(35) Pásí, toddy makers; 1286 in number. (36) Pán, labourers; 11 in number. (37) Bhuimálí, gardeners, ditchers, and tank-diggers; 14 in number. (38) Káorá, swineherds; 55,704 in number. (39) Hárí, swineherds and sweepers; 6402 in number. (40) Mihtar, sweepers; 8471 in number. (41) Murdáfarásh, corpse-bearers; not given as a separate caste in the Census Return. (42) Buná, labourers on indigo factories; 11,032 in number. (43) Bediyá, a wandering, gipsy-like tribe, numbering 628, who live by thieving and jugglery. For a further account of these people, see my Statistical Account of Jessor and Nadiyá. (44) Shikárí hunters; 208 in number.
In the absence of previous statistics, it is difficult to say whether any of the above castes have declined of late years. The restriction as to intermarriage has this tendency in castes whose numbers are few, and the great expense attending marriages in other castes also tends to the same result. It is very noticeable that the hereditary occupations of some castes, especially those of the carpenters and confectioners, are being now encroached on by men belonging to lower castes.
Religious Division of the People.—The population consists of Hindus, Muhammadans, Bráhma-Samáj followers, Christians, and a small number of Buddhists in Calcutta. I take the numbers and averages without verification from the official Census. The population, exclusive of Calcutta but including the suburbs, amounted in 1872 to 2,210,047—1,155,759 males and 1,054,288 females, the proportion of males being 52.3 per cent. Of the total population, 680,008 males and 627,079 females—total 1,307,087—are Hindus, who thus form 59.1 per cent. of the whole. The Muhammadan population consists of 467,117 males and 420,736 females, making a total of 887,853, or 40.2 per cent. of the whole inhabitants. The Buddhists number 89 males and 54 females; total, 143. The Christians, European and Native, consist of 7846 males and 5921 females; total, 13,767, or .6 per cent. of the population. The remainder of the population is not separately classified, but lumped together under the head of ‘Others.’ These consist of 699 males and 498 females; total, 1197, or less than .1 per cent. of the population. Calcutta contains a population of 447,601 souls, viz. 299,857 males and 147,744 females. Of these, 189,422 males and 101,772 females, making a total of 291,194, are Hindus, who thus form 65.1 per cent. of the total population. The Musalmáns number
