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BIJAPUR DISTRICT.
Area
...
...
....
Population in 1891 ...
Density of population
Rain-fall
...
...
...
5,668 sq. miles.
796,339.
140 . 42 per sq. mile.
22 inches.
Boundaries.
The Bijapur District—an irregular, egg-shaped belt of land,—110 miles long, and
varying in breadth from 75 miles in the centre to 5 in the extreme
north and 50 in the south—forms the most easterly portion of the
Bombay Presidency. Its boundaries are roughly as follows :—North and north-east, Sholapur
District and Akalkot State ; east and south-east, the Nizam's territory ; south-west, Lhárwár
District and Rámdurg State ; west, Belga urn District and some minor States. The Bhima
River separates it from Sholapur District on the north and north-east : and the Malprabha
River on the south-west from Belgaum District.
Climate and natural
features.
The climate, except in Bádtími, which is overgrown with stunted bushy vegetation, and
in Muddebihal, which is marshy, is dry and healthy. March and
April are the hottest months of the year. The heat of May is relieved
by clouds and occasional thunderstorms. The District is well watered, for, although the
rainfall is small, rivers and streams abound. The soil of this District is of two kinds—black
and red. The black soil, which is formed by the ruins of rock changed by organic matter,
has great moisture-holding capacity, and in the rainy season becomes clayey and impassable :
while in the hot weather it shrinks and gapes in deep fissures. This black soil is
exceedingly fertile, and the Dar Valley, where it abounds, is proverbially known as the
"Granary of Bijapar." The red soil does not retain moisture and is unfruitful.
Previous epidemics.
Bijápur District appears to have previously suffered from only one recorded epidemic of
plague. This occurred in the year 1689. Aurungzebe himself was at
Bijápur at the time, and the disease appears to have broken out first
amongst his soldiers. 100,000 people are said fco have perished in this outbreak ; and many more
fled. When the disease had abated, Aurungzebe ordered a census : and it was found that
1,016,000 persons had melted away in the outbreak of plague and in the destruction of Sháhá-
pur. Bijápur City never recovered itself, and from that time it decayed with a speed for which
it is difficult to account. Aurungzebe, anxious that it should regain its former importance,
made every effort to restore its prosperity. All, however, was in vain: life had left the City.*
Imported cases an the
Bijapur District.
1897-98.
Up to the beginning of December 1897 this District eujoyed a happy immunity from
plague, From that time, however, up to the end of February
1898, imported cases, rarely absent from the history of any
plague epidemic, occurred. But they were not—either at any particular time, or, in the
aggregate, throughout the period of their occurrence—numerous. From the 3rd December
1897 to the 23rd February 1898 (the date of the first indigenous cases), the total number of:
these imported cases amounted to 3. These occurred between the 3rd and 20th December
1897, producing no ill results : and the slight epidemic which occurred in Kaládgi during
February and March 1898 in all probability owed its origin to infection from the Sholapur
District. No other village was infected, nor were there any more imported cases till the end
of October in the same year.
* Bombay Gazetten; Vol. XXHI.
70