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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 21, p. 163.

POPULATION 163 fever has consistently been among the highest recorded in Bengal. The prevailing disease is malarial fever; but cholera and dysentery also claim their victims. The chief statistics of the Census of rgoi are shown below:- Number of w N L A~ bq C NN r ti a C a 0 ~ a~+ Subdivision. •N •~ O a°" C. Ty iC N.O 7 O v 5 d E~ a •> p w N ~ a~ a Rampur l3oalid. 910 I 2,271 563)936 62o _ 1.3 24,297 Naogaon . 867 2346 476•x72 918 549 + 12.1 20,211 Nator _ .6 I 1)727 422399 = 4.8 17)732 District total 2;593 2 6,344 1)462)4x7 564 + 1.6 62,240 u e- O 0'O The two towns are RAMPUR BOALIA, the head-quarters, and NAToiz. The density would be far greater but for the fact that the District contains a large portion of the Barind and numerous marshes and lakes, including the Chalan Bil. In a belt of country running from north to south through the centre of the District the population is as dense as in almost any part of North Bengal. For the net increase the north of the District is entirely responsible. In the Barind the population has increased since 1872 by 25.6 per cent., and in the dnja-growing thdnas (Naogaon and Panchupur) by 59•3 per cent., while in the decadent southern and central thdnas there has been a decrease of 12.8 per cent. There has been an extension of immi- gration to the Barind on the part of aboriginal Santdls, Mundds, and Oraons, who are encouraged to break down and clear the jungle by the zamanddrs. They are allowed to occupy waste land rent free for three or four years; and they then move on, leaving the fields they have brought under cultivation to be occupied by the less hardy Hindu ryots, who would shrink from undertaking on their own account the irksome task of reclamation. There has been a considerable drift of population within the District from the unhealthy waterlogged tract to the healthier and more prosperous thdnas in the Naogaon sub- division. During the cold season numerous pdlki-bearers, earth- workers, and field-labourers visit the District, and their presence at the time of the Census caused a large excess of males over females. The dialect known as Northern Bengali is the vernacular of the District. Muhammadans number 1,135,202, or 77.6 per cent. of the population, a proportion exceeded only in the neighbouring District of Bogra. Hindus (325,111) constitute the greater part of the re- mainder. The majority of the Muhammadans are Shaikhs, and there can