The inhabitants are mainly engagen in agri culture. There is no Assamese nation proper, numerous ethnical groups • being represented. The total population revealed by the last (1911) census was 7,059,857. Of these, 6,713,635 be longed to Assam proper and 346,222 to Assam state (Manipur), showing an increase over 1901 of 871,757 for Assam and 61,757 for Mani pur. The birthrate for 1914 was 32.9 per 1,000; deaths, 24.7 per 1,000. The density of popula tion per square mile was (1911) 127 for As sam and only 41 for Manipur.
Religions.— Hindus, Aryans and Brahmans made -up a total of 3,637,828; Sikhs, 750; jains, 2,398; Buddhists, 10,506; Parsecs, 5; Moham medans, 1,886,528; Christians, 66,430; Animis tic, 1,109,187; others, 2; and, curiously enough, only one Jew. Every census has disclosed a deficiency of women, due to the disproportion between the sexes among immigrants. Child marriage is common among both Hindus and Muslims in the Surma Valley and in Goalpara; but in Assam proper only Brahmans and Ganaks adhere rigidly to this rule, and the lower castes usually defer marriage till the girl is of age. No fewer than 167 different lan guages are spoken in Assam, the two chief being Bengali and Assamese. There is a large number of languages belonging mostly to the Tibeto-Burman stock, such as Bodo, or plains ICachari, Khasi, Synteng, the various forms of Naga dialects, Garo, Manipuri, Lushai, Milcir, Miri and Kuki. The principal foreign languages are Hindustani, Mundari, Santali, Oriya, Eastern and Western Hindi. The peo ple seem to be contented, good-natured and in clined to indolence; they have few wants be yond what can easily be supplied from their fertile fields, for which they pay but a very small rental. There are two systems of land tenure, the Zamindari, where single proprietors or proprietary brotherhoods possess large es tates for definite periods, and the Raiyatwari, where each petty proprietor (ryot) holds his plot ot directly from the state, usually cultivates his land himself, and has no landlord between himself and the government. The area operated amounted in 1915 to 5,475,901 acres for the Zatilidari, and 25,829,673 acres for the Raiyat wan, producing revenues of $371,405 and $2, 2265', respectively.
and Justice.— There were 4,635 public educational institutions in 1915, with an attendance of 226,652 scholars and 187 private institutions with an attendance of 7,231 schol ars. The expenditure on education for that
year was $884,745. The proportion of illiteracy is high, only 32.8 per cent of the boys and 5.9 per cent of the girls attend school in British India. In Assam there were 18 vernacular newspapers published in 1915. The administra tion of justice is vested in the courts of magis trates, divided into three classes; and the courts of session for criminal cases. The highest judicial authority is the high court of Calcutta, i.e., there is no appeal to the Privy i Council in England.
Assam, known in ancient history as Kama ritpa, formed in the 7th century A.D. a powerful independent kingdom under a Brahman sov ereign, but in the 15th century it broke up into 12 separate states, which, in spite of their numerous internal struggles, were generally able to resist the attacks of the powerful Mogul emperors. Late in the 18th century its condi tion encouraged the Burmese to make the country a dependency of Ava, but the Bur mese encroachments on the territory of the East India Company brought about war with the British. In 1826 Assam became a posses sion of Great Britain under the administration of the lieutenant-governor of Bengal, and in 1874 was created a chief-commissionership. In 1905 Assam was reunited with eastern Bengal, but by proclamation 22 March 1912 the Assam territories were placed under the immediate authority and management of the governor general (viceroy) of India in Council and formed into a chief-commissionership. The chief-commissioner presides over a legislative council composed of 26 members; 10 being official, 15 unofficial and 1 expert. The rev enue 1914-15 amounted to 1,72,39,180 rupees ($5,746,393) • the expenditure to 1,44,64,977 rupees ($4,8i1,659). There are no large towns of importance. Shillong Town (pop. about 9,000), was chosen as the capital in 1874 on account of its salubrity and convenient pOsition between the Brahmaputra and Surma valleys. The dis trict of Sylhet was also separated from eastern Bengal and incorporated with Assam in 1912, thus adding a territory of 5388 square miles.
(The Imperial Gazetteer of India> (London 1909) ; Shakespear, W. L, (History of Upper Assam, Upper Burmah and North-Eastern Frontier> (London 1914) ; Wat son,. J. F. and Kaye, J. W., The People of India> (ii. 1866-70). HENRI F. KLEIN.