t a temporary set-back owing
to the ravages caused by plague and the effects of over-production. In
addition to the actual mortality it inflicted, the plague caused an
exodus of the population from the island, disorganized the labour at the
docks and in the mills, and swallowed up large sums which were spent by
the municipality on plague operations and sanitary improvements. After
1901, however, both population and trade began to revive again. In 1901
there were 131,796 persons employed in the cotton industry.

_Population._--Owing to its central position between East and West and
to the diversity of races in India, no city in the world can show a
greater variety of type than Bombay. The Mahratta race is the dominant
element next to the European rulers, but in addition to them are a great
and influential section of Parsee merchants, Arab traders from the Gulf,
Afghans and Sikhs from northern India, Bengalis, Rajputs, Chinese,
Japanese, Malays, negroes, Tibetans, Sinhalese and Siamese. Bombay is
the great port and meeting-place of the Eastern world. Out of the large
sections of its population, Hindu, Mahommedan, Parsee, Jain and
Christian, the Parsees are one of the smallest and yet the most
influential. They number only some 46,000 all told, but most of the
great business houses are owned by Parsee millionaires and most of the
large charities are founded by them.

_History._--The name of the island and city of Bombay is derived from
Mumba (a form of Parvati), the goddess of the Kolis, a race of
husbandmen and fishermen who were the earliest known inhabitants, having
occupied the island probably about the beginning of the Christian era.
Bombay originally consisted of seven islands (the _Heptanesia_ of
Ptolemy) and formed an outlying portion of the dominions of successive
dynasties dominant in western India: Satavahanas, Mauryas, Chalukyas and
Rashtrakutas. In the Maurya and Chalukya period (450-750) the city of
Puri on Elephanta Island was the principal place in Bombay harbour. The
first town built on Bombay Island was Mahikavati (Mahim), founded by
King Bhima, probably a member of the house of the Yadavas of Deogiri, as
a result of Ala-ud-din Khilji's raid into the Deccan in 1294. It
remained under Hindu rule until 1348, when it was captured by a
Mahommedan force from Gujarat; and the islands remained part of the
province (later kingdom) of Gujarat till 1534, when they were ceded by
Sultan Bahadur to the Portuguese.