Page:A Statistical Account of Bengal Vol 1 GoogleBooksID 9WEOAAAAQAAJ.pdf/55

40 have 706,511 inhabitants; and if the town of Howrah, on the opposite side of the river, be included, the population of the metropolis may be said to number eight hundred thousand souls. Outside the suburbs, again, the North and South Suburban Towns comprise a number of closely-studded villages, with a population of probably not less than 4000 to the square mile. The population of the Tollyganj, Sonápur, and Achipur Police Circles is nowhere less than 1100 to the square mile; Bishnupur, Debípur, Bánkipur, and Báruipur, as we move south, have 850; Diamond Harbour, 700; and Sultánpur and Mathurápur, which border on the Sundarbans, 656. Thus, along the banks of the Húglí the country is densely populated as far south as Ságar Island; but from this point the margin of cultivation trends in a north-easterly direction to the Matlá, beyond which river it rarely, if ever, dips south of the latitude of Calcutta. The tháná (Police Circle) of Matlá itself has no more than 156 persons to the square mile, while a thin line of sparsely populated country runs up to the Uriyápárá Police Station, within a few miles of Calcutta, on the east,—a phenomenon satisfactorily explained by the existence of the Salt Lakes and the Tárdaha Jungle. North of Calcutta, the Dum-Dum (Dǎm-Dǎmá) Police Circle has 1444 to the square mile; Nawábganj, 1626; and Naihátí (still keeping along the bank of the Húglí), 853. Turning inland, we have for the rest of the Bárásat Subdivision an average of over 650 to the square mile; in Basurhát, 762; and in Sátkhirá, nearly 600. Each of these last two Subdivisions occupies the whole length of the District from north to south, Sátkhirá marching with the Jessor boundary. In the Police Circles of Kalingá, Sátkhirá, and especially in Kálíganj, there are large marshes, which explain the falling off in the density of the population. The most populous Police Circles in this part of the country are Kalároá, with 893, and Husainábád, with 1414 to the square mile; but in the case of the last it is doubted if the area is correctly given. According to the Survey Map, the margin of cultivation falls back considerably in this Police Circle, and it is quite possible that there may have been a considerable quantity of land reclaimed and brought into cultivation since the date of the Survey, even without going beyond the average line of the Sundarbans, in the neighbouring Police Circles.’

The results of the Census disclosed a total population of 2,210,047 souls, inhabiting 393,737 houses, exclusive of the town of Calcutta.