Tea is grown largely under European supervision in the Eastern Himalayas, and already surpasses the China teas. Coffee is grown in the south, but with checkered success. Among the dyes, indigo and lac (red) are noteworthy. The indigenous flowers are not rich, the water lilies being the best; the flowering shrubs are very fine.
Of trees in the plains near the coasts the palm order with its several varieties strikes the observer. Inland the mango fruit-tree and the orange, the umbrageous banyan, the sacred peepul, and the bamboo are features in the landscape. In the hills the teak and other useful timber trees are obtained. In the Himalayas are the cedar, the pine, the fir, the juniper.
The cultivation of opium is a government monopoly and heavy duties are levied on the exports of opium, a duty being also paid to the Indian treasury.
Almost all the metals and minerals are represented in India, but of the useful metals, excepting iron, the quantity is not known to be large. Coal exists in many parts, especially in the northeast—at Bardwan, near Calcutta, and in Assam. Gold is found in Mysore, and in the sands of many streams; copper near Delhi and elsewhere; salt is obtained in large quantity from the mines in the northwest of the Punjab, and by evaporation from the coast lagoons all round India, and from salt lakes in Rajputana. Most of the precious gems, including diamonds, rubies, sapphires, and emeralds, are found, some abundantly, some rarely, though the supply of the once famous diamonds of Golconda seems to have ceased.
Metal and textile workers, glass and pottery workers, with their dependants, number close on twenty millions, and there are large numbers employed in service.
The textile manufactures of India were famous in long past centuries throughout the civilized world; such were the gold brocades of Delhi, brought thence to imperial Rome, the muslins of Dacca, made for the Mongol court, and the pattern colored cloths of Calicut (calico), the shawls of Kashmir, and the silks and carpets of Multan. All these home-made fabrics, however, have declined before the products of the great factories.
Peoples.—The broad division of the peoples of India includes a northern group of Aryan nations, occupying the great plains and the northern seaboard on each side, and the non-Aryan inhabitants of the Deccan plateau in southern India. This division also corresponds to that of the languages of India, separating those related to the Sanscrit, the language of the Aryan conquerors of the north, from the Dravidian and Kolarian of the south. (See Book of Races.)
Languages.—Though nearly a hundred and fifty languages, derived from nearly twenty linguistic families, are spoken in India, three of those families—the Aryo-Indian, the Dravidian, and the Tibeto-Burman—represent the speech of ninety-seven per cent of the inhabitants.
Hindustani, a dialect of Hindi, has become the literary language of Hindustan, and is the lingua franca of India. English is understood by many.