Page:A Statistical Account of Assam Vol 1 GoogleBooksID tIVJAAAAMAAJ.pdf/16

Rh of the materials ten years ago, no one knew the population of any single District of Assam; and the different departments of Government were wont to base their calculations on separate, and often widely discrepant, estimates, both as to the area and the number of inhabitants. My personal acquaintance with the Province was derived, not from being employed in its administration, but from such notes as I could make during two rapid official tours. The statistics refer, for the most part, to the year of the Census, 1871-72, and to the period immediately following the erection of Assam into a separate Province in 1874. The whole work had to be done amid the pressure of my duties as Director-General of Statistics to the Government of India. Nevertheless, these volumes form the only attempt at a systematic Account of Assam, and I hope that they may prove of use both to those engaged in its administration, and to the public. If they shall be found to have attained to a fair standard of accuracy and completeness, their success will be due to the District Officers who, during the past ten years, have supplied, with unfailing courtesy, the local materials required for each stage of the work. A general account of the Province will be found in my Imperial Gazetteer of India and is, therefore, not reproduced here.

W. W. H.