BHAGALPUR.
343
together with the learned professions, 36,574; (2) domestic servants, inn and lodging-house keepers, etc., 168,907 ; (3) commercial class,
including bankers, merchants, traders, carriers, cultural
and
dustrial,
including
etc.,
pastoral class, including gardeners,
and
manufacturers
all
143,545
1,469,154;
artisans,
(4) agri-
(5)
1,980,282;
in-
(6)
and non - productive, including general labourers, male and unspecified, 1,980,282. The total revenue of Bhagalpur Division in 1882-83 amounted to ^595,625, of which the Government
indefinite
children,
land revenue assessment yielded ;^322,946, the other principal items being excise, stamps, and registration.
Bhdgalpur.
— District
the
in
Lieutenant-Governorship of Bengal,
and 26° 35' 30" n. lat., and between 86° 25' and 87" 33' 30" E. long. area, 4268 square miles population, according to the Census of 1881, 1,966,158 persons. It is bounded on the north by the Independent State of Nepil; on the east, north of the Ganges, by the District of Purniah on the south and on the east, south of the Ganges, by the Santal Pargands ; and on the west by the Districts of Darbhangah and Monghyr. The administrative headquarters are at Bhagalpur, on the right or south bank of the Ganges. lying between 24° 34'
Physical Aspects.
— The
portions by the Ganges.
District
The
is
divided into two nearly equal
northern division forms a continuation
of the great alluvial plain of Tirhut, being intersected by many rivers, which are connected with each other by innumerable dhdrs or water-
courses
the southern
and eastern portions of this tract are liable to rivers, and by the overflow of the
inundation by the flooding of these
Ganges on
its
The
northern bank.
formerly one of the most
fertile
north-eastern portion of the District,
regions in the sub-Tarai rice tract,
has been completely devastated by changes in the course of the river
Kusi the country has been laid under a deep layer of sand, and the once fertile soil is covered with high grass jungle, which gives shelter
to tigers, buffaloes, for
some
and rhinoceros.
distance, the country
is
weather, almost entirely uncultivated. a few feet
the soil
is
rich,
On
the south of the Ganges,
low, bare, and, except in the
cold
Farther south, the land rises
and covered with
rice
and other crops
mango and palm
groves abound, and numerous villages dot the plain. About twenty miles south of Bhagalpur town, the country begins to
wear a different aspect, the land rises by an easy ascent, and the hilly The soil being less deep than to the northward, and lying upon rocks of primitive formation, the water is nearer the country commences.
and the
an enormous growth, far beyond what Ganges. The mahud tree (Bassia latifolia), now becomes common, palms almost cease to be seen, the mangoes are no longer found in planted groves, but are scattered about in small groups ; the cotton tree attains a great size, and surface, is
trees attain
found on the deep
alluvial plains of the
