344 NOAKHALI. 1881, the population of Noakhali was ascertained to be 820,772, showing a decrease, as compared with the population of the same area in 1872, of 19,604 persons, or 2'33 per cent. This decrease is entirely due to the disastrous loss of life caused by the cyclone and stormwave of 1876. The Bengal Census Report states: The deaths from drowning caused by the cyclone and storm - wave are believed to have been 36,324, while 49,061 died of the sickness which followed it, making a total of 85,385 lives lost in this double calamity. Most of this mortality fell upon the southern thánás of Hátia, Begamganj, and Sandwip, and its extent nay be guessed by the fact that more than four years after the event these thánás show a falling off from the figures of 1872 of 25'58 per cent., 1554 per cent., and 16'72 per cent, respectively. But for this calamity, the District officer reports that there would certainly have been a large increase, for the peasantry who were destroyed were a most prosperous class. Cultivation is now everywhere extending, and population advances. In the north and east of the District there is a slight falling off, very marked among the males, which is explained by the absence of many persons at the time of the Census, who were employed in collecting forest produce in Hill Tipperah; and it is asserted that from this portion of the District there is some permanent emigration to that State, as the Mahárájá insists upon residence within his territories as a qualification for grants of cultivable land.' The results of the Census of 1881 may be summarized as follows:-Area of District, 1641 square miles, with 2471 towns and villages, and 92,107 houses, of which 86,958 were occupied, and 5149 unoccupied. Total population, 820,772, namely, males 415,248, and females 405,524 ; proportion of males, 50°6 per cent. Average density of population, 500:17 persons per square mile; villages per square mile, 1'51; persons per village, 332 ; houses per square mile, 56'13 ; persons per house, 9:44. Classified according to sex and age, there were in 1881—under 15 years of age, males 184,408, and females 172,017; total children, 356,425, or 43.5 per cent. of the District population : 15 years and upwards, males 230,840, and females 233,507; total adults, 464,347, or 56'5 per cent. Religion.—Classified according to religion, Noakhali contains a larger proportion of Muhammadans than any other District in Bengal, except Bogra and Rajshahi. In 1881, Muhammadans numbered 608,592, or 74'15 per cent. of the total population; Hindus, 211,476, or 25.76 per cent. ; Christians, 588; Buddhists, 114; and others,' 2. Che Muhammanans belong, almost without exception, to the Sunni scct, and most of them are Faraizís, or observers of the strict commandments of the Kurán. They do not cvince any open intolerance or bigotry, by interfering with Hindu processions, or by annoying the
