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] distribution of the population is the exact opposite of that which prevails in Great Britain. There are only 174 towns as compared with 44,400 villages, and nearly nine-tenths of the people are to be found in the latter. Some of the so-called towns are extremely small, and



the average population per town is but 14,800 souls. There are no large towns in the European sense. The biggest, Delhi and Lahore, returned respectively 232,837 and 228,687 persons.

Growth stopped by Plague.— The growth of the population between 1881 and 1891 amounted to 10 p.c. Plague,