52 MUTTRA TAHSIL. climate is considered healthy, perhaps on account of its dryness, and the absence of permanent ponds or torrents in the dry season. The average registered mortality during the five years ending 1883 shows a death-rate of 46 47 per thousand. Government maintains 3 charitable dispensaries--at Muttra, Brindában, and Kosi—which afforded relief in 1884 to a total of 24,759 persons, of whom 571 were in-patients. Muttra (Mathurá).—Head-quarters tahsil of Muttra District, NorthWestern Provinces, conterminous with the parganá of Muttra. It occupies the south-western portion of the District, stretching from the Jumna on the east to the foot of the Bhartpur hills on the northwest. The Giri Ráj, a hill about 5 miles long, near Gobardhán, with a maximum height of about 100 feet above the surrounding plain, is of the greatest sanctity, being associated in mythological legend with the god Krishna, in whose honour numerous temples have been built on the hill. In the east of the tahsil, the Jumna's influence is apparent for three miles inland ; and low alluvial soil, ravines, and sandy downs are found along its bank. From this point up to the neighbourhood of the Bhartpur hills, the whole country is onc uniform plain, without a single rirer or stream. The average depth of water below the surface is 49 feet, and in certain tracts in the north-west, as far as from 50 to 62 feet. This renders the sinking of wells a matter of considerable expense, and until recently irrigation was little resorted to. The great need of the country—water-has now been supplied by the Agra Canal, which runs down the centre of the tahsil for a length of 16 miles, and has proved a great boon to the agriculturist. The principal crops are tobacco, sugar-cane, gram, cotton, and barley. Bájra and joár are also largely grown, as is wheat, although this last crop is scarcely secn in the neighbouring tahsils. Population (1881) 220,307, namely, males 117,905, and females 102,402 ; average density of population, 549 persons per square mile. Classificd according to religion, Hindus number 196,699; Muhammadans, 22,905; Jains, 331; Christians, 328; and 'others, 44. Of the 231 towns and villages comprising the tahsil, 121 contain less than five hundred inhabitants; 73 between five hundred and a thousand; and 33 between one and five thousand. Two towns contain a population exceeding fivc thousand, namely, Muttra (47,483) and Brindában (21,467). Thc total area of Muttra tahsil, in iSS1-S2, was 396 square miles, of which 281.1 square miles wcrc cultivated. Area assessed for Government revenue, 332 squarc milcs, namely, 234 square miles cultivated, 74 square milcs cultivable, and 24 square miles wastc. Of the total cultivated arca at the time of the recent land settlement, 30,959 acres were cultivated by the proprietors themselves as sir or homestcad lands, 20,232 acres by tenants with occupancy rights, 59,320 acres by tenants
