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DECEMBER, 1926 ]
THE POPULATION OF THE CITY OF BOMBAY
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to the settlement of Arabs and Persians in the Byculla ward. The Chinese were in the Island by 1830 and have been there in small numbers ever since ; but the Japanese did not appear till much later in the nineteenth century.
The annexation of the Peshwa's dominions in 1818 and the settlement of the Deccan formed the prelude ot much closer communication between Bombay and the country above the Ghats than had previously been possible, and the opening of the G.I.P. Railway offered an additional stimulus to immigration of all classes from the Deccan. From 1860 onwards Bombay received the large army of Maratha Kunbis and allied tribes and castes, who are known familiarly in the city as 'Ghatis' or men from above Ghats. The Ghati has no ambition except to work, is frugal in his tastes, and is perfectly satisfied if he finds a narrow strip of ground to sleep on, and secures a wage large enough to allow of two simple meals a day, one or two Manchester cotton coverings, and a rough woollen blanket. He has no preference for any particular form of labour, and will be found serving as dock-labourer, water-carrier, fireman, smith, drain-cleaner, bullock-cart driver, cook, musician, victoriadriver, policeman, and in many other capacities. In the docks, wharves, and the large ‘godowns' or warehouses, his best qualities are seen. He manages heavy loads of bales, bags, machinery, timber, with the intelligence and skill of one to the manner born, and his physical endurance during the hottest weather has often excited the wonder and admiration of his employers. Frugal though his fare be, he thrives upon it, declaring in his own terse idiom that on a diet of bajra (millet) he can carry a heavy load 15 or 20 miles a day, on a wheat diet, 10 miles, and on a rice diet, 5 miles. The Ghati's chief wealth in Bombay consists of his labour cart and bullocks; and possessed of these, he is a power in the trade of the city. Though he gives little to commerce in intelligence, he gives a very full measure of service for a scanty wage. Docility and obedience are innate in him, and he knows nothing of the vices to which the European labouring classes are sometimes addicted.
Closely allied in origin to the Deccan Maratha is the Maratha of the Konkan, hailing from Ratnagiri and neighbouring districts, who supplies three-quarters of the textile operativo population, a large proportion of the arban constabulary, and the bulk of the menial staff of public and private offices. He also performs domestic service in Hindu households. The presence of this class in large numbers dates roughly from the foundation of the textile industry in 1854 and the establishment about the same date of a regular service of coasting-steamers. The feverish commercial activity which resulted from the outbreak of the American Civil War and the consequent sudden expansion of the Bombay cotton trade largely contributed to the growth of the Konkani Maratha population. By 1865 the number of cotton spinning and weaving mills had risen to 10, by 1875 to 27, and by 1908 to 85, employing daily on tho average more than 100,000 hands, the large majority of whom are Konkani Marathas, who will be found in every department of the mills. The rapid expansion of the textile industry has not been an unmixed blessing. Much of Bombay's industrial area includes land which was once covered by the sea at high tide, and, having been roughly reclaimed with townsweepings and refuse, is damp or waterlogged during the monsoon : and the immigration of the Marathas of the Konkan into this low-lying area was so rapid and so great that adequato arrangements for their housing could not be made. The local government and its sanitary authorities have been endeavouring ever since to mitigate the evils resulting from the industrial activity and the marked increase of the industrial population which occurred after 1860.
As time does not permit of my extending this brief survey, I must perforce leave much of interest unsaid. I may, however, state in conclusion that, as in most Indian cities, each main class or community resides, as far as possible, in its own particular street or quarter. Differences of caste, creed, and custom render this arrangement inevitable. Commencing with the Kolis in prehistoric times, the syatem has continued to the present day; so that the
