The Dynasties of the Kanarese Districts of the Bombay Presidency from the Earliest Historical Times to the Musalman Conquest c7.s2.18

c7.s2.18

Introduction. mixed castes, and, except for comparatively recent settlers, a total absence of pure Maráthás and Bráhmans. The whole tract is agricultural, the largest town having little over 14,000 inhabitants. Until the accession of the British Government the population had always a distinctly warlike character, and the South Konkan still supplies so great a number of recruits to the Bombay Army, that there are as many military pensioners in this district as in the whole of the rest of the Presidency. Besides this, all castes of the South Konkan are much more in the habit of seeking their living abroad than the natives of other parts, though they almost invariably return home to end their days. Both coast and interior are remarkable for the number of forts, so that it is little exaggeration to say that in some parts every rock and promontory, mountain and hill, were fortified. These forts are now all in ruins, but the beauty of the creeks and hills and valleys remains, and in many cases the forts themselves