INDIA. 



379 



British tutelage, have a combined area of 471,- 

 549, and were peopled by 52,002,924 persons, 

 making the aggregate area of India 1,382,624 

 square miles and the population 253,891,821, 

 divided into 129,941,851 males and 123,949,970 

 females. The population of the empire was 

 divided in respect to religion into 187,937,450 

 Hindoos, 50,121,585 Mohammedans, 6,426,511 

 Nature - worshipers, 3,418,875 Buddhists, 1,- 

 862,634 Christians, 1,853,385 Sikhs, 1,221.896 

 Jains, 85,350 Parsees, 12,008 Jews, and 952,- 

 127 others. Of the Christians 893,658 were 

 natives, 62,084 Eurasians, 83,330 of British 

 birth, and 59.280 Europeans other than Brit- 

 ish, while of 764,165 the origin was not speci- 

 fied. The emigration of coolies during nine 

 months ending Dec. 31, 1885, was 6,967 per- 

 sons, all of whom went to the British West 

 India islands and British Guiana except 540 

 whose destination was Fiji. 



Agriculture. The total area of British India 

 ns shown by surveys is 621, 146,297. Accord- 

 ing to agricultural reports covering 356,017.398 

 acres there were in 1884-'85 of the latter extent 

 of surface 199,484.230 acres under cultivation, 

 169,289,983 acres uncultivated, and 38,050,091 

 acres in forests. Of the cultivated area 180,- 

 458,132 acres were actually cropped, and 19,- 

 026,098 acres were fallow. Of the unculti- 

 vated area 82,046,871 were reported as suitable 

 for cultivation, and 75,747,318 acres as not 

 available, exclusive of 11,495,794 acres in As- 

 sam, concerning which there was no report as 

 to the character of the soil. In Madras, out of 

 47,700,000 acres held from the Government, 

 19,700,000 acres were possessed by peasant 

 proprietors, and 8,500,000 acres by small hold- 

 ers, the average size of both classes of farms 

 being 18 acres, while 16,500,000 acres were 

 owned by zemindaries in estates of the average 

 area of 100,000 acres each and the remainder 

 by smaller zemindaries. In Bombay 29,500,000 

 acres were divided among peasant proprietors 

 in farms of the average size of 21 acres. In 

 the Northwest Provinces nearly. all the land is 

 in the hands of zemindaries whose estates vary 

 from the class paying over 5,000 rupees of 

 revenue or tax to the Government, and aver- 

 aging 675 .acres, to the class paying less than 

 100 rupees, and 63 acres in average area. In 

 Oudh there are 9,000,000 acres in 440 private 

 estates, and 4,700,000 acres divided among 

 8,000 village communities. In the Punjab the 

 peasant proprietors own 48,000,000 acres in 

 30,000 estates, 3,300 communities possess 2,- 

 700,000 acres, one zemiudary has an estate of 

 1,000,000 acres, and 1,500,000 acres are held 

 by zemindaries in estates of 1,000 acres or 

 more. In the Central Provinces 24,500,000 

 acres are held by zemindaries in estates of an 

 average area of 1,400 acres, 12,900,000 acres in 

 estates of an average area of 1,700 acres, 4,- 

 000,000 acres in estates of an average area of 

 21,000 acres, and 2,000,000 acres by small hold- 

 ers, the average size of whose farms was 250 

 acres. In Lower Bunnah 3,880,000 acres are 



held by peasant proprietors in estates of the 

 average size of 6 acres, the total cultivated area 

 being 4, 400, 000 acres. In Assam, out of 7,350,- 

 000 acres, the larger zemindaries possess 2,- 

 000,000 acres in estates of the average area of 

 4,438 acres, small zemindaries hold 1,600,000 

 acres in estates of the average extent of 32 

 acres, and peasant proprietors own 2,280,000 

 acres iu estates of the average size of 6 

 acres. 



Of 189,806,225 acres under cultivation in 

 British India in 1884- 1 85, 58,565,331 acres 

 were devoted to rice, 20,328,254 acres to 

 wheat, 79,523,386 acres to other grain-crops, 

 9,490,859 acres to oil-seeds, 1,715,009 acres to 

 the sugar-cane, 9,851,970 to fibers, 2,191,470 

 acres to indigo, and 8,140,116 acres to other 

 crops. Of the rice area 37,500,000 acres were 

 in Bengal, 5,630,106 acres in Madras, 3,630,340 

 acres in Lower Burinah, and 3,091,625 acres in 

 the Central Provinces. The cultivation of oil- 

 seeds was distributed throughout India. Jn 

 the Northwest Provinces 670,547 acres were 

 planted to the sugar-cane, and in Bengal and 

 the Punjab about half that area. The in- 

 digo-culture occupied 1,300,000 acres of the 

 surface of Bengal. The extent of wheat cul- 

 tivation in the various provinces was as fol- 

 lows: Punjab, 7,819,509 acres; Central Prov- 

 inces, 3,745,251 acres; Northwest Provinces, 

 3,626,225 acres; Bombay, 2,211,459 acres; 

 Oudh, 1,476,946 acres; Bengal, 850,000 acres; 

 Berar, 819,057 acres; Madras, 30,943 acres; 

 Lower Burmah, 2,644 acres. Of the area given 

 up to fiber-crops 8,690,242 acres were devoted 

 to cotton, of which 2,150,000 acres were in 

 Bombay, and 1,500,000 in Madras and the 

 Northwest Provinces. Of the 189,806,225 

 acres embraced in the crop reports, 7,990,581 

 acres are twice counted, having borne two 

 crops during the year. The area of crops, ex- 

 cluding Bengal, was 136,113,781 acres, of which 

 24,720,000 acres were irrigated. Of the total 

 area of wheat cultivation, nearly 5,500,000 

 acres are irrigated. Of the miscellaneous crop 

 the most important is tobacco, covering over 

 517.000 acres. About 262,000 acres are de- 

 voted to tea, and half that area to coffee. The 

 tea-crop of 1887 was estimated at 82,500,000 

 pounds. 



Commerce. The following table shows the 

 value of the chief imports and the total value 

 of imports during the fiscal year 1885-'86, in 

 pounds sterling : 



Value. 



IMPORTS. Value. 



Cotton manufact- 

 ures 24,282,628 



Metals and hard- 

 ware 5,543,061 



Machinery 991,553 



Railway plant and 



rolling-stock 2,018,065 



Liquors 1,298.497 



Woolen goods 1,891 ,861 



Sugar 1.458.097 



Coal i;808,414 



The following were the leading exports and 

 the total value of exports of domestic prod- 

 ucts: 



IMPORTS. 



Silk (raw and man- 

 ufactured) 1,880,959 



Provisions 1,191,881 



Apparel 1,087.259 



Salt 596,047 



Spices 718,679 



Oils 961,129 



Other articles 7,188,451 



Total 51,811,580 



