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 BENGAL.

293

In the United Kingdom in 1871 the 371 to the square mile. average density was 260; in Germany, 187; and in France, 180. The metropolitan Districts of Hugh, Howrah, and the Twenty-four vas

Districts of Dacca, Fan'dpur, and Pabna, communications and in the prosperity of their inhabitants ; and the Behar Districts of Patna, Darbhangah, Muzaffarpur, and Sdran, are the most populous parts of Bengal. In all these Districts there is an average population of over 700 persons to the square mile, while no less than 1 1 other Districts support a population of over 500 to the square mile. But though Behar and the Gangetic Delta are densely populated, there remain large tracts of territory where the people are very sparsely scattered. Thus, while the average density

Parganas

rich

in



the

trading

their river

—

in

Howrah

District

is

1334

to the square mile, in the

Chittagong Hill

only 18, and in Hill Tipperah 23. The average number of villages or rural communes per square mile throughout Bengal is I'qr Tracts

it is



the average

number of persons per

village,

262



the average

number of

persons per house, 6’3o. Nationalities.

— The

Bengalis occupy the whole of Bengal Proper,

Maldah and Mdnbhum, parts of Purniah, and of the Sant^l Parganas. They number about 36J millions. The people of Behar are Hindustanis, speaking nearly the same language as, and almost identical in their manners with, the 40 or 50 millions of Hindustanis who inhabit the North-Western Provinces, Oudh, the Central Provinces, and Rajputana. Throughout the most advanced Districts of Chutid Ndgpur they are numerous, and have introduced their language, manners, and civilisation, the aborigines having, as usual, succumbed together with the Districts of

to external influences.

Altogether, the Hindustani or Hindi-speaking

people within the Lieutentant-Governorship of Bengal number about The Uriya speakers of Orissa, including hillmen and 25 millions.

on the plains, are about 5^ millions. The large number of Muhammadans (19,559,252) found in Lower Bengal was one of the most interesting of the facts brought out by the Census of 1872. During the nine years preceding i88r, dwellers

number has increased

to 21,704,724, an advance of nearly change has, however, taken place in the localisation of this religion, and the Districts where Muhammadans were most numerous in 1872 still retain their position. The vast majority, namely nearly 18 millions, are found in Bengal Proper; in their 1

1

per

cent.

Little

Behar, they hardly

number more than 3^

millions, out

of a total

23 millions ; in Chutia Nagpur and Orissa, they are very sparse. In Bogra District, Muhammadans form as much as

population

of

80 per cent, of the population; in Rajshahi, 78 per cent; and in Pabnd, 72 per cent. In the Districts of Chittagong and Noakhali, the

Musalmans

constitute nearly three-fourths

of the population.

It

is