BHAMÓ, or Banmo (in Chinese, Tsinggai), a city of Upper Burmah, situated in 24 16 N. lat. and 95 54 47" E. long., on the left bank of the Irawady, a short distance beluw its confluence with the Tapeng, and about 300 miles up the river from Mandalay the capital. It was formerly a very flourishing city, and the chief town of a Shan prin cipality ; and though greatly decayed, it is still the seat of a Burmese governor and the centre of a considerable trade. At the time of Dr John Anderson s visit in the year 18G8 (Expedition to Western Yunnan, 1871), it consisted of about 500 houses of sun-burnt brick, and had an estimated population of 2500, partly Shans and partly Chinese. The latter possess a temple and theatre, and there were remains of ancient pagodas and other buildings. In the neighbourhood are ruins of two cities, called Tsam- penago, both of considerable extent. Special attention has been directed to Bhamo as an important position for the development of commerce between British India and Western Yunnan, no fewer than four practicable routes leading eastward from the city to Momein.
BHANDÁRÁ, a district of British India, under the jurisdiction of the Chief Commissioner of the Central Provinces, situated between 20 and 22 N. lat., and 79 and 81 E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the districts of Seoni and Balaghat, on the E. by the district of Raipur, on the S. by the district of ChdndA, and on the W. by the district of Nagpur. To the north, north-east, and east, a natural boundary line is marked out by lofty hills, inhabited by Gonds and other aboriginal tribes, while the west and north-west are comparatively open. Small branches of the Satpurd range make their way into the interior of the district. The Atnbagarh, or Sendurjhari hills, which skirt the south of the Chandpur pargana, have an average height of between 300 and 400 feet above the level of the plain. The other elevated tracts are the Balahi hills, the Kanheri hills, and the Nawegaon hills. The Wainganga is the principal river in the district, and the only stream that does not dry up in the hot weather, its affluents within the district being the Bawanthari, Baghnadi, Kanhan, and Chulban. There are 3648 small lakes and tanks in Bhandard district, whence it is called the " lake region of Nagpur ; " they afford ample means of irrigation. More than one-third of the district lies under jungle, which yields gum, medicinal fruits and nuts, edible fruits, lac, honey, and the blossoms of the mahud tree (Bassia latifolia) ,vhich are eaten by the poorer classes, and used for the manu facture of a kind of spirit. Tigers, panthers, deer, wild hogs, and other wild animals abound in the forests, and during the rainy season many deaths occur from snake-bites.
Bhandara district contains an assessed area of 3148 - 61 square miles, or 2,015,114 acres, of which 819,922 acres were under culti vation in 1869; 30,845 acres, grazing lands ; 550,922 acre?, culti vable but not under cultivation ; and 613,425 acres uncultivable waste. The census of 1872 gave the total area of the district at 3922 square miles, and returned the population at 564,819 (144 to the square mile), residing in 106,121 houses and 1589 villages. Of the total population, 472,151, or 83 60 per cent., were Hindus ; 10,696, or 1 89 per cent., Mahometans; 520 Buddhists or Jains ; 61 Christians ; and 81,379, or 14 41 per cent., were aboriginal tribes of unspecified religion. The Hindu population is chiefly divided into the following castes: Brahmans, " Pardesis," or foreigners (generally Rajputs), Ponwars, Lodliis, Kunbis, Koris, Kalals, Telis, Dhimars, Koshtis, Goaras, and Dhers. The inhabit ants are rude and unpolished in their manners, and slothful in their habits. The agricultural products of the district consist of rice, wheat, grain, pulses, peas, sugar-cane, oil-seeds, and cotton ; the following being an estimate of the acreage under different crops : rice, 543,019 acres; wheat, 86,064; other food grains, 147,982; oil-seeds, 27,068 ; sugar-cane, 12,561 ; fibres, 197 ; tobacco, 558 ; and vegetables, 2128 acres total, 819,477 acres, or 1280 43 square miles. Iron is the chief mineral product. Gold is also found in the bed of the Son Xadi, but does not repay the trouble of searching for it. Laterite, shale, and sandstone occur all over the district the largest quarries being near Bhandara town, at Korambi, and in the Balahi hills. Native cloth, brass wrres, -pot-stone wares, cart wheels, straw and reed baskets, and a small quantity of silk, form the only manufactures of the district. Cotton, salt, wheat, rice, oil-seeds, hardware, English piece go^ds, tobacco, silk, dyes, and cattle, are its chief articles of import ; and country cloth, tobacco, and hardware its exports. The Great Eastern Road is the only well-raised, bridged, and metalled road in the district ; but there are also five or six second-class roads, unmetalled and unbridged, but levelled, and sloped at the crossings of water-courses. The revenue demand for 1S68-G9 amounted to 40,296, 8s. froml. .nd, 5592, 2s. from excise, 3774, 18s. from stamps, 2553, 10s. from forests, 5051, 10s. from assessed taxes total, 57,268, 8s. The regular police force of 442 men was maintained in 1868 at a cost of 5584, 10s., exclusive of the village watch. In 1868 the district con tained 38 Government and 78 private schools, affording instruction to 7109 boys and 215 girls. Four towns have upwards of 5000 inhabitants: (1.) Bhandara population, 11,433; municipal income, population, 6183; municipal revenue, 198; expenditure, 244, 2s.; rate of taxation, 7?d. per head ; (4.) Pauni population, 8976 ; municipal revenue, 174, 10s. ; expenditure, 233, 18s. ; rate of taxa tion, 4gd. per head. Bhandara district contains 25 semi-independent chiefships, having an area of 1509 square miles, and a population of 166,005 souls in 1866. These little states are exempted from the revenue system, and only pay a light tribute. Their territory, how ever, is included within the returns of area and population above given. The climate of Bhandara is unhealthy, the prevailing diseases being fever, small-pox, and cholera. Nothing is known of the early history of the district. Tradition says that at a remote period a tribe of men, called the Gaulis or Gaulars, overran and conquered it. At the end of the 17th century it belonged to the Gond Raja of Deogarh. In 1738 it was conquered by the Marhattas, who governed it till the year 1854, when it lapsed to the British Government, the Raja of Nagpur having died without an heir.
Bhandárá, the principal town and headquarters of the district of the same name, is situated on the Waingangd, about 38 miles east of Nagpur. The town is kept neat and clean, is well drained, and is considered healthy. In 1872 it contained a total population of 11,433 souls, of whom 9657 were Hindus, 1450 Mahometans, 58 Bud dhists and Jains, 54 Christians, and 214 of unspecified religion. For income, &c., see above. The town enjoys a considerable trade in cotton cloth and the local hardware.
Cannabis sativa. but applied specially to the leaves dried and prepared for use as a narcotic drug. The hemp plant, as cultivated in the Bengal Presidency and the North- West Provinces, yields a peculiar resinous exudation, which is altogether wanting in the hemp grown on account of its fibre in European countries. For this resinous exudation, in which its virtues as a drug reside, hemp is cultivated in Kashmir, Bokhara, Yarkand, and Central Asia generally, besides North India, and in certain parts of East Africa, where, according to Captain Burton, it is grown " before every cottage door." In India the products of the plant for use as a narcotic and intoxicant are recognized under the three names and forms of Bhang, Gunja or Ganja, and Churrus or Charas. Bhang consists of the larger leaves and capsules of the plant on which an effloresence of resinous matter has occurred. The leaves are in broken and partly agglutinated pieces, having a dark-green colour and a heavy but not unpleasant smell. Bhang is used in India for smoking, with or without tobacco ; it is prepared in the form of a cake or manjan, and it is made into an intoxicating beverage by infusing in cold water and strain ing. Gunja is the flowering or fruit-bearing tops of the female plants. It is gathered in stalks of several inches in length, the tops of which form a matted mass, from the agglutination of flowers, seeds, and leaflets by the abundant resinous exudation which, coats them. Churrus is the resinous substance separated from the plant. According to Dr O Shaughnessy it is obtained by men dressed^in leathern aprons brushing forcibly through the growing stalks, and the resin which thereby adheres to the leather
is scraped off with knives. It is stated that in Nepal the