This page has been proofread, but needs to be validated.
72
MODERN HYDERABAD.

that would make a mule stagger and cause a pack-horse to show impatience.

The four principal languages of the State are Urdu — which is the official language— Telegu, Marathi and Canarese; and the people who talk these languages — 96 per cent, of the population — are as follows :—

Telegu .. .. 6,367,578

Marathi . . . . 3,498,758

Canarese . . . . 1,680,005

Urdu .. .. 1,341,622

The number of people in the State who speak Urdu is much the same (according to the area) as of those who talk English in British India. There are many minor vernaculars, including the gypsy dialects. English is spoken by 8,843 persons, of whom 7,000 live in the capital and its suburbs. About 5,600 persons speak Arabic, and 256 talk and write Persian.

Agriculture supports 54 per cent, of the workers and their dependants, and 45 per cent, of the people are supported by the various industries of the State, such as the extraction of metals, cotton spinning and weaving, wood, food and building industries, and industries connected with trade and transport.