BROACH, a town and district of Hindustan, in the province of Gujerat. The district is situated principally between the 21st and 22d degrees of north latitude, and it is bounded on the west by the Gulf of Cambay. It is one of the best cultivated and most populous tracts on the west coast of India, and was finally acquired by the Bombay presidency by the treaty concluded with Scindia in 1803. This district, prior to its occupation by the British, was greatly exposed to robberies; but since its final cession in 1803 it has enjoyed almost uninterrupted prosperity. Its chief annoyance has proceeded from the adjacent countries, out οι which such gangs of armed Bheels have issued as entirely to set at defiance the ordinary force of the police. The inhabitants of the district itself have been quiet, orderly, and industrious, and the land is remarkably high priced.

Broach, the capital, is situated on an eminence on the north bank of the Nerbuddah, twenty-five miles from the entrance of the river. The houses are generally lofty, and the streets narrow and dirty. In the town and vicinity are many dilapidated mosques and mausoleums. The town has a considerable trade, and annually exports large quantities of raw and manufactured, cotton to Bombay. Besides cotton, the principal exports are wheat, joaree, r 'ce, and other grains; nuts, oil seeds, and dyeing shrubs and plants. The water of the Nerbuddah is said to possess a peculiar property in bleaching clothes to a pure white; yet the muslins are inferior to those of Bengal, and the coloured chintzes to those on the Coromandel coast, n 1772 this city was besieged by a British force under general Wedderburne, brother to Lord Loughborough, P 0 was killed under its walls. It was stormed a few days atterwards. In 1782 it was ceded, along with the district, ⅛cindia; but was again taken possession of in 1803 by an army under Colonel Woodington, and has ever since emained in possession of the British. Broach is thought to have been the Barygaza of the ancients; and when it surrendered to the emperor Acbar in 1572 it still continued to be a p ace of great trade. In 1780 it was about two miles and a half in circumference, and fortified in the oriental manner, with high walls, perforated for musketry, and flanked with towers; forming, with its natural advantages, an Asiatic fortress of considerable strength. The travelling distance from Bombay is two hundred and twenty-one miles, from Oojein two hundred and sixty-six, and from Poona two hundred and eighty-seven miles. Lone 73. 14. E. Lat. 21. 46. N.

Broach, or Brooch, Brocha, from the French broche, denotes an awl or bodkin; also a large packing needle. A spit, in some parts of England, is called a broach ; and from this word comes to pierce or broach a barrel. In Scotland, broach, broche, brooch, or brotche, is the name of an utensil which the Highlanders used, like the fibula of the Romans, to fasten their vest or plaid. It is usually made of silver, of a round figure, with a tongue crossing its diameter, to fasten the folds of the garment; sometimes with two tongues, one on each side of a cross bar in the middle. There are preserved in several families ancient brooches of very elegant workmanship, and richly ornamented. Some of these are inscribed with names, to which particular virtues used to be attributed; others are furnished with receptacles for relics supposed to preserve the wearer from harm: so that these brooches seem to have been worn not only for use, but as amulets. One or two of this sort are figured and described by Mr Pennant, Tour in Scotland, i. 90, iii. 14, 3d. edit.