— BENGAL.
284
over by the Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal (69,536,861) exceeds the population of any European country except Russia. It does not fall far short of the total population of France and the United Kingdom put together; it exceeds by 50 per cent, the population of the German
Empire, and by 38 per cent, that of the United States of America. population of one of its four Provinces, Bengal Proper, falls short
The
by only half a million of that of the whole of the United Kingdom. Another of its four Provinces, Behar, supports a population larger than that of Spain and Portugal, and not much less than that of England and Wales. The Uriyas of Orissa are almost exactly as numerous as the inhabitants of Scotland and the mixed races dwelling in the Districts of the Chutia Nagpur Division are very nearly as numerous as the whole population of Canada and the other British possessions in North America. The Commissioner of Patna rules the fortunes of nearly thrice as many persons as the King of the Belgians or the Khedive of Egypt. Chittagong Division, which is the
smallest in Bengal in point of numbers, has a population equal to twice that of
Norway; and the
total
of the continent of Australia.
which
take
of the Feudatory States
The
is
an intermediate place between European Turkey and
The average Bengal District has a population equal to Grand Duchy of Baden, the Irish Province of Leinster,
Belgium. of the
just that
other Divisions contain populations
English county of Surrey, or the State of Virginia
Among
that
the
the larger
Districts, Maimansingh has its counterpart in the great States of Illinois and Ohio, or the county of Lancashire, with its commercial cities and swarming manufacturing population. While there are 35 Districts
upwards of a million of inhabitants, only 4 counties England exceed that total. Indeed, the counterpart in Bengal of and if the the British county is not the District, but the Sub-division metropolitan county of Middlesex be omitted, a sub-divisional officer in Bengal is entrusted with the supervision of a larger number of persons than inhabit an English county. The table on the two following pages exhibits the area, population, etc. of each Province, Division, and District in Bengal, as ascertained by the Census of 1881 The Government in Bengal is comGeneral Survey of the Population plicated by the fact that, while this vast population is ruled by a single in Bengal with in
.
head,
it
—
consists of elements so dissimilar as to render
it
impracticable
They exhibit them under one system of administration. every stage of human progress, and every type of human enlightenment and superstition from the sceptical educated classes, represented by the Hindu gentleman who distinguishes himself at Oxford or a
to
place
—
•
London Inn
of Court, to the
hill chieftain
who
a few years ago sacrificed
Sentence continued 07i p. zZ’i.
