The Panjab, North-West Frontier Province, and Kashmir Part 5

3. Thar (Hemitragus jemlaicus), 9000-14,000 ft. Kashmir, Chamba.

4. Gural (Cemas goral), 3000-8000 ft. Kashmir, Chamba, Simla hills, Bashahr.

5. Serow (Nemorhaedus bubalinus), 6000-12,000 ft. From Kashmir eastwards.

(_b_) Sheep:

1. Bharal (Ovis nahura), 10,000-12,000 ft. and over. Ladakh, Bashahr.

2. Argali (Ovis Ammon). Ladakh.

3. Urial (Ovis Vignei) Salt Range, Suliman hills.

(_c_) Antelopes:

1. Chiru or Tibetan Antelope (Pantholops hodgsoni).

Ladakh.

(_d_) Oxen--Yak (Bos grunniens). Ladakh. The domesticated _yak_ is invaluable as a beast of burden in the Trans-Himalayan tract. The royal fly whisk or _chauri_ is made from pure white yak tails.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 25. Yaks.]

(_e_) Stag:

1. Barasingha (Cervus Duvanceli). Foot of Himalaya in Kashmir.

(_f_) Bears:

1. Red or Brown (Ursus Arctos), 10,000-13,000 ft. Kashmir, Chamba, Bashahr, etc.

2. Black (Ursus torquatus), 6000-12,000 ft.

Same regions, but at lower elevations.

The small bear of the southern Suliman hills known as _mam_ is now considered a variety of the black bear.

(_g_) Leopards:

1. Snow Leopard (Felis Uncia), 9000-15,000 ft.

Kashmir, Chamba, Bashahr.

2. Ordinary Leopard (Felis Pardus). Lower hills.

SHOOTING IN HILLS

~Shooting in Hills.~--The finest shooting in the north-west Himalaya is probably to be got in Ladakh and Baltistan, but the trip is somewhat expensive and requires more time than may be available. In many areas licenses have to be obtained, and the conditions limit the number of certain animals, and the size of heads, that may be shot. For example, the permit in Chamba may allow the shooting of two red bear and two _thar_, and when these have been got the sportsman must turn his attention to black bear and _gural_. Any one contemplating a shooting expedition in the Himalaya should get from one who has the necessary experience very complete instructions as to weapons, tents, clothing, stores, etc.

SPORT IN THE PLAINS

(_a_) ~Black Buck Shooting.~--To get a good idea of what shooting in the plains is like Major Glasford's _Rifle and Romance in the Indian Jungle_ may be consulted. As regards larger game the favourite sport is black buck shooting. A high velocity cordite rifle is dangerous to the country people, and some rifle firing black powder should be used. It is well to reach the home of the herd soon after sunrise while it is still in the open, and not among the crops. There will usually be one old buck in each herd. He himself is not watchful, but his does are, and the herd gallops off with great leaps at the first scent of danger, the does leading and their lord and master bringing up the rear. If by dint of careful and patient stalking you get to some point of vantage, say 100 yards from the big buck, it is worth while to shoot. Even if the bullet finds its mark the quarry may gallop 50 yards before it drops. Good heads vary from 20" to 24" or even more.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 26. Black buck.]

(_b_) ~Small game in Plains.~--The cold weather shooting begins with the advent of the quail in the end of September and ends when they reappear among the ripening wheat in April. The duck arrive from the Central Asian lakes in November and duck and snipe shooting lasts till February in districts where there are _jhils_ and swampy land. For a decent shot 30 couple of snipe is a fair bag. To get duck the _jhil_ should be visited at dawn and again in the evening, and it is well to post several guns in favourable positions in the probable line of flight. 40 or 50 birds would be a good morning's bag. In drier tracts the bag will consist of partridges and a hare or two, or, if the country is sandy, some sand-grouse and perhaps a bustard.

CHAPTER IX

THE PEOPLE: NUMBERS, RACES, AND LANGUAGES

~Growth of Population.~--It is probable that in the 64 years since annexation the population of the Panjab has increased by from 40 to 50 per cent. The first reliable census was taken in 1881. The figures for the four decennial enumerations are:

|-------------------------------------------------------------| | | | | | | | Panjab | N.W.F. | Kashmir | |Year |----------------------------------| Province | | | | British | Native | Total | | | | | | States | | | | |-------------------------------------------------------------| |1881 |17,274,597 |3,861,683 |21,136,280 |1,543,726 | | |1891 |19,009,368 |4,263,280 |23,272,648 |1,857,504 |2,543.952| |1901 |20,330,337 |4,424,398 |24,754,735 |2,041,534 |2,905,578| |1911 |19,974,956 |4,212,974 |24,187,730 |2,196,933 |3,158,126| |-------------------------------------------------------------|

~Incidence of Population in Panjab.~--The estimated numbers of independent tribes dwelling within the British sphere of influence is 1,600,000. The incidence of the population on the total area of the Panjab including native States is 177 per square mile, which may be compared with 189 in France and 287 in the British Isles. As the map shows, the density is reduced by the large area of semi-desert country in the south-west and by the mountainous tract in the north-east. The distribution of the population is the exact opposite of that which prevails in Great Britain. There are only 174 towns as compared with 44,400 villages, and nearly nine-tenths of the people are to be found in the latter. Some of the so-called towns are extremely small, and the average population per town is but 14,800 souls. There are no large towns in the European sense. The biggest, Delhi and Lah.o.r.e, returned respectively 232,837 and 228,687 persons.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 27. Map showing density of population.]

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 28. Map showing increase and decrease of population.]

~Growth stopped by Plague.~--The growth of the population between 1881 and 1891 amounted to 10 p.c. Plague, which has smitten the Panjab more severely than any other province, appeared in 1896, and its effect was seen in the lower rate of expansion between 1891 and 1901.

Notwithstanding great extensions of irrigation and cultivation in the Rechna Doab the numbers declined by 2 p.c. between 1901 and 1911. In the ten years from 1901 to 1910 in the British districts alone over two million people died of plague and the death-rate was raised to 12 p.c.

above the normal. It actually exceeded the birth-rate by 2 p.c. Of the total deaths in the decade nearly one in four was due to plague. The part which has suffered most is the rich submontane tract east of the Chenab, Lah.o.r.e and Gujranwala, and some of the south-eastern districts.

A glance at the map will show how large the loss of population has been there. It is by no means entirely due to plague. The submontane districts were almost over-populated, and many of their people have emigrated as colonists, tenants, and labourers to the waste tracts brought under cultivation by the excavation of the Lower Chenab and Jhelam ca.n.a.ls. The districts which have received very marked additions of population from this cause are Jhang (21 p.c.), Shahpur (30 p.c.), and Lyallpur (45 p.c.). Deaths from plague have greatly increased the deficiency of females, which has always been a noteworthy feature. In 1911 the proportion had very nearly fallen to four females for every five males.

~Increase and Incidence in N.W.F. Province.~--The incidence of the population in the area covered by the five districts of the N.W.F.

Province is 164 per square mile. The district figures are given in the map in the margin. The increase between 1901 and 1911 in these districts was 7-1/2 p.c. There have been no severe outbreaks of plague like those which have decimated the population of some of the Panjab districts.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 29. Map showing density of population in N.W.F.

Province.]

General figures for the territory of the Maharaja of Kashmir are meaningless. In the huge Indus valley the incidence is only 4 persons per sq. mile. In Jammu and Kashmir it is 138. The map taken from the Census Report gives the details. The increase in the decade was on paper 8-1/2 p.c., distributed between 5-1/4 in Jammu, 12 in Kashmir, and 14 in the Indus valley. A great part of the increase in the last must be put down to better enumeration.

[Ill.u.s.tration: Fig. 30. Map showing density of population in Kashmir.]

~Health and duration of life.~--The climate of the Panjab plains has produced a vigorous, but not a long-lived, race. The mean age of the whole population in the British districts is only 25. The normal birth-rate of the Panjab is about 41 per 1000, which exceeds the English rate in the proportion of 5 to 3. In 1910 the recorded birth-rate in the N.W.F. Province was 38 per 1000. Till plague appeared the Panjab death-rate averaged 32 or 33 per 1000, or more than double that of England. The infantile mortality is enormous, and one out of every four or five children fails to survive its first year. The death-rate in the N.W.F. Province was 27 per 1000 in 1910. In the ten years ending 1910 plague pushed up the average death-rate in the Panjab to 43-1/2 per 1000. Even now malarial fever is a far worse foe than plague. The average annual deaths in the ten years ending 1910 were:

Fevers 450,376 Plague 202,522 Other diseases 231,473 ------- Total 884,371 -------

Fever is very rife in October and November, and these are the most unhealthy months in the year, March and April being the best. The variations under fevers and plague from year to year are enormous. In 1907 the latter claimed 608,685 victims, and the provincial death-rate reached the appalling figure of 61 per 1000. Next year the plague mortality dropped to 30,708, but there were 697,058 deaths from fever.

There is unfortunately no reason to believe that plague has spent its force or that the people as a whole will in the near future generally accept the protective measures of inoculation and evacuation.

Vaccination, the prejudice against which has largely disappeared, has robbed the small-pox G.o.ddess of many offerings. As a general cause of mortality the effect of cholera in the Panjab is now insignificant. But it is still to be feared in the Kashmir valley, especially in the picturesque but filthy summer capital. Syphilis is very common in the hill country in the north-east of the province. Blindness and leprosy are both markedly on the decrease. Both infirmities are common in Kashmir, especially the former. The rigours of the climate in a large part of the State force the people to live day and night for the seven winter months almost entirely in dark and smoky huts, and it is small wonder that their eyesight is ruined.

~Occupations.~--The Panjab is preeminently an agricultural country, and the same is true in an almost greater degree of the N.W.F. Province and Kashmir. The typical holding is that of the small landowner tilling from 3 to 10 acres with his own hands with or without help from village menials. The tenant cla.s.s is increasing, but there are still three owners to two tenants. Together they make up 50 p.c. of the population of the Panjab, and 5 p.c. is added for farm labourers. Altogether, according to the census returns 58 p.c. of the population depends for its support on the soil, 20.5 on industries, chiefly the handicrafts of the weaver, potter, leather worker, carpenter, and blacksmith, 9.4 on trade, 2.5 on professions, and 9.6 on other sources of livelihood.