ORISSA TRIBUTARI STATES. 475 area of 15,187 square miles, and containing a population of 1,469, 142 persons, there is only 1 town (Khandpárá) containing as many as between five thousand and six thousand inhabitants, and only 7 towns with upwards of two thousand. The number of villages with less than two hundred inhabitants in 1881 was 9101; with from two to fire hundred, 1748 ; with from five hundred to cnc thousand, 305 ; with from one to two thousand, 50. large village generally gathers around the house or fortress (girl) of the Chief; permanent collections of huts grow up at convenient sites for trade along the rivers or roads; but with these exceptions, a village in the Tributary States simply means the communal homestead of a cultivated valley. Such liomesteads, however, generally contain a larger outside population than the more simple Kandh villages. For, besides the landless low castes, they require a small body of shopkeepers and tradesmen suited to the more advanced state of social existence which they have reached. The one town with a population exceeding 5000 is Khandpára, situated on the right bank of the Mahanadi. It contains (1881) 5543 inhabitants, and is a considerable seat of trade. Religion and Caste.- As in other parts of Orissa, the great mass of the inhabitants of the Tributary States are Hindus, with the aboriginal fetish superstitions more or less distinctly preserved. According to the Census of 1881, Bráhmans number 71,672 ; Rajputs, 3030; Baniyás (traders), 16,664; Chasás (cultivators), 145,841; Dhobis (washermen), 15,468 ; Goálás (cowherds), 123,818 ; Khandáits (the ancient peasant militia of Orissa, now almost all cultivators), 66,862; Tantís (weavers), 25,066 ; and Telis (oilmen), 44,535. The number of Musalmáns is very small, and consists of the descendants of those who took service as soldiers under the Rájás in the time of the Maráthás, when there was constant fighting between the rival States. The Muhammadan religion does not make any progress among the people. Sunnís number 4573; Shins, 333; Wahábís, 13; and others,' 810. In Athgarh there is a village called Chhagan Gobra, and in Nilgiri one called Mitrapur, entirely inhabited by agricultural communities of native Christians. The principal places of pilgrimage are Kopilás in Dhenkánal, Kusaleswar and Jotipur in Keunjhar, Mántir in Morbhanj, and Sámakul in Nayagarh — all of which attract annual crowds of devotees. Agriculture.— Tillage is conducted in two methods, common to the whole Tributary States :-(1) Rice cultivation in hollows and on low lands, with a command of irrigation. In the valleys, where the mountain rivulets can be utilized, the peasants throw a dam across the stream and store up the water. The lower levels thus secure a supply of moisture the whole year round, and wet rice cultivation goes on throughout the twelve months. (2) Upland or táila cultivation, upon
