Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/353

 BHAGALPUR.

343

together with the learned professions, 36,574; (2) domestic servants, inn and lodging-house keepers, etc., 168,907 ; (3) commercial class,

including bankers, merchants, traders, carriers, cultural

and

dustrial,

including

etc.,

pastoral class, including gardeners,

and

manufacturers

all

143,545



1,469,154;

artisans,

(4) agri-

(5)

1,980,282;

in-

(6)

and non - productive, including general labourers, male and unspecified, 1,980,282. The total revenue of Bhagalpur Division in 1882-83 amounted to ^595,625, of which the Government

indefinite

children,

land revenue assessment yielded ;^322,946, the other principal items being excise, stamps, and registration.

Bhdgalpur.

— District

the

in

Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal,

and 26° 35' 30" n. lat., and between 86° 25' and 87" 33' 30" E. long. area, 4268 square miles population, according to the Census of 1881, 1,966,158 persons. It is bounded on the north by the Independent State of Nepil; on the east, north of the Ganges, by the District of Purniah on the south and on the east, south of the Ganges, by the Santal Pargands ; and on the west by the Districts of Darbhangah and Monghyr. The administrative headquarters are at Bhagalpur, on the right or south bank of the Ganges. lying between 24° 34'







Physical Aspects.

— The

portions by the Ganges.

District

The

is

divided into two nearly equal

northern division forms a continuation

of the great alluvial plain of Tirhut, being intersected by many rivers, which are connected with each other by innumerable dhdrs or water-

courses

the southern



and eastern portions of this tract are liable to rivers, and by the overflow of the

inundation by the flooding of these

Ganges on

its

The

northern bank.

formerly one of the most

fertile

north-eastern portion of the District,

regions in the sub-Tarai rice tract,

has been completely devastated by changes in the course of the river

Kusi the country has been laid under a deep layer of sand, and the once fertile soil is covered with high grass jungle, which gives shelter

to tigers, buffaloes, for

some

and rhinoceros.

distance, the country

is

weather, almost entirely uncultivated. a few feet



the soil

is

rich,

On

the south of the Ganges,

low, bare, and, except in the

cold

Farther south, the land rises

and covered with

rice

and other crops



mango and palm

groves abound, and numerous villages dot the plain. About twenty miles south of Bhagalpur town, the country begins to

wear a different aspect, the land rises by an easy ascent, and the hilly The soil being less deep than to the northward, and lying upon rocks of primitive formation, the water is nearer the country commences.

and the

an enormous growth, far beyond what Ganges. The mahud tree (Bassia latifolia), now becomes common, palms almost cease to be seen, the mangoes are no longer found in planted groves, but are scattered about in small groups ; the cotton tree attains a great size, and surface, is

trees attain

found on the deep

alluvial plains of the