RATNAGIRI or Rtttna.gherry, a British district of India, in the Konkan division of the Bombay presidency, with an area of 3922 square miles. It lies between 15° 40' and 18° 5' N. lat. and 73° 5' and 73° 55' E. long., and is bounded on the N. by the Savitri river, separating it from the Janjira Agency, and by Kolaba district; on the E. by the Western Ghats, dividing it from the districts of Satara and Belgaum and the native state of Kolhapur; on the S., where it is reduced to a strip of sea-coast not more than 4 miles wide, by the Portuguese possessions of Goa; and on the W. by the Arabian Sea. The district forms a belt between the Ghats and the sea, and its general character is rocky and rugged; nearly all the fertile land lies on the banks of the streams which intersect the country. The coast, about 150 miles in length, is almost uniformly rocky and dangerous. At intervals of about 10 miles a river or bay opens, sufficiently large to form a secure harbour for native craft, and the promontories at the river-mouths are almost invariably crowned with the ruins of an old fort. The rivers and creeks are generally navigable for about 20 miles, and afford great facilities for a coasting trade. The denudation of the forests has apparently tended to promote deposits of silt; but active measures have of late been taken to preserve and extend the forest area. Tigers, leopards, bears, bison, wild boar, sambhar deer, and hyaenas are found in the forests on the slopes and near the foot of the Sahyadri Hills. At the beginning of British rule there were no roads, and traffic was confined to places where there was water carriage; but a network of roads has now been made, and the opening of the Ghat roads to cart traffic has revolutionized the trade and concentrated it at Chiplun, ...