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 — BENGAL.

284

over by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal (69,536,861) exceeds the population of any European country except Russia. It does not fall far short of the total population of France and the United Kingdom put together; it exceeds by 50 per cent, the population of the German

Empire, and by 38 per cent, that of the United States of America. population of one of its four Provinces, Bengal Proper, falls short

The

by only half a million of that of the whole of the United Kingdom. Another of its four Provinces, Behar, supports a population larger than that of Spain and Portugal, and not much less than that of England and Wales. The Uriyas of Orissa are almost exactly as numerous as the inhabitants of Scotland and the mixed races dwelling in the Districts of the Chutia Nagpur Division are very nearly as numerous as the whole population of Canada and the other British possessions in North America. The Commissioner of Patna rules the fortunes of nearly thrice as many persons as the King of the Belgians or the Khedive of Egypt. Chittagong Division, which is the

smallest in Bengal in point of numbers, has a population equal to twice that of

Norway; and the

total

of the continent of Australia.

which

take

of the Feudatory States

The

is

an intermediate place between European Turkey and

The average Bengal District has a population equal to Grand Duchy of Baden, the Irish Province of Leinster,

Belgium. of the

just that

other Divisions contain populations

English county of Surrey, or the State of Virginia

Among

that

the

the larger

Districts, Maimansingh has its counterpart in the great States of Illinois and Ohio, or the county of Lancashire, with its commercial cities and swarming manufacturing population. While there are 35 Districts

upwards of a million of inhabitants, only 4 counties England exceed that total. Indeed, the counterpart in Bengal of and if the the British county is not the District, but the Sub-division metropolitan county of Middlesex be omitted, a sub-divisional officer in Bengal is entrusted with the supervision of a larger number of persons than inhabit an English county. The table on the two following pages exhibits the area, population, etc. of each Province, Division, and District in Bengal, as ascertained by the Census of 1881 The Government in Bengal is comGeneral Survey of the Population plicated by the fact that, while this vast population is ruled by a single in Bengal with in





.

head,

it

—

consists of elements so dissimilar as to render

it

impracticable

They exhibit them under one system of administration. every stage of human progress, and every type of human enlightenment and superstition from the sceptical educated classes, represented by the Hindu gentleman who distinguishes himself at Oxford or a

to

place

—

•

London Inn

of Court, to the

hill chieftain

who

a few years ago sacrificed

Sentence continued 07i p. zZ’i.