1839] 



On the Statistics of DuTchun, 



185 



der that for England. The Shoodruhs (Mahrattas proper) and MoosuK 

 mans are almost identical, in their proportional number of marriages, 

 namely, 1 in 116-21 and 1 in il6'86, and they have the greatest number 

 of marriages ; the low casts have the fewest man*iages. The births in 

 1826 being only 4954 and the marriages 1998, the average of children to 

 a marriage was 2'48 or not quite 2J. In France the average is 3*72 

 children to a marriage ; in England and Wales 3'55. In Java the births 

 were I in 39, deaths I in 40 persons. 

 The constituents of the population in the different collectoratea were 





Constituents of the Population. 



Brahmans. 



Rajpoots. 



Shoodruhs, 

 &c.Mahratta 

 Cultivators, 

 &c. 



A tee 

 Shoodruhs 

 or low 

 casts. 



Moosulmans. 





Per Cent. 

 11-58 



Per Cent. 

 0 41 



Per Cent. 

 73-85 



Per Cent. 

 9-78 



Per Cent. 

 4-38 





Ahmednuggur. .. 



Unknown. 



Unknown. 



Unknown. 



Unknown. 



Unknown. 





5-40 



3-47 



69-58 



14-72 



6-38 







4-48 



0-60 



74.53 



11.895 



8 495 





In the above analysis the chief features are the permanent and nearly 

 equal proportions of the Shoodruhs or Mahratta cultivators and other 

 genuine Mahrattas, which obtain in the different coUectorates ; the fact 

 being, that three-fourths of the population are of that most useful class 

 the Shoodruhs ; and it will be seen by the notice on agriculture, how 

 large a proportion of them are engaged in tillage. In the Poena Col- 

 lectorate, as might be expected from its having been the chief seat of a 

 Brahman government, there is a considerable number of Brahmans ; 

 every ninth person, in fact, being a Brahman. In the other coUectorates 

 scarcely one in twenty persons is a Brahman. Genuine Rajpoots are 

 little known in Dukhun, and I should doubt whether or not the 3| per 

 j cent, of Rajpoots, in the returns from Khandesh, should be added to the 

 ' Mahratta population ; who, by the bye, have some pretensions to being 

 , descended from the Rajpoots. The proportion of low casts,* men who 



* The low casts comprise all that part of the Hindoo population which cannot claim to 

 be Shoodruhs, such as Mahrs, Dhers, Maangs, shoemakers, skinners, Ramoosees, 

 1 Beruds, and Bheels. The Mahrs and Dhers are the scavengers, the Maangs, execution- 

 ers ; shoemakers and skinners speak for themselves ; the Ramoosees and Beruds are 

 lorn thieves, or are thieves by cast, and they are usually employed for the protection of 

 villages, on the principle of setting a thief to catch a thief. The Bheels are supposed tq 

 be the aboriginQs of the countries where they are found. 



