310 NAGI'UR DISTRICT
in their living, and several of the old Maratha nobility have fallen in
the world. The native army does not attract them, and but few are
sufficiently well educated for the more dignified posts in the civil
employ of Government. Raghvis (12,ooo), Lodhis (8,ooo), and Kirars
(4,ooo), representing the immigrants from Hindustan, are exceptionally
good cultivators. The Kirars, however, are much given to display and
incur extravagant expenditure on their dwelling-houses and jewellery,
while the Lodhis are divided by constant family feuds and love of
faction. There are nearly 46,ooo Gonds, constituting 6 per cent.
of the population. They have generally attained to some degree of
civilization, and grow rice instead of the light millets which suffice for
the needs of their fellow tribesmen on the Satpuras. The menial caste
of Mahars form a sixth of the whole population, the great majority
being cultivators and labourers. The rural Mahar is still considered as
impure, and is not allowed to drink from the village well, nor may his
children sit at school with those of the Hindu castes. But there are
traces of the decay of this tendency, as many Mahars have become
wealthy and risen in the world. About 58 per cent. of the population
were returned as dependent on agriculture in igor.
Christians number 6,163, of whom 2,87o are Europeans and Eura-
sians, and 3,293 natives. Of the natives the majority are Roman
Catholics, belonging to the French Mission at Nagpur. There are also
a number of Presbyterians, the converts of the Scottish Free Church
Mission. Nagpur is the head-quarters of a Roman Catholic diocese,
which supports high and middle schools for European and Eurasian
children and natives, and orphanages for boys and girls, the clergy being
assisted by French nuns of the Order of St. Joseph who live at Nagpur
and Kamptee. A mission of the Free Church of Scotland maintains
a number of educational and other institutions at Nagpur and in the
interior of the District. Among these may be mentioned the Hislop
aided college, several schools for low-caste children, an orphanage and
boarding-school for Christian girls, and the Mure Memorial Hospital for
women. A small mission of the Church of England is also located at
Nagpur, and one of the Methodist Episcopal Church at Kamptee.
The prevailing soil is that known as black cotton. It seldom attains
to a depth of 12 feet, and is superimposed on a band of conglomerate
and brown clay. Rich black clay is found only in
Agriculture: very small quantities, and the commonest soil is a
dark loam mixed with limestone pebbles and of considerable fertility.
The latter covers 65 per cent. of the cultivated area; and of the
remainder, 27 per cent. consists of an inferior variety of the same soil,
very shallow and mixed with gravel or sand, and occurring principally
in the hilly country. Little really poor land is thus under cultivation.
About 383 square miles are held wholly or partially free of revenue,
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