"In spite of its vast population, India cannot be said to be a very densely
peopled region; 184 to the square mile for the whole country. The mountain
territory is quite thinly settled. All the native states have but 108 to
the square mile, though the plains of the Ganges show about 400. About
Benares and Patna the average is about double these figures. I was looking
at the 'Year-Book' in your library, and I saw that the average in the
States, including Alaska, is about 18 to the square mile; but the nine
States in the north-east have 107.
"The little bit of a State of Rhode Island leads in the density of its
population, with 318, while Massachusetts comes next with 278. New Jersey
has 193, Connecticut, 154; the big States of New York and Pennsylvania have
respectively 126 and 117. In the United Kingdom the average in England is
541; in Scotland, 135; in Wales, 206; and in Ireland, 144. The density of
India, therefore, is quite respectable by comparison.
"By the census of 1891, India has seventy-five towns with over 50,000
inhabitants, and twenty-eight with over 100,000; but unlike three cities of
the States, it has not one with over a million, though Calcutta and Bombay
are likely to reach that distinction in another decade. You have not a
monopoly of the fast-growing cities in the States."
"We have found out that Berlin has increased faster than Chicago," said
Uncle Moses with a chuckle; "and Glasgow has got ahead of Liverpool.
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