70 MUZAFFARNAGAR. open rebellion, and the semblance of government was kept up, but plunder and incendiarism went on unmolested. At length, on the 21st of June, the 4th Irregulars rose in revolt, and murdered their commanding officer, as well as another European, after which they marched off to Shámli. Five days later, a party of the 3rd Cavalry arrived at the town; and on the first of July, Mr. R. M. Edwards came in from Saharanpur with a body of Gúrkhas, and took charge of the administration. Vigorous measures were at once adopted to repress crime and collect revenue, the good effects of which became quickly apparent. The western parganás, however, remained in open revolt ; and the rebels of Tháná Bhawan attacked Shámli, where they massacred 113 persons in cold blood. Reinforcements shortly after arrived from Meerut; and Thána Bhawan, being evacuated by the rebels, had its walls and gates razed to the ground. After this occurrence no notable event took place, though the troops were kept perpetually on the marching back and forwards along the bank of the Ganges, and watching the mutineers on the opposite shore. Order was restored long before the end of the Mutiny. Population.--In 1853, the population of Muzaffarnagar was returned at 672,861 persons. The Census of 1865 showed an increase to a total of 682,212 persons. In 1872 the population was returned at 690,107 (on the present area of the District, 1656 square miles). The last enumeration in 1881 disclosed a further increase of the population to 758,444, being an advance of 68,337, or 99 per cent., in the nine years between 1872 and 1881. The results of the Census of 1881 may be briefly summarized as follows :-Area of District, 1656'1 square miles, with 16 towns and 896 villages ; number of houses, 97,018. Total population, 758,444, namely, males 409,436, and females 349,008; proportion of males, 54 per cent. Average density of the population, 458 persons per square mile; towns or villages per square mile, '55; persons per town or village, 832 ; houses per square mile, 58.5; inmates per house, 7.8. Classified according to sex and age, there were in 1881--under 15 years of age, boys 149,319, and girls 122,865; total children, 272,184, or 359 per cent of the population : 15 years and upwards, males 260,117, and females 226,143 ; total adults, 486,260, or 64'1 per cent. The excessive preponderance of males must be set down, as in so many other cases, to the former prevalence of female infanticide, which Government has done all in its power to suppress, but which has not yet been entirely stamped out. In 1874, no less than 94 villages were still on the proclaimed list' under the Infanticide Act. In 1881, out of a total of 133,141 of the suspected castes (Játs, Gújars, Rajputs, Tagás, and Ahirs), the percentage of females was as low as 42'1 per cent. Religion.-As regards the religious classification in 1881, Hindus
