1605.) 
milllions* is at leaft the prefent number 
of the native inhabitants of Bengal and 
Bahar, and fhall fubjoin argument. which 
might lead us to compute the poeaatian 
at thirty millions. We cann ot, therefore, 
hiefitate to ftate twenty-feven rita for 
the whole prpulation, including the ze- 
mindary of Benares. 
rf. An aétual alcertainment + found 
80,914 ryots holding leafes, and 22.324 
artificers paying ground-rent in 2,784 
villagesf upon 2,531 iquare miles. Al- 
Jewing five to atamily, t gives more than 
293 to a fquare mile 5 aod for the whole 
of the Dewanny prov nces, at that pro 
portion, gives a population of aan GT O57 » 
or, ingluduie Benares, 32,987,500: for 
the area of Bengai and B eas 14.95217- 
fquare mil-s, and, with Benares, not lefs 
than 162,500. 
Toe aitrict in which this afcertainment 
was mas, is not among the moft popu- 
Jous of Benea!, but is more populous 
than ne preatert aumber. In fome parts 
confiderable traéts ave almoit 
of the area were 
proportion of 
population on a fqnare mile, refulcing 
from an alcertainment in the dif@ricé al 
Juded to, might be taken for three-fourths 
of Benga! 
But it mut be remembered, tiat many 
and numerous claffes do not pay rent, or 
contribuce diveétly to the revenues. Some 
profeflions are exempted from ground 
rent; fome claffes are excufed for poverty, 
Others from refpect. The tenants of alicn- 
ated lands are not included in the afcer- 
tainment ab: ve mentioned « yet the free- 
lands are eqial to an eighth of the whole 
of Bengal, 
wholly wafte ; if a fourth 
excluded on this ground, the 
- 
* Preface to the Tranflation of ele cert 
Sirajiyyah.” 
+ The refult of an official i inquiry in the 
province of Purnea 
¢ Mauzas. In the fame mauvza feveral 
villages or hamlets may ftand; and, on the 
contrary, the fame village will fometimes 
include feveral mauzas. The common fize 
of mauzas may be judged from the following 
afcertainment. 
In diftriGs of Bengal, 21,996 mauzas, 
38,023 fquare miles. 
Eftimates have been attempted from the 
number of inhabitants found in a few vyil- 
lages, as an argument applicable to the 
whole number of mauzas ‘The inquiries 
have been too limited to afford ftrong grounds 
ef argument. But the refults which have 
come to our knowledge give 179 inhabitants 
to cach village, 92 males and 87 females, 
On the Population of Bengat. 
443 
area of the diftri&t alluded to; and they 
do not beara lefs proportion to the lands 
of all Bengal. No city or confiderable 
town was included in the afcertainment ; 
which, for that further reafon, may te 
acknowledged moderate. Upon the 
whole, we may adhere to the average firft | 
fuggetted, 
mile. 
2d. General meafurements are occa- 
fionally underraken for entire pergunnahs, 
and for larger difiriéts. In the regifters 
of fuch turveys, the land in tillage, the 
Jand appropriated to fpecial purpofes, the 
walfte and harren lands, and the ground 
covered by lakes, are diftinguifhed. Many 
fuch furveys* have been examined, and 
the foilywing proportion is grounded on 
them, mak: ng an allowance for great 
rivers. 
Rivers and lakes (aneighth), . 3 
Deemed irreclaimable and barren 
daitis Gb fia au) asa icc ie nade 
Scite cf towns and villazes, ways, 
ponds, &c. (a twenty-fourth), 2 
Freeslands{aremlith), 0.98 «6 43 
Liasle for Rewenue. 3 
In tillage (three eighths),. . » 
Walefatixth), . . . » « 4 
of two hundred to a {quare 
24 
If a fourth of the-area of Bengal be 
excluded, as before, for traéts nearly or 
* For {secimens of thefe furveys, take the 
following abftraéts from feveral pergunnahs 
in circars, Shereefabad, Madaram, &c. mea- 
fured in 1736, and in cen Tajepocr, mea- 
fured in 1788: 
Wate, but reclaimable, as well 
as foreft and flerillands, .,.. 449,986 
Ponds, ae ae eleijaze 41,805 
Free lands, ... cuales 2935275 
Produétive, including {cite of 
buildings, .. Bs voce 524,509 
Begahs of 80 cubits fquare,..,. 13,14,975 
Pergunnahs in cirear Tajepocr, meafured, 
in 1788: 
Wate, but reclaimable, ae heie 161,226 
Barren, a ot a iee 123,747 
Ponds and roads, &c. ae 245122 
Free lands, .. AD walate 343,048 
Cultivated, .. bis see gor EE 
Total begahs, = Sais 753267 
Thefe meafuremegnts are exclyfive of rie 
Vers, 
,L2 srhelly 
CR ee 
ete a carn ete ee 
p 
