BENGAL. Hindu
of the
297
population, numbering 2,642,957 altogether. Of the the Koeris (1,124,361) rank first, and then the
agricultural classes,
Kurmfs (790.523)In the British Districts of Orissa, 4665 persons have been classed as belonging to aboriginal tribes; 123,896 as semi-Hinduized aborigines; 3,443,791 as Hindus; 66,362 as of Hindu extraction, but not recognising caste; and 85,611 as Muhammadans. The aboriginal tribes are
and mountainous tract which constitutes Brahmans number 394,012 the Karans and
principally found in the wild
the Tributary States.
Kayasths, 103,105; the Gaurs (289,715) form the great pastoral caste, corresponding to the Goalas of Behar and Bengal The Khandaits Originally they composed (544,422) are an important class in Orissa. the militia, and held land on military tenures ; they then became
and are now hardly
cultivators,
to
be distinguished from the Chasa
(375,090), or agricultural caste.
The
population of Chutia Nagpur
of aboriginal tribes and about
is
composed of about
millions of Hindus.
Of the
i
J millions
aborigines,
about f of a million are very primitive, and about the same number have been subjected to Hindu influences. The Kols number 791,750 Santals, 238,621; Bhuiyas, 185,573; Bhumijs, 137,282;
andKharwars,
Nearly one-third of the Hindus of the Chutia Nagpur Division are found in the District of Manbhum. The most important 127,073.
agricultural caste
is
that of the Kurmis,
numbering over a quarter of a
million.
The Feudatory States under the control of the Lieutenant-Governor may be divided into two groups the first consisting of the petty states attached to the ChutH Nagpur and Orissa Divisions, 24 in number and the other comprising the States of Hill Tipperah and Kuch Behar, which lie to the east and to the north of Bengal. The of Bengal
inhabitants of the
first
group are hillmen of Kolarian or Dravidian
and their condition is still very primitive. The largest tribes among them are the Gonds (93,129), Kols (62,109), and Bhuiyas Hill Tipperah, on the other hand, is the home of a race, (23,686). partly Indo-Burmese, and partly drawn from the Eastern Himalayas. In Kuch Behar, an Indo-Chinese people, the Koch, who gave their name to the territory, are represented by 300,000 souls. Classification according to Sex atid Age. The population of the Lieutenant - Governorship of Bengal, including the dependent Feudatory States, amounted in 1881, as already stated, to 69,536,86 t persons. Of this number, 34,625,591, or 4979 per cent., were males, and 34,911,270, or 5o‘2o per cent., females. In Bengal Proper alone of the four Provinces making up the Lieutenant-Governorship was this proportion reversed, and here the males were 50 •15 origin,
—
in every
hundred, as against 49^84 females.
The
proportion of
women
