mhow, and this has now been superseded by the railway. The rocky nature of the soil permits of the maintenance of a network of passable tracks in the open country but the communications with the upper Tapti valley and across the passes to Berar are somewhat deficient, and are now being improved by the construction of main roads. The total length of metalled roads is 62 miles, and of unmetalled roads 117 miles. With the exception of 24 miles maintained by the District council, all are in charge of the Public Works department; and the annual expenditure on maintenance is Rs. 56,ooo. There are avenues of trees on only one or two short lengths of road. The first recorded famine in Nimar was in the year 1803, and was due to a failure of rain combined with the devastation caused by Sindhia's armies. It is known as the Mahd-hdl, or Famine. 'great famine,' and grain sold at 1 lb. per rupee. The fertile and populous tracts of Zainabad and Manjrod became