~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, Lahore 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 canals. 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. [Illustration: 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. [Illustration: Fig. 30. Map showing density of population in Kashmir.]