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NORTH-IVESTERN PROVINCES AND OUDH. 371 1881 a population of 47,107,869, dispersed over an area of 106,104 square miles; density of population, 416 persons to the square mile. The territory thus contains a denser population than any country of Europe excepting Belgium (185), Saxony (438), and England and Wales (446); if the Himalayan tract be excluded, and only the teeming Gangetic valley be considered, the density of population exceeds that of England taken by itself (484). In some parts of the Gangetic valley the average per square mile is enormous; in Benares it is 894; in Ballia, 808; in Jaunpur, 778; in Lucknow, 704. No less than twenty-one out of forty-nine Districts contain over 500 persons to the square mile. The least populated tracts are the unhealthy Tarai (221), Mirzapur (217), Jhansi (212), Lálitpur (128), Dehra Dún (121), Almorá (82), and Garhwal (63). There have been three enumerations of the population of the NorthWestern Provinces prior to the Census of 1881-namely, in 1853, 1865, and 1872. The only previous Census of Oudh was taken in 1869. Considering the North-Western Provinces apart from Oudh, in 1872 the Census returned there a population of 30,781,947; in 1881, the Census over the same area returned a population of 32,720,1 28. Taking Oudh apart from the North - Western Provinces, the figures are, 11,220,950 for 1869, and 11,387,741 for 1881. The total population of the North-Western Provinces with Oudh in 1881 had increased since the previous Census by 2,104,972. The details of the Census of 1881 for the North-Western Provinces and Oudh together may now be given. Area, 106,104 square miles. Population 44,107,869 (males 22,912,556, and females 21,195,313); number of towns and villages, 105,421 ; number of houses, 6,866,503 om these the following averages are deducible :-Persons per square mile, 416; towns and villages per square mile, 1; houses per square mile, 65 ; persons per house, 6'4. Classified according to sex, the native population in 1881 amounted to 22,888,012 males and 21,185, +48 females, thus yielding a percentage of 5149 and 48'i respectively. The European element was represented by 34,409 persons, of whom 24,544 were males and 9865 females. Classified according to age, there were returned, of the entire population, under 15 years—males, 8,735,283 ; females, 7,661,764 ; total children, 16,397,047, or 37'2 per cent. of the total population : above 15 yearsmales, 14,177,273; females, 13,553,549; total adults, 27,710,822, or 62:8 per cent. Religion and Caste. ---The great mass of the people are still Hindus, although the followers of Islám were for long established as the dominant race. The Census of 1881 returned 38,053,394 Hindus, or 86*3 per cent., as against 5,922,886 Muhammadans, or 13-4 per cent. Jains in 1881 numbered 79,957; Christians, 47,664; Pársís, 114;