ABSTRACT
OUR information about the demography of India through the ages is very uncertain. Since it was occupied by settled peoples it has been in great part an agricultural country. At the time of the census of 1911 there was still only 9·5 per cent of the population living in towns. The density varies greatly, according to the suitability of the soil for cultivation; for instance, at the same date, there were only 6 inhabitants to the square mile in Baluchistan and 37 in Kashmir, whereas there were 551 in Bengal and 675 in Cochin. In the Punjab there were only 177, in Madras 302, in Bihar and Orissa 344, in the United Provinces 427, and in Travancore 452. 1 The contrast between the comparative sterility of the west and the fertility of the east is as marked in the matter of human fruitfulness as in that of the return of the soil. The law which governs both lies in the irrigation of the country. This is proved by the development of certain districts of the Punjab since they have been better irrigated.
