340 On the Population of Be7i gal. 



1st. An actual ascertainment* found SO, 914 r\'ots lioW- 

 ing leases, and i:'J,3'Jl artificers paying ground rent in 

 2,784 villages t upon 2,531 square miles. AHowing five 

 to a family, it gives more than 203 to a square mile; and 

 for the whole of the Dewannv provinces, at that proportion, 

 gives a population of 30,2<jI,0j1, or, including Benares, 

 32, 1987,500: for the area of liengal and Bahar is 149,217 

 square miles, and with Benares not less tlian 1(32,500. 



The district in which this Ascertainment was made is not 

 among the most populous of Bengal, but is more populous 

 than the greatest number. In some parts of Bengal consi- 

 derable tracts are ahiiost wholly waste; if a fourth of the 

 area were excluded on this ground, the proportion of po- 

 pulation on a square mile, resulting from an ascertainment 

 in tlie district alluded to, might be taken for three-fourths 

 of Bengal. 



But it nmst be remembered that many and numerous 

 classes do not )')ay rent, or contribute directly to the reve- 

 nues. Some professions are exempted from ground rent j 

 some classes are excused for poverty, others from respect. 

 Tile tenants of alienated lands are not included in the ascer- 

 tainment above mentioned: yet the free lands are equal to 

 an eighth of the whole area of the district alluded to ; and 

 they do not bear a less proportion to the lands of all Bengal, 

 No city or considerable town was included in the ascertain- 

 ment ; wdiich, for that further reason, may be acknowledged 

 jnoderate. Upon the whole, we may adhere to the average 

 first suggested, of 200 to a square mile. 



2d, General measurements, are occasionally undertaken 

 for entire pcrgunnahs, and for larger districts. In the re- 

 gisters of such surveys the land in tillage, the land appro- 

 priated to special purposes, the v aste and barren lands, 

 and the ground covered by lakes, are distinguished. Many 

 such surveys t have been examined, and the following pro- 

 portion 



* The result of an official tnquiry in the province of Purnea. 



t Mauzas. In the same mauza several villages or hamlets may stand ; 

 and, on the contrary, the same village will sometrmes inclade several 

 mauzas. The common size of mauzas may be judged from the follow- 

 ing ascertainment. 



Jn districts of Bengal, 21,996 mnuzas, 18,028 square miles. 



Estimates have been attempted from the number of inhabitants found 

 in a' few villages, as an argument applicable to the whole number of 

 mauzas. The inquiries have been too limited to aftbrd strong grounds 

 of argument. But the results which have come to our knowledge give 

 179 inhabitants to each village, 92 males and 87 femnlts. 



X For specimens of these surveys, taks the following abstracts from se- 



vcrai 



