04-01-474

474

DRAVIDIAN FAMILY.

that the dialect has ceased to be a Dravidian form of speech, and it will, therefore, be dealt with under Semi-Dravidian languages below. Klm and Naik, on the other hand, which have hitherto been considered as dialects of G, differ so much that they must be separated as a different language.

　There thus only remains one real dialect of G, the so-called Parj spoken in the Bastar State. The G specimens forwarded from that State are all far from satisfactory, and it has not, therefore, been possible to give a full account of Parj. Compare pp. 554 and ff. below.

　The number of speakers of G is continuously decreasing. The estimates made for the purposes of this Survey refer only to Northern India, and the totals for Hyderabad and the Madras Presidency have therefore been taken from the reports of the Census of 1891. The bulk of speakers is found in the Central Provinces and in Berar. The returns of the last Census of 1901 show a small increase in the number of speakers in Berar, while the total for the Central Provinces is more than 200,000 less than the estimates. The tables which follow show the estimated number of speakers in the Central Provinces and Berar compared with the returns of the Census of 1901.