Salsette

Salsette, an island lying N. of Bombay, with which it is connected by a bridge and a causeway. It is a beautiful island, diversified by mountain and hill, studded with the ruins of Portuguese churches, convents, and villas, and rich in extensive rice-fields, cocoa-nut groves, and palm-trees. Area, 240 sq. m.; population, 111,000; chief town, Thana (q.v.). Nearly one hundred caves and cave-temples exist at Kánhari or Keneri, in the middle of the island, five miles west of Thana. They are excavated in the face of a single hill, and contain elaborate carving, chiefly representations of Buddha, many of colossal size. There are caves in other localities besides those at Kánhari—e.g. at Montpezir, Kanduti, Amboli, &c. It was occupied by the Portuguese early in the 16th century, and was captured by the Mahrattas in 1739 and by the British in 1774.