2839] 



On the Statistics of Dukhun. 



181 



lages did not send in returns ; and 88 deserted villages had not their 

 lands under cultivation. With the aid of some trifling estimates the 

 total amount of population appeared to be 838,757, averaging 91-94 in- 

 habitants to the square mile, 33671 to a village, and 4-48 to a house. 

 Of the 119 British tov^'ns, there are only three whose population exceeds 

 10,000 souls, viz. Dhamar 11,802; Belgaon 1 1,037 ; and Mujeedpoor 

 15,387. One town has above 8000 inhabitants, (Bagulkoht) ; two with 

 GOOO ; one 5000 ; thirty-six with from 2000 to 4000 ; and sev^ty-seven 

 with from 1000 to 2000 souls. All the village lands being kept in de- 

 finite measurements, it appeared that the cultivated land of the whole 

 collectorate was 61-11 per cent., and waste only 38"89 per cent. 



Rivers. — All the chief rivers of Dharwar flow to the eastward ; they 

 have their source in the Ghats, and join the Kistnah. The principal are 

 the Gutpurba, the Malpurba, and the Wurdah : the falls of the Gutpur- 

 ba, near to Gokauk, are said to be strikingly fine. 



Hill Forts. — Dharwar, like the other collectorates, has to boast of its 

 hill forts. 



Viewing Dharwar, whether with respect to its numerous towns and 

 well-peopled villages, the comparative density of its population, the size 

 of its farms, the quantity of land in cultivation, the amount of its reve- 

 nues, the lightness with which they press supposing they were raised 

 as a poll tax, the indications of manufacturing industry (so languishing 

 elsewhere) in the number of its weavers, and its superior means of school 

 instruction, it is unquestionably the finest of the British possessions in 

 Dukhun. 



Population. 



The great feature in the population of Dukhun is the excess of males 

 over females in a greater proportion than exists in Europe. By the last 

 census in England there were 100 males to 93 females. In the British 

 possessions in Dukhun, in a population from which returns have been 

 received of 2,302,902 souls, there are 100 males to 87-36 females, and 

 this difference obtains, with very little variation, throughout the differ- 

 ent casts. It is subject to modification, however, by a very singular fact, 

 exhibited in the excess of grown up women over men wherever the re- 

 turns distinguish the adults from children ; but the excess of male chil- 

 dren over female leaves the ultimate preponderance in favour of the 

 males. From Sir Stamford Raffles* History of Java, the same relative 

 proportion of the sexes would appear to exist in that island. He states 

 that the proportion of males and females born in Bantam, and over the 

 whole of Java, is nearly the same as in Europe, and as is found generally 



