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^THYSICAL AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

OF THE

PROVINCE OF ASSAM.

{Reprinted from Report on the Administration of the Province of Assam

the

for the year 1892-93, and published by authority.)

SHILLONG

PRINTED AT THE ASSAM SECRETARIAT PRINTING OFFICE,

1896.

Price—One Rupee.

''-'~- ^ - -"^-
 :

PHYSICAL AND POLITICAL GEOGRAPHY

OF THE

PROVINCE OF, ASSAM,

(Raprinted from the Report on the Administration of the Province of Assam

for the year i8g2-gj, and published by authority.)

SHILLONG

PRINTED AT THE ASSAM SECRETARIAT PRINTING OFFICE.

1896.

Price— One Rupee.

*

GIFT OF

rUlNTED BY THE SUPERINTENDENT OF TEE ASSxVM

BEOEETAEIAT PKINIINQ OFFICE.
 CONTENTS.

CHAPTER I. Page

PHYSICAL FEATURES OF THE Section 5. Public Works ... 133

COUNTRY, AREA, CLIMATE, AND „ G. Local Self-Government.. 138
CHIEF STAPLES.
„ 7. Finance ... ... 144
Pass
Section 1. Area and Boundaries, and
Physical Features ... 1

„ 2. Geological Features ... 10

CHAPTER IV.

,,
3. Climate ... 18 CHARACTER OF LAND TENURES
„ 4. Chief Staples ... 2a_ _ AND SYSTEM OF SETTLEMENT
„ 5. Commercial Staples ... 31
AND SURVEY.
,,
6. Manufactures ... 44 Section 1. Land Tenures ... 154

„ 7. Trade and Commerce .,. 47 „ 2. Waste Land Tenures ... 167

,, 8. Mines and Minerals ... 53 ,, 3. System of Survey and

Settlement ... 172

CHAPTER II.

HISTORICAL SUMMARY. CHAPTER V.

Section 1. Assam Proper ... 62 CIVIL DIVISIONS OF BRITISH

„ 2. Godlp5ra ... 75 TERRITORY.
„ 3. Cachar ... 77 Civil Divisions of British Territory' 181

„ 4. Sylhet and Jaintia ... 80

„ 5. The Hill Districts ... 82

„ 6. Formation of the Chief CHAPTER VI.

Commissionership ... 97
DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS.
Details of the Last Census ... 186
CHAPTER III.

FORM OF ADMINISTRATION.
Bection 1. General Administrative CHAPTER VII.
System and StaflE ,.. 99

„ 2. Legislative Authority ... 110

FRONTIER RELATIONS AND
„ 3. Education ... 112
FEUDATORY STATES.
„ 4. Immigration and Labour Frontier Relations and Feudatory
Inspection ... ... 120 States 207

31J4i>2l

'^M^:
 Physical and Political Geography.

CHAPTER I.

Physical Features of the Country, Area, Climate, and Chief

Staples.

SECTION l.—AREA AND BOUNDARIES AND PHYSICAL

FEATURES,
1. The Province of Assam lies on tlie north-east border of

Bengal, on the extreme frontier of the Indian ^^

Area and boundaries. . ^ 7

Empire, with Bhutan and Thibet beyond it
Bo7,ndalies
on the north, and Burma and Manipur on the east. It comprises p.""*^

the whole of the valley of the Brahmaputra down to the point Features.

where that river, emero-inor on the Benf^^al delta, takes a sudden

southward curve, and the greater portion of the valley of the
Surma, nearly to the junction of that stream with the great estuary
of the Me^ma, too^ether with the intervening? rancre of hills which
forms the watershed between them. It lies between latitude 28° 18^
and 23° 1 5' North, and longitude 89° 46' and 97° 4' East, and contains
an area of 49,004 square which 28,755 square miles are
miles, of
plain and 20,249 square miles are hilly country.* The immediate
boundaries of the province are, on the north Independent Bhutan,
a tract inhabited by Bhutias under the direct Government of Lhassa,
« These figures represent the area of the plains and hill districts, respectively, the

North Cachar subdivision being treated for this purpose as a hill district. The real

plains area is somewhat greater, as a portion of the Garo Hills district (473 square n)iles)

is plain and so Naga and the KhAsi and Jaintia Hills districts.
also a small part of the
On the other hand, it must be remembered that the area classed above as plain includes
the Mikir Hills in Nowgong, and also some low ranges of hills in the south of the Cachar
and Sj'lhet districts.
The North Lushui Hills are not included in these figures, as, although that tract of
country is now practically part of Assam, it has not yet been actually formed intoa district
and incorporated in the ordinary adiniuistratiun of the province. An account of this

tract and of its occupation will be found in Chapter VII.

B
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 1.

Section i. knowii as Towang, and a range of sub-Himalaj^an hills, inhabited,

Ai^nd first by two small races of Blmtia origin, who are believed to be

^""'atd'" independent, and further eastwards by the savage tribes of Akas,

Physical
Daflas,j Miris,7 Abors, ?
and Mislnnis ; on the north-east the Mishmi
Features. -yt n
Hills, which sweep round the head of the Brahmaputra Valley >

(•n the east the Pdtkoi range, the intervening ranges, inhabited

clr.eflyby -".arious tribes of Niigas, and the Native State of Mani-

pur on the south the Lushai Hills, Hill Tippera, and the Bengal
;

district of Tippera on the west the Bengal districts of Mymensingh

;

and Eangpur, and the Native State of Kuch Bihar,

2. Assam Proper, or the valley of the Brahmaputra, is an
about 450 miles in length, with
alluvial plain,
Brahmaputra Valley. ^^ average breadth of about 50 miles, lying
almost east and west in its lower portion, but in its upper half
trendino- somewhat to the north-east. To the north is the main
chain- of the Himalayas, the lower ranges of which rise abruptly
from the plain ; to the south is the great elevated plateau, or
succession of plateaux, known as the Assam Eange, much broken
at its eastern and western extremities and along its northern face,
but in its central portion, from the eastern border of the Gdro
Hills to the watershed of the Dhansiri, a region of table land
and rolling uplands. The various portions of this range are called

by the names of the tribes who inhabit them, — the Gdro, the
Khdsi, the Jaintia, the North Cacliar, and the Ndga Hills. At
several points on the southern side of the valley the hills of the

Assam Eange abut on the river, and at GoAlpdra, Gaulidti, and

Tezpur it has spurs belonging to this group on the north, as well
as on the south bank. The broadest part of the valley is

where the river divides the districts of Sibsdgar and Lakhimpur,

below wdiich the isolated block of the Mikir Hills to the south (a

mass of mountains cut off from the main Assam Eange by the
valleys of the Dhansiri, Ldngpher, and Jamuna rivers), and the pro-
jecting Rroup of the Dafla Hills to the north suddenly contract it.

Forty miles lower down it widens out, but at the lower end of the
Nowgong district it is again encroached upon by the Khdsi Hills,
among the spurs of which the river makes its way in front of the
C^aP" ^'] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC.

station of Gaulidti, and it is almost completely shut in just to the SEc;Tio>f i.

west of that town, below the temple-crowned hill of Nildchal or Area and
Kamdkhyil, where the stream is not 1,000 yards broad. Beyond ^'"'^f^Y'''
this point the hills recede again, and the mountains do not approc.ch
p'j^i][lfg
the Brahmaputra until the station of GotUpara, situated on a spur
of the Garo Hills, is reached. Here, at the confluence of the IManas
and between the rocks of Jogighopa and Pagla Tek, is the
*'
^^^^ Q^ A ssam," to the east of which Assamese is spoken, and
to the west of it Bengali. Beyond this point the valley again
widens, and at Dhubri opens out into the great delta ofjBengal.
3. Throughout its course the Brahmaputra receives a vast
number of affluents, great and small, from
The Brahmaputra ami
Its amuerits.
^|^^ i^ijjg ^^ ^^^ ^^^^^^^ g^^d south. The ogreater
of the northern streams are snow-fed, while
those from the south (except the Dihing) depend upon the annual
rains for their volume, and shrink to small dimensions in the dry
season. On the north the chief Brahmaputra
tributaries of the
are the Dibong, Dihong, Subausi'ri, Bhoroli, Bornadi, and Manc4s ;

on the south the greater affluents are the new and old Dihings, the
Disang, the Disoi, and the Dhansiri. A short distance below the
junction of the last named a considerable body of water separates
itself from the Brahmaputra, and, under the name of the Kallang,

goes on a tortuous course through the Nowgong district, rejoining

the main stream about 10 miles above Gauhdti. The Kallang
receives, in the Kopili, the whole drainage of the North Cachar
and the Jaintia Hills, besides several minor streams from the Kht'isi
Hills. Below Gauhdti, the Kulsi and the Jinjiram are the chief
southern affluents of the Brahmaputra.
The Dihong, which emerges from the Himalayas through tlie
hills inhabited by the Abors, has been proved by Mr. Needham to

be the same stream as the Sanpo, the eastward course of whicli,

along the north of the great Himalayan barrier, has been traced
by explorers to a point where it turns southwards into the range.
The Brahmaputra itself, so far as is known, has but a short course
beyond the limits of British territory, and above Sadiya is far
inferior in volume to the Dihong.
b2
 ASSAM ADMINISTHATION REPOHT. [Chap. I.
4

Section i.
Except at the points already mentioned, where hills impinge
Area and iipon the Bralimaputra, the river flows between sandy banks,
and which are subject to constant changes for a breadth of about 6
Physical
Features.
j-^-^jjgg qj^ either side of the stream. Within this belt there is no
permanent cultivation, nor any habitation but temporary huts
erected by people who grow mustard on the chur lands during the
cold weather. Beyond, the level of the alluvium rises, and tillage

and population take the place of sandy flats covered with long
grass. Little of this is seen from the river, and the traveller up
the Brahmaputra receives the impression that the country is a
wilderness untenanted by man, except at the few points where,
rock giving permanency to the channel, towns and villages have
been established along the stream. These points are Dliubri, the
capital of the Goalpdra district, Godlptira, GauhAti, the capital of
Kdmrup, Tezpur, the capital of Darrang, Koliabar, the port for
Nowgong, from which it is distant 32 miles, and Biswanath, in the
Darrang district. Between the last named place and Sadiya, close
to the point where the river emerg£s from the hills, a distance of

about 200 miles, there is no tov;n or large village on the banks,

Golaghat being 20 miles, Jorhiit 10, Sibsdgar 8, and Dibrugarh 5,
away from the cold-weather channel. Proceeding inland from the
belt just described, through which the river flows, one fine's a
country consisting mainly of alluvial flats, much of which is un-
tilled and covered with long grass, and in the eastern portion of
the valley with forest, but much also is under cultivation. The
most thickly populated part of the valley is North Kamrup ; the
most thinly, Darrang, west of Tezpur, Lakhimpur, north of the
Brahmaputra, and the forests in the extreme east and south of the
latter district. To the peopled belt on either side of the valley
succeeds another where population again falls off, and extensive
forests and grass savannahs reach to the foot of the hills on the
north and south. The Brahmaputra is navigable by large steamers
as far as Dibrugarh throughout the year, and by smaller vessels as
far as Sadiya. Many of its affluents are also navigable in the rains
by steamers, and at all seasons by boats of small burthen.
4. The southern, or Surma, valley, which constitutes the second
^*^^P' '-^
PHYSICAL FEATrRES, ETC.

main division of the province, and comprises the two districts Section r.
The Sunna °^ Cachar and Sylliet, presents many points A^and
Vail.y.
of contrast with that of the Brahmaputra ^'^"'"'r'"
It IS much smalJer in extent, covering only 7,886 sc^uare miles, P'^y^icni
Features.
against 20,8G9 m the latter. This,' however, excludes a portion
of it which lies south of the Garo Hills and east of the old Brahma-
putra, and which, though geographically a part of the Surma
Valley, is not included in the Province of Assam, but forms part
of the Bengal district of Mymensingh. Its mean elevation above
sea level is much lower, the cold-weather zero of the Surma at
Sylhet being only 22-7 feet above the sea, while that of the
Brahmaputra at Gauhati is 148*36 feet. The course of the nume-
rous rivers which traverse it is thus exceedingly sluggish, while
the stream of the Brahmaputra is swift. While the latter river
hurries rapidly along, through a waste of sandy churs, making and
unmaking its banks year by year, the rivers of the Surma Valley
find their way to the great estuary of the Megna by extremely
tortuous channels, the banks of which, reinforced by the annual
deposition of silt, are the highest ground in the alluvial area,
and such are the most populous and best cultivated portions.
as
To the north of the valley stands the steep face of the Khasi and
Jaintia Hills, the plateau of which rises very abruptly from the
plain to a height of 4,000 feet, the table land presenting, when
seen from Sylhet, an almost level line. Near the eastern boundary
of Sylhet, the plateau recedes into the interior of the hills, and
a new barrier, the angular and serrated range of the Barail,
or " Great Dyke," takes its place as the northern boundary of
the valley. This range gradually increases in height and pre-
cipitous character as one proceeds eastwards, and at the eastern
extremity of Cachar takes a curve to the north-east, thereafter
forming the main axis of the Ndga Hills, and eventually merging
in the Pdtkoi. To the east the valley is shut in by the mountains
of Manipur, a continuation of the succession of parallel ridges, lying
north and south, into which the Arrakan Yoma range divides
as it approaches the Himalayas. On the south also these parallel
ridges extend for some distance into the alluvial plain, gradually
 6 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section i. retreating as the river emerges from Cacliar into Sylliet, but still

Ar7a~Ind preserving their uniform meridional direction, until the Bengal

Boundaries ^T^i^^^.^^^ ^f Tippera
^ ^
is readied.
ana
Physical Tlirougliout tliis great alluvial plain, except in the western
portion adjoining Mymensingh, the surface is broken by frequent
groups of isolated hills of small height, called tilas. These may
be regarded as continuations below the alluvium of the southern
rano-es of Tippera and the Lushai Hills. The most notable are
the groups about Chhatak and north of Sylliet, and the Chiknagul
hills in Jaintia. In Cachar, the ridges from the south touch the
Surma, or Bardk, at Badarpur and at the northern end of the Tilain
ran^e, and many isolated hills rise throughout that district, chiefly

to the south of the river. Except where the tilas and the southern
rano-es project, the whole valley is a vast deltaic expanse, covered
with a perplexing network of sluggish streams, and liable to deep
floodin.cf in the rains. The highest ground is on the river banks,
from which the surface backward into great hollows,
slopes

called haurs, all of which are lakes, some of great extent, in the

rains, and in the greater of which water lies in some part through-
out the cold season. In the deeply-flooded but populous country
to the west, the villages are built on artificially-raised sites along the

river margins, and the ground which is thus obtained is so precious

that the houses are crowded together in a manner very unhke the
straggling aspect of a village in Assam.
5. The Surma, or Barak, river rises in the Bardil range to the
north of Manipur. Its sources are among the
The Surma river.
southern spurs or the great mountain mass
called Jiipvo,on the northern slopes of which are situated the most
powerful villages of the Anganii Ndgas. Thence its course is
south, with a slight westerly bearing, among the Manipur hills,
where it receives numerous tributaries befoi^e entering British

territory. At Tipaimukh, the trij unction point of Manipur, Cachar,

and the Lushai Hills, it turns sharply to the north, and, after,
emer^in"- from the Bhuban range near Lakhipur, takes a very
tortuous course, with a generally westward direction, through,
the district. A short distance below Badarpur, on the western
Chap. I.]
PHYSICAL TEATURES, ETC.

boundary of Cacliar, it divides into two branches, the northern of Section t.

which is known as the Surma, and (lows westwards, more or less, ArTT^nd
closely under the Khtisi Hills, having on banks the important
its Boundaries

centres of Sylhet and Chhdtak, till it turns southwards at Sundm- Physical

Features.
ganj ; the southern, called at first the Kusiara, has a south-westerly
direction,and near the confluence of the Manu river from the
south again divides into two branches, the southern of which
reassumes the original name of the whole river, Barak, and,
passing by the towns of Nabiganj and Habiganj, rejoins the Surma
a short distance to the west of the latter place. The other arm
called first the Bibidna and afterwards the Kalni, also rejoins the
Surma, north of the confluence of the Barak, at Abidabad.
The chief affluents of the Surma on the north, after it enters
British territory, are the Jiri and Jatinga from the North Cachar
Hills, the Luba, Hari, Piytiin, Bogapdni, and Jadukata, from the
Jaintia and Khasi and the Maheshkali from the Gc4ro Hills.
Hills,

On the south it receives the Sonai, Dhaleswari, and Katakhal from

the Lusliai Hills, and (in its southern branch, tlie Kusiara-Banik)
the Langai, Juri, Manu, and Khwdhi from the Tippera Hills. At
Bhairab Bc4zar, in Mymensingh, 20 miles below the Sylhet
frontier at Lakhai, it unites with the old Brahmaputra, and
becomes known thenceforward as the Megna. The Surma is
navigable by steamers as far as Silchar in the rains ; in the cold
weather, however, do not ascend above Chhatak
these vessels
on the northern and Fenchuganj on the southern branch. Boats
of considerable burthen traverse the whole river system as far
as Banskandi, east of Silchar, throughout the year, and in the
rains are the most usual vehicle of traffic.

6. The hilly tracts included in the Province of Assam consist

The Hill tracts.

^^ ^^® Assam Eange, which is interposed

The Assam Range.

between the BrahmajDutra and Surma Valleys,
the North Lushai Hills, and the ridges, o-ene-
rally oflow elevation, w^hich run northward from Hill Tippera
and the Lushai Hills into the Surma Valley. No part of the
Himalayas fall within British territory. These hilly tracts have
already been summarily described. The remarkable plateau of
 8 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 1.

Section i. tlie Gdro-Khdsi-Nortli-Cacliar Hills, wliicli, with the sharply-

Area and seiTated range of the BarAil and its spurs, constitutes the Assam
^"^'^and^^^ Eange, is joined at its eastern extremity by the Pdtkoi to the
Physical Himalayan system, and by the mountains of Manipur to the Arra-
Features.
kan Yoma. At its western end, in the Gdro Hills, it attains an
elevation of more than 4,G00 feet in the peak of Nokrek, above
Tura, but falls again before the Khdsi boundary is reached. The
highest points of the Khdsi- Jaintia table land are the Shillong Peak,
6,450 feet, the Dincryei, 6,077, Kdbleng, 6,283, and Suer, 6,300 ;

but these are only the most elevated portions of a plateau, hardly
any portion of which falls below 6,000 feet, and which is all
inhabited and cultivated. To the east the level again falls, the
hin-hest summits not much exceedingr 5,000 feet in the Jaintia Hills,

and considerably less in the Cacliar Hills north of the Barail.

The commencing on the south-east margin of the

latter range,

Khdsi-Jaintia plateau, where the Hari river issues from the hills,
rises by sudden leaps to a considerable height, and among the

hills bordering the Jatinga Valley summits of from 5,000 to 6,000

feet are The range then curves north-eastwards, and
found.
attains a still it forms the boundary between
greater height, where
the Naga Hills district and the State of Manipur. Here the
greatest elevation (in British territory) is reached by the peak
of Jdpvo, which is a little less than 10,000 feet above the sea.
To the north-east of this point the mountain system of the 13arail
is broken up, by the influence of the meridional axis of elevation
prolonged from the Arrakan Yoma, into a mass of ranges having
a general north-east and south-west direction until the Piitkoi

is reached. The highest points in this portion are from 8,0C0 to

9,000 feet. Snow is frequent on Jdpvo and in its neighbourhood,
but is not known further west. It is also seen to cover the hills

lying about the upper course of the Hilling as far as the Pdtkoi,

a country as yet insufficiently explored.

' Between the main axis of the Assam Eange and the valley of
the Brahmaputra the average height of the hills varies considerabl}^
The country is deeply cut into by river channels, and is covered
with dense forest. The isolated block of hills already referred
Chap. K] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC.

to, lyino- to the east of Nowgonf^, called the Mikir-Kensilia Hills, SEcnoji i.

is cut ofi from the main range by low-lying valleys, and has Area and
within it summits attaining a height of 4,000 feet. Its interior ""anT^"
is known, the population is very
little sparse, and the country is
f^'//,'f^gj

densely wooded. The hills lying south of Sibsdgar and Lakhimpur,

and peopled for the most part by the tribes of Niigas which have
not yet been brought under British administration, consist of
small broken ranges, running generally north-east and south-west,
or having irregular spurs leading down into the plains, usually
steep on the northern side, with a more gradual slope on the
south. The greater part of this tract (in which very extensive
and valuable seams of coal exist) is uncultivated and forest-clad,
the outer ranges being chiefly uninhabited.
On the southern face the Gdro and Khdsi Hills rise very
abruptly from the plains, and present a succession of precipitous
faces, into which the by the enormous rainfall of this
rivers, fed

region, have cut deep gorges as they issue upon the swamps of
North Sylhet. The level line forming the horizon of the plateau
is not broken until the BarAil is reached, where the contour
becomes rugored and irreo^ular, thout^h the sides are still preci-

pitous. In the Gdro Hills, the lower portions of the Khasi and^
and the Barail range, the slopes are forest-clad. In
Jaintia Hills
the upper and central plateau of the Khdsi Hills, and the greater
portion of North Cachar, the landscape is one of undulating grass}^
hills, with occasional groves of pine and oak. It is believed that^
the forests here have been destroyed or kept down by the custom
of annually burning, either for pasture or for cultivation, the
lono' crrass with which the surface is covered. Where fires are

excluded, thick forests of young pine and mixed leafy trees spring
up.
7. The LjishaiHills, which divide Assam from Burma, consist
of sandstones and shales of tertiary age
The southern hills. _ p i, •

thrown into long folds, the axes ot which run

i

a nearly north and south direction. From the general character

of the deposits, seems probable that they were laid down in the
it

delta and estuary of an immense river issuing from the Himalayas,

c
 ;

lO ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 2. to the north-east of Assam durmg tertiary tmies, and flowmg clue
Geological south through the country now occupied by the Ndga and the
Lushai The hills are for the most part covered with dense
Hills.

r bamboo jungle and rank undergrowth, but in the eastern portion,

\ owing probably to a smaller rainfall, open grass-covered slopes

are found, with groves of oak and pine interspersed with rhodo-
dendrons. These hihs are inhabited by the Lushais and cognate
tribes, but the population is extremely scanty. The outlying
slopes in the Cachar district constitute a great forest reserve
in Sylhet they are now being largely opened out for the growth
of tea. Till lately, however, they have been left to be roamed
over by Tipperas and Kukis, whose annual jhums were the only
cultivation which they supported.

SECTION 3.— GEOLOGICAL FEATURES.

8.The Province of Assam contains within its boundaries, as
Ts. . . - ^, already mentioned, two o
, . , ffreat alluvial plains.
i ' '
Division of tlie subject. *^

separated by a central mass of mountains

called the Assam Range, and further defined, the Brahmaputra —
Valley by the Himalayas on the north, and the Surma Valley by
the meridional ranges, the prolongation of the Arrakan hill system,
on the south. To the east of both valleys is the great extension
of the mountain system of Northern Burma, which eventually
unites with the Himalayas in the Putkoi. The geology of this
region, therefore, falls apart into that of the hill tracts, which are
being denuded, and of the alluvial plains, which are being formed
by the same process.
9. Of the Himalayan system which lies to the north of the
„,,,,. Brahmaputra Valley we know very little.
,

Such observers as have explored it have been

unable to penetrate further than the exterior zone. In this, how-
ever, are found the same characteristic formations as distinguish
the sub-Himalayan rocks throughout their whole length from the
Indus to the eastern limit of observation. These rocks consist of
great thicknesses of soft massive sandstones, of tertiary age and
fresh-water origin, the dip of which is towards the interior zone of
 ;

Chap, I.]
PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. TI

metamorpliic rocks. In tlie western portion of the range, among Section 2.

the Bliutan hills, it is believed that a gap exists in sub-Hima- Ce'^kal

the.^^e

layan sandstones, or, at any rate, that the outer zone of rocks found ^'''*^"''«-
elsewhere along tlie chain, and known as the Siwaliks, is wantin^r
but further east, in the Dafla hills, and in the Abor mountains north
of Dibrugarh, there are the usual two well-marked ranges of sub-
Himalayan hills, with an intervening Dun. As in the Siwaliks,
nestsand ^strings of lignite are frequently found in these rocks,
and have given rise to expectations, proved on enquiry to be base-
less, that useful coal might be discovered in them.
10. Of the rocks which close in the valley on the east nothing
^, is known, except that limestone is found
Ihe eastern range.
among them. This occurs in the shape of
boulders and pebbles in the river-beds east of Sadiya, whence it is

conveyed by boat down the Brahmaputra, and forms almost the

sole lime-supply of Upper Assam.*
11. The Assam Eange, which divides the Brahmaputra and

„, ^
.
Surma Valleys, is separated by well-marked
The Assam Range. ^.
'' *^
,

physical and geological features into two

great regions, the boundary between which follows the line of the
Dhansiri Valley and the Barail range to the point where the latter
.commences at the south-eastern corner of the Jaintia Hills. The /,

f mountains to the west of this boundary, which include the Garo,

the Khasi, the Jaintia, and the Mikir Hills, with so much of North
Cachar as lies north and west of the BarAil, have been described by
geologists under the name of the Shillongj^laieau. '..The area to the ^ ^

east of this boundary, including tlie""^ariiil, the ranges of Manipur,

and the Naga Hills, is orographically a part of the Burmese
mountain system, and of a widely different geological character.

12. The Shillong plateau consists of a great mass of gneis§,

bare on the northern border, where it is
I. The Shillong plateau. ^» , i
broken into hills, for the most part low and
It is, however, not obtainable in large quantities at reniunerative ratep, and the

demand Assam- Bengal Railway, now under constrnclion, for limestone in the
of the
Nowgong and Kamn'ip districts are boing^met from the quarries on the southern face
of the Khasi Hills, from which the stone is brought by river, vid Chhatak and Karain-
ganj, to Gauhdti.
C 2
 12 ^ ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 2. ver}'- irregular in outline, with numerous outliers in the Lower

Geological Assam Valley, even close up to the Himalayas. In the central
eatuyes.
j-ggj^^-^ ^]^q gi-^eiss is covered by transition or sub-metamorphic
rocks, consisting of a strong band of quartzites overlaying a mass
of earthy giihists. In the very centre of the range, where the
table land attains its highest elevation, great masses of intrusive

diorite and granite occur and the latter is found, in dykes pierc-
;

ing the gneiss and sub-metamorphic series, throughout the southern

half to the boundary of the plains. To the south, in contact with
the gneiss and sub-metamorphics, is a great volcanic outburst of
trap, which is stratified, and is brought to the surface with the
general rise of elevation along the face of the hills between Sheila
and Thariaghat south of Cherrapunji : this has been described
as the " Sylhet trap." South of the main axis of this m.etamorphic
and volcanic mass, and almost at the edge of the central intrusive
dykes of granite and diorile, fossiliferous strata commence belong-
)
ing to" two well-defined series; (1) the cretaceous, and (2) the
•
nummulitic. On their northern margin both rest conformably
on the metamorphics, and rapidly increase in thickness as one
proceeds southwards. (Jn the south the whole series bends down-
wards in a monoclinal flexure, and south of Cherrapunji disappears
below the alluvium of the Surma Valle}''.

The, cretaceous series, where last seen, occupies about 1,500

feet between the Sylhet trap and the nummulitic limestone ; it

varies much in the character of the deposits, consisting chiefly

of sandstones, locally massive, coarse, earthy, or ochreous, with

intervening dark and pale sliales and some layers of flaky, earthy
lirngstone. The series includes several beds of coal, of which the
best known are the Maobehlarkar * coal, a few miles south of
Mauphlang, whence the station of Shillong is supplied, the exten-
sive and valuable coal-field of Darrangiri, on the Someswari river
in the Garo Hills, and some coal close to the level of the plain at

the debouchure of the Jadukata river near Laur in Sylhet another ;

outcrop to the west of the last mentioned, on the Maheshkhdli

river in the Garo Hills, is very possibly continuous with the latter,

• Described in " Records of the Geological Survey of India," Volume VIII, page 86.
 3

Chap. 1.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 1

and, if so, promises to be of great value. An

specimen section isolated a.

of the same series is found on the Ntimbar stream, on the extreme ^

^ ^
'
";
— :
Geological
,

eastern margin of the Shillong plateau, in the Mikir Hills, a few Features.

miles east of Borpathdr. This cretaceous coal brown in colour,

is

compact, splintery, with a conchoidal fracture, and contains

numerous specks and small nests of fossil resin.
The nummulitic series, which overlies the cretaceous, varies
greatly in thickness in different parts of the range. In the Gdro
Hills west of the Someswari it is insignificant ; in the Khc4si Hills
it is much more massive. "
Below Cherrapunji it has a thickness
of 900 feet in the Tharia river, consisting of alternating strata of
compact limestones and sandstones. It is at the exposure of these
rocks on theirdownward dip from the edge of the plateau that
are situated the extensive liniestone quarries of the Khasi Hills,
whence Eastern Bengal is supplied with lime of the best quality.
On same strata are found, but
the level of the plateau above the
have undergone extensive denudation owing to the solubility of
the limestone rock in water and the enormous rainfall of that
region. In the whole of the southern face of these hills are found
numerous caves and underground watercourses due to this
cause and on the plateau of Cherrapunji, while the nummulitic
;

series survives in the rocks on which the Khasi villacre is built.

and in the ridge to the west of the old station, the site of the
station itself has been swept perfectly clear of it, with the
exception of a few rounded hills composed of tumbled
fragments of the harder sandstones which alternated with the
calcareous beds.
Before the uptlwust of the Bardil range the nummulitic beds,
like the other members of the series, retire in a north-easterly
direction, and their eastern limit has not been traced satis-
factorily.
This series also includes coal-beds, several of which have been
worked. The best known are the Cherra mines, in a seam situated
in the nummulitic mass to the west of the station, and the Laka-
dong mines in the Jaintia Hills. The nummulitic coal is black,
bright, with a cuboidal fracture, and very bituminous.
 14 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 1.

Section- 2. ^3, There is evidence that, as the niTmmulitic series overlies

Geological the cretaceous, the former was in its turn
Features. II. Banal range. ^' ',
r ^ •
x
overlain (perhaps only on
^ x

/
its outer mari>in)
by a third, or upper tertiary, series. These rocks have been
traced from the western margin of the Garo Hills, along their
southern face (where, south of the Someswari, the tertiary zone
is 14 miles wide), and beneath the scarp of the Kliasi Hills, where
they have been almost entirely removed from the plateau by denu-
dation. East of Jaintiapur the soft massive greenish sandstones
of this formation appear again, in force, and they rise rapidly from
this point into the Barail range. To this series, apparently, belong
also the tilas of the Sylhet and Cachar plain, and the low merid-
ional ranges of the Tippera and the Lushai Hills, which run up into

it on the south ; and the valley of Cachar seems to be excavated

out of the broken ground where these two conflicting strikes, the
west-east of the Bardil, and the south-north of the southern ridges,
meet. West of Cachar, the Barail curves north-eastwards, and
the southern ranges take the same direction, till eventually the
two lines are found in confluence.

Of this second great division of the Assam Eange we know some-

thing of the north-western face, looking down upon the Sibsagar
and Dibrugarh plains, but of the interior very little. A reconnois-
sance was made in the cold weather of 1881-82 through the eastern
and northern portions of Manipur and the district of the Naga Hills,
which gave some information regarding the rocks of these regions.
The whole of the western portion of this division of the Assam
• Eange, from the rise of the Bardil in south-eastern Ja'intia to the
peak of Jdpvo in the neighbourhood of Kohima, would appear
to be composed of the same tertiary sandstones as have already
been mentioned and the same rocks seem to be continued
;

along the south-eastern margin of the Brahmaputra Valley in

Sibsagar and Lakhimpur. To these succeed a series of hard
sandstones, slates, and shales, with quartzose beds, supposed to be
identical with the " axials " of the Northern Arrakan group.
Still further east is a considerable trappian intrusion, consisting
of serpentine dykes running north and south, identical in
 5

Chap. I] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 1

composition with those of Burma. Of the Patkoi [itself, and of Section 2.

the junction between it and the Himalayas in the Mishmi Hills
T . . .
' Geological
we have at present no mtormation.
I,

Features.

14. The north-western face of this region, lying alon"- the

Cuiii fielclH of Upper I^ibrugarh and Sibsagar districts, contains
^'''""- several very important coal-fields, which
constitute the chief mineral resource of the province. The rocks in
which the coal measures occur are, with one exception, situated to
the south-west of a great fault, in some places a short distance
within the hills, and in others constituting their
escarpment towards
the plains, which is conjectured to have a throw of from 10,000 to
15,000 feet. They consist of an enormous thickness of sandstones
the npper series of which are topped by conglomerates and clays
containing fossil wood the coal measures have a thickness of
;

some 2,000 feet, and are succeeded by fine hard sandstones

overlying splintery gray shales, several thousand feet thick. The
exception is the Jaipur field, in the Tipam hills in the southern corner
of the Dibrugarh district, which is north of the fault. Alono- the
Buri Dihing, and near the exit from the hills of the Dikhu, Safrai,
Jhanzi, and Disoi rivers, the coal measures are exposed. The
greatest of the fields is that of Makum, on the Dihino- ; here there
is seam 100 feet thick, containing at least 75 feet of sohd coal
a
and some very large seams have been traced for more than a mile
without diminution.
The age of these important
and extensive coal measures is
still uncertain. The coal is of superior quality, and not unhke
the nummulitic coal of the Khasi Hills, though quite different
from the cretaceous coal of the same region but the place of the ;

coal in the series where it occurs in Upper Assam renders it ex-

tremely difficult to correlate it with the nummuHtic coal of Cherra
and Lakadong. It is possible that it belongs to the third series,
already noticed, along the southern face of the Shillong plateau
;

but the associated rocks have not as yet yielded any fossils by
which their relations can be studied.*

• " Records of tho Geological Survey of India," Volume XV, page 68.
 6

1 ASSAM. ADMINISTRATION REPORT. ' [Chap. I.

Section 2. 15 Turnuifr now to tlie marked difference

alluvium, the
^^ ^^® physical geography of the Brahmaputra
G ololcal
^ '

Features. and Surma Valleys, both of which belong

to the i^reat Indo-Gangetic plain, has already been noticed. The
former is at a considerably higher elevation above sea level than

the latter, and the fall is consequently greater. The following are

the hei"-hts above mean sea level of the chief points (at the surface

of the alluvium) in the

Brahmaputra Valley.
Feet. -Feet.

Sadiya ... ... 440 Burarnukh, near Tezpur 256

Dibrugarh ... 348 Gauhati ... I(i3

Sibsdgar ... 319 Goalpara ... 150

Dhubri ... ... 118 feet.

The valley has thus, in a distance of about 450 miles, a fall

exceedin^y 300 feet. In the Surma Valley, on the other hand, the

following are the heights :

Silchar .•• 87 feet | Sylhet ... 48 feet.

Chhdtak ... ... 41 feet.

rivers in the Brahma-

In consequence of this greater fall, the
away their banks, while those in the Surma
r)utra Valley tend to cut
former is, indeed, most correctly
Valley tend to raise them. The
gigantic khddar, or strath, within
described as in great part a
which the river oscillates to and fro, while the latter is a delta in

the process of formation.

Nearly the whole of the central portion
Brahmaputra Valley consists of fine greyish-white sand,
of the
lio-htly covered by a layer of clay ;
this is diversified near the

rocks which occasionally impinge upon the river

by beds of strong
sandy clay, derived from their detritus. Away
from the river the
due the decomposition
alluvium is more consolidated, and clay, to

of the sand, predominates. Throughout this surface there are

found here and there (as in the southern portions of the Sibsagar
district, in the plain of Biswanath, and in
the ridge of Tezpur)

more elevated tracts, which seem to represent a more ancient

hhdngar, or older alluvium, the greater part of which has

 7

Chap. 1.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 1

disappeared. Such places, where they have been laid bare by the Section 2.

river, are easily distinguishable, by their closer and heavier texture Geological
"'^^'*
and by their higher colour, from the shifting grey sands of which ^'^

the rest of the trough is composed, and are often indicated b}^ a
name chosen for their peculiar features {Hanga-mati, " coloured
earth," Ranga-gora, " coloured bank ").

In the Surma Valley the process of deltaic formation (whether

because depression of the surface has proceeded pari passu with
alluvial accretion, or because the deposition of silt is slower and
less copious than in the central portion of the Gangetic delta) is

less advanced than anywhere else in the great alluvial plain. As

already explained, the river banks are almost the only high land
(always, of course, excepting the tllas and hill ranges) in the
valley, and behind them lie great basins, or hdiirs, which are deeply
covered with water half the year. In the flood season the rivers
drain into these liciurs, and there deposit their silt, the water emerging
when the river falls perfectly clear. This process results in a
very noticeable raising of the level of these basins ; the Clidtla
Mur, a great depression in South Oachar, which receives the floods
of the Barak, is said to have risen 18 inches in the ten years ending
1882-83, and almost another foot during the last decade ; the
extensive Hakaluki hiur in South Sylliet, which receives the
Langai, is likewise steadily diminishing in depth. One remarkable
event in the history of Western Sylliet was the diversion of the
Brahmaputra, which, till the commencement of the present century,
flowed east of Mymensingh, and of the great tract of old raised
alluvium called the Madhupur Jungle, into a new course far to the
w^est. Previously to this diversion, which has now brought the
Brahmaputra, as a delta-forming agency, into direct competition
with the Ganges, the former river threw the greater portion of its

lighter silt into the Mis of West Sylhet, and thus co-operated in
raising that region. Now the Surma Valley deperds for its

accretions on the purely rain-fed floods of the minor rivers which

traverse it, and which are, of course, far inferior as silt-bearers to
the great glacier-fed streams that drain the mighty chain of the
Himalayas.
D
 l8 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 1.

SECTION S.— CLIMATE.

ECTioN 3.
^^ ^1^^ climate of the Assam Province, botli in tlie Bralima-
Cliniate.
Dutra and Surma Valleys, is marked by extreme
General remarks.
humidity, the natural result of the great
Tvater surface and extensive forests over which evaporation and
condensation go On and the close proximity of the hill ranges

Tvhich bound the alluvial tracts, and on and near to which

an excessive precipitation takes place. The cloud proportion
throughout the year, even in those months which in the rest of
India are generally clear, is very large, dense fogs being cha-
racteristic of the cold weather both north and south of the Assam
range. It is frequently asserted that the monsoon may be said to

beo-in in Assam two months before its commencement in the rest of

India. This, however, is probably a mistake, the exceptionally

heavy rainfall of April and May, which is characteristic of the
province, and which, aided in the Brahmaputra Valley by the
melting of the Himalayan snows, causes a sudden rise of the rivers
in those months, being due to local causes, to storms and local
evaporation. The spring rains are commonly succeeded by a
break, more or less prolonged, of dry weather with westerly
winds, before the true monsoon is ushered in, as in most other
parts of India, about the beginning of June.
17. Systematic observations have unfortunately been regularly

*
taken at only a few points in the province,
Observing stations, .

and the record of its meteorology leaves

much to be desired. The places where meteorological observa-
tories have been long established are SibsAgar and Silchar that at ;

Goalpara was closed at the beginning of 1881, and Dhubri was

chosen in its stead. At other stations, only the rainfall has
hitherto been registered.
18. The mean temperature of the plains portion of the province
is, for a sub-tropical country, generall}^ low.
Tenniiratu'e. mi
I he
c n
lollowiim'
•

are the
11'
latest ni^^ures
r-
tor
c
o
Chap. I.J PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 19

Sibsdgar and Dhiibri in the Bralimaputra, and Silchar in the ^ectiom 3.

Surma, Valley :
^ CUmaU.
Average monthly mean temperature.

—
 :

20 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 3. and rains calms are frequent in both valleys, though seldom of
Climate, ^oug coutinuance.
Storms often occur in the spring months, generally accompanied
by high winds and heavy local rainfall. The valleys and hills of
the Shillong plateau assist in the formation, and determine the
direction, of these disturbances, which are most common in the
lower portion of the Assam Valley. Cyclones from the Bay of
Bengal frequently visit and give heavy rainfall to the western
portion of the range and the plains at its foot ; they most often
occur at the close of the rainy season.
20. The average monthly mean relative humidity of the three

Humidity,
observing stations in the two valleys is

shown below
Chap. I.]
PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 21

Out of 81 stations at which cloud observations have been Secttox 3.

taken in India, Sibsagar stands at the head of the hst,* being cumate.
approached only by Darjeehng. This pecuharity is probably due
to the regular prevalence of dense fogs (which are counted as
cloud in the table) during the cold weather in the Assam Valley,
and to the copious spring rainfall. In the Surma Valle}^ fogs
are decidedly less prevalent, and less dense when they occur,
than in that of the Brahmaputra, and are also less common in
the upper part of the valley, where Silchar is situated, than in the
western half.

22. The distribution of rainfall in Assam is that portion of

the meteorology of the province which is
Rainfall. '~^-.
, •,•-,• n^
,
best
,
known, and
,
also that m
. -i

which it dmers
most remarkably from other parts of India. Besides the
observations taken at district and subdivisional headquarters, a
rain-gauge is, as a rule, kept, and the rainfall is recorded at every
tea garden. There are thus abundant materials for the study of
the subject. The table below has been constructed to show
separately the rainfall of the three seasons into which the year
falls apart, in Brahmaputra and Surma Valleys and the inter-
the
vening hill The stations chosen are those at
region, respectively.
which observations have been recorded for the lon^^est time :
 22 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 3.

Climate.
Chap. I,]
PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 23

The few stations for which observations liave been recorded in Section 3.

the hill region have the character of their rainfall determined very cJbmte.
largely by local conditions. Tura, the chief town of the Garo Hills,
is situated (at an elevation of only 1,323 feet above the sea) on the
northern skirts of the range which forms the main axis of the hills,
and rises south of the station to a height of 4,G52 feet in the peak of
Nokrek. It is thus greatly sheltered from the monsoon currents
which expend their moisture upon the ridge at its back. Similarly,
Shillong, though only 30 miles distant from Clierra, where the
greatest recorded rainfall in Asia is found, has the clouds drained
of their humidity long before they reach it by the immense precipi-
tation along the southern edge of the plateau and in the central
table land, which lies some 1,500 feet above the site of the station.
Cherra Punji, on the other hand, is so placed as to exemplify all the
conditions needed for a great rainfall. It stands, immediately over-
looking the plains at on a small plateau
a height of 4,455 feet,

of thick-bedded sandstones, bounded on two sides by 2,000 feet

of sheer descent, which close in gorges debouching southwards
on Sylliet, which is practically at sea-level. The south-west wind
sweeping over the inundated alluvial tract, blows up these gorges,
as well as on the southern face of the general scarp, and, havino-
reached the heads of the gorges, ascends vertically. The plateau
is thus during the summer months surrounded, or nearlv so by
vertically-ascending currents of saturated air, the d3'namic coolin"-
of which is the cause of the enormous precipitation. It lies

moreover, at the elevation of 4,000 feet, which is found in the

Himalayas to be that of maximum precipitation. The annual
average varies greatly in ditlerent parts of the station, although the
whole extent of the plateau is not much more than a couple of square
miles. Some of the earlier registers, which were those of rain-gauo-es
near the edges of the plateau, show a higher precipitation than
those kept in recent years nearer its centre. The fall has varied
greatly from year to year : 805 inches were recorded
in 1861, and
in the month of July of that year 36G inches fell. In 1884 the
total fall was only 270 inches.
Kohima is situated on a ridize north of the great mountain
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.
24

Section 3. mass of Japvo (9,890 feet high), and is thus, hke Tura and Shillong,
CliiZte
protected from the full force of the monsoon currents.
23. These being the general characteristics of the climate of
Assam, it will readily be understood that in
Effect of climate on upon human health and economic
jj-g effects
heahli. . i 1 i- e
conditions, it presents the nsual leatures or

a cool, equable, humid, sub -tropical region. Kdla-azdr, malarial

diseases, and cholera are the most prevalent forms of sickness.
Kdla-azdr was once thought to be due to the effects of malaria,
but recent enquiries have shown that it is caused by the attacks
of a parasite {Dochmius diiodenalis), to the development of which
the humidity of the atmosphere is peculiarly favourable.* The
heavy mortality from this cause was first noticed in 1882 in certain

villages along the northern terai of the Giro Hills, and in 1884
the number of deaths became so great that a special relief work
was organised. Since that date the disease has spread gradually
through the Godlpdra subdivision, and throughout that portion of
the Kamriip district which lies on the south bank of the Brahma-
putra. It has now reached the Nowgong district, and for several

years past a number of deaths in North Kamrup and Mangaldai

have also been reported to be due to this disease. The mortality
attending its progress has been terrible, and tracts, which before
its advent were covered with thickly-peopled and prosperous
villaf^es, have been left by it deserted and uncultivated. Whole
villages have thus disappeared, and large areas of land have been
thrown out of cultivation. Malaria lurks chiefly in the broken
country forming the skirt of the Assam Eange, where the long low
valleys are seldom stirred by the strong winds which blow on the
southern face. In the open country away from the hills it is

seldom severe ; and the plains of Sibs^gar and Dibrugarh, with the
southern portion of Sylhet, are probably throughout the whole of
India, outside of the hills, the tracts which are most suited for

halntationby Europeans, who generally enjoy excellent health.

Notwithstanding the great water surface of Sylhet, and the deep
* Further enquiries liave, liowever, thrown doubt on the correctness of this view. Seo

Assam Sanitary Reports for 1893 and 18'JJt an.l Chief Comuiissioucr's Resolutions thereon.
Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 25

flooding wliicli it undergoes in the rains, it is, on the whole, a very Section 4.

healthy district. Cachar, which is more confined by hills, is less chief

so. The climate of the hills is healthy or the reverse according to -^^^i^^^^-

their elevation. The whole of the central plateau of the Shillong

range is very salubrious, and the same is the case with the Naga
Hills. The Gdro and North Cachar Hills, on the other hand, are
low and feverish.
The copiousness of the spring rains, and the steady prevalence
of moisture throughout the year, are
on crops.
extremely favourable to the two great crops
of the province : rice and tea. The cultivation of the former
resembles in main features that of the same staple throughout
its

Bengal. But in x\ssam and Sylhet,,_tea^ yields more largely, and

can be plucked and manufactured more continuously, than in any
other part of India.
Famine, or even scarcity, due to drought, is unknown in the pro-
vince ; losses from inundation occasionally happen.* But excessive
floods are seldom of long duration, and the submerged lands can
usually be re-sown ; in any case, a bumper crop Jthe next season
invariably follows upon the destruction of one harvest by flooding.
24. Under this section may be mentioned the earthquakes to
which the province, or at least the eastern half
Earthquakes.
of it, is subject. Several severe shocks have
been recorded, but none such have occurred during the last decade*
A full account of the Cachar earthquake of the lOtli January 1869
has been published in the " Memoirs of the Geological Survey,"

Volume XIX. Another severe shock occurred September 1875,

in

which did some damage to houses in Shillong and Gauhdti and ;

Silchar was again visited by an earthquake in October 1882.

SECTION 4.— CHIEF STAPLES.

25.

^
The principal and almost the only food-grain

jocd-grains.
,

under the same conditions

.

^^
tion of this

as in
...
portion of the province

Bengal
staple
;
is
is rice.
of the
The produc-
carried on generally
but the times of sowino-
plains

* In the Lushai Hills great scarcity has occasionally been caused by the ravages
of rats.

E
 26 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 4- and reaping, and the names given to the several crops, vary much
Chief in different parts of the province.
Staples.
Q^^g exception to this barbarous system of agriculture is

found among the Angami Ntigas. Tiie powerful villages of

this people, which lie about the skirts of the central mass of
.Tapyo, are surrounded by admirably-constructed terraced rice-
fields, not, as in the Khdsi Hills, cut in the gentle slope of the
valleys and embanked with earthen dykes, but built up with stone
retaining-walls at different levels, and irrigated by means of skil-
fully-engineered channels, which distribute the water over each
step in the series. These remarkable works appear to be peculiar
to the group of villages mentioned, their neighbours following the
ordinary system of cultivation by jlium. They have doubtless
been produced by the necessity of their position. Living in con-
stant warfare w^ith one another and with their neighbours, and
maintaining their supremacy by military force, these ruling
villages were formerly compelled to keep their food-supply in the*

immediate vicinity of their habitations, and thus to make the

utmost of the productive powers of the valley bottoms, instead of
carrying their tillage over the wide hill-sides in a rotation of many
years, as is done by hillmen elsewhere. Another reason for their
resort to irrigation appears to be that their hills are too densely
peopled to admit oi jhum cultivation, as, although the latter seems
to yield a larger outturn for the years during which the cultiva-
tion is carried on, the land rapidly becomes exhausted, and, after
two or three years' cultivation, requires a long rest before it

recovers its fertility; a tribe cultivating on the jhum system thus

requires a much greater area of land for its support than one
resorting to irrigation.
26. In theBrahmaputra Valley generally there are only two

ra mapu ra a o}.
great rice crops, —
the dhu, [dsii, dus) and the
^^^^ (^hdli). The dJm, or early rice, is
generally sown broadcast (though it is sometimes transplanted)
upon higher lands in February and March, and is reaped soon
after the setting in of the rains, from June to August. The sdli^

on the contrary, is sown first in nurseries in June, and is trans-

Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 27

planted in July and August into fields which can be flooded in Section 4.

the rains ; it is reaped in December and January.* Chief

Staples,
The following table will serve to show comparatively the area
under these two descriptions of rice and that under other crops
in the districts of Brahmaputra Valley. It represents only
the
lands amalgamated with the mauza, that is, in charge of the local
fiscal officers, and does not include in Godlpdra the permanently-

settled portion of the .district, or, in the other districts, the estates
of revenue-free holders, grantees of waste lands devoted to tea
cultivation, or large privileged holders who pay only half the
ordinary rates of revenue, but, though for these reasons not
exhaustive, it sufficiently indicates the relative proportions of rice
and other cultivation in the districts of the valley :

District.
 :

28 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 1

Section 4- Tlius, out of the total cultivation, 53-7 per cent, is late rice, or
Chief scili, and 17-4 per cent, early rice or dim. the two to2;ether makinsx
""^ "'
up 71-1 per cent, of the whole of the cultivation in the valley.
The remainder is distributed between mustard 9-7 per cent., pulse
3*8 per cent., sugarcane 1*04 per cent., the balance consisting
of other crops, such as til or sesamum, several varieties of
pulse or ddl, Indian-corn, tobacco, betel, plantations of sz^m-trees

{macliilus odoratissima) for rearing silk, vegetables for household

use, &c.
Of the land shown as cropped twice in the year, no portion is

included in that occupied by sdli rice or sugarcane. Aim rice,

mustard, and mdtikalai {phaseolus radiatus), the most common
variety of ddl or pulse grown in Assam) to some extent occupy the
same land, that cultivated in the sprim? with the first-named
yielding a winter crop of either of the But mustard
two latter.

is chiefly grown in the low inundated country of Nowgong, Kdm-

rup, and Darrang, known as the chdpuri mahdls, on the light soil
left after the inundation has subsided. The grass is pressed down
and left to wither, after which it is burnt, the soil lightly stirred,

and the seed put in. The crop is reaped about February.
27. For the Surma Valley, owing to the fact that the greater
part of Sylhet
^
is permanently settled, and
Sunn a ^ alley. *'
^
•* ''

that Cachar is settled for a term, while in

neither district do mufassal establishments corresponding to the
patwaris of Upper India or the mandals of the Brahmaputra Valley
exist, we have no accurate statistics of the relative area under
different kinds of crop. But here also rice is so much the most
important staple that it is unnecessary to notice any other. There
is proportionately much less mustard grown in this valley than in
Assam Proper, and there is but little export of it to Bengal.
Besides mustard, a variety of radish, or tnidi, with a white flower,
is cultivated as an oil seed in Sylhet. The various kinds of pulse
are also insignificant in area. Sugar is produced in some quantity
in the south-west corner of the distri(3t, and has a local reputation.
The great crop of rice in Sylhet is the late rice, dman and sail
the first of these two names is applied chiefly to rice sown broad-
cast, while the latter (which corresponds in name and character
 ;

^*^^P- '•] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 29

to the sail of Assam) is transplanted. This crop is reaped from Section 4.

the middle of JSTovember to the end of January. The cms {dsu or Chief
cihu of Assam) is a comparatively small crop; it is harvested
between the 1st June and the middle of September. In the
western and central parts of the district, which are subject to deep
flooding, a cold-weather rice, called sail hura, is grown in marshy
land, and reaped in April and May. This variety is only locally
of importance.
In Cachar, the rice crops resemble those of Sylhet, consist-
ing of the early and late dus (both minor crops), harvested between
June and September, and the sail and dsrd (the latter answering
to the dman of Sylhet), reaped in November and December.
28. In the hill districts, rice holds a less exclusive place

Hill districts. ...

amoni:^ the crops cultivated.
differences in different parts of
There are
the province
o-reat
*^

in the crops grown and the system of cultivation adopted ; these

differences are determined partly by the character of the country
and partly by the degree of civilisation possessed by the tribe.

Among the KhAsis the system of agriculture is comparatively

elaborate, and carefully adjusted to the productive powers of the
soil. In the flattish valleys, with which the central plateau
abounds, rice is grown in terraced and well irrigated fields, and
such fields are found also on the northern margin of the district
wherever the conformation of the surface admits of them. With
this exception, however, the rest of their crops are grown on hill

sides, the turf and scrub upon which are burnt after being pre-
viously arranged in beds, and the seed sown in the ashes, which
serve as manure. In this way are raised unirrigated rice, potatoes,
various kinds of millet [the three principal being soh-riu or Job's-
tears (Coix lacrima), rai-tru {Eleusine coracarui), rai-shdng {Digi-
taria sp-?)],and a crop called sohphldng {Flemingia vestita), a
leguminous plant with a red flower, which produces large numbers
of tubers about the size of a pigeon's egg among its roots these :

are eaten raw by the Khdsis.

The crops just described are those of the central plateau

besides these, chiefly on the northern slopes of the hills towards

 [Chap. 1.
30 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT.

Sectiov 4. Kamrup and Nowgong, cotton is grown in forest clearings, or

jhiims, -where the soil is enriched by burning the felled trees and
^l~f
Staples, scrub. On the southern face of "theand on the slopeshills,

stretching into Sylhet, are produced the crops to which the wealth
of the Khtisis is so largely due, —
oranges, betel-nuts, and pine-
apules. The orange and betel-nut trees grow together, in care-
fully kept and regularly renewed groves, and bear in immense
profusion. The pine-apple "grows like a weed in this region, and
is extraordinarily cheap and abundant. Besides these field crops,
every Kliasi village on the plateau has its carefully hedged home-
stead lands, in which fine crops of potatoes, Indian-corii, vege-
tables, and pulses are raised, with occasional plots of sugarcane.
No others among the hill races can compe.e with the Khasis in
the value of their staples, or the enlightened character of their
agriculture. The Garos to the west, and the Mikirs, Kacharis,
and Kukis to the east, cultivate entirely by jhuming, clearing the
forest with axe and fire, and growing in the space thus secured,
among the ashes of the trees and undergrowth, mixed crops of
long-stemmed rice, chillies, cotton, millets, and gourds. Some of

these tribes are less untidy than others in their mode of tillage,

and devote a jhiim to a single crop, as rice, cotton, or millet :

others mix their crops, which come to maturity at different times

during the year. But such a jhilm at best is a repulsive sight
with its rotting or half -burnt trunks of trees lying as they were
felled,and the crop struggling w^ith the weeds of the jungle. Land
thus jhiimed is nowhere occupied longer than three years, and often
less, after which it requires from ten to twenty years to recover its
fertility and to become reclothedwith forest. All the cotton grown
in the province is raised by the hill tribes in this manner, and is
remarkable for its short staple and harsh woolly fibre indeed, it so ;

much resembles wool that it has found a demand in Europe for

mixing with wool for the manufacture of carpets.
29. For a series of years, numerous experiments were made
annually with a view to ascertaining
° the
Average outturn of crops. ,

average outturn of the* different crops grown

in Assam. The result of experiments continued over eight years
 Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 31

seems to be that sdlion the average yields a crop of about 20 Section 5,

maiinds per acre, dhu 17 maunds, and hao IG maunds.* In Sylhet, Co,Z^rc{al
the outturn of dman is 19 maunds and that of dus 14
nearly ^i'^P^es.

maunds per acre. The yield of dus (diimai and murdli) in Cachar
is 15 maunds per acre ; the experiments in other varieties of rice
in that district have not been sufficiently numerous to furnish a
reliable average.
For mustard, the same series of experiments shows an averao-e
outturn of 6^ maunds per acre. A particularly interestin^r
feature of the experiments in the outturn of this crop is the proof
afforded by them that the yield on land cultivated for the first

year is greater than that for the second year, and that in subse-
quent years the annual outturn falls rapidly. The figures for five
years' experiments on lands cultivated for the first, second, and third
years are 574 pounds, 501 pounds, and 378 pounds, respectively.
The average yield per acre of other crops is —sugarcane
1,515 pounds, mdtikalai 401 pounds, linseed 433 pounds, rapeseed
328 pounds, uncleaned cotton 283 pounds, til 274 pounds, jute
1,045 pounds, and onions 1,625 pounds.

SECTION 5.— COMMERCIAL STAPLES.

30. The most important commercial staple of Assam 16 tea.
The plant is indigenous to the province, being
found wild in the forests south of the Dihino-,

in the Naga and in Manipur, North

Hills to the south of Sibsagar,

Cachar, and the Lushai Hills. The following paragraphs, extracted

from a memorandum written by Mr. (now Sir ifolm) Edgar in
1873, give in a brief and convenient form a sketch of the growth
and progress of the tea industry in this province from its

commencement down to that year :

There have been lively disputes as to the first discoverer of tea in Assam
and the date of its discovery. It is probable that a Mr. C. A. Bruce, who
* Unfortunately, the experiments of earlier years failed to distinguish between the
different varieties of sdli and dhu. But from the figures for 1888-89 it appears that wliile
the bor dhdn variety of idli yielded 1,821 pounds per acre, ^ciAJ yielded only 1,159 pounds.
Similarly, transplanted dJiu or kharma dhdn gave an average outturn of 1,380 pounds,
against 1,300 pounds for dhu sown broadcast.
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.
32

Section 5. commanded a division of gunboats in Upper Assam during the first Burmese
^ .war brought
,
& down from Upper
^ '
Assam some plants and seed of the indige-
^
Commercial ?
-^

Staples. nous plant in 1826, and he actually received a medal from the English

Society of Arts. But his claim to have been the first discoverer of tea was
disputed by a Captain Charlton, who asserted that the existence of tea in

Assam had been first established by himself in 1832. In 1834, a committee

was appointed to enquire into, and report on the possibility of introducing
the cultivation of tea into India. In 1835 the first attempt was made by
Government to establish an experimental plantation in Lakhimpur, but it
failed, and the plants were afterwards removed to Jaipur, in the Sibsagar
district, and a garden established, which was sold to the Assam Company in

1840. This Company, which was formed about 1839, was the first, and is
still very much the greatest, concern for the cultivation of tea in Bengal.
It was not, however, very prosperous during its early years, and in 1846-47

its shares are said to have been almost unsaleable. Its prospects began to

improve about 1852, and in 1859 it was reported officially to have a cultiva-
ted area of about 3,'J67 acres, with an estimated outturn of over 760,000
pounds of Meantime, tea cultivation had been commenced in many other
tea.

districts. In 1850 a garden was started by Colonel Hannay near Dibrugarh,

and in 1853, when Mr. Mills of the Sudder Court visited Assam, he found
three private gardens in Sibsagar and six in Lakhimpur. In 1854, the first

gardens were started in Darrang and Kamriip. In 1855 indigenous tea

was found in Cachar, and the first garden in the district was commenced in
the cold season of that year. In the following year (1856) tea was
discovered in Sylhet, but no attempt at cultivating it was made for some
time after.

may be said generally that the foundations of the present tea indus-
It
try were laid between 1856 and 1859. In the latter year the labour
difficulty began to be seriously felt in Assam and Cachar ; but, although
Colonel Jenkins, Commissioner of Assam, recorded a serious warning, no
one else seemed able to foresee the formidable dangers into which the too
rapid progress of the industry would bring it. Later still, in 1862-63,
officials as well as planters seem to have indulged in visions of fabulous

prosperity, which only deepened the gloom of the miserable time that was
so soon to come on them. The Land Revenue Administration Report for
that year contains extracts from reports from Assam, Cachar, Sylhet, and
Darjeeling, written in the most hopeful spirit ; indeed, the two former are
written in an exalted tone that contrasts curiously with the usual sobriety
of official reports. But even'at the time of publication of these rej)orts
suspicions had begun to arise about the soundness of this condition of
Chap. 1.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 33

affairs, which was apparently so brilliant. An Act for the regulation of the Sfxtion 5.

transport of native labourers emigrating to Assam and C'achar, passed in Commercial

1863, was expected to remedy many hideous evils which were discovered to ^^"Z''^'"

exist in the impox'tation of labourers required to supplement the scanty

local supply. But it soon came to light that the condition of these labourers
on many gardens in both districts was most deplorable, while the morta-
lity among them was appalling. The evil first fruits of the reckless way
in which waste lands had been dealt with, in the belief that Government
was fostering tea cultivation thereby, were being gathered in the shape of
increasing hostility to Grovernment and its officials, caused by difficulties
about surveys, boundaries, title-deeds, and the like, which all had arisen
out of the mistaken policy of giving vast tracts of land to anyone choosing to
ask for them, without enquiry and without precaution of any kind.
In 1865, an Act was passed for the regulation of the relations of employ-
ers and imported labourers after the arrival of the latter in the districts of
Assam, Sylhet, and Cachar. Here I shall only say that, though at first at
least it did little to improve the condition of the labourers, I am convinced
that it had not the slightest connection with the temporary collapse of the
tea industry which took place in the following year. The cause of the
crash of 18G6 was the utterly unsound foundation on which the fabric of the
tea industry had been based, and not directly the action of Government, as
at the time it was the fashion of even usually well-informed persons to
assert. At the same time, we should never lose sight of the fact that the
industry might never have got into the ruinous slate of inflation that it was
in previous to 1866, had it not been for the unwise attempts of Government
to foster it at the outset by sacrificing the most necessary safeguards in
dealing with land. The depression of the industry consequent on the
collapse of so many concerns in 1866 was, of course, intensified by the
ignorance of the general body of proprietors of tea, shares, who, as was
remarked by me in a paper written in 1867, showed as much folly in their

hurry to get out of tea as they had a few years before in their eagerness to
undertake the speculation.
This depreciation of tea property continued during the years 1866, 1867,
and 1868; but about 1869 things began to look brighter. It was seen that
people who had worked steadily for years with a view to make gardens that
would yield a profit had been rewarded, while much of the property of the
collapsed companies had turned out well under careful management. In fact,

it was again found out that tea would pay, and ever since it has been
steadily progressing in popular estimation, and, as a general rule, in profit

to those engaged in it.

 34 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 5. There cannot be the slightest doubt that the industry is in an infinitely

Commercial better and safer position now than it was ten years ago. The existing
Staples. gardens are, as a general rule, well filled with plants, highly cultivated, and
carefully managed. The amount of tea produced per acre, although falling
far short of the sanguine expectation of the first days of tea-planting, is

satisfactory in all the more important districts, while the prices obtained
this seasonshow that the average quality must be very good. There is
every reason to hope that the labour difficulty is disappearing in Cachar,
and, in spite of the complaints from Assam, there are evident signs of
improvement in that province.

Tea is now cultivated in all the plains districts of the province,

and there is one "arden in the Khdsi Hills. The followin« fiiiures
give the total area under tea in each district, and the estimated
outturn iu pounds, according to the last returns, those of 1892 :
Cha.X3, 1 ] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 35
Secttov c
ground, siicli as the spurs of the Khasi Hills, in South Kamrup, •'

and the tilas of Sylhet and Cachar. Now, however, it has been ^stapUsT
found in the Surma Valley
with good drainage, the heaviest
that,
crops of tea can be raised from low-lying land, even such as
formerly supported rice cultivation. In the Assam Valley, the
most suitable soil is considered to be the old alluvium, or bltdngar,
.such as is found in the south of Sibsdgar district and in the north
of Darrang. This is a rich loam, capable, by reason of its undu-
and very heavy crops are
lating surface, of excellent drainage,
obtained from such gardens. The average outturn per acre was
in 1892 returned as 376 pounds for Sylhet and Cachar, and 409
pounds for the Assam Valley.
31. There is ample space still available for the extension of
the tea industry. Besides the 247,192 acres
"^ *^^ ^^*
inLTuy?^^ shown in the above statement as already
some 797,792 acres have
occupied with tea,

been taken up for plantation purposes, much of which will, no

doubt, in due time, be planted, though a good deal may be un-
suitable for tea. Prices have fallen considerably during the last
decade, but the introduction of labour-saving machinery and of
improved methods of cultivation, together with careful attention
to economic working, have combined to reduce the cost of
production to such an extent that the profits from the better class
of gardens are considerably larger, and the position of the industry

generally is now much more assured and satisfactory than it was

ten years ago.
32. There are four varieties of domesticated silkworms in
Assam. The smaller or multivoltine pat
Silk-
,7
worm {bombyjc
7 -N
croesi), andT the 1 1
larger or
unlvoltine same name {bombyx textor), both feed on
worm of the
the mulberry, and produce a white silk, which was in considerable
demand in the days of the Ahom kings. The cultivation of these
silkworms is, however, decreasing, and there is little prospect of
its revival. The muga worm {anthercea Assama) feeds on the
sum tree {machilus odoratissima), and on the dualu {tetranthera

monopetala), as also on a variety of other trees, but the silk yield-

F 2
 36 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. U

Section 5. ed b}' the siuV'ied worm is the best. The worm is a multivoltine,

Commercial j^elcling as many as live broods in the year, but nsually only three
Staples.
^^ these are used for the manufacture of silk Upper Assam ; and in

breedino- is discontinued during the rainy season, and is resumed

on the approach of the cold weather with cocoons imported from
Kamri'ip and Nowgong. In Upper Assam, the worms are fre-
quently fed on patches of natural forest, but in the western
districts land is planted out with sum trees for this purpose. The
worms are placed on the trees as soon as they are hatched, and
are watched night and day during the whole period of their life
in the open air. When ready to spin their cocoons, they descend
the tree, and are removed by the cultivator. The cocoon is about
11 inch long by J'^hs of an inch in diameter, and yields a soft
silk of a bright yellow colour, with a beautiful gloss. The silk is

wound off the cocoon by an extremely primitive process of reeling.

In 1837, Mr. Hugon calculated that an acre of trees would support
worms yielding 50,000 cocoons, capable of being reeled into 12
seers of silk ; but a careful estimate prepared by the Deputy Com-
missioner of Sibsagar in 1882 places the outturn per acre at only
a quarter of this quantity, —
a difference which may partly be
explained by supposing that Mr. Hugon was speaking of
plantations, while the Sibsagar estimate relates to natural sum
forest, where the trees grow much more
The area of such
sj^arsely.

forests in the Assam Valley (where alone the muga is produced) is

believed to be about 300 square miles but this great area is used
;

for breeding silkworms only as the alluvial lands of the Brahma-

putra are used for growing mustard, that is to say, parties of men
make clearance of the undergrowth in patches, and cultivate

silkworms for a year or two, after which they move to another

spot. TheJ fourth kind of silkworm reared in Assam is that called

m, from its feeding on the eri {endi) or castor-oil plant. This is

bred by Ivacharis, Mikirs, Gdros, and Kukis, both in the

chiefly

Assam Valley and on the northern and southern skirts of the

central range of Assam, as also in the low hills to the south of
Sylhet and Cachar. It is a multivoltine worm, reared entirely
indoors, and yielding five broods in the year. The cocoon is
Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 37

smaller than that of the muga, and its colour is either white or a
deep brick-red, both red and white cocoons being produced ^"'stTpul^^
indifferently by worms of the same brood. The silk is never
reeled, but is spun off by hand.
The demand for eri silk is rapidly increasing, but all attempts at
producing it on a commercial scale have hitherto failed, the main
reason being that the castor-oil plants, on which the worm feeds,
are peculiarly liable to destruction by when grown
caterpillars
in large quantities. As regards the muga cocoon, no method of
reeling it has yet been introduced which will enable it to be sold
at remunerative prices, and its chief sale continues, as heretofore,
to be for the purpose of embroidering the hand-made muslins
manufactured at Dacca.
33. Cotton is grown in large quantities along the slopes of the

Cotton. , ^ ...
Assam ramye, especially in the Gdro and
Mikir Hills it is also grown in the hilly
;

country in South Cachar and Sjdliet. It forms, except in the

Khasi Hills, almost the only produce which the hillman has to
barter for the necessaries which he buys at the submontane markets,
where a large business in it is done. The staple is, as already
mentioned, short and harsh, and the main demand for the hill
cotton comes from within the province. (A certain quantity, how-
ever, is exported, and 68,485 maunds were exported during 1892-
93, against only 14,199 maunds during the corresponding year of
the last decade. The demand outside the province seems, there-
fore, to be increasing.)
34. One of the most valuable products of Assam is India-
rubber, which is obtained almost exclusively
Rubber. . - ^
^
. , ,
from Ficus elastica, the outturn from other
local species being inappreciable.

The rubber tree, which formerly was found in greater or less

abundance in many parts of the province, is now restricted to the

most inaccessible forests of the Lakhimpur, Darrang, and Khasi

Hills districts, and in the last of these this tree is now fast dis-
appearing, owing to the wasteful and destructive methods employed
by the tappers for obtaining the rubber. There is also good reason

sii'i'o'j
 38 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 5. for supposing that the rubber forests situated in territory beyond
Commercial tho Assam frontier, and from which the larger portion of the total
^^'
outturn is obtained, are gradually becoming less productive than
formerly, and that the more accessible of these forests have been
completely worked out. When the last decennial report was com-
piled in 1882-83, the outturn of rubber was returned as 10,000
niaunds per annum. But since then there has been a large falling
off, the average output during the past ten years having only
slightly exceeded 5,000 maunds, and even this comparatively low
average has not been attained during recent years, as will be seen
from the followinsj fi";ures :

Maiinds.

Outturn in 1889-90 ... ... ... 3,419

„ 1890-91 ... ... ... 3,076

„ 1891-92 ... ... ... 4,227

„ 1892-93 ... ... ... 3,250

Within the last year, the old system of leasing out the product
over certain areas, known was abolished, and replaced
as mahdls,
by a duty of Es. 12 per maund, which is imposed on all rubber
brought from beyond the frontier, or collected in the Government
forests. This change of system, however, did not come into force
until November 1892, which accounts for the sudden falling off

exhibited in the figures of 1892-93, which must, therefore, be

considered as abnormally low. The receiptsfrom rubber durinoj
the past ten years have averaged Es. 33,079 a year, but a consi-
derable increase on this sum may be expected to result in future
years from the collection of the abovementioned duty.
The amount of rubber exported from Assam during the past
three years has been 4,844maunds in 1890-91, 5,903 maunds in
1891-92, and 4,006 maunds in 1892-93. Its selling price in the
Assam markets is from Es. 50 to Es. GO a maund in Calcutta it ;

fetches as much as Es. 100.

35. Indigenous lac is found in the Assam forests, but the

j^^
staple is also largely cultivated by artificial

propagation. The lac insect is chiefly reared

on two kinds of fig [Ficus cordifolia and Ficus lacci/era), which are
planted on a large scale near villages in the Kdmrup and Darrang
 —

Chap.l.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 39

districts. The form in which the great bulk of the Lac is exported Section 5.

is stick lac, the crude product, consisting of small twigs surrounded Commercial
by cylinders of translucent orange yellow gum, in which the insects
which deposited it are embedded. A small export exists of sliell
and button lac, and of lac-dye, the result of a process of purifica-
tion applied to the stickdac. The twigs are first separated, and
the gummy envelope is then scraped and rubbed by hand under
a stream of water till the colouring matter has been thoroughly
extracted ; this con&ists of the dead bodies of the insects buried in
the gum, and gradually precipitates itself to the bottom of the
water when left to settle. The water is then drained off, and the
sediment, after being strained, pressed, and dried, becomes lac-dye,
ready for the market. The gummy exudation is meanwhile dried
in the sun, and then melted, in bags of cotton cloth, over a char-
coal fire. It is then squeezed out, either in thin sheets upon an
earthen cylinder, when it becomes shell-lac, or in dabs upon a
plantain stalk, when it is called button-lac. The exports of lac
and lac-dye during the last three years have been as follows : in

1890-91, 9,337 maunds ; in 1891-92, 14,753 maunds ; and in 1892-

93, 15,376 maunds,
Mustard forms a very important commercial staple in the
36. -

Assam Valley, where, as shown in the

^^ ^^ '
preceding section, it is largely grown in the
inundated country of Kdmrup and Nowgong. It is manufactured
to a small extent into oil within the province ; but this product is

consumed almost exclusively by the immigrant population. The

following are the exports of mustard-seed during the past three
years from the Assam Valley ; *
Maunds.
1890-91 ... ... ... ... 8,69,571
1891-92 ... ... ... ... 12,77,217
1892-93 ... ... ... ... 11,28,996

But little mustard is exported from Sylhet and Cachar. The

figures are
IMaunds.

1890-91 ... ... ... ... 25,974

1891-92 ... ... ... ... 2J,958
1892-93 ... ... ... ... 18,750
 40 ASSx\JI ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 1.

Section 5. oij>^
j^te is growu for export in Godlpdra and Kamrup, but hardly
Comnercial at all in Other districts of the Assam Valley.
'*^ "'
There is also a little jute in South Sylliet.

The following are the figures showing the export of this staple for

the past three years :

Maunds.

1890-91 ... ... ... ... 3,40,678

1891-92 ... ... ... ... 2,21,595
1892-93 ... ... ... ... 2,16,479

Nearly the whole of the above came from the Assam Valley.
38. Potatoes are very largely grown in the Khdsi Hills, but in
no other part
^ of the province, as a commer-
Potatoes. ^
.
\
They were introduced
.
^ .

into this
cial staple.

district by Mr. David Scott, Governor General's Agent, in 1830,

and are now cultivated throughout the upper plateaux of the
Khasi Hills Proper, though not in the Jaintia country. Two crops
are produced j^early, the first being sown in February and March
and reaped in July, and the second put down in August and taken
up in November and December. The latter crop is chiefly used
for seed, and the export is wholly derived from the former. Large
quantities are carried down by cart to Gauhdti for the supply of
the Assam Valley. But the main channel of export to Bengal is
via Clierra Punji and Sylhet, whence the potatoes are conveyed by
boat. The exports reached the highest point known in 18<Sl-82,.
when they amounted to 1,26,981 maunds. In 1886-87, they were
returned at 1,04,940 maunds, but in that year the tubers were
attacked for the first time by a disease due to the presence of a
fungus [PhytophtJiora infestans), and in the following year the crop
was reported to Owing to this disease,
have rotted in the ground.
the exports continued to fall from 41,548 maunds in 1887-88, and
24,386 maunds in 1889-90 to 12,016 maunds in 1890-91. The
disease is now reported to have disappeared to a large extent and
the exports have increased in consequence. In 1891-92 they were
returned at 29,321 maunds. In the following year (1892-93),
however, the exports fell again to 10,776 maunds in consequence
of diminished cultivation and increased local consumption.
 : 1

Chap. 1.] PHYSICAJi FEATUllES, ETC 4

39. Another article of considerable traffic 'which is exported Section 5.

from the Khdsi Hills consists of oranf^^es. ^unimcrLiak

rn„7ZZr;,f
Oran^'es.
staples.
These are produced in great abundance, and
of excellent quality, on the slopes of the hills bordering on Sylhet,
where there is a continuous fringe of orange-groves belonging to

the Khdsi proprietors from the Bogapani river to the exit of the
Piy^ in at Dauki Bazar. The higher plateaux produce lemons of
the best quality in profusion, but these are not largely exported.
The exports of oranges from Sylhet during the last three years
are shown below
Maunds.

1890-91 ... ... ... ... 1,06,854

1891-92 ... ... ... «. 1,13,694
1892-93 ... ... ... ... 25,259

As might be expected from the character of its surface

40.

and climate, the area of forest in Assam is

Forests.
very extensive, and it is the home of many
extremely valuable timber trees. The head of the Assam Valley.
including the Lakhimpur district and part of the Sibsdgar and
Darrang districts, is a forest country, the greater portion of the
land not under cultivation being stocked with dense and chiefly
evergreen forest. The middle and lower portion of the valley,
on the other hand, is a comparatively open tract with vast expanses
of grass savannah, and forest only in the vicinity of the hills,

on the extensive tracts of high land and on the isolated hills which
are found in this part of the valley. In the Surma Valley there
is little forest in Sylhet, except on the southern hills stretching
up from Tippera, and in the great valley of the Langai and Singla
rivers, in the south-eastern corner, where there is a forest tract
of 170 square miles. In Cacliar the whole of the south of the
district bordering on the Lushai Hills, measuring more than 700
square miles, is a forest reserve, whence the populous district of
Sylhet draws its timber supply ; there are also 38 square miles of
reserve in the north of this district. In the hill districts there is

less good forest than might be expected, though there is no lack

of wooded country ; the habits of the hill races do not permit
G
 ASSAM ADMINISTEATION EEPOET. [Chap. 1.
42

Section 5. except ill isolated spots to jhums have not extended,

-u'liicli their

Commercial of tlie growtli of Valuable timber. Forest iires and jliuming have
staphs.
([qy].^^{\q^ the interior of the hills, where the people chiefly live,

of most of its forests but along

; the northern and southern skirts

there are large areas of natural forest still untouched. The

following is a statement of the forest area as it stood in each
district on the 31st March 1893, classed either as (]) reserved

or (2) unclassed forests in which no special measures of protection

are in force, but Government asserts its right to the trees, and
does not allow them to be felled without paj'inent :

Forest

Cachar
Sylhet

Goalpdra ...

Kdrariip ...

Darrang ...

Nowgong ...

Sibsagar ...

Lakhimpur
Garo Hills

Khasi andJaintia Hills

Naga Hills

The most valuable trees in the forests of Assam are ajhar

{laqerstrcemia and sam {artocarpus chaplasha), which are

regince)

found throughout the Assam Valley, nahor (niesua ferrea)^ which

does not grow in the plains of the Brahmaputra Valley west of
the Mikir Hills, though common in the evergreen forests of the
Gdro and Khasi Hills, sal {shorea rohusta), which is found only
in the lower part of the valley, in Goalpdra, Kanirup, Darrang,
and Nowgong, and the Gdro and Khasi Hills, sissu (daWergia sissoo)

which is not found east of the Manas river, mir1 l-hgir (^acacia

catechu), which extends eastwards to Charduar in Darrang. In

the Surma Valley, 7iaho7' (there called nagesar), ajhar (there
Chap. I.l PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 43

cnWed. jar id), and cham (the sam of A&sam) are the most important Section 5.

trees. Commercial
"^ ^^'
The only trees which are important articles of export are sal^

sam, and ajhar, which are largely floated down the Brahmaputra
into Bengal, and from Cachar into Sylliet, chiefly for boat building.
The exploitation of the Cachar forests for the service of Sylhet has
alwaj's been active and is extending, while that of the Brahmaputra
forests in Goalpara and Kamrup has lately appeared to be
stationary. The upper part of the Assam Valley is too remote
from a market for its timber resources to be yet regularly exploited ;

the only use made of the forests is to yield posts and beams for
house building, trees for <:Zzf^ow^5 (the only kind of boat made in
theBrahmaputra Valley), charcoal, chiefly for tea manufacture,
and soft woods for tea boxes. The time, however, will doubtless
come when, with the improvement of communications and the
'

spread of population, these valuable forests will play their part in

the development of the province.
The timber exported from Assam in 1892-93 was valued at
Es. 11,76,234.
41. Among the "commercial staples" of Assam, elephants
^, . , should also be mentioned. These valua-
Llephants.
ble animals abound in the forests of the
Assam Valley, on the lower slopes Assam Hange, and in
of the
South Cachar and South-Eastern Sylhet. The Government khedda
establishment from Dacca have annually hunted the Garo Uills
forests for several years past, and large numbers of animals have
been captured by this agency. When not required for the purposes
of the Government khedda, the elephant mahdls (or right of hunt-
ing within certain defined tracts) are leased by auction sale to the
highest bidder. Besides the price of the mahdl, the lessee has to
pay a royalty of Rs. 100 on each animal captured. In 1890-91
259 elephants were caught by lessees, in 1891-92, 66, and in
1892-93, 103. The number of elephants caught by lessees has
been falling off' of late years, owing to the large captures effected

by the Government khedda estabhshment, which have resulted

in a considerable dechne in the market value of elephants.

G2
 44 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. I
Chap. 1.

SECTION 6,-^MJNUFACTUEES.
Section 6. 42. Tea is tlie only important article of manufacture in Assam.
M^^m^ac- The total quantity of tea produced in 1892
*"'''' ^'^'
is returned as 84,221,133 pounds, of which
35 159,829 pounds were manufactured in the Surma Valley and
49,061,304: pounds in the Assam Valley. A sketch of the tea
industry has been given in the preceding section.
43. In proceeding to consider the native manufactures of
Assam, it is necessary to remember that the
Native mamifactureB
province posscsses no large cities where
artisans can find scope for employment, and
that the common industrial classes of other parts of India, such as
carpenters, blacksmiths, wheelwrights, or masons, are represented
in Assam by workers imported from Bengal, and paid at extremely
high rates. The list of indigenous Assamese manufactures com-
prises only silk, thread, and fabrics, coarse cotton fabrics woven
mostly from imported thread, brass utensils, oil expressed from
the seeds of mustard and til, coarse sugar^ a few kinds of jewellery,
some ornamental articles in ivory, and common domestic pottery
and agricultural implements. The Assamese, in fact, are singularly
wanting in mechanical genius, and, although the occupation of an
artisan is one of the most remunerative in the province, the indus-
trial school established at Jorhdt has always suffered from a lack
of appreciation by the people whom it was intended to benefit.
44. The silk fabrics are the produce chiefly of the Assam
Valley. The various kinds of silk have been
described in the preceding section. It is

difficult to say whether their production, on the whole, is increas-

ing or decreasing. The common opinion is that it is largely on the
decline, and this is probably true of the silk yielded by the pat
or mulberry silkworms, which was more largely in vogue under the
native Government of the Assam Valley than it is in the present
day, when it is being supplanted by the cheaper tufisar of Bengal.
The price of the i7iugd and eri silks has also risen fourfold within
the last fifty years ; but this circumstance is probably 'due in part
Chap. 1.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 45

to the influx of money into the province, while it is by no means Sfxtion 6.

certain that these silks were at any time more easily procurable Mamifac-
"''^^'
than they are now. The earliest mention of them is to be found
in Muhammad Kasim's chronicle of Mir Jumla's invasion of Assam
in 1GG2, and it was then observed that the silks, though good,
were produced in quantities sufficient only for domestic consump-
tion. This is exactly the case at the present time, and as the
population of the Assam Valley is certainly greater now than it

was in 1662, would seem to follow that the production of silk

it

is not less than it was in the most flourishing days of the Aliom
kingdom. The muga silk is used as an article of dress by the
wealthier classes in the Assam Valley, and is largely exported to
the southern hills, where it is much sought after by the Gdros,
Khdsis, and other hill tribes. Muga thread is also exported to
Bengal. Eri silk is, perhaps, even more extensively manufactured
than muga. Unlike the latter, it is not exported in the form of
thread, but considerable quantities of the cloth are purchased by
the Bhutia traders, who descend into the northern part of the
Godlpara, Kamriip, and Darrang districts every winter. En cloth
is now made up into coats, &c., for summer wear by
largely
Europeans, and the demand for it on this account is increasing
every year. It is generally worn in the cold months by the
peasantry of the Assam Valley. The thread is produced also by
Kukis and Mikirs in the lower parts of the central range of Assam,
and is woven into the striped cloths which form the ordinary
dress of all the tribes inhabiting those highlands. It is impossible
to give even an approximate estimate of the quantity of muga
or eri produced annually in any part of the province. The value
of eri thread is Us. 5 to Es. 7 per seer ; of muga thread, Es. 8 to
Es. 12 ;
while good gn' cloth sells at Ee. 1-8, and good m?^^^ at
Es. 2-4 per square yard. The manufacture of both kinds of silk
is purely domestic. There are no large filatures, nor is there any
system of breeding the worms on an extensive scale. The raiyat
breedM silkworms enough to yield him a few chhataks of thread,
which he either weaves himself, or disposes of at the village fair.
There is no regular trade in silk jarns or fabrics, nor any stated
market where they can be bought in large quantities.
 ,

46 ASSAM ADiriNISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 6. 45^ The cotton fabrics of Assam deserve no particular mention.

Manufac- By tlie liill tribes and by the Miris in the plains,
t tt VS S V^ O L L Oil •
they are woven from cotton locally grown,
and gaily coloured with native dcyes. Elsewhere English thread is

generally used. A kind of rug or blanket is made by the Kukis and

jNIiris, with cotton ticking on a backing of coarse cloth. The cotton
cloths of the Nagas are very substantial and tastefully coloured.

46. Brass utensils are made by the Morias, a low Muhammadan

caste found chiefly in the districts of Sibsa^ar
Brass.
"^
p
and JSTowgong. These are of the rudest kind,
without any attempt at finish or ornamentation. A style of
vessels somewhat superior to these is made at Gauhdti and at
Sarthibdri in Kdmrup.
47. The manufacture of mustard oil is of recent introduction.
The mill used is the ordinary bullock-mill of
Oil and sugar. ^ .

Upper India, and is gradually supplantmg

the domestic oil-press, which consists simply of a short beam
loaded with a heavy stone. Gui\ or coarse sugar, is entirely an article
of domestic manufacture. It is made by the rudest method, is never

exported, and its consumption within the province is but small.

48. The common jewellery of Assam is chimsy and ungraceful,
consistinoj chiefly
^ of pieces of coloured ^
glass
Jeweller}^. ° ^
m
.

roughly set gold or silver. Some beautiful

gold filigree-work is, however, made in Barpeta, and the art of
enamelling is still preserved in Jorlidt. The Klidsi bracelets, neck-

lets, and earrings in gold and silver are handsome ornaments,

though somewhat heavy in design ; and the Manipuri jewellery, or
similar patterns, is imitated in Sylhet.
49. The district of Sylhet is noted for its ivory, mats, and fans,

and the manufacture of shell-bracelets gives

Sylhet manufactureH. .*,

employment to a large number of artificers

in the town of Sylhet. These bracelets are cut out as solid rings

from large white conch-shells obtained from mau)^ places on the

sea coast in and near India. They are of graceful appearance,
and command a ready sale. In pargana Patharia, in this district,
there is a considerable manufacture of agar attai\ a perfume
distilled from the resinous sap of the agar tree {aquilaria
Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 47

agallocha). This perfume is much esteemed by Oriental nations, Section 7.

and is exported, vid Calcutta, to Turkey and Arabia. Iron work Trade and
inlaid with brass, talwdrs and ddos, and such like articles, are
'^'^>>''"^'^^<^^-

manufactured in Eajnagar and Lashkarpur in Sylhet. Boat

buildinix is also carried on to a considerable extent in that district.
Jorhdt, in the Sibsdgar district, still enjoys some local reputa-
tion for its ornamental carved work in ivory. This town is also
the only place in Assam where ornamental pottery is made.
50. The. boat-making of Barpeta ought, perhaps, to be men-
tioned in a catalo":ue of provincial industries.
Boats. ° _ ^ ^

The roughly-hollowed logs are floated across

from the Gdro Hills, and, after being further excavated till the
thickness of the outer skin is reduced to about an inch and a
quarter, they are subjected to a steaming process in the boat-
builder's hands, being smeared with liquid mud and inverted over
a line of burning embers. While thus softened, the future boat
is widened by the insertion of thwarts. If, as usually happens,
it splits in the process, the rent is patched with a piece of wood

fastened in by clamps holding its bevelled edges to those of the

aperture. In this way boats sixty feet long by six or seven feet
in breadth are constructed, capable of lasting, if the wood be
good forest timber, for ten years or even longer. The same
process is followed elsewhere in the valley where boats are made.
No such thing as a built boat has probably ever been attempted
in the Brahmaputra Valley.

SECTION 7.— TRADE ANJ) COMMERCE.

51. In the preceding sections an account has been given of
the most important commercial staples which
Introductory, -^
^

are produced in the province. It remains to

describe the general course of provincial trade, the classes by
whom it is conducted, the routes which it follows, and the markets
where transactions are concluded.
52. The trade of Assam is carried on in two different directions :

fu'st, and chiefly, with the neighbouring

Nature of trade in Assam.
Assam. . « -r» i t ^^ •
^^ ^i
provnice 01 Bengal ; and, secondly, with the
Trade routes.
foreign Stales and tribes which surround
 48 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section- 7. British territory on three sides. Both descriptions of trade are

Trade and registered, the first at the stations of Dhubri on the Brahmaputra
Commerce.
^^^^ Bhairab Bazar on the Surma, by -which channels nearly all

the merchandise from or for Bengal enters or quits the province :

and the second, either by special agency on the channels of

communication, or by the collection of statistics at the various
fairs or marts in the frontier districts to which the neisrhbourinoj
tribesmen resort.
The traffic conveyed by the boats and steamers that ply on the
Brahmaputra and Surma represents by far the most important
part of the trade between Bengal and Assam, in which as yet
railwa3's have no share. A certain amount of road traffic also
takes place, but this is not large enough to justify the retention
of a special establishment for the purpose of registering it.

Figures are, however, collected by the police at Sidli and Baida,

but, as they receive no special pay for this work, the figures
supplied are not very reliable. The river traffic is carried on
both by boat and by steamer. Mail steamers run daily on the
Brahmaputra river, between Dibrugarh and Goalundo, and on the
Surma between Goalundo and Silchar during the rainy season
and between Goalundo and Fenchuganj in the cold weather. A
considerable amount of cargo is carried in these steamers, but
special cargo steamers with large flats also run, and carry goods
whose bulk renders them unsuitable for carriage by the smaller
and more speedy mail steamers. Statistics of the goods carried
by these vessels are transmitted by the companies to which they
belong, through the Government of Bengal.
The boat traffic is registered by special establishments, which
were located in 1879 at the two points already mentioned. 1'lie
quantity of the goods carriedis all (except in a few instances)

that these establishments record ; values are applied to these

quantities in the offices of the Deputy Commissioners of Dhubri
and Sylhet, according to the prices ruling for the articles at those

stations. The figures furnished by the steamer companies are

treated in the same way.
Boats monopolise the greater part of the trade between Assam
and Bengal in lime, rice, gram, kerosine and other oils, salt, sugar,
 :

Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 49

tobacco, oranges, and potatoes, but themore expensive articles of Section 7.

merchandise, such as tea, piece-goods, liquors, and metals, and Trade and

also coal and mustard, are for the most part carried by steamer.
A curious feature in the returns is that whereas in the Brahma-
putra Valley in 1882-83 steamers carried 85 per cent, of the total
value of the inter-provincial trade, in 1892-93 they carried only
82*63 per cent., while in the Surma Valley the value of goods
carriedby steamer has increased from 45 per cent., at the
commencement of the decade to 61*89 per cent, at its close. In
the case of the latter valley, however, the increase in the propor-
tional values of articles carried by steamer ismore than accounted
for by the traffic in a single article, tea. Not only is none of that
article now by boat, but the total value of the tea exported
carried
has increased by more than the absolute increase in the value of
goods carried by steamer.
Taking the province as a whole, the value of goods carried by
steamer has increased in the last ten years by 40 per cent., as
against 50 per cent, in the case of goods carried by boat.
53. Full details of the imports into, and exports from, Assam
to foreign countries and to the neighbouring
province of Bengal will be found in Part IIb
of the General Administration Eeport. In 1892-93, the total value
of the imports from foreign countries amounted to Es. 7,92,189, and
that of the exports amounted to Es. 2,54,192. The total value of
the trans-frontier trade was therefore Es. 10,46,381. Considerably
more than half the imports were from Hill Tippera, and consisted
mainly of timber, canes, and other forest produce. Next in value
were the imports from Bhutan and Towang, amongst which blankets
and ponies formed the most important items. Of the exports, the
largest were those to Bhutan and Towang (chiefly rice and raw
silk), and to Hill Tippera (salt).

Turning to the inter-provincial trade, it may be noted that the

imports aggregated Es. 3,17,81,690, and the exports Es. 6,30,48,969.
In the following table, statistics are given showing the imports
and exports from each valley separately, and the form of carriage
used
H
 50 ASSAM ADMINISTEATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 7.

Trade and
Commerce.
Chap- I
] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 5 I

The principal imports into the Brahmaputra Valley were rice, Section 7.

salt, gram and pulse, kerosine-oil, iron and sugar, while salt, gram, Trade and

kerosine-oil and pulse, sugar, tobacco, and coal and coke figured
most largely amongst the Surma Valley imports. Of the exports
from the Brahmaputra Valley, coal and coke, rape and mustard-
seed, timber, tea, raw jute, and rice in the husk, were the most
important, and rice in the husk, lime, bamboo, and tea from the
Surma Valley. Eice in the husk (paddy) is exported from the
Brahmaputra Valley, and husked rice is imported. Lime forms
one of the most important articles of export from the Surma Valley,
while in the Brahmaputra Valley a considerable quantity of the
same commoditj'- is imported from Bengal.
54. The classes who conduct the trade of the province are

_ ,. , different in the two valleys. In both, tea, the

Trading classes. /
great export of Assam, is consigned straight
from the gardens where it is produced to Calcutta, either to be sold
there or shipped to England for sale. But almost all the rest of
the export traffic, and nearly the whole of the import traffic, of the
Assam Valley is in the hands of Marwari traders, commonly called
Kaiyas, who not only manage the wholesale, but to a very large
extent the retail, trade of the valley. Besides these, there are a
few Muhammadan merchants from Dacca, who have settlements
in the chief centres ; but their transactions are small compared
with those of the Kaiyas. It is very remarkable to notice the
complete mastery of the internal commerce of the valley which
these strangers possess. The native Assamese hardly ever engages
in anything more extensive than petty shopkeeping, and this only
in the western portion of the valley. But the Marwari is found,
keen to buy and sell, wherever money is to be made he settles ;

himself not only in the populous villages of the inhabited region,

but in the midst of the jungle, on the paths leading to the mountains
from which the wild tribes come and it is exclusively with him
;

that these visitors do business.

In the Surma Valley the conditions are different. Here there
are comparatively few Marwaris, though they are not altogether
absent. The native population contains a large trading element,
and merchants from Dacca are more numerous than in Assam.
H2
 52 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOET. [Chap. I.

Section 7. jn the hill districts there are considerable differences in the

Trade and cxtent to whicli the pcoplc themsclves engage in trade. In most
Comtnerce.
of these tracts, traffic is a necessary of life, the hills not producing
sufficient food for the people to live upon ; but in most also it

takes the simple form of barter, the exports consisting chiefly of

cotton, wax, ivory, and forest produce, and the imports of rice,

salt, dried fish, and cloth. But

Khasi and Jaintia Hills
in the
there is a much more active The valuable staples of
commerce.
this tract have already been mentioned, and the trade in them is
kept by the people almost entirely in their own hands. Many of
them are adventurous merchants, travelling as far as Dacca, or
even Calcutta, during the cold season. In the Ndga Hills, too, the
Angdmi Ndgas, who occupy the central region, though producing
nothing of commercial importance themselves, do a thriving
business as carriers between Manipur and Assam, and spend much
money in the markets of the plains in the purchase of articles of

use or luxury for themselves.

55, All over the province there are weekly lidts, or markets, on
stated dates, where bu5^ers and sellers meet.
Trading centres.
and most of the business is done. Except at
a few places, there are no permanent hdzdrs. During the cold
weather, fairs are held along the foot of the hills which mark the
frontier, and to these come down with their produce.
the hillmen
The most important permanent centres of commerce are Goalpara,
Barpeta, Eangia, Gauhdti, Kalaigaon, Tezpur, Nowgong, Chappar-
mukh, Bishndth, Golaghdt, Jorhtit, Lakhimpur, Dibrugarh, and
Sadiya, in the Assam Valley and Habiganj, Ajmiriganj, Sundmganj,
;

Chhdtak, Bdldganj, Sylhet, and Silchar in the Surma Valley. The

cold-weather fairs for frontier trade are held at Udalguri, Kher-
kheria, and Daimdra in the Darrang district for the Bhutias and ;

at Sadiya in the Lakhimpur district for the Abors, Mishmis,

Khdmptis, and Singphos. Besides these places, the Bhutias resort
largely to various marts in North Kdmrup, the Akds and Daflas to
Tezpur, the Daflas and Miris to Lakhimpur, and the southern
Ndgas to Jaipur and Goldghdt. In the Surma Valley, Barkhola
is the chief mart for North Cachar, Jaintiapur for the Jaintia Hills,

and Lakhat, Bhoh'iganj, and several other smaller markets to the

Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 53

east for the Klitisi Hills. The Lushais

mainly served by a Section- 8.
are
bdziir at Changsil, where there are a few shops kept by Bengalis mIh^s and
from Silchar. The Manipur trade is chiefly carried on at Lakhipiir, ^^'"'^''"^^•
and that with Hill Tippera down the rivers which emerge from
that country into Sylhet.

SECTION 8.— MINES AND MINERALS.

56. In the section dealing with the geology of the province
some account has been given of the most
General remarks. . •inn-*
important minerals found in Assam, viz,, coal
and limestone. Iron occurs in the metamorphic and sub-metamor-
pliic rocks of the Shillong plateau, and is found in small quantities,

in the form of nodular masses of clay ironstone, in the neighbour-

hood of the coal of the Makum field. Petroleum springs exist in
the same locality. Gold was anciently washed in the rivers of
Upper Assam, but the industry is not now found to be worth
pursuing. Salt springs exist in several parts of the Bardil-Pdtkoi

section of the Assam Eange.

57. The mineral of the first economic importance to Assam is

undoubtedly the coal which is found on the

•
north-western face of the Eastern Xaga Hills.
Upper Assam. o- t i r> i
Situated as these fields are, near the upper
terminus of steam navigation on the Brahmaputra, it had long

been recognised that their successful exploitation would effect a

revolution in the carrying trade by steamers on that river, which
formerly depended on Kaniganj for their fuel supply. The exist-
ence of coal here has been known since 1825. The question of
opening out the fields was reported on by a coal committee, as-
sembled at Calcutta in 1840 and 1845. The locahties were summarily
examined by Mr. Medlicott, of the Geological Survey, in 1865, and
in the seasons 1874-75 and 1875-76 Mr. Mallet, of the same Survey,
made a careful inspection of all the coal outcrops from the Tirdp
to the Desoi river. His report, which contains a detailed descrip-
tion of the several fields, will be found in Volume XII of the
Memoirs of the Geological Survey. The coal measures extend
along a distance of about 110 miles, but are exposed only where
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOHT. [Chap. I.
54

Section- 8.
ii^q river valleys have cut into them. Five coal-fields have been
Mijiesand described and named by Mr. Mallet, viz., the Makum, Jaipur,
Minera s.
-jvij-^^ira (Dildiu and Safrai), Jlianzi, and Desoi fields. Besides these,
in the further extension of the Ndga
up the Dihing Valley toHills

the frontiers of Burma, there are other known, but not regularly-
explored, localities where coal occurs. The most important is the
Makum field on the Dihing river, where the seams reach an
immense thickness. Several desultory attempts had, from time to
time, been made to work the coal there, but, owing to difficulties
of labour and transport due to the uninhabited character of the
country, and the difficult navigation of the Dihing river, no large
quantity had, at any time, been brought out, until some ten years
ago, when the mine was leased to the Assam Eailways and
Trading Company, and a railway was constructed from the Brah-
maputra at Dibrugarh to the coal measures on the Dihing. Since
that time the mines have been vigorously
tons, worked, and the output of coal has risen
J890 '.!i 145,708 Steadily. The which is of excellent
coal,

J^^.^
•••
}g^'yj5 quality, not surpassed by any and equalled
by few coals in India, is now exclusively used
by the steamers navigating the Brahmaputra. Local requirements
in the Brahmaputra Valley are entirely met by it, and in addition
large quantities are exported for consumption in ocean-going
steamers and other purposes.
A portion Dikhu or Nazira field, situated a short distance
of the
within the hills south of Sibsagar, whence that river issues, is held
on lease by the Assam Company, but, except for the needs of the
lessees, has not yet been worked to any extent. In fact, since
1888 no coal at all has been extracted from this field. The other
outcrops, the Jaipur field in the Dihing, which is very favourably
situated for working, and the Jhanzi and Desoi fields, which are
less accessible from the
plains, have not yet been exploited.

58. The only other localities where coal has been found in
„ , 1 ,
rr, TT-,,
.
the province
^ are situated in the Gdro and
Garo and Khasi Hills.
the Khdsi and Jaintia Hills. As already
noticed, this coal is of two very distinct kinds, the older or cretaceous
Chap. I.] PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 55

coal, and the newer or nummulitic coal. The greatest deposits Section 8.

are those of the former in the coal-field of Darranggiri, on the Mines and
Minerals.
Someswari river, in Gdro Hills. This field (which has been
the
described in the " Records of the Geological Survey," Volume
XV, page 175) is situated north of the main axis of the Garo
Hills, on either side of the gorge through which the river makes its

way to the plains. It has been estimated to contain 76 milhon

tons of good workable coal. At the exit of the Jadukata river,
near the western boundary of the Khdsi Hills, cretaceous coal is

found ahnost at the level of the plains, and the coal-bearing rocks
are exposed over an area of 30 square miles, so that there is a
large amount of coal available here in a very accessible situation.
A tramway might be laid from the Darranggiri field to the
plains of Mymensingh without much difficulty, and would bring
within reach of a market a very large supply of coal. With these
exceptions, both the cretaceous and the nummulitic coal in the
Khdsi Hills are found in small confined areas, which may be
described as pockets, representing original depressions in the
surface where the grew or woody matter accumulated.
forests
The seams soon thin out, and no very extensive supply from any
one place can be reckoned on. The largest of these minor fields
are those at Cherra Punji and Lakadong. The last estimate of
the available coal (nummulitic) in the Cherra coal-field places
itfrom 1,200,000 to 1,370,000 tons (" Eecords of the Geological
Survey," Volume XXH, page 167), so that it would be exhausted
in less than ten years if extracted at the rate now attained at
Makum. Another obstacle in the way of working it is the eleva-
tion at which the coal is found, and the consequent cost and
difficulty which would be involved in transporting it to the plains.

The coal, however, is of excellent quality, and is one of the few

Indian coals which can be used with absolute safety on board
DO
ocean-going steamers. The Lakadong O coal-field is situated near
the southern edge of the Jaintia Hills, about 7 miles from the
plains, at Barghat on the Hari river. It was last visited in

1890 by Mr. T. D. LaTouche, whose report will be found in the

*'
Kecords of the Geological Survey," Volume XXIII, page 14. The
 56 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION EEPOIIT. [Chap. X.

Sections, field is calculated to contain about 1,1G4,000 tons of coal, ^Yllich,

Mines and like that of Clicrra Punji, belongs to the nummulitic or lower
Minerals.
eocene division of the tertiary formation. The elevation of this
field is 2,200 feet, or about half of that at Cherra Punji.
59. Iron exists in Assam, as in most other parts of India, in
great quantity and in various forms ; but the
competition of English iron, "vyitli the exhaus-
tion of the supplies of fuel which supported the native furnaces,
has almost extinguished the indigenous industry in the Khdsi
Hills ; while in Sibsdgar, where in the days of the Assam Eajas
iron-smelting was extensively practised, and the great iron cannon
for which Assam was once famous were forged, the art ha^
completely ceased to exist. The Khdsi Hills iron, which is still

made in small quantities and exported to the submontane bdzdrs,.

is derived from the minute crystals of titaniferous iron ore, which

are found in the decomposed granite on the surface of the central

dyke of that rock, near the highest portion of the plateau. The
decomposed granite is rolled down into a stream, where it is
washed to separate the iron-sand, which is collected in wooden
troufdis, dried, and reduced with charcoal in small furnaces. The
quality of the iron is excellent, and it is still sought after to some'
extent for manufacture into hoes and dhaos but it cannot be
;

doubted that the industry must soon die out. Its s^reat extension
in former times is evidenced by the remains of smelting furnaces
which cover the surface for many miles, from the brow of the
hill below Cherra Punji as far north as Molim and beyond. The
slao- from these workings supplied a considerable portion of the
metal for the cart road between Cherra and Shillong.
In Upper Assam, clay ironstone occurs in nodules of various
sizes, and sometimes in thin beds, interstratified with shales and

sandstones, in the coal measures of the NAga Hills ; but it is

believed that the ore is not in sufficient abundance to aflord a

supply for a blast furnace on the English principle ; while the
scarcity of limestone required to form a flux would, even if the ore
were in greater quantity, probably form an insuperable obstacle
to operations on a large scale. The company who have the
Chap, I.] PnYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 57

concession of the Makum coal-field liave also the monopoly of the Section 8.

iron of that region, but have hitherto made no attempt to work Mines and
^^^"^''''^^•
it. The iron ore formerly smelted in Sibs:lgar was derived both
from the clay ironstones in the coal measures (chiefly those of the
Nazira field), and from the impure limonite which occurs in great
abundance in the Tipani rocks south of the Dhodar Ali ; the
former was the source most used.
60. Pyritous shales are also found associated with the coal
.
j^
measures of Upper Assam ; and it may,
perhaps, hereafter be found profitable to use
them for the manufacture of alum and copperas.
61. Petroleum is found in the neighbourhood of the coal of

Upper Assam. It is a heavy oil, containing

Petroleum
a comparatively small proportion of the light
illuminating hydro-carbons, in which respect it could not compete
with the imported oils. For lubricating purposes, however, and
for yielding solid paraffine, it is beheved that it will prove valuable.
The earliest experiments in working it were made at Nahor Pung,
in the Jaipur field (where they were a failure) and near Makum,
when a considerable amount of oil was extracted in 1868. A
concession for working petroleum in the Makum field was granted
to the Assam Eailways and Trading Company in 1882-83, and two
similar concessions in thesame neighbourhood have recently been
granted — one to the company already
mentioned, and the other
to a syndicate. Borings have been made by both concessionaires,
and petroleum has been extracted, but their operations have not
yet resulted in any considerable extraction of oil. In fact, the
only field which has been at all properly worked up to date is the
second concession of the Assam Eailways and Trading Company,
the output from which in 1892 amounted to slightly over 19,000
gallons.
Besides the petroleum of Upper Assam, this mineral is also
found in Cachar. It occurs on the banks of the Bardk, at Mdsim-
pur, where the Tilain range crosses the river, and near Badarpur,
where the Sirispur hills run up to the stream from the south ; it has
besides been detected at various places along these ridges, which
I
 SS ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. I.

Section 8. ^^yq Y^^vt of tlio prolongation into tlie Surma Valley of the Arakan
Mines a7ii meridional ranges. It has also been found north of the Bardk, on
the Ldrang, a small stream issuing from the Baniil range north of
Kalain, and joining the Surma near Lebharpota. Spechnens
of petroleum from these localities have been sent for examination
to Calcutta, but no active steps have been taken to utilise it.
62. Salt-springs are found in conjunction with petroleum in
the Upper Assam coal area, at Borhat, Jaipur,
and other places. In former times their
brine was largely nsed for conversion into merchantable salt ; and
to this day a small quantity of salt so made (the brine being boiled
down in joints of bamboo) is imported by the Nagas into Jaipur.
Salt-springs exist in Cachar, both in the southern ranges (Sirispur
and Bliuban hills) and in the Bardil, Those in the Haildkdndi
Valley, in mauzas Bansbari and Chandipur, are the only ones
which are now worked, though formerly the industry was more
extensive. The springs are leased annually for a trifling sum ;

the brine is not boiled down, the water being disposed of in gharas
to the people of the neighbouring villages. Several salt-springs
are worked in Manipur, where they are highly valued.
63. Next in importance to coal in this province are the vast

stores of limestone which exist on the

Lime.
southern face of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills,
where the downward bendin<:j strata of the nummnlitic rocks
have been worked as a lime-supply from a period long anterior
to British rule. " Sylliet lime " was a monopoly of the Mogul
Governors of Bengal, and, as such, figures in the early sanads,
Jarmans, and by which the East India Company acquired
treaties
command over that province. The limestone is found from the exit
of the Someswari river in the Garo Hills to that of the Ilari river
in Jaintia ; but it can only be economically quarried in the neigh-
bourhood of the small State Railway which riins from Tharia to
Companyganj, or where facilities for water carriage exist, that is,
where rivers navigable by boats in the rains adjoin the rock faces
whence the stone is hewn. The most important of these quarries
are those situated on the Jadukata and Bunatirth rivers, which
Chap. I.J PHYSICAL FEATURES, ETC. 59

debouch near Laur in Sylliet ; the Dwdra quarries to the east of Section 8.

these ; the Cheyla or SheHa quarries, on the Bogapani ; the Mdolong, Mine^< and
Minerals.
Byrang, Sohbar, and Borpunji quarries, which He immediately
under Cherrapunji ; and the Utma quarries a httle to the east
on an affluent of the Piydin. Those beyond have rarely been
worked, the advantages possessed by the quarries nearer the great
limestone marts of Chhutak and Sundmganj enabling the latter to

undersell them. Altogether, there are 34 limestone tracts which

are separately treated as quarries in the Khasi and Jaintia Hills,

one in Sylhet, and one in the Garo Hills. The Government is the
sole proprietor of all the quarries in the Jaintiaand Garo Hills
andtlie one in Sylhet, as well as of four in the Khasi Hills ; the
remainder (with one exceptiou) are the joint property of the Khasi
rulers or communities and the British Government, the latter

administering the estates and reaping half the profits.

Owing to the depression in the lime trade, and the consequent
decline in the Government revenue from the quarries, a special
enquiry was made in 1889 by the Director of Land Kecords, as

the result of which all the small quarries in the Khasi Hills were
closed for five years, and the five principal quarries only (Sohbar,
Borpunji, and Sheila under the permit system, and Langrin and
Nongstoin under lease) were kept open for work. In consequence
from the quarries rose from Rs. 13,580 in
of this step, the revenue
1889-90 to Es. 17,646 in 1890-91. In 1892-93, the revenue
amounted to Rs. 15,536.
The stone is quarried chiefly during the dry months, and either
carried by rail to Companyganj, whence it is taken by boat to
Chhdtak, or rolled down to the river banks and conveyed over the
rapids, which occur before the rivers issue on the plains, in small
boats when the hill streams are in flood during the rains. Below,
the rapids it is generally reloaded on larger boats, and carried
down to the Surma river, on the banks of which it is burnt into
lime during the cold weather. The kilns are of a primitive descrip-
tion, being mere excavations in the river bank, faced and roofed
with clay. The fuel used consists of the reeds and grasses of
the swampy tract which stretches along the foot of the hills. This
I 2
 6o ASSAM ADMINISTRATION EEPORT [Chap. 1.

Section 8. industry gives employment to a great mimber of people, the

Mines and quarriers being generally Kliiisis, and the boatmen and hme-burners
Minerals.
Bengalis of Sylhet. For the last three years the exports of lime
from Sylhet to Bengal (all of which is derived from this source)
have been as follows :

Maunds.

1890-91 ... ... ... ... 18,04,197

1891-92 ... ... ... ... 18,26,675

1892-93 ... ... ... ... 13,14,161

Limestone is also found exposed in the Doigrung, a tributary

of the Dhansiri, a few miles south of Golaghdt. A description of

this formation, which still remains unworked, will be found in the

" Records of the Geological Survey," Volume XVII, page 31.
64. The rivers of Assam which have yielded gold are those of
the Darrang and Lakhimpur districts north
Brahmaputra, the Brahmaputra itself
of the

in its upper course, the JSToa and Buri Dihings, and a small stream
called the Jaglo, which rises in the Tiptim Hills and falls into the
Buri Dihing. In the Sibsdgar district the Dhansiri, Disoi, and
Jlianzi rivers are said to Of these streams,
have been auriferous.
the Bhoroli, Dikrang, and Subansiri in Darrang and Lakhimpur
appear to have formerly given the largest quantities. The gold in
these rivers is probably doubly derivative, being washed out of the
tertiary sandstones of the sub-Himalayan formations, themselves
the result of the denudation of the crystalline rocks in the interior
of the chain. The industry was maintained in the time of the
Assam Rajas by the peculiar system of taxation which then pre--
vailed, each class of the population being bound to contribute in
kind or labour to the State. The Sonwals, or gold-washers, were
taxed at four annas' weight, or four rupees' worth, of gold per
annum. Since the British occupation of the country, the pursuit
of the precious metal has dwindled almost to nothing, and the lease
of the gold-washings in North Lakhimpur has of late years been sold
for Rs. 5 or Pis. 6 a year. In 1882, a European speculator obtained
Chap. I.] rnrsiCAL features, etc. 6i

a monopoly for ten years of the right of seeking gold in the Suban- Section 8.

siri and its tributaries, but his operations were not attended with Mines and
^^"'^''"'^^'
success. This concession has recently again been granted to other
persons, and hoped that the work
it is will be more vigorously
prosecuted than on previous occasions.
65. Platinum has been noticed with samples of gold obtained
from washings in the Noa Dihinor river, and
Platinum. . . .-, , , .^ . -,, -, -,
p
it IS possible that, if specially searched for, it

might be found in large quantities (" Eecords of the Geological

Survey," Volume XV, page 54),
 62 ASSAM AD:^^NISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. II.

CHiPTEE, 11.

Historical Summary.

Section :.
66. The different portions of territory included in tlie province
of Assam were formerly quite distinct, and
Assam IntroduclOry. ^.^ , . . , , ,

Proper. liave Qiiierent histories ; they were brought

under British Administration at different times and in different

waj^s, and it is, therefore, necessary to treat them separately before

proceeding to describe the present organization of the province.
This chapter is accordingly divided into sections, summarising the
history of the following areas :

I. Assam Proper, that is, the five districts of Kdmriip,

Darrang, Nowgong, Sibsdgar, and Lakhimpur.

II. Goalpdra, including the Eastern Dudrs.

III. Cachar.
IV, Sylhet, including Jaintia.

V. The hill districts, viz., —

(]) The Garo Hills. (3) North Cacbar.
('^>>
The Khasi „ (4) The Ndga Hills.

SECTION 1.— ASSAM PROPER.

67. The history of so much of the valley of the Brahmaputra
as belongs to the modern province of Assam
The ancient Kdinarupa. .
u•
i vi •
e ^^
may j.
be said to begin with the growth of the
i.i i.i

Koch power upon its western frontier, and the invasion of the
Ahoms in the east. From such hints and glimpses of the country
as can be gathered from the Tantras and Purans, and other
ancient writings, it appears certain that, while the bulk of the
inhabitants have always been of non- Aryan origin, the colonisation
or conquest of parts of the valley by Aryan settlers began at an
early date. Krishna is said to have carried away his bride
 Chap. II.]
HISTORICAL SmrMAUY. 63

Eukmini from her father Bhismaka, king of Kundilya, the name Section i.

of whose kingdom survives in the Kundil river to the east of

J^
Sadiya, while the memory of the monarch is still preserved in ^''"per.

Upper Assam. Krislma's son, Anirudha, captwred Sronitpur, now

called Tezpur, the capital of Eaja Ban, and carried off his daughter
Uslia.* Still more famous than Eaja Ban was his contemporary,

Narak, who ruled in Gauhdti, and is famed in Hindu mytholoo-y as

the guardian of KdmAkhyd and the conqueror of Ghatak, the king of
the Kirats, He is said to have been the son of the earth by Vishnu,
and for a long time enjoyed the favour of his celestial proo-enitor.
But success turned his head, and his pride and waywardness at
length gave such offence to Yishnu, that he was slain by him in
the incarnation of Krishna. His son Bhogdatta is renowned for
his zeal in propagating the Hindu religion, and is said to have
given his daughter in marriage to Duryodhana and to have fallen
in the battle of Kurukshetra, fighting on the Kauravas' side.
Later on, we find a king of Kdmarupa sending a present of ele-
phants to the hero of the Baghuvansa, and again when Hiouen
Thsang visited India, Kdmarupa is mentioned as a country famous
for these animals. Kdmarupa is described in the Jogini Tantra as
extending from the Karatuya to the eastern boundary of the
Brahmaputra Valley. f Its ancient divisions were Kampith, from
the Karatuya to the Sankosh, Eatnapith, from the Sankosh to the
Eupohi in the present district of Kdmriip, Suvarnapith from the
Eupohi to the Bhoroli, and Saumarpith, from the latter river to the
eastern end of the valley. The name Kdmarupa, however, varied
greatly in its territorial signification from time to time. Between
these legendary notices of Assam and the beginnings of what may
be called history, a gap of about a thousand years intervenes ; but
the Hindu religion would seem to have existed uninterruptedly
during this interval at various points in the valley, whether pro-
fessedby pure Aryans, or, as is more likely, by communities of
mixed descent, or by converted non- Aryan tribes. A Sudra king,
o The adventures of Krishna and tlie life of Narak aro described in Chapters 3G-42
of the Knlika Purun, and on paj^e 81 of the Jogini Tantra. Raghuvansa, IV 81. —
f Jogini Tantra, page 76.
 f

64 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOHT. [Chap. II.

Section i. named Debeswar, reigned in Gaulidti, a place wliicli the proximity

Assam of the sacred hill Nilachal has always rendered The

notable.
Proper,
^gj^^pig Qf Kdmdkliyd on its summit is of comparatively modern
origin, but rests on foundations reputed to be as old as the first

introduction of the Hindu religion into the valley of the

Brahmaputra. In Tezpur we find Eaja Nagasankar, who built the
temple of Biswanath, and whose descendant, Jongal Balahu,
was defeated in battle by the Kachari Eaja, near Eolia on
the Kopili.*
When Hiouen Thsang visited the country in 640 A.D., a prince,
named Kumdr Bhdskara Barman, was on the The people throne.
are described as being of small stature, with dark yellow com-
plexions they were fierce in appearance, but upright and studious.
;

Hinduism was the State religion, and the number of Buddhists was
very small. The soil was deep and fertile, and the towns were
surrounded by moats with water brought from rivers or banked
up lakes.
68. Subsequently, we read of Pdl rulers in Assam. It is sup-
posed that these kings were Buddhist, and
'"'^'^'
^ belonged to the Pal dynasty of Bengal, The
latter supposition is strengthened by the recent discovery at Benares
of a copper plate, on which is inscribed a deed of gift of some
land in the neighbourhood of Pragjyotisha (Gauhdti) by Kumdra
Pdl, son of Edma Pdl and grandson of Vigraha Pdl, the name of
the two latter being synonymous with those of two of the later
kings of the Bengal line of Pdls.J Deva Pdl (who The fact that
ruled from about 895 to 915 A.D.) conquered Kdmarupa§ furnishes
another reason for supposing that the Assam Pdls were a branch
of the royal family ruling in Bengal, even if they were not lineal
descendants of that dynasty. It should, however, be noted that
" Pdl " was not an uncommon title at the period under discussion ;

it was the designation of many of the Bdro Bhuiyds, and was also

* Gunabhiram's Asam Baraiyi, page 48.

f Deal's " Buddhist Records of the "Western "World," "Volume II, page 19G.

X Phis copper plate, which bears a date equivalent to 1105 A.D., was deciphered by
Professor Venis of the Government Sanskrit College at Benares.
§ " J(jurnal of the Asiatic Society o£ Bengal," 1878, page 407.
 .

Chap. II.]
HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 65

borne by an Aryan dynasty reigning over Kundilya, or the country Sfxtion i.

about Sadiya. Assam

''°^^^'
69. After the fall of the Pal dynasty, the Khyen tribe under
Niladhwaj rose to power, and thus became
Khyen dynasty. i p 1 c •
t^ ^ t ,
worthy or the attention or the Brahmans.*
Niladhwaj became a Hindu, and ordered that his caste should
thenceforth be known as " High Sudra." Fie was succeeded by his
son Chakradhwaj, who was followed by Nilambar, the last king
of this line. Nildmbar quarrelled with his councillor, a Brahman
named Suchi Patra, and the latter fled to the Nawab of Gaur, and
persuaded him to invade the country. The result was Husan
Shah's invasion, and the fall of the capital, Kamatdpur, in 1498
A.D.f The remains of this old city are still traceable, near the
Dharld, in the State of Koch Bihar.J
70. Although the whole of Kamarupa appears from time to
time to have been united into one kine^dom
Baro Bhuiyds. <• i ,
some unusually powerful monarch,
under
it was more often split up into numerous petty States, each of
which, under its own chief, was practically independent of the
rest, and this was once more the condition of the country after

the defeat of Nildmbar. About this time, two brothers, Chandan

and Madan, ruled for a few years at Mardlavas, some miles north
of Kamatapur,§ and the twelve chiefs, known as the Bdro
Bhuiyds, were exercising sovereign rights in Kdmrup and
Godlpdra.
The settlement of the Bhuiyds in Assam is detailed in the Gu7m
Chaintra, inwhich work it is said that they were introduced by
a king named Durlabh Ndrdyan, who appears to have held sway
in Godlpdra and Kdmrup, but whose lineage is still uncertain..
This king engaged in war with a Hindu prince, who called himself
Gaureswar, or " the ruler of Gaur." Durlabh was victorious, and,
• Gunabhiram's Asam Buranji, pages 52-54.

•f
The Musalman accounts of the fall of Kamatapur have been reprciluccd by
Blochmann in the " Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal " for 1872, pages I'J and
336, and 1874, page 281
:{;
The ruins are described by Buchanan Hamilton, whose account is reproduced in
Dr. Hunter's " Statistical Account of Koch Bihar," page 3G2.
§ Hunter's " Statistical Account of Koch Bihar," page 407.

K
 66 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 11.

Section- i. qu the conclusion of hostilities, obtained seven families of Brah-

Assam mans and seven of Kavasthas under twelve acknowledi^ed heads,
^''''
'
the chief of whom was a Kiiyastha, named Chandibar, alias
Debidds. These people were settled by Durlabh Nardyan in the
country between Hdjo and the Bornadi, and soon became powerful
feudatories. The date assigned to their advent in Assam corre-
sponds to the year 1220 AD.* Their leader Chandibar was the
lineal ancestor of the celebrated Assamese rehgious reformer
Sankar Deb.
71. Nearly three centuries before the fall of Kamatdpur, an
event occurred at the eastern extremity of
The Ahoms. , ^. , • , t • ^ i .n
which was destined to change the
the valley,
whole course of Assam history. This was the invasion of the
-j*

Ahoms. The Ahoms were Shans, from the ancient Shan kingdom
of Pong, whose capital, Mogaung, still exists in the upper portion
of the valley of the Irrawaddy. A quarrel as to the right of
succession to the throne is said to have been the cause of the
secession of Chukapha, one of the rival claimants, who, after
wandering about the country between the Irrawaddy and the
Patkoi mountains for some years, at length crossed the range and
entered Assam with a small following. This was in the year 1228
A.D. The Ahoms found the country into which they descended
peopled by small settlements of Morans and Borahis, people of the
Bodo race, whom they had no difficulty in subduing. There was,
however, a Chutia kingdom of considerable power in the back-
ground, which had absorbed the ancient Pal dynasty of Sadiya,

*'
This seema too early. Chandibar was Sankar Deb's great-great-grandfather, and we
have every reason for believing that the tradition that Sankar Deb was born in 1440A.D.
is approximately correct. Allowing twenty-five years a generation, it would seem
that Chandibar could not well have come to Assam before 1300A.D. at the earliest.

f Tbo above account of the Ahoms is taken from Kasinath Tamuli Phukan's
As'im Buranji, which was compiled about 1840 A.D., under the orders of Raja Purandar
Singh. The Ahoms appear to have possessed the historical faculty to a very considerable
extent,and many of their leading families maintained chronicles of important events.
Our infcjrmution regarding Ahom history would have been much fuller than it is
but for an act of literary iconoclasm in the reign of Rajeswar Singh (1751-1768), when
many were destroyed, owing to some remarks adverse
of these family histories to the

Prime Minister having been made in a history produced by Numali Bar Phukan.
Chap. II.]
HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 67

and in so doing liad adopted tlie Hindu religion, and imported an SEcrio:^ i.

Aryan strain into the royal blood by the marriage of the Pal king's Assam
daughter with the Chutia prince who succeeded him. The Cliutia ^''"P'^^-

dynasty at that time reigned at Sadi3^a and at Eangpur in the

Sibsagar district, but their dominions did not extend uninterrupted-
lybetween the two places, nor did they reach very far back to-
wards the southern hills, and tlie Ahoms consequently had room
inwhich to develop themselves, for a considerable time, before
coming into collision with the actual possessors of Upper Assam.
Within the narrow limits of a territory corresponding to the
south-eastern portion of Lakhimpur and part of the Sibsagar
districts, the Aliom kings succeeded each other with great regula-
governing through the means
rity, of their chief officers of State,
whose names and the dates of their appointments are duly
chronicled in the native histories of Assam, together with the
names of the kings and their dates of accession. We read that
in 1350 A.D. the Chutia king invited his Ahom neighbour to a
boat race on the Safrai river, and there treacherously captured
and murdered him but the final struggle between Ahom and
;

Chutia for the supremacy of Upper Assam did not take place until
a century and a half later. Meanwhile, the Ahoms, extending
their power along the south bank of the Brahmaputra, drove the
Kacharis back to the Kopili and Dhansiri Valleys, and thus touched
the Koch power on the west, as they touched the Chutia power on
the south-east. The three powers between which the contest for
the Assam Valley lay were the Koch, the Ahom, and the Chutia.

72. We have seen that, after the fall of Nilambar, the eastern
portion of Kdmarupa was splitup into
'
° numerous petty States, each of which was
ruled by its own chief. Amongst these, the Koch kings rapidly
forced their way to the front.* The legend runs that Hajo Koch

* The story as related here follows the Bangsuhali of Raja Laksluni Narayan Knar
of Howli Molianpiir. This Bangsdbali, is inscribed on oblong strips of sacli bark, each

strip being illustrated. supposed to have been written under the orders of Kaja
It is

Sumudra Narayan about 1806 A.D. This version diflEers in some respects from accounts
given elsewhere, but seems, on the whole, to be the most trustworthy narrative
available.

K
 [Chap.
68 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOUT. II.

Section i .
had two daughters, Hira and Jira, whom he married to Haria
Zllm Mandal, a Mech. Hira was an incarnation of Bhagavati, and was
Proper.
^..g-^.g^^| ^^ g^y^ in the guise of Haria Mandah The offspring- of

this intercourse was a son, Bisu, who consoHdated

the power of

his tribe, and defeated the Bc4ro Bhuiyiis, who had become powerful
during the reign of Nilambar. He became a Hindu, taking the
name of Biswa Singh, and imported Baidik Brahmans from Sylhet
in the place of the KdUtas, who were previously the priests of his

tribe. He made an abortive attempt to invade the country of the

Ahoms, but was more successful in the internal management of his

kinfrdom. He settled the different offices of State, and established

his army on a secure basis. During his reign, the Ahoms attacked
the Chutias, and, after several campaigns of varied fortune,
defeated and slew the Chutia king, seized his capital, and over-
threw the Chutia dominion in Upper Assam for ever. His son,
Nar Narayan, succeeded him about 1528 A.D., and at once
•commenced a series of expeditions against the neighbouring powers.
He defeated the Ahoms, and made them tributary to him ; and his

brother Sukladhwaj, alias SiLarai, subsequently conquered the

kin<TS ofHiramba (Cachar), Jaintia, and Sylhet, but was defeated
and made prisoner by the Musalman ruler of Gaur. Silarai's
son, Kaghu, was adopted by Nar Narayan as his successor.
Then Silarai died, and Nar Narayan begat a son of his own, named
Lakshmi, whereupon Eaghu, fearing that he would lose the succes-
sion, broke out in rebelUon. The armies met, but a peace was
concluded without bloodshed the kingdom was divided into two
;

parts, Eaghu taking the portion east of the Sankosh, while the
part west of that river
,
was reserved for Nar Nardyan's son
Lakshmi. This division of the kingdom took place about 1581 A.D.
Eaghu was succeeded by his son Parikshit, who fought with
and defeated Lakshmi. The latter then invoked the aid of the
Emperor of Delhi, by whose troops the former was in his turn
defeated and made prisoner. His brother, Balit Ndrdyan, fled
to the Edja Swarga Narjiyan, who sent an army against
Ahom
the Musalmans, and drove them across the Karatuya. From that
time, the independent rule of the Koch kings ceased. Balit
Chap. 11.3 niSTOEICAL SUiniARY. 69

Nardyan became a tributary of the Alioms, and the western branch Section i.

succumbed to the Musahiians. Assam

''"^^^'
73. The Musalman invasions of the Brahmaputra Valley all
bear the character of temporary success due
Musalman invasions. ,
. ,. . .

to superior arms and discipline, and ultimate

failure induced by the unfavourable nature of the climate, ignorance

of the country, want of communications, and the impossibility
of repairing losses by reinforcements.* The first expedition of
the kind was despatched after the overthrow of the kingdom of
Kamatapur, under a leader recorded in Assamese history as
Turbuk, who fought his way as far as Koliabar, and was then
defeated and destroyed. A second invasion occurred about the
middle of the sixteenth century. The leader of this expedition
was Kala Paliar, an apostate from Hinduism, whose chief object
appears to have been the destruction of Hindu temples, and to
him is ascribed j;lie spoliation of the old temples at Hajo and
Kamakhyd. The next invasion was that, already referred to,
in which Parikshit was overthrown, and this was followed later
by another (in 1637) in which Balit Narayan was slain, and the
rule of the Musalmans was extended as far as Gauhcdti. The
last and greatest invasion was that undertaken by Mir Jumla in

1660-62. He captured the capital of the Ahoms, and is said to

have sent word to the Emperor that the next campaign would
carry him to the confines of China but his force melted away in
;

the rains, and he was obhged to retreat with the loss of all his guns.
The ultimate result of this disastrous invasion was to strengthen
the hold of the Ahoms on Lower Assam, and their rule was shortly
afterwards extended to Gauhati, at which place an Ahora Gover-
nor was stationed, until near the end of the eighteenth century,
when it became the headquarters of the Ahom kings.
74. Before the last Muhammadan invasion, the Ahoms had
been largely converted to the Hindu religion.
Fall of the Ahom r^^^ • • i i . •

J- 1^6 reignmg monarch became a convert in

kingdom.
1655 A.D,, and adopted the name of Jayad-
waja Singh, and henceforward all the Ahom kings bear both
* The accounts of these invasions, furnisl:ecl by Musalman historians, have been
collected by Blochraann in an article in the "Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal "
for 1872.
 yo ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 11.

Section i. Aliom and Hindu names. There were now no rivals to the Ahoms
AJZ'm i^ the Assam Valley. The Kacharis had been defeated just before
Proper. and the Eajas of Darrang and Bijni had
]\j-j, j^nila's iuvasion,

become tributary to the Ahom power on the fall of the Koch

monarchy. In 1695, Rudra Singh, the greatest of the Ahom kings,
ascended the throne. His dominions comprised the whole of tlie

Bralmiaputra Valley, so far as it was inhabited, except a strip of

submontane territory claimed by the Bhutias. In 1780, Gaurinath
Singh succeeded to the throne. His reign was marked chiefly by
a formidable rising of the Moamarias, a powerful religious sect.

Gaurinath, being hard-pressed, applied in his extremity to Mr.

Eausch, a salt farmer at Goalpara. Mr. Eausch, it is said, sent
a body of 700 sipahis to Gaurinath's aid, but these sipahis were
cut to pieces by the Moamarias. The Eaja of Manipur also sent
an armed force to Gaurinath's assistance, but the Manipuris
were likewise defeated. At this juncture, the king of Darrang,
Krishna Ndrdyan, taking advantage of (Taurinath's distress, made an
attack upon Gauhati, whither Gaurinath had retired. Gaurinath
again applied to Mr. Eausch for help, and also sent a deputation
to Calcutta. At the close of 1792 the British Government sent a
detachment, under the command of Captain Welsh, to assist

Gaurinath.* Captain Welsh defeated Krishna Narayan, put down

the Moamaria insurrection, and reduced the whole valley to

obedience. He was, however, recalled in 1794. A few months

later Gaurinath died. He was succeeded by Kamaleswar Singh,
who was a mere puppet in the hands of his minister. He died in
1809, and was succeeded by his brother, Chandra Kanta Singh.
The reign of this prince was marked by the appearance of the
Burmese in Assam. Chandra Kanta, having quarrelled with his
minister, the Bura Gohain, applied for aid to the Burmese. The
Burmese entered Assam with a force with which the Assamese
were utterly unable to cope. Shortly afterwards, however, the
Burmese retired, when the Bura Gohain deposed Chandra Kanta
and set up Purandar Singh. Chandra Kdnta again applied to the
Burmese, who sent an army and reinstated him. In 1819,

* A full account of Captain Welsh's expedition has been given by Sir J. Johnston in
a pamphlet published by the Foreign Department some years ago.
 1

Chap. II.] HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 7

Purandar Singh applied for aid to tlie Lritisli Government, but Section i.

was refused. Chandra Ktinta, however, quarrelled with the Assam\

Burmese, who finally expelled him from Assam, and he sought ^^P^^'

refuge with the British officers at Goalpara. But at this juncture

matters had come to a crisis between the British and tlia Burmese,
and on the 5th March 1824 war was declared against Burma.*
A British force, advancing with a gunboat flotilla, conquered the
valley as far as Koliabar, and during the next cold season com-
pleted the subjugation of the rest. Finally, on the 24th February
1826, the Burmese, by the treaty of Yandaboo, ceded Assam to
the East India Company.
75. For some time after the conquest, it was still doubtful
whether the Company would retain in their
Commencement of I3ii-
j^ands or not the province they had won.
'^ •'
tish rule.
Mr. Scott, the Commissioner of North-East
Eangpur, administered the country. Captain White being appointed
in 1827 Lower Assam, and Captain Neufville in
to assist him in
1828 to have charge under him of Upper Assam. The Moamarias,
who had contributed so largely to the downfall of the Ahom
power, and whose country (known as Matak) was the present
district of Dibrugarh south of the Brahmaputra, were left under
their own ruler, styled the Bor Senapati, who in May 1826
executed an agreement of allegiance to the British Government.
And the Khampti chief of Sadiya, called the Sadiya-khoa, on the
15th of the same month, was confirmed as the Company's feuda-
tory in possession of that district.
At first, the civil and criminal
duties of Assam Proper were
performed by councils of the Assamese gentry, called panchdyats,
of which there were two or three in each district of the province.
In judicial cases Captains White and Neufville were both Magis-
trates and Judges, trying the accused with the assistance of a
panchdyat, but referring all heinous cases, with their opinions,
to Mr. Scott for final judgment.f
* A full account of tlie Burmese war, so far as Assam is concerned, will be found
in
Robinson's " Descriptive Account of Assam," published in 1841, pages 180-188.
t The information in this and the next paragraph is taken from Robinson's
" Descriptive Account of Assam," pages 207-211.
 72 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. H.

Section i. ij/q^
In 1S33 the districts of Sibsdgar and Lakhimpur north of
Assam the Brahmaputra were placed under the
Proper.
Enie of Pnrandar Singh administration of Rai^ a Purandar Sincrh, who
in Upper Assam. ° ^
_

executed a treaty binding himself to -adminis-

ter the country upon the principles of justice established in their
territories by the East India Company, to act according to the
advice of the Political Agent stationed in his principality, and to
pay an annual tribute of Rs. 50,000. Thus, of Assam Proper there
remained British in 1833 only the districts of Kamrup, Nowgong,
and Darrang (which then only extended to and included Bishndth,
beyond which was Lakhimpur, subject to Purandar Singh).
77. In 1835, Act II of that year was passed, which placed
all functionaries in British Assam under the
ThoAssana Cude.
control and supermtendence, m civil and
-i j . • •

criminal cases, of the Sadr Court, and in revenue cases under that
of the Board of Revenue, Lower Provinces, and further declared
that such superintendence should be exercised in conformity with
the instructions which these functionaries might receive from the
Government of Fort William in Bengal. Under this Act, rules
for the administration of Assam were framed by the Commis-
sioner, revisedby the Sadr Court, and finally issued by that Court
with the sanction of Government in 1837. They applied not only to
Assam Proper, but also [vide the next section) to Godlptira. These
rules consisted of extracts from the Bengal Regulations of all that
was considered at that time suitable and
to the circumstances
necessary for the proper They
administration were, of Assam.
however, merely rules of judicial procedure. They declared
what courts, civil and criminal, should be established, and the mode
of appointing officers thereto ; they declared the jurisdiction of
these courts, and provided for appeals ; they prescribed a period
of limitation for the institution of civil suits and a procedure to

be followed in mortgage cases ; they provided also for the appoint-

ment of vakils, the establishment and remuneration of process-
servers, and the keeping of judicial registers and records. They
established in each district a summary suit court, to be presided
over generally by the Assistant in charge of the district (now called
the Deputy Oommigsioner) in his capacity of Collector ; they also
Chai HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 73

established an office for the registry of deeds. Lastly, in all cases Section i.

not specially provided for in the rules, officers were directed to Assam
conform, as nearly as the circumstances of the province would
permit, to the provisions of the Bengal Regulations, and in all
doubtful matters of a judicial nature to refer for instructions to
the Sadr Court. The Police Law of Assam was at the same time
declared to be Eegulation XX of 1817, with certain modifications.
In 1839, a few supplementary civil rules were issued by the
Sadr Court with the sanction of Government, the .effect ofwhich
was to give to Junior Assistants (now called Assistant Commis-
sioners) and Sub- Assistants (now called Extra Assistant Commis-
sioners) a greater share in the judicial administration of the
country than was allowed to them by the rules of 1837 ; and in the
same year an officer, styled Deputy Commissioner (whose designa-
tion was in 1861 changed to that of Judicial Commissioner), was
appointed to relieve the Commissioner of his duties as Civil and
Sessions Judge.
78. In October 1838, the territories which had been placed in
charge of Parandar Singh were resumed by
ReBumptionof Upper
Assam.
^|^g Government of India. The Edja had -^

fallen deeply into arrears with his tribute,

and declared himself unable any longer to carry on the adminis-
tration. At first, the officers placed in charge of this tract acted
under the direct orders of the Government of India in the Foreign
Department but in July 1839 a proclamation was issued by the
;

Governor General in Council annexing the territory to Bengal,

dividing it into two districts, Sibsdgar and Lakhimpur, and direct-
ing that these two districts should be administered in the same
manner as the districts of Lower Assam. In August 1842
another proclamation was issued, annexing the territory of the
Bor Sena])ati, who had died in 1839, and whose son refused to
accept the management of the country on the terms offered to
him. Sadiya, the district of the Khdmpti chief, was, by the same
proclamation, incorporated with the rest of the province. This
place had been the scene of a rising of the Khdmptis in 1839.
They treacherously attacked the station of Sadiya, and killed the
L
 ;

ASSAM ADMINISTRATION EEPORT. [Chap. 11.

74

Section- i. Political Agent, Colonel White.The combination was not broken

Assam
;;

Proper.
UD and
i-
dispersed
••

Sadiya-klioa, for his

till
.."...
many had been lost. The son of the
lives

comphcity in this rebellion, was exiled with his

followers to Narayanpur, on the Dikrang, in the west of the
Lakhimpur district, where the colony still exists.

Thus, from 1842, the whole of Assam Proper was under the
same system of administration, save that in Lakhimpur, including
Matak and Sadiya, an establishment of panchdyat courts was,
for special reasons, maintained, to which persons of rank and
influence in the district were appointed, without much regard to
their judicial qualifications. This special panchdyat system was
abolished in 1860.
79. In that year. Act VIII of 1859 (the Civil Procedure Code)
and the Limitation Act (XIV of 1859) were
Extension of general
extended to the wholc of Assam Proper and
laws to Assam. -•

Goalpara. In 1861 the Criminal Procedure

Code of that year was extended to the province, and in 1862 the
Police Act (V of 1861). In 1862, also, the Penal Code came into
force in the province without special extension. By these measures
the Assam Code of 1837 (which had been meanwhile revised in
1847) was superseded. In 1861 the designations of the officers

serving in the province under the Commissioner were changed, with

the sanction of theGovernment of India, as follows the Deputy :

Commissioner became Judicial Commissioner, the Senior or

Principal Assistants Deputy Commissioners, the Junior Assistants
Assistant Commissioners, and the Sub- Assistants Extra Assistant
Commissioners. Side by side with these officers, there existed in
the province a separate judicial establishment, consisting of one
Principal Sadr Amin, two Sadr Amins, and ten Munsifs. In
March 1872 this branch of the service was entirely abolished
several of the Munsifs were created Extra Assistant Commis-
sioners, and the ordinary district staff were invested with civil
judicial powers,
the Deputy Cv)mmissioner becoming Subordinate
Judge and the Assistant and Extra Assistant Commissioners
Munsifs This arrangement is substantially that which now
exists.
Chap. II.] niSTomcAL summary. 75

SECTION 2.—00ALPARA.
80. This district consists of two very distinct portions : the Section 2.

permanently settled part, comprising the ColTfuira.

'^^ ""
^'^^'
^ three tlianas of Goalpara, Dliubri, and Karai-
bari and the temporarily settled part, called the Eastern Dudrs.
;

The first tract was originally a portion of the district of Rangpur,

and, as such, was included in the province of Bengal, which, by the
Mogul Emperor's ya?v7i/f?z August 1765, became part of
of the 12tli
the dominions of the East India Company. Like the neighbouring
district of Kamriip, this tract was inhabited chiefly by Koches,
Meches, or Kacharis. It formed part of the dominions of the Koch
dynasty, the rise and fall of which have already been described
and passed out of their hands on the defeat of Parikshit, when it

became a Musalman province.

On its southern border, the Godlpdra district marches with the
Garo Hills, and the thana of Karaibari, which stretches southwards
from Dhubri, is almost wholly composed of hilly country inhabited
by Garos. These mountaineers were, in the early period of our
rule, a terror to the people of the plains ; and the chiefs of the
border country, who had to restrain their incursions, were allowed
in return for this duty to hold their estates at a very light revenue.
Thus, happened that when the decennial settlement of Bengal
it

was made, the few great zamindars among whom the permanently-
settled portion of Godlpjira was divided were assessed at an almost
nominal amount. It is somewhat doubtful whether this assessment
was ever formally converted into a permanent charge but these ;

estates have uniformly been treated as covered by the permanent

settlement of Bengal.
81. Shortly after this settlement, however, it became manifest
that the zamindars of the plains country,
Eegulation X of 1822. .

instead
, ^
of
.

provmg
t
guardians
i< .i
or the peace 01
\
the border, were rather likely, and exactions,
by their oppressions
to fosterstrife with the Garos of the hills, whose raids were con-
stantly provoked by the treatment they received from the land-
holders to whose markets they resorted. In order to check these
L2
 ,

ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. II.

^6

Section 2. exactions, and to promote the growth of order and civili sation

Goalpara. amongst the hill people, it was deemed necessary to place this tract
under a special form of administration. Then in 1822, a Eegnla-
tion (Xo. X) was passed by the Governor General in Council,
exempting the three thanas of north-eastern Eangpur from the
operation of the General Regulations, and placing them under the
control of a Special Civil Commissioner. Mr. David Scott was the
first official entrusted with the charge ; and he took into his own
hands the collection of the rents claimed by the zaminddrs from
the Garo villages, paying over to them the proceeds, after deduct-
ing the costs of collection and administration. At the same time,

the duties by the zaminddrs on the hill produce (chiefly

levied
cotton) were commuted to an annual payment by Government, and

abolished. Government recouping itself by imposing a special house

assessment upon the Garo villages.
82. When Assam Proper was conquered from the Burmese in

l826, Mr. Scott became Commissioner of the

Incorporation in Assam ^^^ province, witli wliicli wasGoalpara
incorporated as a sej^arate district and from ;

that date until 1866 it remained a portion of Assam, and w^as

administered on the same system as the rest of the province.
83. In 18G6, the Eastern Duars, a thinly peopled but extensive
tract alonsj
^ the base of the Himalayas north
Transfer to Koch Bihar. -^

of permanently-settled Godlpdra, which had

previously been under the rule of the Deb Edja of Bhutan, was
annexed by the British Government on the conclusion of the
Bhutan war. For some little time these Dudrs were a separate
district but in 1867 the Bengal Commissionership of Koch Bihar
;

was formed, and from the 1st January of that year the Eastern
Dudrs were joined to Goalpara, and the entire district was included
in that Commissionership, the Commissioner having the powers of
a Civil and Sessions Judge within his jurisdiction. In October
1868, the judicial administration of Godlp^ra and the Gdro Hills
was taken away from the Commissioner of Koch Bihar, because of
the inconvenient distance of this tract of country from his head-
quarters, and placed in the hands of the Judicial Commissioner of
Chap. II.] HISTORICAL SU30IARV. 77

The executive control, however, remained, as before, with Section 3.

Assam.
the Commissioner of Koch Bihar. In 1869, the Guro Hills were Cachar.

formed into a separate district by Act XXII of that year, which

repealed Regulation X of 1822, but still exempted the hills from
the operation of the General Eegulations. In the same year the
Eastern Dudrs were similarly deregulationised by Act XVI of 1869.
Finally, when the Chief Commissionership of Assam was
formed in February 1874, the district of Godlpdra and the Eastern
Dudrs, and the district of the Gdro Hills were retransferred to
Assam.

SECTION 3.— CACHAR.

84. The early history of Cachar, or Hiramba, is extremely
obscure. Although it bears the same name
Early history. .
p i t-»
as a section or the i5odo population
i i •
pa
or Assam,
the part of the district south of the Barail was not until some two
hundred years ago in the possession of the race now called
Kachdris, It would appear that it belonged to the kingdom of
Tippera, or Tripura, since it is stated to have been acquired by
the Kachdri king, who had his capital at Maibong, as a dowry
upon his marriage with a Tippera princess. The Tipperas, how-
ever, are proved by their language, themselves
undoubtedly, as is

of the Bodo stock, and very near kinsmen, not only of the Kachd-
ris of North Cachar, but also of those of the Brahmaputra Valley
and of the Gdros of the Garo Hills. Their true history, like that
of the Kachdri kings of Dimapur, Maibong, and Khdspur, has been
lost in the fugitive memory of a barbarous people, unacquainted
with and has been further darkened by the fictitious
letters,

genealogies which have been invented for them by Brahman

priests on their reception within the pale of Hinduism.
It is, however, certain that the last native king of Cachar was
the descendant of a Hne of princes who came originally from the
Assam Valley. Their deserted capital, Dimapur, on the Dhansiri
river, beneath the Angdmi Naga Hills, contains some very striking
monuments, the meaning and purpose of which have much per-
plexed explorers, and a number of large and fine tanks. From this
 7^ ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. II.

Section- 3. ^[iq^ i;^q^ buried ill dense jungle, the Kacluiri kings were forced,
Cachar. by tlie aggressious of the Ahoms on the north and of the Angumi
Nao-as on the south, to remove into the interior of the hills, and
took up their abode at Maibong, on the Mahur river. While settled

there, about the beginning or middle of the seventeenth century, the

Kachari king married a daughter of the Tippera Etija, and received
the valley of Cachar as her dowr}^ And some time between 1700
and 1750 the court was transferred from the hills, across the
Barail, to Khaspur, on the Madhura river in the plains. Here the
Kachari rulers found themselves in presence of an already settled
population of Hindus and Musalmans from Sylhet, who had over-
flowed from that district into the valley.The process of Hindui-
sation had probably already commenced at Maibong, at least
among the royal family and the court, if not among the Kachari
population. At Khaspur it proceeded rapidly and in 1790 the ;

formal. act of conversion took place, the E^ja Krishna Chandra

and his brother, Govind Chandra, entering the body of a copper
image of a cow, and emerging therefrom as Hindus and Kshatriyas.
A genealogy of a hundred generations, reaching to Bhima, the hero
of the Mahdhhdrata, was composed for them by the Brahmans, only
the last nine or ten names in which have probably any claim to
represent real personages.
85. In the beginning of the present century the valley of
Cachar became tlie scenea struggle for
of
Taken under British , •

Supremacy between the -mt

•

protection.
Manipuri -ubrothers,
^.^ i.i

Marjit, Chaurjit, and Gambhir Singh, who

had been driven from their own country by the Burmese. Krishna
Chandra had died in 1813, and Govind Chandra succeeded him.
The Manipuri invaders speedily overran the country, and set at
naught the feeble authority of the Kachari king. In 1823 Mdrjit
held the Ilaihikdndi valley, and Gambhir Singh the rest of South
Cachar. Tlie Burmese were then in Assam, and, as lords of
Manipur (which they had conquered from Mdrjit in 1819), threat-
ened to annex Cachar. This the British Government, seeing the
danger which would cause to Sylhet, decided
it to prevent.
Negotiations were first entered on with a view to an alliance with
Chap. II.] HISTORICAL SU^IMARY. 79

tlie Manipuri brothers. These overtures fell through, and it was Section -

resolved to take up
Govind Chandra, who was, with
the cause of
cZhar
the Edja of Jaintia, taken under British protection. The Burmese
armies, which had advanced both from Assam and Manipur, were
driven out, and Govind Chandra was replaced on the throne. A
treaty was executed on the 6th March 1824, by which the Eaja
placed himself under British protection, and agreed to pay a tribute
of Es. 10,000.* Govind Chandra's reign after his restoration was
very short; he was assassinated in 1830, and, as he left no heir,

either natural or adopted, the country was annexed by proclama-

tion on the 14th August 1832.
86. In its subsequent history Cachar much resembles Assam.
^ .,. , ,
Act YI of 1835 (hke
^
Act II of that year in
British rule. •^

the Assam Yalley) placed it under the

control of the Sadr Court and Board of Eevenue. It was adminis-
tered from the first by a Superintendent, who in 1833 was vested
with the powers of a Magistrate and Collector and in the same
;

year it was transferred from the supervision of the Commissioner

of Assam to that of the Commissioner of Dacca. It differs from
Assam in never having had any special code of administrative
rules drawn up for it the officers in charge applied " the spirit of
;

the Eegulations " inSacriti^g ^it]i judicial matters. The Civil

Procedure Code and Ln^'P^^ion Act were formally extended to the
district in 1859; in l8o2 the Criminal Procedure Code was
extended, and the Penal Code came into force. A special pecu-
liarity of the Cachar revenue system, which is a survival from
native rule, will be noticed in Chapter IV, section 1,

Since Cachar became British territory, the only important

political events which have marked its history have been the
Lushai raids of 1849 and subsequent years, which will be discussed
in the section dealing with the Lushais. In the Mutiny of 1857 the
sepoys of the 34th Native Infantry, who mutinied in Chittagong in
November of that year, were met in Cachar, and were defeated
and dispersed by the Sylhet Light Infantry.
* It is commonly asserted that the Burmese were driven out of Cachar in the course
of the first Burmese war. These events, however, occurred before the formal declaration
of war (5th March 182-4).
 8o ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOllT. [Chap. II.

Section 4.
SECTION 4—SYLHET AND JAINTIA.
Sylhet and S7. Of Sjlliet uiicler its early Hindu rulers hardly anything is
3^"^'^^^^-
known. It is believed that its native popula-
tion made up of non- Aryan tribes,
is largely
probably of the same race Bodo Tipperas who now inhabit
as the

the hills on its southern margin. The Eajas who held the country
at the date of the Musalman conquest, the chief of whom was
Gaur Govind, who ruled the south and centre, while the Raja of
Laur, under the Khasi Hills, governed the north, had evidently,
from their names, been taken up into Hinduism, and the country
colonised by Brahmans, who gradually extended their proselytising
operations. The district was conquered by the Muhammadan
kings of Bengal in 1384 A.D., the invaders being led by a spiritual
chief named Shah Jalal, whose shrine at Sylhet is still famous.
Laur and Jaintia, under the hills, retained their independence
during the rule of the Bengal kings. After the absorption of that
province in the Mogul Empire under became a depend-
AVi"u:i', iLiiJir

ent principality. The Laur embraced Muham-

last Hindu Rti^ a of
madanism at Delhi in Aurangzeb's reign. Todar Mai assessed
Sylhet (excluding Jaintia, which was? ^"'^v conquered by the

Moguls, and Laur) at Rs. I,67,0i0, am as ruled continuously

from that date, until, it passed into i /, hands of the East India
Company with the rest of Bengal in 17G5, by a succession of Amils
subordinate to the Nawab of Dacca.
The district was included in the decennial settlement of Bengal,
which afterwards became permanent in 1793, but the operation
of assessment was conducted in an exceptional manner, each hold-
ing being separately measured and settled upon fixed rates. Thus,
in Sylhet, the permanent settlement assumed a form which it bears
nowhere else, except perhaps in Chittagong. It was the policy of
the Collector, Mr. J. Willes, to put aside the chaudhuris, or zamin-
dars, who elsewhere obtained settlement, and to deal direct with
The result is that the settle-
the better class of raiyats or mirasddrs.
ment is permanent raiyatwari one, the area which
in great part a

each holding should contain being (so far as the records have been
 ;

Chap. II.] HISTORICAL SUMilAUY. 8l

preserved and can be trusted) accurately known. All land not Section 4.
included in the permanent settlement, or not subsequently settled Syiiiet and
in perpetuity, is neld on temporary leases.
The history permanent settlement has not
of Sylhet since the
been eventful. The depredations of the Khdsis on the north were
brought to a close by the occupation of the station of Cherra Punji
in 1828 and those of the Lushais on the south were stopped, so
;

far as Sylhet is concerned, by the expedition of 1871-72.

88. The Edja of Jaintia, a Chief of Khdsi Hneage, was found by
us, on the annexation of the district, in
Jaintia. . » pi-
possession of a tract of plains
.
country lying
^ •

between the town of Sylhet and the Cachar border, and measuring
about 450 square miles, in addition to his hill territory stretching
from the foot of the hills overlooking the Surma Valley to the
Kalang river in Nowgong. At the same time that Cachar was
taken under British protection, in March 1824, a treaty was made
with Eam Singh, the Raja of Jaintia, by which he acknowledged
allegiance Company, and promised to aid in the military
to the
operations then commenced against the Burmese in Assam. In
1832 four British subjects were seized by Chattar Singh, chief of
Gobha, under the orders of the heir-apparent, Rajendra Singh, and
th.ree them were sacrificed to Kali, the tutelary goddess of the
of
Raja's family. One escaped, and gave information of the outrage,
which led to a demand by the British Government for the surrender
of the culprits. Negotiations went on for two years without any
result. In November 1832 Ram Singh died, and Rajendra Singh
succeeded him ; and it was finally resolved to punish this atrocious

crime (which had been preceded by similar outrages in 1821, 1827,

and 1832) by dispossessing the Rdja of his territory in the plains,
and confining him thenceforth to the hilly tract. On the 15th
March 1835 formal possession was taken of Jaintiapur, and the
annexation of the plains territory proclaimed by Colonel Lister
in April the district of Gobha was similarly annexed to Nowgong
in Assam. UponRaja declared himself unwilling to
this, the
continue in possession of his hill territory, over which he had but
little control, and it thus also became included in the Company's
M
 82 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. U.

Section 5. dominions. The population of the plains of Jaintia, like that of

The Hill Cachar, is made up of Sylhet rai3^ats, with but a slight leaven of
Districts.
settlers from the hills.

SECTION S.^THE HILL DISTRICTS.

89. The history of the Gjiro Hills has already been partly touched

, „.„ upon in the account given of the Goc41pdra

I. GAro Hills. : . , .

district, in which, up to 1866, they were,

80 far as British administration extended, included. These hills,

peopled by a wild race nearly akin to the Meches or Kacharis of

the plains, were surrounded on all sides except the east by the
estates of the great frontier zaminddrs or chaudhuris of Eangpur
and Mymensingh. The Garos were in the habit of resorting to the
markets in the plains estates of these zamindars for the sale of
their cotton and the purchase of the supplies they needed ; and the
police' of the border was maintained, and taxation levied on the
hill produce, by the zaminddrs by means of harkanddzes whom they
established at these marts. The chief of these chaudhuris were
those of Mechpara, Kalumdlupara, and Karaibtiri in Eangpur, and
Sherpur and Shushang in Mymensingh. The Gdros, like most of
the wild tribes of the north-east frontier, lived in a state of con-

stant internecine warfare, and it was a necessary ceremony at the

funeral of a great chief to bury with him as many human heads as

could be procured for the purpose, and, if possible, to put to death
on the occasion living captives. The border was thus vexed
by constant raids for the purpose of obtaining heads or prisoners ;

and the exactions of the plains zaminddrs at the submontane hats

likewise furnished frequent occasions for quarrel.
Under the Moguls, the chaudhuris of the border paid their
assessment in elephants, cotton, and agar wood to the Jaujddr of
Eangamati, midway between Godlpdra and Dhubri. After the
Company obtained the Diivdni, a sazdwal, or contractor, was
annually appointed, who took the place of the faujddr, and made
his own arrangements with the chaudhuris. Until 1787 the revenue
of these landlords continued to be paid, as before, in kind. Cash
Chap, 11.] HISTORICAL SUMMARY. 83

payments were introduced in 1788, and the permanent settlement Section 5.

shortly afterwards followed. The Hill

90. In 1775, the chaudhuris of Mechpdra and Karaibdri, to

avenge some Gdro raids of more tlian usual
brou^ght within zlmindYiV Severity, invaded the hills bordering on their
^^**^^'
respective estates, and entered on a career of
conquest. They remained two or ihree years in the hills, and
brought the tribes of a large tract entirely under their control.
The zaminddr of Karaibdri, Mahendra Ndrdyan, was especially
successful in establishing his influence over the south-western
portion of the hills, and when the Company called his proceedings
in question, defied them from his fastnesses. After a long course
of warfare with other chaudhuris and with the chiefs of the interior,

Mahendra Ndrdyan's estates were at last sold by the Company for

arrears of revenue, and his influence gradually dwindled.

91. Meantime the raids of the Gdros on the plains continued,
and in 1816 Mr. David Scott was deputed to
Mr. Scott's proposals, report on the best means of preserving the
peace of the frontier. He found that at that

time the frontier zaminddrs had for the most part succeeded in
reducing a greater or smaller area on their borders to a state of
subjection, the largest conquests being those made by Karaibdri
and Mechpdra; beyond these areas thus incorporated in their
zaminddris, the chaudhuris had so far estabUshed their influence
that several villages in the interior paid them tribute. Beyond
these, again, in the heart of the hills, were the independent or
bemalwa Gdros. Mr. Scott proposed to s«iparate all the tributary
Gdros (from whom, and from the independent villages beyond, the
raids proceeded) from the zaminddr's control, and take them under
Government management, compensating the zaminddrs for any
losses which they might show that they had sustained to appoint ;

the chiefs of the villages thus brought under our jurisdiction to be

responsible for the peace and the collection of revenue and to ;

bring the submontane hats under Government control, all duties

being abolished there, except upon independent Gdros frequenting
them. These proposals were approved by Government, and after-
M2
 84 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. II.

Sections, ^ards embodied in Eegulation X of 1822, which gave Mr. Scott^

The Hill who was appointed Special Commissioner, authority to extend
Dtstyicts
British administration over other Garo communities which miMit
be still independent, and exempted the whole tract (together with
the district of Godlpdra) from the operation of the General Regula-
tions. After the passing of the Regulation, Mr. Scott proceeded
to conclude engagements with the independent chiefs, and no
fewer than 121 of those living west of the Someswari are said to
have entered into terms with him.
92. Mr. Scott was shortly afterwards called away from his
work among the Garos to assume the admini-
Affairs eiibseqnent to
gtration of Assam and the Eastern Frontier
Regulation X
ot 1822.
generally, and was taken by the
his place
Principal Assistant of Godlpdra, who was aided by a Gdro Sarbarah-
kdr with his headquarters at Singhimdri, situated nearly opposite
the middle of the western face of the hills. For many years the
British Government maintained a policy of non-interference with
the interior of the hills. The tributary Garos within paid with
great irregularity the tribute which they had agreed upon. Eaids
were frequent, and were followed either by expeditions or by
—
blockade of the submontane markets measures which were found
to be quite ineffectual to stop them. Some little influence was
occasionally brought to bear upon the tributary Gdros through
visits paid to them by the Principal Assistant of GoalpAra; but

these annual tours were not regularly carried out, as designed by

Mr. Scott, and any intermission in them was followed by an
increase in the number of raids.
93. For all these years it was believed that the climate of the

EBtabliebment of a
^^^^^^ ^^^ SO deadly that no European could
Deputy Commissioner survivc witliin them, and that it was imprac-
^
Avithin the hills. .

ticable to attempt any establishment of a

permanent post in their midst. At last, in 18G6, after two expe-
ditions to punish raids on the side of Mymensingh of more than
usual atrocity, the Government for the first time resolved to
appoint a special officer to the charge of the hills. Lieutenant
WilHamson was selected for this purpose, and was estabUshed on
 Chap. I!,]
HISTORiaVL SUMMARY.
8s

a spur of the Tura mountain, with a special armed police force. Section 5.
Shortly after, in 1869, Act XXII of that year was passed, which
ThTHill
enabled the Lieutenant-Governor to make special provision for the ^''*'''^^^-

administration of the district, and to prevent the collection by

zamindars or other persons of tributes, cesses, or other exactions
in the hills. By this Act, Regulation X of 1822 was repealed.
That Regulation had applied only to North-East Eangpur, after-
wards the Godlpara district. The Act
1869 included Mymen-
of
singh, on Mdiich side also zamindari influence had been pushed into
the hills, and had provoked retaliation by the hillmen.
This experiment proved completely successful. The Deputy
Commissioner of the Gdro Hills and his police force brouo-ht almost
Hearty aid was given to him by the
instant quiet to the district.
Gdros, and the headmen, relieved from the dread of retaliatory
feuds, at once began to perform their duty, to deliver up offenders,
and to enforce the payment of revenue. Raids ceased, and numer-
ous villages, theretofore independent, voluntarily became tributary.
94. In 1870 the survey, which had been carried through the
neighbouring Khasi Hills, entered the district,
Siibiectionof the last
independent Garos.
->

^nd
•.
it
it,to
was resolved ^
explore as much of
the independent
Garo country as was possible
in the course of surveying that which acknowledged British
authority. During that year no opposition whatever was offered
by the independent villages, of which about 60 still remained in
the heart of the district but in March 1871 a survey coolie, who
;

had been sent to clear a station on the top of a hill, was seized
by some Garos of Rongmagiri, and was tortured and murdered.
This put a stop to survey operations for the time, and in the
ensuing cold weather (1871-72) an expedition was led against the
offending village. In the summer of 1872 some independent
villages raided upon protected Gdro villages which had afforded
assistance to the expedition against Rongmagiri,
and were attacked
and occupied by the Deputy Commissioner. It was eventually
resolved that the whole of the country which had hitherto been
independence should be brought under the same mana^e-
left to its

ment as the rest and in the cold weather of 1872-73 three detach-
;
 86 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. II.

Section 5. ments of from Mymensingli on the south, from Tiira on the

police,

The Hill west, and from Godlpara on the north, marched through the country
tstricts. \^rj^^
^^|^j(,|^ jj- been decided to annex. All resistance was easily
overpowered, lashkars or headmen were appointed, the heads taken
in recent raids were surrendered, and peaceful administration was
established.
95. Since the expedition of 1872-73, the history of the district
has been one of profound peace. In Febru-
-^
Eecent history. . , ,.
ary and March 1881, a slight disturbance took
place near Bangdlkhd^ta, at the north-western corner of the hills,

in consequence of the construction of a road through that tract ;

but it was speedily suppressed without bloodshed. The whole of

the district, with the exception of a small tract of plains land on
the north, is now under the exclusive management of the Deputy
Commissioner, and is free from the exactions of zamindars, the
greater part of whose interests in the area formerly included in
their zaminddris or tributary to them have been bought out and
extinguished,
96. The Khasi Hills were first brought into direct relations
_ , . „ with the British Government in 1826, after
II. TheKh^si Hills.
^ n. • \
the conquest of Assam.* The chiefs of the
Khasi States on the northern border of the hills had gradually,
since the decay of the Ahom power in the year 1794, established
themselves in the plains of Kdmriip in the tracts known as Dudrs,
and were accustomed to pay only a nominal allegiance to the
Assam kings. When Assam was acquired by the East India
Company, it became an object with Mr. Scott to establish com-
munication through the hills with Sylhet, and while the new
administration of Kdmriip refused to recognise the right of the
Khdsi rulers to encroach on the plains of Assam, Mr. Scott was
able, by agreeing to allow Tirat Singh, Seim of Nongkhldo, to rent
some lands in Bordudr, to induce that chief, and to persuade the

® Tlie Klidsis bad previously been known only as troublesome marauders upon the
plains of Sylhet, where they were much dreaded.
During the last century their ravages
between 1780 and 1790 are specially mentioned as severe. A hne of forts was kept up
under the hills to check these incursions.
 a
;

Chap. II.] HISTORICAL SUJOIARY. 87

Other Seims, to permit a road to be made through the hills vid Section 5,

Cherra Punji, Maophldng, and Nongkhldo to Gauhdti. The Hill

In 1829, the insolent talk of some native servants belonging to

the surveying party who were making the road led to an attack
upon the party at the village of Nongkhlao, and Lieutenants
Burlton and Bedingfield, 'with about fifty or sixty natives, were
massacred. This event was followed by a general confederacy of
most of the neighbouring chiefs to resist the British, and led to a
long and harassing war, in which troops from Assam and Sylhet
co-operated. Eventually, Tirat Singh submitted in 1833, and was
confined as a prisoner for life in the Dacca Jail. The other chiefs
had either before made terms with the British Government, or did
so immediately after ; and since that date the establishment of a
British officer with an adequate military force in the midst of the
people, at Cherra Punji, which was abandoned in 1866 for Shillong,
liavS sufficed to maintain the most absolute tranquillity.
The greater part of the Kh^si Hills consists of the territories
of native chiefs in subsidiary alliance with the British Government
only a few scattered villages have remained British since the
conquest of 1833, or have been ceded since then under special
circumstances. The people govern themselves through their elected
rulers, who are bound to follow the advice of their darbdrs. They
pay no revenue to the British Government, but the Seims are
required on investiture to confirm the cession to the paramount
power of the mines and minerals, elephants, forests, and other
natural products of their States, on the condition of receiving half
the profits from these sources. All petty crime committed by their
subjects is dealt with by thechiefs and their darbdrs, only heinous

offences, or those cases in which subjects of different States are

concerned, being tried by the district authorities. The people are
extremely well-to-do, and make much money by trade with the
plains in the valuable staples which the hills produce.
97. It has already been related how, on the annexation of the
plains country of Jaintia in 1835, Ed]
The Jaintia Hills. j r ^ ^to retani the Til
i^ ,. o- j . +1 •

Edjendra Smgh
-u
dechned hilly

portion of his principality, which thus lapsed to the British Govern-

 88 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. II,

Section 5. ment. This tract, inhabited by the same race of mountaineers as

The~Hill
^^^ neighbouring Khasi territory, was thereupon placed under the
Districts, administration of the PoUtical Agent at Cherra Punji. The Jaintia
Hills were (and still are) divided into 23 petty districts, 19 of
which are in charge of headmen, chosen by the people themselves,
called Dollois, and the remaining 4 in 'that of hereditary Sarddrs.
From 1835 to 1855 the people were left very much to themselves.

The Dollois heard all civil cases, at first without exception, and
after 1841 up to a certain limit, and all criminal complaints not of
a heinous character in which only people of their own villages
were concerned. No taxes of any kind were levied throughout the
hills, the only contribution required being the annual ofiering of a

he-goat from each village, which had been exacted by the Jaintia
Edja. In 1853 Mr, Mills, of the Sadr Court, reported on the dis-
trict, and drew attention to the absence of administrative control
in this portion of it. He suggested that a house- tax (which had
been proposed by the Political Officer in 1849, and then negatived
by Government) should be imposed, and a police thana posted in
the hills with a view to check the lawless proceedings of the Dollois.
The recommendation was carried out, and a thdna established
latter

at Jowai but the former, though approved by Lord Dalhousie,

;

remained without effect. In 1858, Mr. Allen, of the Board of

Eevenue, again reported on the district, and strongly urged Mr.
Mills' recommendation that a moderate house-tax should be imposed,

but he added that a European civil officer should be stationed in

the midst of the tract, to be to the people a visible representative
of British authority. The latter of these proposals was neglected,
the former was adopted. In 1860 the house-tax was imposed, and
within a few months the people were in open rebellion. Fortunately,
a large force of troops was close at hand ; and before the revolt
could make any head, was stamped out and the villages were awed
it

into apparent submission. After this rising, measures were taken

to improve the administration of the Dollois, who were notoriously
corrupt, but still no officer was posted to the subdivision.
In January 1862, the people of the Jaintia Hills were again in
fierce rebellion. The occasion was the imposition, only a year after
Chap. II.] HISTORICAL SUMMAEY. 89

the liouse tax had been introduced, of the income tax, to which 310 Sections.
persons in the hills were subjected. This new impost, quickly xiiTHill
succeeding the former, roused the deepest resentment among a Districts.

people who had paid nothing for generations, either to their own
Eaja or to the British Government, and had been left since annexa-
tion entirely to themselves.
'
The suppression of the revolt was long
and tedious. Crushed apparently in four months after its outbreak,
it again almost immediately burst out afresh ; and it was not till

November 1863 that the last of the rebel leaders surrendered, and
the pacification of Jaintia could be said to be complete.
An English officer has since those events been stationed at Jowai.
He is required to make himself acquainted with the Khasi language,
and to be able to dispense with interpreters ; the administration of
the DoUois has been reformed, education (by the agency of the
Welsh Mission, estabhshed in the Khjisi Hills since 1842) has been
encouraged, and the country has been thoroughly opened up by
roads. The Jaintia Hills are now as secure and peaceable as the

neighbouring Khasi States.

98. North Cachar, the tract of thinly-peopled, low undulating
hills, divided from the valley of the Barak by
III. North Cachar.
the range of the Barail, and interposed
between the Jaintia and the Naga Hills, has already been briefly
referred to in the section dealing with Cachar. When the district

w^as under native rule, during the Govind

last years of the reign of

Chandra, this portion of it was the scene of a struggle between

that prince and one of his officers, named Kacha Din,* who rebelled
and endeavoured to establish an independent government in the
hills. captured and put to death by Govind Chandra, but
He was
his son, Tulanim, a chaprdsi in the E^ija's service, immediately
revived the rebelhon, and in 1824 joined the Burmese in their
attack on Cachar. After a series of years, during which Tularum
successfully held his own, Mr. Scott induced Govind Chandra in
1829 to assign to him a tract of country in the hills, and bind
himself not to molest him within these limits. After the assassina-

« Called " Kohee Dan " by Colonel Butler, Mills' "Assam Eeport," page chiii.

" Kacha Din " is the name given by Peniberton, "Eastern Frontier," page 191.
N
 go ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOKT. [Chap. II.

Section 5. tion of tlie Edja of Cachar, Tularam was a candidate for tlie vacant
The Hill throne, but failed to establish his title. In 1835, he entered into
an agreement with the British Government, in which he resigned
all the western portion of the tract ceded by Govind Chandra,
retaining the tract on the east,bounded on the south by the Mahur
river and the Naga Hills, on the west by the Diyung, on the east by
the Dhansiri, and on the north by the Jamuna and Diyung. For
this he was to pay a tribute of four pairs of elephants' tusks

annually, receiving a monthly pension of Es. 50. Tulardm died in

October 1850. His sons, Nakulnim and Braja Nath, held the
country for two and half years more, when the former was killed
in the Naga Hills, whither he had led an expedition to avenge an
attack on his village of Semkhor ; and in 1854 the tract was
resumed by the British Government, the surviving members of
Tularam's family receiving pensions.
In 1839, the portion of North Cachar, not included in Tularam's
dominions, was annexed to Nowgong and in 1853 a separate ;

officerwas placed in charge of the subdivision, with his head-

quarters at Asalu, near the northern skirts of the Barail, whose
business it was to keep order among the Kukis and Arung Nagas
dwelling in this neighbourhood, and to protect them against the
Angfimi Nagas to the east, who were constantly making jaids into
this country and that held by Tularam. In 1854, that officer's
charge was augmented by the addition of Tularam's principality.
99. The defence of North Cachar and the Mikir Hills in
Nowgong, lying to the north of that sub-
^^^ '
'^' ^^ ^
division, from the attacks of the Angami
history.

Ndgas was a task, however, which experience

proved could not be successfully effected from Asalu. These
turbulent neighbours led yearly expeditions into the hills and the
valleys of the Jamuna, Diyung, and Dhansiri rivers. Outposts
throughout the hills held only the ground they covered, and the
Nagas were able to creep by them with impunity. Ten military
expeditions were led into the Naga Hills between 1835 and 1851,
the greater number of which were to punish raids. In 1846, a
police post, under Bhogchand Darogha, was established at Sama-
 ;

Chap. 11] HISTORICAL SUMxMART. 9I

guting on a liill overlooking the Dhansiri Valley south of Dimapur. Section 5.

In 1849, Bhogchand was killed at Piphima in the hills by the men The Hill

of Khonoma and Mezuma. In 1S50, Lieutenant Vincent led a force

to Mezuma to avenge Bhogchand's death, and remained there for
six months, burning Klionoma daring his stay. In the winter of
1850-51, the tenth expedition, the which greatest British force
had entered the hills, advanced to complete the work of punish-
ment and on the lOtli and lltli December 1850, the strouf^ fort
;

of Khonoma was taken under almost the same circumstances as

attended its capture twenty-nine years later, in November 1879.
Paplongmai was burnt, and the Nagas of Kekrima, who challenged
our troops, lost 300 killed in a hand-to-hand fight which was long
remembered in the hills.
After this successful Government of India
expedition the
decided upon a complete withdrawal from interference with the
internal concerns of the Angami Ndgas. The Governor General,
Lord Dalhousie, wrote in his minute of the 20th February 1851 :

Hereafter we should confine ourselves to our own ground ; protect it as it

can and must be protected ; not meddle in the feuds or fights of these
savages ; encourage trade with them as long as they are peaceful towards us
and rigidly exclude them from all communication, either to sell what they
have got or to buy what they want, if they should become turbulent or
troublesome.

These are the measures which are calculated to allay their natural fears
of our upon them, and to repel their aggression on our people.
aggression
These will make them feel our power both to 'repel their attacks, and to
exclude them from advantages they desire, far better, at less cost, and with
more justice, than by annexing their country openly by a declaration, or
virtually by a partial occupation.

In March 1851, our troops were withdrawn, and in that rear

twenty-two Naga raids were reported, in which 55 persons were
killed, 10 were wounded, and 113 were taken captive. In 1853,
as already related, an officer was stationed in the North Cacliar
Hills at Asalu ; but he was instructed to regard the Angamis as
persons living beyond the jurisdiction of the British Government,
although in 1841 the watershed of the Barail range to the south of
N
 92 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION EEPORT. [Chap. II.

Section 5. the Angami country liad been authoritatively laid down as the
The Hill
Districts.
boundary of jurisdiction
. ,
between Manipur and Assam. A line of
outposts, with regular patrols, was established between Asalu and
Barpathar, in the Nambar forest; but in 1857 these outposts were
reduced and gradually withdrawn.
100. Eaids continued to be numerous between 1853 and 1865,
during which years 19 occurred, in which
^^^
Hilirdistrk".°
^^ ^32 British subjects were killed, wounded
or carried off. In 1864 and 18G5 the policy
to be followed towards the Anoranii Najj^as aixain came under review,
and the concurrent opinion of the local officers,of the Commis-
sioner, Colonel Hopkinson, and of the Lieutenant-Governor, Sir
Cecil Beadon, was that it was necessary for the credit of our
administration to advance into the hills, " to re-assert our authority
over the Nagas, and bring them under a system of administration
suited to their circumstances, and gradually to reclaim them from
"
habits of lawlessness to those of order and civilisation.
The Government of India, in 1866, agreed to the proposal that
a new district should be formed, with its headquarters at Samagu-
ting, Asalu being abolished as a subdivision, and North Cachar

being divided between the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, South Cachar,
and Nowgong, that portion lying to the west of the Dhansiri
and the country on both banks of the Doyong forming, wath the
Angami Naga Hills, the new district. But they desired that the
main object to be kept in view should be not to extend our rule
into the interior, but to protect the lowlands from the incursion of
the Nagas.
Captain Gregory, the first officer in charge of the new district,

was succeeded in 1869 by Captain whose energetic

J. Butler,
administration did much to consolidate our power in the hills.
Acting in the spirit of his instructions, he received the allegiance of
those villages which freely tendered it, but made no effort to include
those who were not willing to become British subjects. Much of
his time was given to exploration with survey parties ; and in 1876
he met his death in a fight with the LhotaNdgas of Pangti, a village
in the hills east of the Doyong river.
Chap. II.] HISTORICAL SUMMARY.
93

101. In February 1877, the Angtiini Nagas of Mezuma raided Section 5.

"P^^ ^^^^^" ^'^S^ ^^^^^g^ «^ Gumaigaju,

^^'^ r/^T^.z^
Advance to Kohima.
in the heart of Xorth Cachar, kiUinr/ G and ^''''''*'-

wounding 2 persons. The cause was a feud thirty

of the attack
years old. With this exception, no raid had been committed by
Angami Xagas within British territory since 1866, although there
were numerous complaints of their depredations in Manipur and
;

their internal feuds were^ as always, incessant. The village of

Mezuma refused to give up the raiders, and in the cold weather of
1877-78 an expedition was sent against by which the village was
it,

burned. Mr. Carnegy, the PoHtical Officer, was accidentally killed

by a sentry of his own party while occupying Mezuma^ These
events led to a review of the position which we occupied in the hills ;

and in 1878, was determined by Colonel Keatinge, after a visit to

it

the country, to abandon Samaguting, a low and unhealthy site on the

extreme edge of the Angdmi country, and to fix the future head-
quarters of the Political Officer at Kohima in the midst of the
group of powerful villages which it was specially necessary to
control. This selection was approved by the Government of India
in March 1878, and by the end of the next cold weather the
transfer from Samaguting to Kohima was completed.
In the course of the rains of 1879, indications of coming trouble
began to present themselves, but no serious apprehensions were
entertained by the Political Officer, Mr. Damant, who had planned
an expedition during the cold weather into the Hatigoria country to
the east of the Doyong. Before starting on this, however, he
resolved to visit the powerful villages of Jotsoma, Khonoma, and
Mezuma, to ascertain their disposition, and whether he might safely
leave Kohima. On the 14th October he arrived at Khonoma, and
leaving half his escort of 21 sepoys and 65 police with his baggage
at the foot of the hill, he advanced with the other half up the
narrow path leading to the strongly-fortified village site. The gate
of the village was found closed, and as Mr. Damant stood before
it, he was shot dead. A volley was then poured into his escort,
who turned and fied down the hill. The Nagas followed, and
dispersed the troops and police, Avho endeavoured by twos and
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION RErOP.T. [Chap. 11.
94

Section: 5. threes to escapc to Koliima. Of the military accompanying Mr.

The Hill Daman t, 10 were killed and 5 were wounded ; of the police, 25
istncts.
y^Q^Q killed and 14 were wounded.
When this news reached Kohima, preparations were made to
resist the attack. The subdivisioual officer was summoned from
Wokha, 57 miles distant, and arrived with his force of sepoys and
police on the 19th October. The stockade was besieged by the
Nagas from the 16th to the 27tli, when the garrison, who were
reduced to great straits for want of food and water, were relieved,
and the siege was raised, by the arrival of Colonel Johnstone,
Political Agent of Manipur, with a force of 2,000 Manipuri troops,
and his own escort of 30 sepoys and a few police.
A campaign against the Ndgas then ensued, in which the 42nd
and 44th Hegiments, with a wing of the 18th Native Infantry and a
detachment of the 43rd Native Infantry, took part, and which lasted
till March 1880. Khonoma was taken on the 22nd November 1879,
but the defenders retreated to a very strong position above the village
on a spur of Japvo, where they maintained themselves until the
end of the campaign. Jotsoma was captured on the 27th November,
and every one of the 13 villages which had entered into the coali-

tion against us was either occupied or destroyed. The most not-

able event of the war, however, was the daring raid made in
January 1880, by a party of Khonoma men from the fort above the
village, at the time beleaguered by our troops, 'upon the tea garden
of Bahidhan in Cachar, more than 80 miles distant, where they
killed the manager, Mr. Blyth, and 16 coolies, plundered what they
could, and burned everything in the place.
On the 27tli March, the fort above Khonoma and
submitted,
the war was at an end. Fines in grain, cash, and labour were

imposed upon those villages which took part against us. The
Nagas were made to surrender the firearms they were known to
possess, and in some instances the removal of a village from a
fortified and inaccessible crest to a site below was directed. Khono-
ma was razed to the ground, and its site occupied by an outpost.
From all villages an agreement was taken to pay revenue in the
shape of 1 maund of rice and 1 rupee per house, to provide a certain
 1

Chap. 11. HISTORICAL SUM3IAKY. 95

amount of labour annually for State purposes, and to appoint Section 5.

a headman who should be responsible for good order and for The Hill
mtncts.
carrying out the wishes of Government.
After the close of this, the twelfth and last expedition, the

question of the policy to be adopted in dealing with the Nagas

was submitted by the Chief Commissioner to the Government of
India, who in Februaxy 1881 finally decided that our position at
Kohima should be retained, that a regiment should be permanently
stationed in the hills, and that the district should be adminis-
tered as British territory. Since that date the history of the
district has been one of the progressive establishment of peace
and good order, and the quiet submission of the Nagas to our
rule,

102. In 1875, a subdivision was opened at Wokha, which is

situated in the country of the Lliota Nagas,

Wokha subdivision.
''

1 » / •
i i
who are separated from the Angamis by the
Rengmas and Semas. The village of Wokha had on several oc-
casions attacked survey parties sent into the hills, and itwas deter-
mined to occupy the site to secure our position there. The Lhotas
have no connection with the Angamis, who do not pass through
their country in visiting the plains. This tract has been in ch'arge
of a tahsildar since when the Mokokchang subdivision was
1889,
formed, as the Lhotas had by that time become so amenable to
authority that it was considered unnecessary any longer to retain

a European officer in their midst.

103. The boundaries of the Naga Hills district were gazetted

in 1882, and the only change since that date
Mokokchacg- feubdivision. .
, .

has been the mclusion,

.

m
. ^ oorv
18by, or
<• i
the cis-

Dikhu tract by the Ao Nagas. The reasons

of country inhabited

for this step were the difficulty of protecting the Aos from raids by
trans-Dikhu tribes unless a garrison was permanently established
in their midst, and the fact that the leading Ao villages had peti-
tioned the Deputy Commissioner for their incorporation in British

territory. The necessary measures were successfully carried out,

and the tract in question is now known as the Mokokchang sub-
division of the Naga Hills district. "»
 ;

96 ASSAM ADMINISTEATIOX REPORT. [Chap. II.

Section- 5. 104. At the close of the Naga war of 1879-80, Sir Steuart
The Hill Bayley recommended, and the Government of
Districts. Re-establislunent of the t t A^ ^
-i t ^i
I^dia approved, the re-estabhshment of the
i i j_ i'

North Cachar subdivision.

subdivisional charge of North Cachar, where,
since 1866, no officer liad been located, the hiUmen being left, save
for the rare cold-weather tonrs of the Deputy Commissioner,
entirely to themselves. The subdivision was opened in December
1880, and placed in charge of an Assistant Superintendent of Police,
who was stationed at Gunjong, in the centre of the tract, a point
connected by easy hill paths with Nowgong to the north, Silchar to
the south, and Jowai to the west. A bridle path to Kohima, vid
the Kacha or A rung Naga country, has since been constructed.
In this hitherto isolated and thinly-peopled region, in the cold
weather of 1881-82, an event occurred which cost the life of a

valued officer. Major Boyd, the Deputy Commissioner of Cachar.

A Kacliari, named Sambhudan, declared himself inspired, claimed
to work miraculous cures, and with his followers, who, like

himself, took the title of deo, or god, levied contributions on the vil-
lagers about Maibong, the old capital of the Kachari kings, where
he took up his abode. The matter came under the notice of the
subdivisional officer, who reported it, and the Deputy Commis-
sioner, Major Boyd, immediately started for Gunjong with 30 police,
and reached that place without impediment. On the loth January
he left Gunjong with Mr. Soppitt, the subdivisional officer, for
Maibon^, which is six or eij2'lit hours' march distant Maibonsf ;

was reached and found deserted, and the party encamped in the
huts of the deos. On the same day Sambhuddn and his party, some
20 men, countermarched him, and about noon fell upon Gunjong,
where only a weak police guard, composed mainly of Kachdri
constables, who shared in the superstitions of their people, had
been left. They were panic-stricken, and fled without firing a shot
and the deos burned down all the houses at Gunjong, killed two
servants and a sick policeman, and left precipitately for Maibong.
On the morning of the 16th, soon after dawn. Major Boyd was
awakened by the shouts and drums of Sambhuddn and his followers,
• who had passed the night in the jungle. The police formed up in
Chap. 11.
] niSTomcAL smiMAUY. 97

line with bayonets fixed, but did not fire at first. The enemy ad- Section 6.

vanced right up to them, and struck at them with their daos ; one Formation

man was wounded on the shoulder with a dao, and Major Boyd °
Commis-
The police ^^°^^^^^^P'
received a deep cut between the forefinger and thumb.
then fired a volley, and killed eight of their assailants ; two or three
more were afterwards found dead in the jungle. Sambhudan
escaped for the time, but the insurrection completely collapsed at
once. Major Boyd was carried into Silchar his wound brought ;

on tetanus, from which he died on the 30th January 1882.

Sambhuddn evaded capture till the end of the year, when he was
surrounded by the police, who had received information of his
hiding place. In endeavouring to escape, he received a wound,
from which he quickly bled to death. Four of his gang were
arrested, of whom two died in jail, and two were tried at the
sessions ; one was acquitted, and the other was sentenced to

transportation for life.

During the last ten years the history of this subdivision has
been peaceful and uneventful, and nothing has transpired worthy
of permanent record.

SECTION 6.— FORMATION OF THE CHIEF COMMISSIONER-

SHIP.
105. In 1873 it was determined by the Government of India to

separate the districts now forming the Assam

Formation of the Chief administration of the
ComnuBsionership.
province from the
Government of Bengal, and to form them into
a Chief Commissionership. By a proclamation dated the 6th
February 1874, the districts of Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang, Now-
gong, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, the three and the district
hill districts,

of Cachar were taken under the immediate authority and manage-

ment of the Governor General in Council and by a notification ;

of the same date they were formed into a Chief Commissionership,

and Lieutenant- Colonel R. H. Keatinge, v.c, c.s.r., was appointed
the first Chief Commissioner. On the 12th September of the same
year, by another proclamation and notification, Sylhet was added,
and the province, as it now exists, was completed.
 98 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION HEPORT. [Chap. II.

Section r^^^
6.
following statement sliows the officers who have filled the
Formation Q^^ Chief Commissioner since the formation of the Chief Com-
of
or t'le Chief i

Conimis- missioncrship :

It on ersli ip.

Name. From To Bemarks.

Colonel R. H. Keatinge, 7th February 1874 21st June 1878.

v.c, c S.I.

Sir S. C. Bayley, K.c.s.i.... S2nd June 1878 . 1st March 1881.

Mr. C. A. EUiott, c.s.i. ... 2nd March 1881 . 7th July 1883.

Mr. W. E. Ward 7th July 1883 ... 7th October 1883 Officiating.

Mr. C. A. Elliott, C.S.I. ... 7th October 1883 23rd February

1885.
Mr. W.E.Ward 23 rd February 3ist October 1887 Officiating.
1885.

Mr. D. Fitzpatricb, c.s.i. 31st October 1887 15th July 1889.

Mr. J. Westland, C.S.I. ... 15th July 1889 22nd October

1889.
Mr. J. W. Quinton, c.S I. 22nd October 1889 24th Blarch 1891.

Brigadier-General Sir H. 24th March 1891 27th May 1891... Officiating.

CoUett, K.c.B.

Mr. W. E. Ward, c.s.i. ... 27th May 1891.

 Chap. Ill
] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 99

CHAPTER III.

Form of Administration.

SECTION 1.-.GENERAL ADMINISTRATIVE SYSTEM AND

STAFF.
106. The province Assam, excluding Sylhet, as already section i.
of

p f i\ r"i f
mentioned, was taken under the immediate ~
General
— ,

authority and management of the Governor Admi.istya.

ComiSoner.
General
and constituted a separate ZU staff!
in Council,

Administration, by a proclamation, dated the 6th February 1874.

A Chief Commissioner having been appointed, Act VIII of 1874
was passed to provide for the exercise by him of executive powers.
In September of the same year, on the addition of the district of
Sylhet to the Chief Commissionership, Act XII of that year made
the same provision in regard to that district. By these Acts the
powers which, on the date of the formation of the Chief Commis-
sionership, and on that of the transfer to it of the district of Sylhet,
were, by virtue of any law or regulation vested in, or exercisable
by, the LieutenantGovernor of Bengal or the Board of Revenue
Lower Provinces, were transferred to, and vested in, the'^Governor
General in Council ; and it was enacted that the Governor General
in Council might, from time to time, delegate to the Chief Com-
missioner all or any of the said powers, and withdraw any powers
60 delegated.
. By dated the 16th April 1874, the Government of
notification,
India delegated to the Chief Commissioner all powers which were
vested in the Lieutenant Governor of Bengal by the direct opera-
tion of any Act of the Governor General in Council, which also
conferred the same powers on the Chief Commissioners of Gudh,
the Central Provinces, and British Burma. By Act 'I of 1868
section 2, clause 10, all powers conferred upon a Local Govern-
ment by any Act of the Governor General in Council in force in
 lOO ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [ Chap. ill.

Sectio N I. Assam, and passed subsequent^ to the constitution of the Chief

General Commissionership, vest in the Chief Commissioner. By the o^ersi-
tive System ^ion of this clause and the notification of the 16th April (and, in
and staff,
j-ggard to Sylhet, a similar notification of the 12th September 1874),
tlie Chief Commissioner has, in respect to all the general Acts of
the Governor General in Council, the powers of a Local Govern-
ment.
Other powers have from time to time been delegated to the
Chief Commissioner under Acts VIII and XII of 1874 [or assumed
under section 6(c) of Act XIV of the same year], which, generally
speaking, place him in the position of a Local Government in regard
to most of the Eegulations and Acts, whether of the Legislative
Council of India or that of Bengal, in practical operation in
the province.
The Chief Commissioner is assisted by a Secretary and an
Assistant Secretary.
107. From the constitution of the province 1874 down to in
1880 there were no Commissionersin Assam.
General executive g^j. June of the latter year one was appoint-
jj-^

ed for the six districts of the Assam Valley,

the office being combined with that of Judge in these districts, and
the Commissioner being invested generally with the powers of a
Commissioner of Division in Bengal. In the other districts of the
province, that is, in the Surma Valley and Hill districts, the Chief
Commissioner continues to perform himself the duties of a
Commissioner of Division.
Each of the eleven districts of the province has a Deputy Com-
missioner as its chief executive officer, who is aided by a staff of
I
Assistant Commissioners and Extra Assistant Commissioners. Tlije

functions of these oflicers are similar to those exercised by officers

of the same name in other provinces.

In addition to the above, there is the Director, Department of
Land Eecords and Agriculture, whose main duty it is to supervise
all survey and settlement operations, but who is also entrusted
with the collection of trade and agricultural statistics, the manage-
ment of survey schools, and other similar matters.
Chap. Ill] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. lOi

108. The judicial organisation of tho province is at present in Section i.

much
same condition as at its constitution
the r'ZZ
'^tiieracj
Judicial staff
in 1874. The six districts of the Brahmaputra ^^"'^I'^'t^a-
' tivi; System
,

Valley, and the districts or Sylhet and Cachar, are subordinate to ^"'^ Staff.

the High Court of Fort William in Bengal. For the whole of the
Brahmaputra Valley there is one District and Sessions Judge (who
is also the Commissioner), whose headquarters are at Gauhati, but

who holds sessions at the various district headquarters when required.

Tlie Deputy Commissioners of the six districts have the civil powers
of Subordinate Judges, and the special powers conferred by
sections 30 and 34 of the Criminal Procedure Code of tryino- all
offences not punishable with death and awarding a sentence of
seven years' imprisonment. The Assistant and Extra Assistant
Commissioners have the ordinary powers of Magistrates of the first,

second, and third classes, and have also generally the civil powers
of aMunsif, though only the senior Extra Assistant Commissioner
or, where there is no Extra Assistant Commissioner, the senior
Assistant Commissioner at a headquarters station, and the subdi vi-
sional officer at a subdivisional station ordinarily exercises the
latter powers.
In the Surma Valley a different system prevails. In Sylhet
there is a separate judicial service, at the head
which is the of
District and Sessions Judge, aided by a Subordinate Judge and a
staff of Munsifs for the disposal of civil cases. The Deputy Com- .

missioner, Assistant Commissioners, and Extra Assistant Com-

missioners have here no civil powers, and exercise only the
ordinary magisterial powers in criminal matters. In Cachar the
Sessions Judge is the Judge of Sylhet, who holds sessions at
Silchar when necessary ; but the Deputy Commissioner has the
special criminal powers mentioned in sections 30 and 34 of the
Criminal Procedure Code. The Deputy Commissioner, however,
and not the Judge of Sylhet, is the District Civil Judge there is ;

no Subordinate Judge, and the Assistant and Extra Assistant

Commissioners exercise the powers of Munsifs in addition to their
functions as Magistrates and executive officers.
In the hill districts and certain frontier tracts (the North
 102 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOHT. [Chap. III.

Section I. Cacliar subdivision, the Nowgong, and the

Mikir Hills tract in

General Dibrugarli frontier tract in Lakhimpur), the High Court possesses

I'^ris^iSn" ^^ J^^^^^^^^^^^^ ^''^^^P^

^^^^ -^^^^^P^^^^ British subjects. The Hill
and Staff, clistricts Were formerly under the operation of the Deregulation-
izing Act, XXH of 1869, which was repealed by the Scheduled
Districts Act, XIV of 1874. Subsequently, the Frontier Tracts
Regulation, II of 1880, was passed, under which power is given
to the Chief Commissioner, with the previous sanction of the
Governor General in Council, to direct that any enactment in force
in any frontier tract shall cease to be in force therein, and this

Kegulation (with the additional power of extension conferred by

Regulation III of 1884) has been brought into force in all the
hill districts and frontier tracts referred to above. Under its

provisions, the operation of the enactments relating to Civil and

Criminal Procedure, Court-fees, Stamps, Transfer of Property, and
Registration, has been barred,* and a simpler system of adminis-
tering justice in civil and criminal matters has been prescribed by
rules framed under section 6 of the Scheduled Districts Act, XIV
of 1874. By these rules the Chief Commissioner is himself the
chief appellate authority in civil and criminal cases. The Deputy
Commissioner exercises the combined powers of District and

Sessions Judge and Magistrate of a district, and the Assistant

Commissioners and Extra Assistant Commissioners the powers of
Magistrates and Munsifs. The judicial administration in all petty
civil and criminal cases is carried on by village tribunals, pre-
sided over by headmen chosen from among the people themselves,
whose procedure is completely free from legal technicalities, and
whose proceedings are not reduced to writing. The Criminal
Procedure Code is in force in the Eastern Duars in Godlpdra,
and that tract is, therefore, on the same footing as the plains
districts so far as the administration of criminal justice is concern-
ed. The Civil Procedure Code, however, is not in force its place ;

is taken by rules under section 6 of Act XIV of 1874, which con-

• Except in cases when such enactments never were in force. The Civil Procedure
Code, for inatance, was nevcf extended to the hill districts, and it was, therefore, un-
necessary to include this in the declarations under Regulation II of 1880, which were
JBBued in regard to these districts.
 Chap. Ill
] pQj^^j Qj, ADMINISTRATION. IO3

tain much the same provisions as the corresponding rules framed Section i.
for the tracts which are under the operation of Eegulation ]I of
G~al
1*^80. Admimstra-
Besides the judicial officers named above, there ««^ -^'^^^
are a few
Honorary Magistrates in nearly every district. The latter in all
cases, however, sit singly, no benches of Honorary Magistrates
having yet been formed in any district except Sylhet.
109. Up to the year 1886, Sylhet Proper was under the
operation of the old Benofal Eeo"ulations and
^ c^'j. o-icQuiaLiuuis auu
T> 1 *•• •
Revenue adminislration. .

the Other land revenue enactments in force

in Bengal. In Jaintia and Cachar, and also, though to a less
extent, in Goalpara, these enactments were generally followed
but they were not treated as actually in force. In the Brahma-
putra Valley Proper, the settlement rules of the Board of Eevenue
had been replaced by which were revised and recast
local rules,

in 1883. In other respects the revenue law of Bengal was follow-

ed, so far as the local officers considered it to be applicable, but
itwas not treated as legally in force. All doubt and uncertainty
have now been removed by the enactment of the Assam Land
and Eevenue Eegulation, I of 1886, which has been brought into
force in all the plains districts of the province. It contains all
the necessary provisions of the revenue law of Bengal, the whole
of which it repeals, so far as Assam is concerned. The Eegula-
tion was amended in some respects as regards the recovery of
arrears^f revenue by Eegulation II of 1889, and its provisions re-
garding settlements, mutations, partitions, the recovery of arrears,
&c., have been supplemented by rules issued under it and deriving
from it the force of law. The superior authorities entrusted with
the revenue administration have already been stated. They are
the Chief Commissioner Local Government and Board of
(as
Eevenue, and, in the Surma Valley and hiil districts, as Commis-
sioner), the Commissioner (in the Brahmaputra Valley), the
Director, Department of Land Eecords and Agriculture, and an
assistant for supervising the preparation and maintenance of land
records in cadastrally surveyed tracts in the Assam Valley districts,

the Deputy Commissioners in each district, and the Assistant

 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. ill.
104

Section i. and Extra Assistant Commissioners. Below these there are

^ , different subordinate officers in different districts. Each subdivi-
Uoicral
Admiiiistra- gion in the plains districts, except South Sylhet and GoAlpara, has
^and staff! an officcr called a Sub-Deputy Collector, who isemployed mainly
upon supervision of the revenue establishments, upon surveying
waste and cultivated lands (the extent and importance of this work
in Assam will be seen from the following chapter), and the com-
pilation of the revenue records and returns.
Goalp<4ra, except the Eastern Duars, is, for all practical
purposes, a permanently-settled tract, and there are no mujassal
revenue establishments ; in the other districts of the Brahmaputra
Yalley the whole of the revenue was formerly collected by con-
tractors, called 77iaiizaddrs, holding charge of the revenue assess-

ment and collection within definite areas, called mauzas, into which
these districts are divided. On the conclusion of the annual assess-
ment (which will be described in a subsequent section*), the
mauzaddr entered into a contract to pay into the treasury the
revenue assessed, together with any additional revenue which
might be assessed on lands subsequently taken up within the year
for cold weather cultivation, irrespective of whether he succeeded
in realising the full amount from the cultivators or not, and was
remunerated by a commission calculated at 10 per cent, on the
first Es. 6,000 of revenue and 5 per cent, on any amount above

that sum. This system is still largely in vogue, but is being

rapidly superseded by the formation of tahsils, whereby from 3
to 11 mauzas are amalgamated and placed in charge of an ofUcial
called a tahsilddr, who is paid by a regular salary, and not by
commission. The first tahsils were started in 1883-84 durinsr
which year four were formed in the Ktirariip district, and from
that date the extension of the system has progressed rapidly.
There were at the close of 1892-93, 23 tahsils in the Brahmaputra
Valley, absorbing in all 125 mauzas.
The chief argument in favour of the tahsilddri as opposed to
the mauzaddri system is the great saving which is thereby effected
in the cost of collection, the percentage in 1892-93 of collection

See post, Chapter IV, Section 3, SyBtem of Survey and Settlement.

Chap. III.] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. IO5

charges in tahsils being only 2*38, against 3*71 in mauzas* The Section i.

amount thus saved is devoted to increasing the efficiency of the General

assessment operations, as will be described in the paragraphs the System

deaUng with the system of survey and settlement. Where tahsils ^" ^'^"'

have not yet been introduced, the cost of collection has been
reduced as far as possible by amalgamating mauzas, thereby
reducing the number of mauzaddrs^ and saving to that extent the
higher rate of commission which is payable on the first Es. 6,000
of amauzaddrs collections. Ten years ago, the collection charges
amounted to 11'87 per cent, of the total revenue collected, while
in the present year the corresponding percentage is only 3*53.
It should be mentioned here that there are certain estates, the
revenue on which is paid direct into the treasury, and not through
the local revenue collector. This privilege is conceded in the
cases of waste land grants, all nisj-khiraj estates in Nowgong and
Darrang and many Kamrup, and a few other special
of those in

tenures. Certain communities of Miris in North Lakhimpur

also pay their revenue direct into the treasury, through their
own headmen or gams.
At each subdivisional headquarters in Sylhet there is a collecting
office, where the revenue is paid in and the accounts are made

up. There are also mujassal establishments, viz., in Kanairghdt

in Jaintia, and at Hakaluki and Pratabgarh in Karimganj. Pro-
ceedings for the realisation of arrears (which are here generally
recovered by means of the Sale Law) are taken at the subdivisions.
In the plains portion of Cachar also, there are three collecting or

tahsil establishments for receipt of the revenue, which is here settled

for a term. Two of these are located at the sadr and subdivisional
headquarters, and the third at a point close to the Sylhet boundary.
In the hill districts, the general rule is that house tax, and not
land revenue, properly so called, is paid ; but in the Garo Hills
and a small area in the Jaintia and Naga Hills, there are tracts
where land revenue is taken, and mauzaddrs are the agency em-
ployed for collection. The house tax is, in the Garo, Jaintia, Naga
* In this calculation the Bijni tahsil has not been included, as the circumstances of

that tahsil are somewhat esccptional.

P
 I05 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. III.

Section i. Hills, and North Cacliar, and the few villages in the Khc4si Hills
General which are British territor}-, collected and paid in by headmen,
the System "^^^10, like the mauzaddvs of the Assam Valley are remunerated by
and staff,
a Commission. These officers are called Za5/d-«?'5 and Lakmas in
the Gc4ro Hills, Vollois and Sarddrs in the Jaintia and Khasi Hills,
Lamharddrs in the Naga Hills, and Mauzaddrs in North Cachar.
110, The province of Assam is a general police district under

Act V of 1861, and the police

^
are under the
Police.
control of an Inspector General, Tvho is on
the graded list of Deputy Commissioners. In each of the plains
districts there is an officer, either a District Superintendent or
an Assistant Superintendent, who has charge of the Civil Police
work. These officers are borne on the Bengal staff of police
officers, and receive promotion in that list. In addition to these
officers, whose work is to superintend the prevention and detection
of crime, there is a small stafi' consisting of one Civil and three
Military Police officers, who, under the designation Command-
of

ants of Military Police, control that division of the Assam Police

Force which performs semi-military duties in manning the frontier
outposts, and in holding as a garrison the Garo, Naga, and North
Lushai Hills. This division of the force, besides being subject to
Act V of 1861, is under a special Regulation (The Assam Military
Police Regulation, 1890), which makes provision for the enforce-
ment of due and assimilates
discipline, generally the terms of
service to those prevailing in the Native Army. The four divisions
of the Military Police are located as follows (1) in the Brahma- :

putra Valley, with headquarters at Dibrugarh ; (2) in the Surma

Valley, with headquarters at Silchar ; (3) in the Naga Hills, with
headquarters at Koliima ; and (4) in the Garo Hills, with head-
quarters at Tura. The Surma Valley battalion also holds the
North Lushai Hills, but a proposal has recently been sanctioned
to form a separate battalion for that purpose. In the meantime, the
Commandant isby a second military officer, who is called
assisted
an Assistant Commandant. At the close of 1892 the sanctioned
strength of the Civil and Armed Civil Police in Assam was 2,178
officers and men, and of the Military Police 2,535 officers and men.
 ;

Chap. 111.] rOEM OF ADMINISTRATION. I07

Besides the regular Civil Police, there are a few municipal Section i.

poUce entertained in towns which have been constituted " Unions " General

under the Bengal Municipal Act (these numbered 15 officers ana tive System
^^'
men at the close of 1892), and there is a force of chaukidars, or ""

rural police, in the districts of Sylhet, Cachar, and Godlpdra.

Except in the last-named district, there are no village police in

the Brahmaputra Valley. The mauzaddrs and mandals are re-

quired to give information and aid in detection of crime, and in

each village, or group of hamlets, there is a gaonbura, or village

elder, who is the recognised representative of the villagers in

police matters, but receives no remuueration from Government.

The chaukidars in Goalpara are governed by the Bengal Chauki-
ddri Act [VI (B.C.) of amended by Act I (B.C.) of 1871],
1870 as
and those in the Surma Valley by the Sylhet and Cachar Ftural
Police Regulation, I of 1883. On the last day of 1892 there were
6,812 village police in the province, of whom 5,616 were in Sylhet,
480 in Cachar, and 716 in Goalpara. Their cost was Rs. 2,93,960
for the year, the whole of which was paid by the villagers.

111. The jails in Assam are divided into three jails, large es-
tablishments at Gauhati, Tezpur, and Sylhet
six subsidiary jails, smaller places or con-
finement, at Dhubri, Nowgong, Sibsagar, Dibrugarh, Silchar, and
Shillong ; and thirteen lock-Kjys, at the headquarters stations of
Tura and Kohima, and the subdivisional stations of Goalpara,
Barpeta, Mangaldai, Jorhat, Golc4ghat, Lakhimpur, Sundmganj,
Karimganj, Habiganj, Maulvi Bazar, and Hailakandi. Besides
these, temporary jails are also opened, from time to time as
necessary, for the accommodation of prisoners employed upon
public works at a distance from the permanent jails.

Where a civil medical officer is employed (as is gererally the

case at Gauhati, Tezpur, and Sylhet), he is the Superintendent of

the Jail. The department is supervised by an Inspector General,
who is also Inspector General of Police.
The Jail Law of the province is Act XXVI of 1870, which was
brought into force in supersession of the Jail Acts, II of 1864 and

V of 1865, of the Bengal Council, by Regulation No. II of 1875.

 [Chap.
I08 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. 111.

Section i.The Bengal Jail Manual, consisting of rules and orders issued by
cTZ'ral tlie Government and the Inspector General of Jails in that province,
Administra-
Iq\\q^^q^ j^ Assam SO far as it does not conflict with the provi-
-

iive oystem
and Staff, gions of Act XXYI of 1870.

112. Excise is managed (under the Excise Laws^ of Bengal,

which have been extended to Assam) by-
Excise, Stamps, Re-
^^^ Commissioner of Excise, an office
'
which
giatration.
is held by the Inspector General of Police
and Jails in addition to his other duties. The same officer is also

Superintendent of Stamps and Inspector General of j Eegistration,

as well as Registrar of Joint Stock Companies under the
Companies' Act, and Eegistrar General of Births, Deaths, and
Marriages under Act VI of 1886. All Deputy Commissioners are
Eegistrars in their respective districts; the Sub-Eegistrars at

headquarters are either Extra Assistant Commissioners, who do

this work in addition to their other work, or special Sub-Eegistrars
(at Sylhet and Silchar) ; at subdivisions either the subdivisional

officer, or a second officer (generally an Extra Assistant Com-

missioner), if there is one, is Sub-Eegistrar. But in all the sub-
divisions of Sylhet there are special Sub-Eegistrars, and at Bala-
ganj, Hingajia, and Madhabpur in the same district there are
rural Sub-Eegistrars,
113. The Educational Department is supervised by a Director
of Public Instruction, who is borne on the
Educational Department. t n r,•
ti , tt • '
^ i
graded hst of iiengal.
i
He is assisted
^
by
four Deputy Inspectors (one for the Surma Valley and three for

the Brahmaputra Valley, i.e., one each for Upper, Central, and
Lower Assam) and 24 Sub-Inspectors, viz., one forjeach [subdivi-
sion in the plains districts, with an extra man for Gauhdti, one for
the Gdro Hills, and two for the Khdsi and Jaintia Hills. Besides
these departmental officers, who directly control the Government
hif^h and middle schools and the higher normal school at Gauhdti,
all classes of aided schools in the eight plains districts are under
the supervision of the several Local Boards estabhshed under the
Assam Local Eates Eegulation, 1879. These authorities receive
applications and make allotments of grants-in-aid without reference
 Chap. Ill]
FORM OF ADMINISTBATION. IO9

but subject to the rules prescribed for such grants. Section i.

to the Director,
The aided schools are still generally under the control of the cTZ^al
Director of PubHc Instruction, and are, of course,
spection by hnn, the Deputy
'J
Inspectors, and the Sub-Inspectors.
subiect to in- ^!^""''^^i^a-
iiije
and
System
staff.

114. The Forest Department is under the control of a Con-

Forest Department.
^crvator, who
assisted by a staff of Deputy
is

and Assistant and Extra Assistant Conser-

vators. These officers are now borne on a separate Provincial
list, and their standing in the department depends on their places

in that list. At the time of writing this report, the sanctioned

list consists of six Deputy Conservators, three Assistant and three

Extra Assistant Conservators, but two of the three appointments

of Assistant Conservators are vacant.
The remaining ten officers are posted respectively to Lakhim-
pur, Sibsagar, and the Naga Darrang, Nowgong, Kdmriip,
Hills,

and the Khdsi Hills, Goalpdra, the Gdro Hills, Cachar, Sylhet, and
the Working Plans Division.

115. The staff of direction of the Public Works Department in

Assam consists of a Chief or Superintending
^Public Works Depart.
Engineer, who is also Secretary to the Chief
Commissioner in that Department, aided by
an Assistant Secretary, and, as regards the accounts of Provincial
and Imperial works, by an Examiner and the usual staff. Excludincr
the above, as also the special establishment sanctioned for the
Nichuguard-Manipur road (an Imperial work), the present sanc-
tioned scale of executive staff provides seven Executive and five
Assistant Engineers. Besides the foregoing, the following special
stall is at present employed in the province : —Attached to the
Assam- Bengal Eailway, a Consulting Engineer, a Deputy Con-
sulting Engineer, and an Examiner of Accounts for the Nichu- ;

guard-Manipur road, one Superintendent of Works, two Executive

and two Assistant Engineers.
116. The medical institutions of the province are supervised
by the Principal Medical Officer, Assam
""""' Di«t"«t. ^^°' i" ^'idition to his military
osSi>r'
duties, is the Sanitary Commissioner of the
 no ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 111.

Sectio.^ 2, province, and is the Chief Commissioner's adviser on sanitary and

Legislative msdical matters generally. Each district has a Civil Surgeon,
utiortty.
.
^^^ ^^ •\vhom, assisted by an Assistant Surgeon (at Koliima),
holds that post in addition to his duties as Regimental Surgeon.
The Civil Surgeon of Tezpur, besides holding charge of the jail
there, is also Superintendent of the only Lunatic Asylum which
the province possesses, which receives lunatics -from the
and
Assam Valley and Hill districts lunatics from the Surma Valley
;

are treated in the Dacca Asylum. The Civil Surgeons of Sylhet and
Gauhati are Superintendents of the jails there. The Civil Surgeon
of Dhubri Embarkation Agent for emigrants recruited for the
is

labour districts of the Brahmaputra Valley. A medical officer is

stationed at Aijal as Civil Surgeon, North Lushai Hills, and the Eegi-
mental Surgeon at Manipur is in civil medical charge of that station,

117. The only Government Chaplain in the province is the

Minister of Shillong, who also visits Sylhet,
Ecclesiastical officers. ,,.
Dhubri,
-i

and Gauhati
r^ ^ - •

at intervals
it--i
during the
course of the year. Small allowances are, besides, given to clergy-
men provided by the Additional Clergy Society or by the Society
for the Propagation of the Gospel, for the spiritual charge of the

European population in other districts. These allowances are

drawn by ministers stationed at Tezpur, Dibrugarh, and Silchar.
118. The accounts of the province are in charge of a Comp-
troller, who is directly subordinate to the
Imperial departments
financial Department of the Government of
lu the province. -l

India. The Post Office Department is in

charge of a Deputy Postmaster General, and the Telegraph De-

partment in that of a Superintendent. These officers, as well as

the officers of the Survey Department serving in the province, are

not subordinate to the Chief Commissioner.

SECTION 2.— LEGISLATIVE AUTHORITY.

119. There are three ways in which measures of legislation are

brought into force in this province. The

Acts of the Governor • ^• ^ xi„
General's Council.
r. ,

ni'^t IS
,i
the ordinary method,
,.^ ^
common to the
whole of India, of passing Acts in the Coun-

cil of the Governor General for making Laws and Eegulations.

 Chap. III.
] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. I i i

120. The second is the method of passing Eegulations in Sectiok 2,

n ,.
1 1 00 accordance with the *provisions of 33 Vic- Legislative
RcRnlatidns under 33 .
^*,, .,

'''«:>'•
Victoria, ciiapter 3, sec- toria,Chapter 3, section 1 (an Act to make
tion 1. 1 , , • •
p 1 •
-r
making Laws and
better provision ior
Eegulations for certain parts of India, and for certain other
purposes relating thereto). This Act was, by Eesolutions passed
by the Secretary of State for India in. Council, made applicable
to the districts of Kamrup, Darrang, Nowgong, Sibsagar, and
Lakhimpur, and the Gdro, Khdsi and Jaintia, Ndga Hills, and
Cacliar from the 1st January 1873 ; to the district of Goalpara from
the 15 til December 1873 and to the district of Sylhet from the 1st
;

August 1874. Under its provisions, the Chief Commissioner has

power to "propose to the Governor General in Council drafts of
any Regulations, together with the reasons for proposing the same,
for the peace and government of the territories under his admi-
nistration. " Such drafts, when approved by the Governor General
in Council, and after they have received the Governor General's
assent, are published in the Gazette oj India, and thereupon have
the force of law. This method, which was firstused in Assam in
1873, on the passing of Regulation Y of that year (the Inner Line
Regulation), before the constitution of the Chief Commissionership,
has since been frequently resorted to.

121. The third method is to make use of section 5 of Act

XIV of 1874 (The
^ Scheduled Districts Act),
''
Extension under section _

5 of the Scheduled Dis- w^hich declares that " the Local Govern-
ment, with the previous sanction of the
Governor General in Council, may from time to time, by
notification in the Gazette of India, and also in the local Gazette
(if any), extend to any of the scheduled districts, or to any part
of any such district, any enactment which is in force in any part of
British India at the date of such extension." By section 6, clause
(c), of the same Act, the Chief Commissioner is empowered to
direct by what authority any jurisdiction, powers, or duties
incident to the operation of any enactment for the time being
in force in a scheduled district shall be exercised or performed.
Assam is one of the scheduled districts under this Act (Sche-
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. HI-
I 12

Section 3. diile I, and the Act Tras declared to be in force in the

Part X) ;

EdZZtion. province by notification on the 7th November 1877. Since that

date, numerous Acts in force in other parts of India have,
under
the powers given by section 5, been brought into force in Assam.

DEPARTMENTAL SYSTEMS.
SECTION S.—EDUGATION.
122. The inspecting staff of the Educational Department has
already been described. It remains to state
Divisions of echools. c.i ^ i
i
•
r i
•

here the system 01 teaching, the kinds of

schools, and the manner in which they are supported.
In the first place, educational institutions in Assam are divided

into those subject to departmental inspectionand rules and those

not so subject. The former Government institutions,
are either

or receive some kind of assistance from public money, whether

granted direct from Provincial revenues or from Local Punds, and
are classified as follows :

I. Primary, divided into (a) Lower primary or pdthshdlas, and

(b) Upper primary.
II. Middle, divided into {a) Vernacular, and (5) English.
III. High schools.

lY. Training and special.

The latter are of two kinds : either wholly unaided and unin-
spected, being most part religious in their object or
for the ;

schools established with a view to eventually obtaining a Govern-

ment grant, and carried on entirely on the model of Government
schools. The latter differ in no respect, expect in efficiency, from
the Government schools which they imitate. The former are
chiefly tols^ or Sanskrit schools, where, in addition to religious
subjects, books on literature, logic, philosophy, &c., in that lan-
guage are read and maktabs, Muhammadan schools, where the
;

Koran is learned by rote, and Arabic and Persian reading and

writing are taught. In 1887, however, reward rules for tols and
maktabs were framed, and schools competing for three rewards are
 —

Chap. III.] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 113

liable to The result of this change is a marked

inspection. Section 3.

improvement in the method of teaching, and pupils from tots in Education.

Sylhet have of late years competed with success at the Title Exam-
inations held in Bengal. In addition to these, there are Khampti
Buddhist schools, which are found in every village of that people,
where a monk, or hdim, gives instruction to the boys in reading
and writing the Shdn language, and teaches them the doctrines
of Buddha in that languas^e and Pali. Attendance at school is
quite optional, but the boys are kindly treated, and nearly all of
them avail themselves of the educational opportunities offered to

them. The usual course lasts three years, during which time the
boys live in the temple. Some of them ele-^t to remain on when the
usual course is finished, and qualify themselves for the priesthood.

The boys first learn to write with chalk on a piece of dark stained
wood, and when more advanced, they are allowed the use of paper
of local manufacture. Arithmetic does not apparently enter into

the curriculum. The teacher is remunerated by daily offerings

of food, and not by money.

123. The lower primary schools or pcithshdlas Sive institutions

,
where an elementary knowledge
,
of the local
Primary schools. _ . .

vernacular is imparted. Beginning at the

beginning, they teach up to a course of study which forms the
subject of an examination, called the Primary Scholarship Exam-
ination. The subjects of this course are
I. (a) Handwriting and dictation.
(b) Easy questions in grammar and explanations from
vernacular text-books.
II. Arithmetic —the first four rules, simple and compound,
after the European method ;
practice, simple and com-
pound, after the native method ; and mental arithmetic,
native and European methods, on above rules.
III. Zaminddri and mahajani accounts and simple mensuration
after the native method.
IV. Sanitary Science.

A certain number of primary scholarships, worth Es. 3 a

month, and tenable for two years at any school of a higher status
Q
 :

114 ASSAM ADMIMSTRATION REPORT. [Chap. III.

Section 3. js allotted to each district, and these are awarded to the pupils
Education. Tvlio pass best ill the Primary Scholarship Examination.
Tlie course in the upper primary schools also works up to a
scholarship examination, the amount and conditions of the scho-
larship being the same as for the lower primaries. In these
schools a slightly higher degree of acquaintance with literature, a-
more extensive knowledge of arithmetic, part of Book I of Euclid
as well as mensuration, the history of Assam or Bengal (according
as the school is in the Assam or the Surma Valley), the geography
of the province (with a general knowledge of the four quarters),
and the elements of sanitation, are the objects aimed at in the
course of study,
124. In Government middle vernacular schools the course of
instruction is altoujether in Benc^ali, but in
Middle schools. ° . . ,

aided schools of this class in the Brahma-

putra Valley the option is allowed of imparting instruction through
the medium of Assamese. The following are the subjects taught

I. Bengali, or Assamese, comprising literature, grammar, and

composition.

II. History of India — Hindu, Muhammadan, and English

periods.

III. Geography, a general knowledge of the four quarters,

with special knowledge of that of India, and map-drawing.

IV. Arithmetic, general bazar, and zaminddri accounts, and

mental arithmetic.
V. Euclid (Book I), mensuration of plane surfaces and sur-
veying.
VI. Sanitary Science.

The course of studyby the Middle Vernacular Scho-

is closed
larship Examination, the successful candidates in which receive
scholarships worth Rs. 4 per mensem, tenable for four years in
any school of a higher class.
The middle English schools take up the full vernacular course,
with English as a second language. The course of instruction is

terminated by tlie ]\liddle En 'dish Examination. The value of

Chap. Ill ]
FORM or ADMINISTRATION. 115

these scholarships is Rs. 5 a month for three years, and they are Section 3.

tenable at any high school. Education.

There are 2G middle vernacular and 15 middle EnHish
o scho-
larships for which the candidates at the scholarship examination
compete.

125. Under the definition of high schools are included all

schools that profess to teach up to the Cal-

HJgh schools.
cutta University Entrance standard. The
course of study here is that prescribed for the University Exam-
ination, and needs no further description. Junior scholarships
are awarded to students who, after passing the Entrance Exam-
ination, go up to study for the F. A. Examination at any college
in Bengal. The number of these scholarships is 36 in all, viz.,

11 for the Surma Valley, 14 for natives of the Brahmaputra "Valley,

3 for natives of the hill districts, and 8 for other than natives of
the Brahmaputra Valley or hill districts reading in high schools in
those parts. The monthly value of these scholarships is fixed at
Es. 25 for the two best boys, Es. 20 for natives of the Brahmaputra
Valley and hill districts, Es. 15 for boys passing in the Surma
Valley, and Es. 20, Es. 15, or Es. 10 for boys other than natives
who pass from schools in the Brahmaputra Valley and hill districts
according as they pass in the first, second, or third division at the
Entrance Examination. Junior scholars, who pass the F. A, Ex-
amination within two years of matriculating, are awarded senior
scholarships of an amount equal to that of the junior scholarship
previously granted to them.
There is no Government institution in the province which im-
parts instruction in the University course beyond the Entrance
Examination ; a lower grade college formerly existed in Gauhati,
but was reduced in 1876 to the status of a Government high
it

school, on account of the excessive expense of its maintenance

and the small number of students who read at it. It is considered
more desirable that the natives of the province (aided, if neces-
sary, by scholarships under the scheme mentioned above) should
resort to Bengal to prosecute their studies, and thus enlarge
their minds by contact with a higher civilisation, than that an
 Il6 ASSiJM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. III.

Section 3. expensive Government college should be maintained for them in

Education. Assani. It should, however, be mentioned that a private college
teaching up to the F. A. standard was started in the town of Sylhet
iu iS92, at which twelve junior scholarships may be held. In all
these schools, whether middle or high, it must be understood that
the lower classes include mere beginners, and that the courses of
study actually pursued by the boys in each kind of schools very
largely overlap,

126. The fourth class of schools consists of the training and

special schools. The hrst are the normal
Training and special
schools.
^^^^^^^^ ^^^^^
o classes in which lads are
training
taught with a view to becoming teachers.
There are fifteen institutions or classes for the training of gurus, or

teachers for primary schools, two of which (Gauhati and Shillong)

also prepare teachers for middle schools. The second or special

schools include an artizan school at Jorliat maintained by a special

bequest made by Mr. AVilliamson, a tea-planter in Upper Assam,
and some survey schools. The latter are under the control of the
Director, Department of Land Eecords and Agriculture.

127. With the exception of a few schools which teach up to

the middle standard, female education in

Female education. • r^ t 1
Assam is confined to elementary instruction
in There are pdthslidlas, exclusively for females,
primary schools.
managed on the same principle as boys' primary schools, and, in
addition, a considerable number of girls read in boys' pdthshalas.
The Khasi and Jaintia Hills is the only district in which female
education has made any considerable progress. The census re-
turns for that district show that, out of every 1,000 females, 13"7

are learning and lO'o are literate, the corresponding figures for

the province as a whole being 13 and 2*2 respectively.

128. The only school in the province for the education of Eu-
ropeans and Eurasians is the aided school at
European and Eurasian
Sllillong. The number of SCholarS ill tllis
education. ^„„ ^„ « ^-, ,

school m 1892-93 was 23, of whom 11 were

, .

boys and 12 were girls. The Government grant-in-aid is Es. 140

per month, and the use of the school house and furniture (which
Chap. III.]
FORM OF ADMINISTRATION, 117

belong to Government) is allowed at a rent of Es. 50 a montli. A Section 3.

mixed school was opened 1882 and a boys' school
at Ganluiti in r^, 7.

at Shillong in 1883, but neither of these proved a success, and they

were closed in 188G. The girls' school which had been started at
Shillong in 1881 was closed in 1887 for the same reason. Two
scholarships of Ks. 15 a month are given annually to sons of indi-
gent European or Eurasian parents who are bond fide residents of
Assam. These scholarships are tenable for three years at any Eu-
ropean hill school approved by the Director of Public Instruction.
129. Schools .under inspection are, as already stated, divided
into (1) Government, the salaries of the
Division into Govern- ,

ment, aided, and unaided teaclicrs bcmg bomc entirely by public funds
and the fees credited in the treasury; (2)
aided, a fixed contribution being made to meet the expenses of
the school; and (3) unaided. The following hst shows how many
schools there were of each class in the year 1892-93 the three ;

classes of religious unaided schools mentioned in paragraph 120

are not included :
 —

Il8 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOHT. [Chap HI.

Sectiox 3. 130. Except in tlie case of high schools, the grants-in-aid for
Education. which are now given by the Education De-
rrineiplLS of grauts-in- partmeut, all ffrants-in-aid are o-iven from
aid.
*•

^
^ ^
°
funds administered by Local Boards and
Municipahties, but before making any grant, the local authority
must satisfy itself that there is a probability that the school will
be kept up, that it meets a recognised want, thatthe education
provided is likely to be good, and that local subscriptions are
forthcoming. The principles on which they are awatded are the
foUowins
o :

{!) Middle and Uj)per Primary Schods.

{a) The grants must be given on the principle of strict
religious neutrality.
The schools receiving them must require some fee from
{b)

their scholars, unless in special cases exemption is recommended

by -the Local Board and allowed by the Director of Public
Listruction, Assam.
(c) Grants to middle schools at sadr and subdivisional head-
quarters may not exceed two-thirds of the income expended from
private sources ; at other places they may not exceed the total
sum so expended. Grants to upper primary schools in Sylhet
may not exceed the local income, elsewhere they may not exceed
three fifths of the total monthly expenditure ; in no case must the
grant exceed Hs. 10 a month.
Such schools must have a responsible committee of manage-
ment and a Secretary to conduct their correspondence ; they must
submit the prescribed returns, and be always open to inspection
by the inspecting officers ; and they must keep strict accounts of
receipts and disbursements. If the school becomes inefficient, the
grant is liable to be reduced or withdrawn.

{2) Lower Primary Schools.

In these schools the gurus are paid

(a) by a fixed monthly salary combined with rewards for
pupils who pass an examination.
Chap. Ill] rORM OF ADMINISTRATION. II9

(b) by rewards alone, or Section 3.

(c) under special rules. Edition.

Under [a) the maximum fixed salary is Es. 48, and the maximum
reward at the rate of Es. 48, a year. Under {b) the maximum
reward is at the rate .of Es. 96 a year. Under (c) fixed salaries are
given not exceeding Ks. G a month for one teacher or Es. 10 for
two in the case of girls' schools and schools for backward races.
For municipal schools and schools in hill districts, the limit of pay
for a teacher is fixed at Es. 10 a month.
In addition to the above, small rewards are paid for each
pupil passing the Lower Primary Scholarsliip Examination, pro'-
vided that the Deputy or Sub-Inspector certifies that the junior
classes of the school have not been neglected.
131. In the Giiro, Naga, and Khasi and Jaintia Hills, and
among the Kachari population of Darrang
Special arrangements and the Mikirs of Nowcroucr,
o^ the COUtrol of
with missionary bodies.
education
...in is
o
the hands of different mis-
sionary bodies,who receive grants from the Local Boards con-
cerned (or from Government where there are no Local Boards),
and themselves make considerable contributions to the work. The
most important of these is the Welsh Mission in the Khdsi and
Jaintia Hills, who receive a grant of Es. 6,000 a year from Govern-
ment, the Mission themselves contributing (in 1892-93) Es. 29,085
towards primary education. In the Garo Hills the yearly grant
to the American Baptist Mission is Es. 2,600, and in Godlpara a
grant of Es. 400 is made to the same Mission for the furtherance
of education amongst the Gdros resident in that district. In
Darrang, the Kachari S. P. G. Mission receive Es. 1,500 a year
towards the support of Kachari schools. A grant of Es. 1,500 a
year is similarly made to the American Baptist Mission in Now-
gong and of Es. 780 a year to the same Mission
for Mikir schools
at Amguri to assist them in keeping up schools in the Ao Naga
country. It has long been recognised that among these primitive
races, destitute of any settled form of religion, there is not the
same objection to the subsidising of missionary schools by the
State as exists in the case of Hindus and Muhammadans.
 I20 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. .11.

Section 4. 132. It only remains to notice the scale of fees levied from the
hn>^^7ation piipils attending these different classes of
'
and Labour scliools. In primary schools or 1pdthshdlas
i. ./
Jnspectioii.
there are no fixed rules for fees ; no pupil is prevented from read-
in"" by his inabihty to pay a fee : those who can pay, do so, and
those who cannot, do not. Often the fees are given in kind, the
gwni being supplied with food and other necessaries by the parents
of the pupils. In upper primary schools, the rate of fees varies
from one pice in the lowest to four annas in the highest class per
month. In middle schools the fees vary in different schools and
in different districts : the highest taken are 8 annas in the lowest,

and Re. 1 in the highest class ; the lowest 1 anna in the lowest

class and 2 annas in the highest. The scale of fees has to be

approved, if the school is an aided one, at the time the grant-

in-aid is settled. In high schools the fees vary from 12 annas in

the lowest to Es. 3 in the highest class. In the normal schools
and training' classes, on the other hand, the pupils, instead of
paying fees, receive small stipends, generally Rs. 3 or Es. 4 a

month.
133 The total expenditure on education in the province (in-
cluding the school at Manipur) in schools
Total expendituro on i r^ •
r •

inspection varies irom

i. i.-

education. under (Government

year to year. The following figures are the
most recent, viz., those for 1892-93 :

Rs.
From Provincial ...
Chap. Ill,] FORM OJ: administration. 12 1

population in tolerable comfort, or such tracts as Choi a Nagpur, Section 4.

where, though the population in proportion to the area does not Immigration
1,1 11 and Labour
T 1
•

appear excessive, wages are extremely low, and the labouring inspection.
classes are unable, without some relief by emigration, to obtain
an adequate livelihood. It has, therefore, been the settled policy
of Government to promote emigration from such areas to others
enjoying more favourable conditions and the importation of ;

coolies to Assam, at the expense of persons interested iu the tea

industry, has done much towards opening out and colonising the
fertile, but sparsely peopled, districts of Assam.
135. The necessity for legislation on the subject of labour
immigration into Assam is of the same charac-
^ '^^ ^°'^ ^" ^^^ though less in degree than, that which
^*^'
tion?^^^^'
exists in respect of emigration from India to
colonies beyond the seas. The classes which furnish emigrants
in both cases are extremely ignorant, and the interference of
Government is required to secure that they are not imposed upon ;

the transport between their homes and the place of labour, not-
withstanding the improvements of recent years, is still long and
tedious, and supervision is necessary to prevent overcrowding,
disease, and consequent mortality and under the changed con- ;

ditions of life, and especially of climate and food, which the new
country imposes, the immigrant is peculiarly liable to sickness,
often fatal in its results, and it is thus needful that the provision
of the requisite comforts, medical attendance, and other appliances
for his well-being should be enforced by law. Of these reasons,
the first is yearly becoming less and less operative, as returned
immigrants settle again in their homes, and form a centre of
information as to work and residence in the tea districts for their
neighbours. It is hoped that the second will also become less

cogent as communications continue to improve.

On the other hand, some regulation of the contract between
the labourer and his employer, and some more effectual means of
enforcing it than a civil action, is demanded by justice. It costs
a large sum to import a coolie into Assam ; and the provisions
for his comfort, which the law requires, are also expensive. The
E
 122 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. Ill,

Se ctio n 4. employer is compelled by law to guarantee to the coolie a minimum

Immigration "wage ; and it is only equitable that the law should provide him
and Labour .
^ ^
„,..
Inspection, witli tlic meaus 01 oDtamuig the due fulfilment of the contract by
the coolie, whose only capital is his labour, and who ought not to
be allowed capriciously to withdraw himself from the service of
the employer who has paid for his introduction.
A penal labour law and Government protection, to the labourer
are thus correlative terms and both have been provided together
;

in the series of enactments which have from time to time been

passed on the subject, and of which a sketch is given in the follow-
ing paragraphs.
136. The first of the labour Actswas Act III (B.C.) of 1863.
This was an Act to regulate the transport
History of legislation
on the subject.
q£ native labourers 00
emif^ratincr to Assam,

Cachar, and Sylhet. In 1865, Act VI (B.C.)

'

of that year was passed to provide for the protection of the labour-
ers after their arrival in the labour districts and for the enforce-
ment by them. Act II (B.C.) of 1870
of the contracts entered into
consolidated and amended the law relating to the transport of
labourers to the labour districts and their employment therein,
and repealed the two previous Acts. Then came Act VII (B.C.)
of 1873, which repealed Act II (B.C.) of 1870, and was the labour
law of the province for nine years. During the last three years of
this period the amendment of the law regulating immigration and

the relations between employers and labourers in the tea districts

was under discussion.
In April 1880, in consequence of a memorial by the Indian
Tea Districts Association (an Association formed in London of
persons interested in the Indian tea industry), praying that some
measures might be taken to improve the position of the tea in-
dustry by the amendment of Act VII (B.C.) of 1873, a Commission
was appointed to enquire into the working of Act VII (B.C.) of
1873. The opinions of district officers and of the managers of
tea gardens consulted by them were laid before the Commission,
as' well as the recommendations of the Lieutenant Governor of
Bengal and those of the Chief Commissioner, and, after successive
 •

Chap, III.]
FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 1
23

meetings, the Commission submitted its fmal report, with a draft Section
Bill
"IQQT
embodying the amendments proposed in the law, in January •'
r
—
I fit migration
^001. andLabour
Inspettion.
This draft Bill was eventually passed into law as Act
I of
1882. In giving his assent to this Act, the Secretary of State for
India desired that at the end of three years he mio-ht receive
a
special report on the working of the Act, with a
view to consider-
ing the possibihty of abandoning exceptional legislation respect-
all

ing contracts of labour in the Indian tea districts. On receipt of

the first special report, which was submitted in 1886, the Secretary
of State had not yet arrived when special
agreed that the time
legislation might be abandoned, but added that such legislation
should be regarded as temporary only, and desired that a further
special should be submitted after the lapse of another
report
period of three years. This report was submitted in 1890, It
was again admitted that exceptional legislation was still necessary,
but as experience had shown that Act I of 1882 was defective in

certain respects, it was decided to amend it. The

amending draft
Bill was introduced into Council in January 1893, and was even-
tually passed as Act VII of that year.

137. Act YII (B.C.) of 1873 had been passed in the expectation
, , ^^^^ that it would give a great impetus to free immi-
Object of Act VII . .

(B.C.) of 1873 and its gration, and that such immigration would
piiccipa provisions.
gradually establish itself and eventually render
the existence of a special law unnecessary. Among the changes
made by the Act which were looked upon as most important, were
those by which time-expired labourers were, on re-engagement,
freed from the ordinary provisions of the law, and by which a new
class of free labourers, those under contract for a term not exceed-
ing one was recognised. The collection of labourers by
year,
means of garden sardars, without the intervention of contractors,
was provided for and the opportunity was taken, in amending
;

the law, to render more definite than before the provisions regard-
ing the closing of gardens declared unfit for the habitation of
labourers.
 ;

ASSAM ADMINISTRATION EEPORT. [Chap. Ill*

1
24

Section 4. 233, The Commissioners appointed to enquire into the working

Imi^niion of Act YII (B.C.) of 1873 reported that they

luspeaion. Yif (B"c')^of ms'"

'^'^
^^^^^^ ^^^^^ ^^^^ ^^^ ^^^ defective in respect
chiefly of the following points :

(1) That it did not afford sufficient encouragement to free emi-

gration.

(2) That it imposed unnecessary restrictions upon sardari

recruiting.

(3) That it failed to provide for the enforcement of contracts

made otherwise than under the provisions of the Act itself,

even in the case of imported labourers.

(4) That the remedies provided for employers in the event of

the unlawful absence, idleness, or desertion of their contract
labourers, were insufficient.

139. Act II (B.C.) of 1870 did not recognise free recruiting,

but made it penal to engage or convey an
Free immigration and
immii^rant
'-'
to the labour districts except in
free recruiting. . . , .

accordance Act VII

with its provisions.

(B.C.) of 1873, which repealed the Act of 1870, contained no penal

clauses forbidding free recruiting, and section 7 allowed contracts
between an intending immigrant and an employer for a term not
exceeding one year, although not made under the provisions of the

Act. Under the present Act, I of 1882, a labourer may now

proceed to the labour districts as a free immigrant, and on
arrival he may take work on an ordinary contract not
under the Act ; or, having gone to the labour districts as a free

immigrant, he may on arrival enter into a contract under the Act

or, lastly, he may go to the labour districts as an immigrant
recruited and registered under the Act, and having executed a
contract to labour before arrival in the labour districts. In the
ffrst case he is in no way subject to the Act ; in the second case
he is subject only to such of its provisions as refer to the carrying
out of the labour contract ; and in the third he is completely under
the Act from the date of his recruitment until the expiration of

his engagement.
 >

Chap. 1 1 1.
J FORM OF ADMINISTIIATION. I 25

140. As to tlie second point, under the old law a garden Section 4.

sardar' s certificate was only allowed to run immT^tion

Sardari recruiting.
^^^, ^.^ montlis ; lie was not allowed to travel "I^^'^^^"^^
Inspection.
with another garden sardar if the total number of their united
band of immigrants exceeded twenty ; and if he recruited more than
twenty immigrants himself, he was obliged to take tliem to a con-
tractor's depot. Under the present Act, a garden sardar's certi-
ficate may be given for a period of one year, and, on the appHcation
of the employerby whom the certificate was granted, an Inspector
or Magistrate may, without requiring the reappearance of the
garden sardar before him, countersign and forward, for delivery
to the garden sardar by the Magistrate of the district in which the

sardar is employed, a fresh certificate in renewal of a former

certificate. All connection between garden sardars and contractors'
may now recruit anv
depots has been severed, and a garden sardar
number Moreover, the employment of local agents to
of persons.
supervise the operations of garden sardars, or, under special
license, to recruit emigrants themselves and despatch them to the
labour districts without the assistance of certificated sardars, has
been authorised
141. With respect to the third point, labour contracts could not
be made under Act VII (B.C.) of 1873 in a

inuteiaLurSictr''"^' labour district. Labour contracts entered

into in the tea districts, before the passing of
Act I of 1882, were made under the ordinary law. Act XIII of
1859 {an Act to provide for the pimis/unent of breaches of contract bij
artificers, workmen, and labourers in certain cases) has been applied,

and is still applied, in these districts to locally-made contracts ;

but, as was remarked in the Statement of Objects and Eeasons

published with the Bill which afterwards became the present Act
I of 1882, " its provisions were obviously never intended to meet
such cases." Act I of 1882, as originally enacted, permitted local
labour contracts to be made in labour districts by any natives of
India, whether immigrants to, or residing in, Assam on the same
conditions and subject to the same penalties for breach of the
conditions, as labour contracts made outside the province by
 1 26 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. III.

Section 4. intending immigrants. As now amended, tlie Act distinguishes

Immigration between contracts made in the presence of a Magistrate or
Inspection. Inspector and contracts not so made, and permits contracts of the
latter class to be entered into for a term of one year only.
142. With regard to the fourth point as to which the Commis-
sion considered that the law was defective,
Penalty for unlawful
^^^ present
i
Act provides for a system
j
of
absence irom labour. jr

monthly lists of defaulters from work to be

forwarded by the employer to the Inspector, who, on enquiry, may
punish any such defaulter by entering the days of absence on his
contract and adding them to the term thereof, unless the labourer
consents to forfeit to his employer the sum of 4 annas for each
day of absence. Prolonged and repeated absence, or desertion, may
be punished criminally by the Magistrate as under the former law.
143. The only other points in which the provisions of Act VII
(B.C.) of 1873 were ahered by Act I of 1882,
^^^ which need be noticed, are the extension of
T-i^^I^p n*;^^^p"?Q"o'"
or lo/3. '
^ II (B.C.)
the term, for which a labourer may contract
to labour, from three years under the old law to five years under
Act I of 1882 as originally enacted, and its subsequent reduction
to four years by the recent amending Act ; the provision in the
present Act that the maximum annual capitation fee leviable from
employers for each labourer on contract under the Act shall not
exceed one rupee (one rupee eight annas was the rate levied under
the old law) ; and the provisions making it compulsory for all

employers to keep up registers and submit returns of vital statistics

of the labour force employed by them, whether on contract under

the Act or not.
144. Two important changes effected by Act VII of 1893, viz.,

the reduction of the general term of contract

Aa viT of Tsot''^'"^
^^'
to four years, and of local contracts not made
in the presence of a Magistrate or Inspector
to one year, have already been referred to. Another important
feature of the recent enactment is that it recognises what is known
as the " Dhubri system. " As already stated, one of the main fea-
tures of Act I of 1882 was that, while imposing careful restrictions
 Chap. III.j
pQjjj^ Qj, ADMINISTRATION. 12;

on recruitment by contractors and garden sardars, it aimed at Section 4.

encouraging and facilitating free emigration. The result was that i>m^ation
both contractors and garden sardars evaded the restrictions intend-
7nspeftion
ed for them by refusing to register in the district of recruitment,
and by bringing their coolies as free labourers to Dhubri and
putting them under a local contract there. Although unforeseen,
thissystem has, in practice, been found, on the whole, to work well,
and Act yil of 1893 accordingly places it on a legal footino- by
bringing contracts so executed within the scope of section 112 of
the Act and by empowering the Chief Commissioner to make rules
having the force of law for regulating the procedure for the execu-
tion of these contracts.
The other provisions of the amending Act are framed to prevent
and remedy abuses in recruitment, and to strengthen the control of
the Local Administration over unhealthy gardens. The cancellation
of contracts in certain cases and the repatriation of coolies are
provided for in greater detail, and the option of a fine is allowed in
some cases in which imprisonment was formerly the only legal
penalty.
145. The whole subiect of the Govern-
Government supervi-
hion of the immigrant mcut supcrvisiou of the immigrant labourer
falls into three parts :

I. The recruitment of the labourer.

II. His journey to the labour districts.

III. His status while labouring under contract.

The immigrant labour force of the tea gardens of the province
is recruited by free immigrants (that is, by immigrants who go to
the tea districts without having been registered and without having
made contracts under the immigration Law) and by labourers who
have been registered and who have executed contracts under Act
I of 1882, imported through garden sardars authorised by employers
to recruit, or through contractors and recruiters licensed by
Government.
146. The extent to which free immigration exists will be apparent
from the fact that out of 41,802 adult
The free immigrant.
immigrants who camc to the tea gardens of
 128 ASSAM ad:ministration report. [Chap. ill.

Section 4. the province during the year 1892, 13,347, or 311) per cent., were
iniT^ation " non-Act " or free. Ten years ago the percentage of free immigrants
and Labour ;|^3.5_ j^-^ ^his respect the reversal of the policy which
|
Inspection. » ^ ± j

framed the penal clauses of Act II (B.C. ) of 1870 has been complete.
Section 7 of Act I of 1882 provides that nothing in that Act is to
be taken to prevent natives of India from emigrating otherwise
than under its provisions, and the only restriction is that allowed by
section 5, under which power is reserved to Local Governments
(with the sanction of the Governor General in Council) to prohibit
natives of India, or any specified class of natives, from emigrating
from any particular tract to any specified labour district or portion
of a labour district. As, however, great sickness and mortality
were found to exist amongst these free immigrants, an Act was
passed by the Bengal Council in 1889 (No. I of that year), ena-
bling the Local Government to exercise control over the routes by
which they should travel and to make such sanitary rules as might
seem to be needed. Tliis Act was extended to Assam by Notifica-
tion No. 1211J., dated the 2nd April 1890 and rules under it have
;

been framed for the regulation of the transit of free immigrants

to gardens in the Surma Valley, where the mode of travelling very
frequently adopted by country boats carrying less than tT,fenty
is

passengers. In the Brahmaputra Valley the Act is not needed.

Almost all the coolies to gardens in that valley travel by steamer ;

and as these steamers carry more than twenty passengers, they

require to be licensed, and, in accordance with the rules framed
under Act I of 1882, they must carry a medical officer and also
medical stores and provisions. On board these steamers the free
immigrant is subject to the same supervision as the Act labourer.
When the transport is by boats carrying less than twenty
passengers, which do not require to be licensed under Act I of
1882, the rules framed under Act I (B.C.) of 1889 provide that
the supply of food and water shall be similar to that prescribed
and lay down that not more than one passen<Ter
for licensed vessels,
be carried for every 5 maunds of the capacity of the boat.
shall
They also empower any magistrate to detain any immigrant who
is certified by a medical officer to be unfit to proceed on tlie journey.
Chap. III.] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 1
29

147. Tlie subject of recruitment by garden sardars has Section 4.

been noticed above. A

garden sardar must immigmtion
Recruitment by £rarden vi ^i •
t • •
^
and Labour
saidars. appear With the i.

intending immigrant -whom

.

inspection.

he wishes to en^afTe before the registering

officer of the area within which he has been authorised to recruit.
Particulars of the intending immigrant are registered by the
registering officer, and the labour contract is executed before him.
The garden sardar is bound to provide proper food and lodging
throughout their journey for the labourers and dependents whom
he engages. If the garden sardar's employer has specified in the
garden sardar's certificate that he \\ishes a medical examination
to be made of labourers engaged, such an examination is

required to be made with reference to the labourer's fitness to

travel to, and to labour m, the labour district ; or if it appears to
the registering officer or to any Magistrate or Embarkation Agent
to be necessary that a medical examination should be made of any
person about to emigrate under the Act, a medical inspection of
the labourer's fitness to travel is made before he is allowed to
proceed. It has already been explained that these provisions have
to a great extent become a dead letter, and that the general
procedure now followed is for the sardars to recruit coolies and
bring them as free immigrants to Dhubri or to the garden for
which they are recruited, and to place them under the Act at one
or other of these places.
148. Contractors and recruiters are licensed by other Govern-
ments than that of this province, and their
Eecriutment by con-
supervision
^
onlv
J
to a vcrv
is
J
small degree
n the
tractors and recruiters.
care of this Administration. Contractors are
bound to establish suitable depots for the reception and lodging of
labourers engaged by them or by their .recruiters, previous to
their despatch to the labour districts, and they are bound to
provide food, clothing, and medical treatment for such labourers
during their stay at the depot.
An intending immigrant, who is engaged by a contractor or
recruiter, must be brought before the registering oft'icer of the
area in which he is recruited, and he must also be examined by a
s
 130 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. Ill,

Section 4. medical officer, who niusi certify to liis fitness to travel before lie

hnmigration is allowcd to procced. When the labourer reaches the depot,

"'inspection. ^16 undergoes another medical examination by the medical inspector

of the dejjot, and he executes his labour contract after it has been
explained him by the Superintendent of Emigration. Here also
to
the restrictions imposed by the Act are, as a general rule, avoided
by recruiting outside the provisions of the Act and only placing
the labourers under contract after their arrival in the labour
districts.

149. Practically, the whole of the immigration into the districts of

_ the Brahmaputra
^
byValley
J steamer, while
J is >
Transport. . ^

that into the Surma Valley, which was for-

merly almost entirely confined to boats, is now divided between boats
and steamers in very nearly equal proportions. The provisions of
the law with regard to Government supervision by
of the transport
rivei: steamers and boats and the food and medical comforts which
they are required to carry have already been touched on. Licensed
vessels containing immigrants are inspected at the port of
embarkation, which is generally Dhubri or Goalundo for the
Brahmaputra Valley districts, and Goalundo for the Surma Valley
districts, by the Embarkation Agent and by a Government medical

ofiicer if the Embarkation Agent be not himself a medical officer.

They are also inspected by Government officers at all ports touched

during the voyage w^here civil officers are stationed. At debar-
kation ports, where the number of labourers annually landed is
large, there are Government depots under the charge of hospital'
assistants, to which all Act labourers and their dependents must go
for the purpose of being registered. They are also open to the
admission of all free immigrants who choose to avail themselves of
their accommodation. Sick persons are, if necessary, detained in
the depots for medical treatment.
150. Every employer bound to provide for the labourers
is

employed on his estate proper house accom-

'^^°"''^'"'
th^gardfn.
''''
modation, water-supply, and sanitary arrange-
ments. He must supply Act labourers with
rice at a reasonable price, and he must provide hospital accommo-
 Chap, III.]
rOllM OF ADMINISTRATION. I3I

dation, medicines, and medical attendance. If an estate be - —

Section 4.

declared by Government after enquiry to be unfit for tlie residence ami 'Labour
-^'"/"^^'^^<"''
of labourers by reason of climate, situation, or condition, labour
contract-s to labour on the estate cannot be enforced aiTainst the
labourer.
151. The duty of inspecting tea gardens upon which immigrant
labourers are employed is performed by In-
Inspection of estates. i * t
•
pt ^ •

spectors and Assistant Inspectors 01 Labourers,

most of whom are the officers of the Commission, and medical officers.
Every garden employing imported Act labourers must be inspected
at least once every year, and every garden in which the mortality
shown in the return of the last calendar year has exceeded 7 per
cent, (the number of deaths having exceeded 9) niust be inspected
by the Civil Surgeon of the district. The inspection reports state
what house accommodation, water-supply, medical attendance,
hospital accommodation, and sanitary arrangements have been
provided, and what the food-supply is. They also notice the
general treatment and condition of the labourers, and record their
vital statistics. In the case of unhealthy gardens a special form of
inspection report has been prescribed.
152. Contracts under the Act cannot be made for a term exceed-
ing four years, and the minimum monthly wage
Labour contracts under i-i i_'i.-ip
i -rt kp
which can be stipulated tor is ixs. 5 tor a
•

Act I of 1882.
man and Es. 4 for a woman for the first three
years of the term of contract, and Es. 6 for a man and Es, 5 for a

woman for the fourth year of the term of contract. They must
also state the price at which rice is to be supplied to the labourer.
Schedules of tasks must be kept by employers, and if found to be
unreasonable, may be revised by an Inspector of Labourers.
Weakly labourers may be allowed subsistence allowance or diet by
order of an Inspector of Labourers, and labourers permanently
incapacitated for labour may be released from their contracts by
an Inspector. A labourer so released is entitled to receive from
his employer such sum, not exceeding three months' wages, as the
Inspector may award, or, if the labourer desires to return to his
3ountry, such sum, whether in excess of three months' wages or
 132 ASSAM ADMINISTllATION REPORT. [Chap, III.

Section 4-
will suffice to defray the expenses of the journey. A
j^ot, as
Immigration labourer may redeem his contract by payment of a sum of Ke. 1
and Labour ici f ^ o -i
Inspection, for evcry month of the unexpired portion of the nrst year, 01 Rs.
•
x-no6
for every month of the second year, and of Es. 5 for every month
of the third and fourth j^ears of the term of contract. A contract
may be cancelled if ill-usage by the employer is proved, or if the
labourer's wao:es are in arrear for more than four months. When
the contracts of husband and wife expire at dillerent times, the

Magistrate may equalise the terras of their contracts by adding to

the one and deducting from the other in such proportions as may
appear to him to be equitable. Labourers who, without reasonable
cause, absent themselves from labour during their terms of contract,
or who desert, are punishable with fine and imprisonment. In the
case of a first conviction for the offence of desertion, the imprison-
ment may extend to the term of one month ; for a second conviction
the term may extend to two months, and for a third conviction to
three months. When a labourer has suflered imprisonment for
terms amounting altogether to six months for desertion, his labour
contract must be cancelled.
153. The fund raised from fees, fines, and rates levied under
the provisions of the Act is called the Inland
The Labour Transport Labour Transport Fund. The law directs that
^
the fund so raised in a province shall be at the
disposal of the Local Government, who must apply it, under
the control of the Government of India, for defraying the
expenses of carrying out the purposes of the Act, including the
cost of sending labourers and other persons back to their native
districts.

The income of the fund in the year 1892-93 amounted to Es.

78,763-100, of which Es. 64,043-4-6 were raised in Assam and
Es. 14,720-0 6 in Bengal. The expenditure during the same year
amounted to Es. 71,994-2-7, of wJiicli the Assam share was
Es. 47,682-7-10. The principal local heads of receipts were
Capitation fees under section 109 (now levied at the rate of 8
annas per head) Es. 54,975-3-0, Depot receipts Es. 5,460-2-9, and
Contractors' license fees Es. 3,148. The heaviest items on the other
 ;;

Chap. III.]
FOEM OF ADMINISTRATION. ^33

side of the account were Depot charges Es. 8,680-10-4, Supphes Sections.
and Services Rs. 8,625-9-4, Clerks and servants Us'. 8,453-10-8, p^v
^^°''^^'
Inspectors, Embarkation Agents, etc.. Us. 5,782-6-1, Grants to
dispensaries Es. TraveUing allowances Es. 5,081-1-0, and
5,530,
Miscellaneous Rs. 3,774-15-10. In addition to the above, Es.
9,591-5-3 were transferred to the Bengal portion of the fund, which
showed a deficit to that extent.

SECTION 5.— PUBLIC WORKS.

154. For the more efficient administration of the Public Works
Department in Assam, it was found necessary,
OrganisatiDn of the „ , , -fo/>r> i /^ • •

department. ^s tar bacK as Ibbb, to vest the Commissioner

with the powers of a Local Administration,
subordinate to the Government of Bengal. But his authority to
sanction expenditure was then limited to works the cost of which
did not exceed Es. 5,000. The Superintending Engineer was at
the same time invested locally with the powers of a Chief Engineer,
and was appointed Secretary to the Commissioner in the Public
Works Department. On the formation of the Chief Commissioner-
ship, therefore, the organisation of the Public Works Department
was already in some measure adapted for a separate Administration.
The transfer of Sylhet and Cachar to Assam added an executive
charge to [the three already existing in the Brahmaputra Valley
and a fifth was created on the transfer of the headquarters of the
Administration to Shillong, when important public works in the
public buildings which had to be erected, and the roads which had
to be made, were thereby rendered necessary.
Until the end of the official year 1881-82, the organisation of the
Public Works Department in the province underwent little change.
The districts of Sylhet and Cachar constituted the Sylhet Division
Godlpdra, the Gdro Hills,* and a portion of Kdmrup the Lower
Assam Division ; the remainder of Kdmrup with the Khdsi Hills the
Shillong Division ; Darrang, Nowgong, and part of Sibsdgar the
Central Assam Division ; and Lakhimpur and the remainder of
* In the Gaio Ilills, public works are directly under the Deputy Commissioner, who is
assisted in carrying them out by an upper subordinate of the Public Works Department.
 134 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap, III,

Sections, gibg^aar the Upper Assam Division. After the close of the Naga
Public Hills expedition of 1879-80, these hills were made into a separate
division. In 1882 the Public Works executive divisions were
made conterminous with the civil districts of the province, and the
Eno-ineer establishment was increased accordingly. These changes
were synchronous in their effect with a large transfer to the
charge of Local Boards of works which had theretofore been
classed as Provincial ; and it same time ruled that the
was at the

officers of the Public Works Departmentin each district were not

only responsible for the due execution of Imperial and Provincial

Works, but were also (except in the hill districts, where Local
Boards do not exist) to act as assistants to the Chairmen of Local
Boards for carrying out works under the Local Boards' control.
It will be explained in the next section that many of the works

made over to Local Boards in 1882 were afterwards found to be

less effectively administered than they were when classed as
Provincial, and that they were consequently again made over to

the direct control of the Pubhc Works Department. Experience

also showed that the position assigned to Executive Engineers in
the arrano-ements of 1882 was not altogether satisfactory. It was
therefore decided to sever their connection with local works,
except as regards works definitely made over to them for execution

by the Boards and the duty of assisting the Boards with their
advice on professional matters when called upon to do so ; and as

the sphere of their duties was thus considerably restricted, it was

decided to revert in part to the distribution of Public Works
charges which obtained prior to 1882. Kdmrup and Goalpiira
were combined into one charge under the name of the Lower Assam
Division, and Darrang and Nowgong were amalgamated to form the
Central Assam Division. The other districts remained, as previously,
in charge of separate Engineers, These orders took effect in

1889-90.
The only changes that have since been made are the for-

mation of a new division in the North Lushai Hills, and the

temporary appointment of a special officer, as Superintendent

of Works, with a sanctioned staff of Executive and Assistant
Chap. III.]
FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 135

Roads.

District.
 136 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. HU

Section 5. Trunk road, and the hill road which connects Shillong, the head-
Pubiic quarters of the z\dministration, with the Brahmaputra at
Works.
Gauhati. For local requirements, the short feeder roads, which
connect the centres of trade in the interior with the muJchs or
stations at which the river steamers stop, are by far the most
useful. A notable feature in the statement given above is the
very small proportion of metalled as compared with unmetalled
roads. Two reasons may be given to account for this, firstly,

that the requirements of the province in the matter of communica-

tions are still so great that many more miles of road must be
constructed before any large amount of money can be spared for

improving those already in existence ; and, secondly, that the soil

is alluvial, and stones for metalling would consequently have, as
a rule, to be brought from distances so great as to make the cost
involved in doing so prohibitive. The fact that in some parts,

particularly in the Surma Valle}", communication by water com-

petes with communication by road during the rainy season is,
another reason why less money is expended on roads in these
tracts than would otherwise be necessary.
156. Owing partly to the excellent water carriage available
and partly to the backward nature of the
Railways. . . ,

country, railway enterprise has not hitherto

made much progress. But signs of a new condition of things are
not wanting. Within the last ten years three small lines have
been constructed, viz., the Dibrugarh-Sadiya Eailway (77'5 miles)
in Lakhimpur, the Jorhdt-Kokilamukh line (28'40 miles) in Sibsagar,

and the Theria-Companyganj line (8| miles) in Sylliet. Of these,

the firstmentioned was constructed by the Assam Eailways and
Trading Company with a State guarantee ; the other two are
purely State Eailways, constructed by Government without the
intervention of private capitalists. An attempt to extend the last-

mentioned line from Theriaghat at the foot of the Shillong plateau

to Cherrapunji at its summit, by means of a series of inclines, was
unsuccessful ; but the plains portion is still worked. It more than
pays for the cost of its upkeej), aud it is not unlikely that it

will, sooner or later, be extended to Chhatak on the Surma river.

Chap. 111.] rOHM OF ADMINISTRATION. 1,37

Section 5.
But the most important railway project which Assam has yet
seen still remains to be mentioned. Between the 3'ears
^
1882 and ^"^^/'^
Works. ^ .

1886, a railway survey party was engaged in Assam in making

a survey with a view to laying down a line connecting this
province with Bengal. The route followed by this survey runs
from Chittagong through the south of the Sylhet district to Badar-
pur in Cachar, thence througli the North Cachar Hills to Lumding,
near Dimapur, and from Lumding, via Golaghat, to Dibrugarh,
with a branch line from Lumding to Grauhati.* A survey of the
country between Gauhati and Dhubri had been carried out some
years previously, when the Eastern Bengal State Railway was
under construction. was a matter of discussioiL whether
It lono^

greater advantages might be expected to ensue from a railway

along the route surve3"ed in 1882-1886, or from a line running
laterally along the Brahmaputra Valley between Dibrugarh and
a point on the Eastern Bengal State Railway, thus connecting the
whole of the northern portion of the province with the existing
railway system of Bengal. For some years no practical result
supervened, as want of funds prevented the construction of a line
at the expense of the State, and negotiations with private capital-
ists were not successful. During the year 1891-92, however, a
company was at last formed to construct a railway along the former
of the two routes described above, subject to a guarantee by the
State, and work was commenced in November 1891. It is hoped
that the line, when finished, will be the means of largely opening
out the province ; but, as some years must elapse before the
construction of the railway can be completed, speculation as to
the consequences which may be expected to result from it would
be premature.

157. The annual assignment to the province for Imperial Public

_ .
,
Imperial Works.
TTT ,
Works varies from year to year, ./ '
the o
o'rant
. / ^

being fixed according to the requirements

* A line between Mymensinf^h and GaubAti throiigb tbo Garo Hills was also
surveyed, and found to be practicable for a railway, but at a cost so great as to be
prohibitive.
 138 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 111.

Section 6. of the time. The grants for the last three years, together with the
Local Self- expenditure, are shown below :

Government

Imperial (utlay.
 Chap. III.] FORM OF ADiMINISTRATION. 1 39

their disposal by tlie Chief Commissioner. These are either muni- Section 6.

cipahties for town areas, or Local Boards for the district at LocaTself-
laro"e Government.

160. The municipalities are the older institutions. Under

Miniicipalities.
this general
,. .
name
„ ^
^
are included
,^.
—^ (1) Munici-
palities properly so called ; (2) Stations, whose
administration is less independent than that of the first named ;

and {3) Unions, or towns where a rate is assessed by a panchayat

for the purpose of providing funds for local improvements-
Of these, Sylhet, Gauhati, and Dibrugarh are municipalities
under Act III (B C.) of 1884 ; the others are all constituted
under the provisions of Act V (B.C.) of 1876 ; Silchar, Dhubri,
Goalpara, and Barpeta being second-class Municipalities ; Shillong
and Sibsdgar, Stations ; and Habiganj, Jorhat, and Golaghat,
Unions.
In the municipalities of Sylhet, Gauhati, and Dibrugarh the
elective system is in full force, and rules for the conduct of elections
have been framed under section 15 of Act III (B.C.) of 1884. A
system of election has also been introduced, at the instance of the
ratepayers, for the choice of members to sit on the Committees at
GotUpdra and Silchar. The official members of all municipal
institutions are very few in number and although the Chairmen are ;

officials in all cases except that of the Sylhet Municipality, the Vice-
Chairmen are usually non-officials.

161. These bodies derive their income partly from taxation

and partly from other sources. The taxation
Municipal income. ..,.,
^
levied
, ^
m municipalities
. .

is
^
cliieny
•
n
m the
•
i c
term
of a tax on persons or buildings, a latrine tax, and a water-rate (in
Gauhdti) ; in stations the taxation is a house assessment, and in
unions a chaukidari tax. Other small items of taxation are taxes
on animals and wheeled vehicles. These taxes are levied under
the provisions of the Act under which each municipality, etc., is

constituted. No octroi or other duties are taken anywhere in the

province. Of the other sources of income, the most important are
the receipts from ferries [levied under the provisions of sections
148-156 of Act III (B.C.) of 1884, or sections 1S9-147 of Act V
 140 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 111.

Sectiox 6. (B.C.) (f 1S7G, as the case may be] from municipal pounds, tlie

Local Self- Incouie fi'om municipal markets, and the assignments from Provin-
Government.
^-^^ ^^_^j Local Funds enjoyed by several municipahties. The last

item consists of grants made in commutation of the land revenue

of the town areas, which in the early days of tlie province was
allowed to be appropriated to the improvement of the towns. In
1892-93, municipalities enjoyed an income of Es. 1,76,511-2-0, of
which Es. 8,728-9-0 were derived from taxation and Es. 89,221-9
from other sources. The total expenditure during the same year
amounted to Es. 1,52,916-3. Some account of the working of
municipal bodies will be found in Part II 13 of the General Adminis-

tration Eeport, Chapter III, Section 8.

162. The Local Boards are constituted under the Assam Local
Eates Eegulation, 1879. They exist in the
Local Boards.
^-^^^^ plains districts only, the hill districts not
being sufhciently advanced to admit of their establishment. By
the ?iegulation a rate may be levied of one anna on every rupee of
annual value of the land in these eight districts, and the rate so
levied forms the chief item in the income of the Local Boards.
Prior to May 1882, these Boards were charged with the administra-
tion of primary education, the district post, and repairs of district
roads and general improvements, the funds to meet these heads of
expenditure being provided from five-eighths of the local rate,
ferries (excluding a few retained as Provincial), rents, and other
miscellaneous items of income, and the surplus receipts from
pounds.
In 1882, the functions of the District Committees were
enlarged by the transfer to their control of grants-in-aid to all

schools except high schools, grants to dispensaries, fairs, rewards

for the destruction of wild beasts, the cost of the establishments

for collecting the local rate, circuit-houses and staging bungalows,

grants to municipahties, and almost all the pubhc works thereto-

fore classed as Provincial. To meet these charges, the Provincial

grants, previously allotted for them, were made over to the

Local Boards, tosfether with the three-fifths d the local rate

which had formerly been credited to provincial funds. The

Chap. III.] FORM OF ADMINISTEATION. I4I

Public Works establishments were transferred to " Local," and Section 6.

so also were most of the Sub-Inspectors of Schools in plains ^^^^^ ^^^-_

districts. Government.

The effect of these orders was to place under Local Boards

the entire control of all local expenditure, except that immediately
connected with the administration of the province. It was soon
seen that the change was too radical, and the policy of subsequent
years up till 1890 Avas to reduce in some degree the too extended
functions of the Boards by withdrawing from their control the
management of matters of Provincial, rather than of strictly Local,
interest. In the first place (in 1884), the charges on account of

the professional establishment of Executive and Assistant Engineers

and such of their subordinate officers as were borne on the list of

the Public Works Department, were retransferred to the Provincial

budget. At the same time the construction and repairs of
treasuries, jails, circuit-houses, churches, cemeteries, floating dak
bungalows, and cutcherries at headquarters stations were again
classed as Provincial works.

Three years later the construction and repairs of similar

buildings at subdivisions were made a Provincial charge, and so
also were dak bungalows (as distinguished from rest-houses) and
grants to municipalities. In the same j^ear, the Sub-Inspectors of
Schools, who had been made Local in 1882, were again brought on
to the Provincial list. Finally, in 1890, the principle that Local
Boards should deal only with matters of purely local interest was
extended to that portion of Public Works which comes under
the denomination of " Communications." Trunk roads and their
feeder lines connecting them with the steamer ghats and with sub-
divisional stations, together with all ferries and rest-houses on such
roads, were made Provincial. All roads not included in the above
category continued to be " Local," as theretofore ; and as these
were of purely local importance, far greater independence was
conferred on Local Boards in respect to their management than
had been found possible when the Boards were entrusted with the
upkeep of roads, the importance of which was not confined to the
area administered by any particular Board.
 :

142 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOUT. [Chap. 111.

Sectiox 6. At the same time, the opportunity was taken to introduce

Local Self- gi'eater continuity in the administration of Local Funds, by allot-
Goveynment.
|-jj^g |q Board Provincial grants fixed for a term of years,
g^^^|-^

instead of an annually varying amount. On the expiry of the

term for which these grants had been made (in 1893), the wants of
each Board were carefully considered and new grants were
allotted ; but, instead of these grants being absolutely fixed, it was
arranged that they should be increased annually by 2 per cent,
in order to meet o-rowinf^ wants. Tliis arrans^ement will continue
in force until 1898, when the amount of the different grants will
again be revised and a fresh allotment will be made. The total
income of Local Boards in 1892-93 was Rs. 11,57,920, of which
Hs. 7,15,184 represent the receipts from local sources of income,
and Rs. 1,89,783 the Provincial grants. The expenditure in the
same year amounted to Rs. 9,02,146, of which Rs. 6,13,235
represent the expenditure on local public works. In the following
statement the expenditure by the Local Boards on public works
for the past three years is shown
Chap. I IK] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 1 43

163. Prior to 1882 tlie administration of Local Funds within Section 6.

had been vested in a District Com-

a district ucai Seif-
Constitution of Boards. i, T ^ l. -^f
mittee, with subordniate branch committees
i Government.

in each subdivision. In that year the subdivision was made the

unit of administration for Local Boards, each Board being entirely
self-contained and independent. At the same time an attempt was
made to introduce the elective principle for the selection of mem-
bers, instead of the system of nomination which had previously been
followed.
It was decided that election should be the normal mode of
appointment of representatives of the tea interest, who were to form
half the non-official strength of all Boards in districts where that
interest was important. An attempt was also made to select, by
means of election, the representatives of the native community in

Kdmriip, Sibsrigar, and Sylhet; but the success met with in these
districts has not been such as to encourage the extension of the
elective system to the other districts in which there are Local
Boards. In the latter, therefore, the native members are still

appointed by the Chief Commissioner on the recommendation

of the Deputy Commissioner. Non-official members, whether
elected or nominated, hold office for two years.
Concurrently with the above changes, the number of officials

on the committees was reduced considerably, and there are now

on the average only three or four official members of each Board.

The Chairmen are still, in all cases, officials, it being considered that
for the present their guidance and supervision can most profitably
be exercised from within, rather than from without, the Boards;
but, although they preside at the Board meetings and are the
executive officers of the committees, they have no vote, except
a casting one when members are equally divided.
164. Local Boards are required to meet not less than four times
a vear for the purpose of transacting]^ such
Procedure. '' ^ .
, , , .
^ , , -, , .

business as may be laid before them by their

executive officers, the Chairmen. For the more important branches

of their administration (public works, education, and medical and
sanitation), sub-committees are appointed, who are supposed to
 ;

144 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT, [Chap. Ul.

Section 7. meet moiitlily and to refer important matters for the consideration
Finance, of the full Board.
One of the most important duties of the Boards is the prepara-
tion of the annual budget, which is submitted in October. The
works are entered therein in the order of their importance, but no
work can be entered until the administrative sanction of the Chief
Commissioner has been accorded to it.

Formerly, the Executive Engineer was the servant of the

Board, and was responsible for carrying out its undertakings. But
arrangement was not altogether satisfactory, and in 1890,
this

when the separation of Provincial from Local works was effected,

the opportunity was taken to place the relations between the
Boards on the one side, and the officers of the Public Works
Department on the other, on a more Greater in- definite basis.

dependence was given to the Boards as regards the selection of the

agency for the execution of works not requiring professional skill

but it was ruled that when a work was once made over to the
Executive Engineer, he was to be allowed to carry it out in his
own way, subject to the necessity of furnishing the Board with
information regarding its up each work in
progress, and of taking
the order of importance indicated It was proposed
by the Board.
to make over a subordinate officer of tlie Public Works Department
to each Board for the supervision of such works as it might decide
to execute without the aid of the Executive Engineer but it was sub- ;

sequently found that the Provincial establishment was not large

enough to provide every Board with such an officer, and it was
therefore decided (in 1892) that each Board should engage and pay
for its own staff. It was afterwards ruled that all appointments to

the engineering staff require the sanction of the Chief Commissioner,

and a fixed scale was laid down showing the maximum scale of
establishment permissible for each Board.

SECTION 7.— FINANCE.

165. The year 1892-93 was the first of a new contract between
the Provincial and Imperial
^
Governments.
'rovincial contract. ,

The province was formed in 1874, and it

Chap. Ill.l FOUM OF ADMINISTRATION. I45

will be convenient to divide the period from that year to the year Sectiox;.
under review into four sections corresponding with the terms of Finance.

the different contracts, viz., (1) from 1874 to March 1878, (2)
from 1878-79 to 1881-82, (3) from 1882-83 to 1886-87, and (4)
from 1887-88 to 1891-92.

(1) When the province w^as formed, in 1874, it took over its

proportional share of the then subsisting Provincial contract of

Bengal, the principle of which was that certain heads of expendi-
ture were handed over to the control of the Local Government,
together with the resources for meeting them, consisting partly
of the receipts under the same heads and partly of a fixed consoli-
dated allotment from the Imperial revenues. Any deficit w^as to

be made good by the Local Government, and any surplus was to

be applied to Provincial purposes.
(2) From the beginning of 1878-79 a second contract was
made upon a more extended basis. Certain heads of revenue w^ere
handed over, with their charges, completely to the control of the
Local Administration, and the principle was introduced of Provin-
cial responsibility for works undertaken for Local and Provincial
purposes. Under this arrancjement, the province received the
whole revenues from Excise, Provincial Plates, Stamps, Eegistra-
tion, Law and Justice, Police, Education, and a few minor heads,
together with 20 per cent, of the Land He venue, and undertook
the whole responsibility for the charges of these departments,
besides those for Administration and Provincial Public Works.

(3) The principle of the contract of 1882-83 differed from that

of the previous one, chiefly in the following points : — Instead of
Provincial revenues taking the whole receipts and charges under
certain heads, these were equally divided between Imperial and
Provincial. The only heads formerly Provincial which remained
so were Provincial Eates, Post Office {i.e., the District Post only),
Law and Justice, Police, Education, Medical, Stationery and Print-
ing ; the revenue yielding Departments of Excise, Stamps, and
Eegistration, formerly entirely Provincial, were shared equally
between Provincial and Imperial both under receipts and charges ;

and Forests, formerly entirely Imperial, was added to the shared

u
 H6 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION EEPORT. [Chap. HI.

ECTioN 7 heads. As this left the province in deficit, an equiUbrium was

Finance, re-estabhshed by allotting to Provincial Funds, in addition to the
above resources, a fixed percentage of the Land Eevenue sufficient,
in the year of contract, to adjust the account. This proportion
was a little over 63 per cent. Land Eevenue charges were shared
m the same proportion as receipts. There remained wholly Ln-
perial only Opium (cost price) and some small miscellaneous receipts*
and, under charges, Interest, Assignments, and Compensation, the
Offices of Account, Ecclesiastical and Political charges, a few
other miscellaneous heads, and Imperial Public Works.
The year 1887-88 was the first of a new quinquennial con-
(4)
tract. contract differed from the last in several respects,
This
principally as regards revenue. These differences were: (1) The —
grant to the Local Administration of the whole of the Land
Revenue, instead of only a percentao-e, as in the last contract,
subject to the contribution of a certain fixed sum to Imperial
revenues, so that the Local Administration enjoyed the whole of
any increase in the land revenue of the province during the cur-
rency of the contract ; (2) the percentages of the Stamps and
Excise revenues made over for Provincial uses were 75 and 25,
respective!}^, instead of 50 in the last contract ; (3) the grant of a
moiety of the revenue from Assessed Taxes for Provincial uses,
whereas in the last contract the revenue from this source was
reserved for Imperial purposes. Under the expenditure heads,
the charges on account of " Survey and settlement " and " Charges
on account of land revenue collections " (two heads of account
subordinate to the general head of Land Revenue) and those on
account of Stamps and Excise were shared between the Imperial
and the Provincial Governments to the same extent as the revenues
were shared. This was also the principle in the last contract, but
'
the percentages were not the same. A
moiety of the expenditure
upon " Assessed Taxes " now became a Provincial charge, and
tlie political expenditure in the province, which was formerly an
Imperial charge, was transferred to the Provincial side of the
account. The new contract provided for a scale of expenditure
amounting to Rs. 49,08,572, and the revenues and receipts made
 Chap. III.J
FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. I47

over to the Provincial Government were estimated to cover tins Section 7.

expenditure exactly. In the previous contract the revenues and Finance.

receipts made over to Provincial uses were estimated to exceed the
scale of expenditure provided for in the contract by Rs. 1,09,000.
This contract expired on the 31st March 1892. During its

currency several alterations were made, which affected the distri-

bution of revenue and expenditure between Imperial and Provin-
cial, the principal of which were that Marine and Political charges
were transferred from the Imperial to the Provincial budget ; that
Imperial made a grant to the province of Rs. 1,82,500 on account
of Capital expenditure on the Cherra-Companyganj and Jorhat
State Railways ; and that Assam made a special contribution to

Imperial of one lakh of rupees out of the seventy-four lakhs which

the ImperialGovernment demanded from Provincial Administrations.
The contract was also considerably affected by the grant to
Provincial revenues of the amount of extra expenditure incurred
by Assam owing to the Lusliai outbreaks of 1890 and 1891. The
progress of the revenue and expenditure of the province during
the period of this contract was shown in considerable detail on
pages 119-124 of the Provincial General Administration Report
for 1891-92, and may be thus summarised :

The contract provided for an annual expenditure of Rs.

47,40,000, or a total for the five years of Rs. 2,37,00,000, and
revenue sufficient to meet that sum was provided in the contract, the
estimated annual excess, Rs. 13,12,000, being treated as a contri-
bution from Provincial to Imperial. The actual Provincial receipts
during the five years aggregated Rs. 2,62,40,000, or an excess over
the contract of Rs. 25,40,000. The expenditure exceeded the con-
tract allotment by Rs. 18,65,000. The Provincial opening balance
on the 1st April 1887 was Rs. 6,84,000, and at the close of the
contract, on the 31st March 1892, the balance was Rs. 13,59,000.
The total Civil Receipts surplus over the contract was Rs.
15,96,000, mainly due to increase in the Land Revenue (lis.
12,50,000) and in Forest Receipts (Rs. 2,81,000). The receipts
under Jails and Police at no time came near the contract estimate^
The increase in Civil expenditure under the heads included in
 148 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. III.

c
bECTlON 7.
direct demands on the revenue was almost entirely in the Forest ''

expenditure. The cost of the Civil Departments was Es. 8,99,000

Finance.
more than the contract allotment, but much of this was due to the
transfer of Marine and Political expenditure to Provincial, and to

extra expenditure in the North Lushai Hills, all of which was met
by a corresponding reduction in the contribution made to Imperial

by Provincial.
A satisfactory feature in the finance of the province during this
period was the continually decreasing cost of collecting the land
revenue, due to the gradual substitution of tahsilddrs, as revenue
collecting agents, for the mauzadars, who were paid by commis-
sion on the amounts of their collections.
The amount spent on Public Works out of the profits that
accrued to the Local Administration on the terms of the contract,
in addition to the contract allotment, was Es. 8,01,000.
?'.£?,,

This contract came to an end on the 31st March 1892. In the

estimates for the new contract, the expenditure, which was based
on the revised estimates of 1891-92, was taken at Es. 52^80,000 ;

and as the receipts worked out to Es. 54,53,000, the Government

of India proposed to resume the difference of Es. 1,73,000 per
annum. Subsequently, however, it was decided not to resume this
surplus, but to leave the province in the same financial position
as under the contract which came to an end on the 31st March
1892. The following figures were, therefore, adopted:
Rs.

Revenue, excluding adjustments -•• ... 65^36,000

Adjustments through the Land lievenue head ... 10,83,000

Total Provincial Revenue ... ... ... 54,53,000

Total Provincial Expenditure ... ... 54,53,000

The main features of the new contract were (1) that all interpro-
vincial adjustments ceased ; the charges paid by other provinces on
account of Assam, and were taken into account in fixing
vice versd,

the expenditure, and it was decided that such charges as had been
paid during the previous contract by one province on account of
 ;

Chap. HI] FORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 149

the other should continue to be so paid, but that no claim should Section 7.

be made by either province for reimbursement; (2) the whole of Finance.

the Land Eevenue receipts were allowed to remain Provincial,
subject to a lump adjustment in favour of Imperial revenues (3) ;

certain changes of classification were made, as shown below,

which slightly altered the figures adopted at first for the contract
(4) the new contract was a consolidated one, and not a collection
of separate contracts for each Provincial head, and therefore no
separate amounts were stated for each head of Provincial revenue
and expenditure.
The lump contribution to Imperial was finally fixed at Es.
11,27,000, thus :

Rs.

Expenditure ... ... ... ... 54,53,000

Compensation to Provincial for change of classifi-

cation of charges of the office of the Inspector

General of Police, &c., formerly charged to divided
heads, but now to be charged to General Adminis-
tration, a head wholly Provincial ... ... + 4,000
Compensation to Imperial for Comptroller's office
Provincial establishment now to be made Imperial — 5,000
Ctmpensation to Imperial for charge of plain paper
used with court-fee stamps to the divided head
" Stamps," instead of to'the wholly Provincial head

"Stationery and Printing" ... ... — 2,000

P eduction of charges formerly debited inter-provin-

cially to Assam, now to be borne by other provinces —41,000

Expenditure thus revised ... ... ... 54,09,000
Kevenue ... ... ... ... 65,36,000

Contribution, Provincial to Imperial ... 11,27,000

Subsequently, a question arose as to the claim to the increase

in Land Kevenue, not estimated for in the contract, due to the
re-assessment of the Assam Valley districts, amounting to Es.
 —

150 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. III.

Section 7. 7,59,000 a year. In settling this question, the terms of the

Finance. Contract under which a certain sum was allotted for expenditure
in the Lushai Hills were also amended. The actual amount of the
expenditure in 1891-92 was taken as the assignment in the
contract for Lushai charges, viz.., Pis. 3,56,000 per annum, and
it was settled that, to meet any excess over that amount of the
charges in the portion of the Lushai country now under the
control of the Chief Commissioner of Assam, an equivalent portion
of the excess of Land Eevenue over the amount now to be allotted
to Assam should be made wholly Provincial.
Listead, therefore, of the whole of the Land Eevenue being
Provincial, it was decided that the ordinary increase should be
taken at Rs. 66,000 per annum, and that the Provincial claim
should be limited in
Us.

1893-94 ... ... ... ... to 47,74,000

1894-95 ... ... ... ... „ 48,40,000
1895-96 ... ... ... ... „ 49,06,000
1896-97 ... ... ... ... „ 49,72,000

Of the excess over these amounts, a sum equivalent to the

excess of the actual charges in the North Lushai country over
Es. 3,56,000 and of the actual charges in the South Lushai country
(when that tract was transferred to Assam) over the assignment
which might be transferred from Bengal with the territory, would
also be wholly Provincial, and that of the remainder one-fourth
would be Provincial.
166. Exclusive of the receipts of purely Imperial Departments
(Post Office, Telegraph, Military, and Imperial
Total revenues of the
revenue now
province.
PubUc Works),
'' or^ othe acrfrrefrate

(1892-93) derived from the province is nearly

105 lakhs of rupees. The principal heads are Land Eevenue (47J
lakhs). Opium (4 lakhs), Stamps (8 lakhs). Excise (26 lakhs), Pro-
vincial Eates (5^- lakhs), Assessed Taxes (2^ lakhs). Forest {Z\
lakhs), Eegistration (i lakh), and Tributes {\ lakh). The receipts

by Civil Departments aggregate about 5 lakhs, and Public Works

receipts, including receipts for Ferries, 2-J lakhs. Since 1882-83
 J

Chap. in. rORM OF ADMINISTRATION. 151

the revenue lias risen from 81^by nearly 29 per

to 105 lakhs, or ^.

cent. Land Eevenue and Excise show the most marked increase, ^'"^"^^•

8J and G lakhs respectively. The item under THbutes is a receipt

from the Manipur State, and appears for the first time in the ac-
counts of this province. The receipts under Assessed Taxes, being
recoveries under Act II of 1886, also constitute a new feature.

167. The ordinary Civil expenditure is now 47^ lakhs, and the
Public Works Provincial and Local expendi-
Tctal expenditure
Ihe province.
of
ture about 2U laklis, or about 69 lakhs in
all, leaving a surplus of 36 lakhs as the con-
tribution of the province to the general expenses of the Empire. Of
the Civil expenditure (47^ lakhs), about 13 lakhs represent direct
demands upon the revenue, such as Cost of Collection, Refunds,
Assignments and Compensations, &c., about 32 lakhs represent
salaries and expenses of the Civil Departments, including General
Administration, and about 2^ laklis are expended in Pensions,
Stationery and Printing, and other miscellaneous charges.
168. The receipts and expenditure of the Imperial Depart-
ments (Post Office, Telegraph, Military, Ma-
Surplus how disposed
j.jj-^e^
r^^^ Imperial Public Works) aggre-
gate, in round figures, 42 and 32 lakhs, re-
spectively, as compared with 18 and 20 lakhs, respectively, in 1882-

83. The increase in the receipts is almost entirely under Post

Office, and is due to expansion of money order and savings banks

transactions. The excess expenditure is chiefly under PublicWorks.

The Provincial surplus (36 lakhs), and the net receipts of the
Imperial Departments (10 laklis) aggregate 46 lakhs. This is remit-
ted to Calcutta by means of currency note remittances and supply
bills granted on Assam treasuries, to the agents of tea planters and
others. Notes of the higher denominations accumulate largely in
the Assam They are imported by planters and Mar-
treasuries.
wari traders, and find their way into the treasury as revenue either
through revenue collectors (mauzadars) or purchasers of opium
and excise license-holders. There are no banking establishments
in Assam. Nearly 29 lakhs of these notes were remitted to
.Calcutta in 1892-93. The supply bill payments amounted during
 152 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. III.

Section 7. the same year to upwards of 45 lakhs, and about 16 lakhs in coin

Finance. Were placed at the Comptroller General's disposal at Calcutta by

means of to currency chests.
transfers By this means money
which was not required in Assam was placed in currency in Assam,
the equivalent required in other provinces being withdrawn from
currency and placed at the disposal of Government for treasury
purposes, thus saving all Accommodation
charges of remittance.
was thus offered to the commercial public in Assam and in
Calcutta to the extent of 90 lakhs, the amount being made up of
the local surplus, 46 lakhs, supplemented by the issue of bills upon
other provinces, about 31 lakhs, and by remittances from Calcutta
and withdrawals from the currency chests, 13 lakhs, equivalent
sums being placed in currency chests in other provinces where
coin was not immediately required.
For bills issued upon Assam a premium of J per cent, is
realised by Government those issued by Assam are granted at
;

par, except in the case of bills in favour of Messrs, Macneill and

Co., the Elvers Steam Navigation Company's Agents at Dhubri,
for their earnings paid into that treasury, upon which a premium
of a quarter per cent, is levied.

169- Dividing the revenues and expenditure between Imperial,

Provincial, and Local in accordance with the
Provincial revenue
^emis of the current contract, the annual
and expenditure.
revenue of Provincial and Local Funds in
1892-93 aggregate, in round figures, about 64j lakhs, and the ex-

V
penditure 66 lakhs. The expenditure exceeds the receipts, in

consequence of the permission, granted by the Government of

India, to the Local Administration to utilise on Provincial Public
Works about five lakhs from the accumulated Provincial
balances.
The following are the chief heads of expenditure in round
numbers :

Rs.

Direct demand on the revenues (collection, &c.) ... 11,20,000

Administration ... ... ... ... 2^48,000
Law and Justice — Courts of law ... ... 5,44,000
Chap. Ill] FORM OF ADMINISTRAIION. . I
53

Section j.
Es.
Finance.
Law and Justice— Jails ... ... 85,000
Police ... ... ... ... ll,G(i,O00

Marine ... ... ... ... 99,000

Education ... ... ••• ... 3,39,000
Medical ... ... ... ... 2,76,000
Political ... ... ... ... 2,68,000
Public Works ... ... ... ... 21,50,000

Since 1882-83 the Assam portion of the Inland Labour Trans-

port Fund has been transferred from Bengal (in 1884). The Local
income and expenditure included in the above figures are Es.
9,69,000 and Rs. 9,59,000 respectively, of which the portions per-
taining to the Liland Labour Transport Fund are 64,000 and Pis.

Rs. 57,000 respectively, the remainder representing transactions

of the nineteen Local Boards, which exist in the eight plains dis-

tricts of tlie province. There has been no change in the heads of

receipts and expenditure entrusted to these bodies, but there have
been several transfers between Provincial and Local, cliiefly in the
expenditure upon Public Works, which have resulted in a reduc-
tion of the amount of Provincial contribution to the Local Boards
and of the Local Boards' expenditure. In 1882-83 each Local
Board received from Provincial varying amounts sufficient to
cover the difference between the Local income and Local expen-
diture. Each Board now receives from Provincial a fixed annual
contribution, plus or minus the amount of its closing balance, i.e.,

of the surplus or deficit of the penultimate year. The balances

are taken in the accounts as lapsing to Provincial at the end of
the year, and are regranted as contributions.
170. The Local Funds, which are excluded from the general
Excluded Local Funds. accounts, are the following :

(1) Municipal Funds. (3) Town Funds.

(2) Cantonment Funds. (4j Williamson Educational En-
dowment Funds.

Of these, the first has been described in the preceding section,

and the last has also been mentioned above in paragraph 124.
X
 —

154 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. IV.

CHAPTER VI
Character of Land Tenures and System of Settlement
and Survey.

SE CTION 1.— LA ND TENURES.

Section i. 171. The Ordinary land tenures in Assam vary considerably in

Land r.. • • . , ,
difl'erent parts of the province.
^
Distinct
y. Division of the subject.
""'^^'
systems of tenure are found in

(1) Assam Proper, (3) Sylliet,

(2) Goalpara, (4) Cachar,

(5) the hill districts,

"while several varieties of special waste land tenures granted

by Government at different periods exist in all the plains dis-
tricts.

172- There are three main classes of ordinary tenure in

the Assam Valley exclusive of Goalpara,
A.smn Proper raiyai-
wari, tenure.
^iz.,' raiyatwdvi,
./ J^ y 2iXidildkhiraj,
nisf-Miivoj, J' The
original raiyatiodri tenure is of the simplest
character: the raiyat holds on annual or decennial lease from the
Government, being free to relinquish the whole or any part of his
holding or to take up new lands, provided that notice is given to
the revenue olFicers at the proper time of the year. In 1870 a set
of rules for the encouragement of ten-year (instead of annual)
leases was sanctioned by the Bengal Government, expressly
declaring that holdings so settled should be heritable and trans-
ferable, on condition of the transfer being registered in the Deputy
Commissioner's office, while holders on annual patfa were left

without any legal assurance on these points. The principle of these

rules was afterwards embodied in the Land and lievenue Regula-
tion of 1886, which confers a permanent, heritable, and transferable
right on persons holding land under a decennial lease, but recog-
Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. 1 55

nizes no rights beyond those expressed in the lease in the case of Se ction ' i.

annual tenants. The Eules of 1870 remained practically inopera- Land

tivft until 1883, when they were recast, and a general system of

ten-year settlements was introduced in all parts of the Assam Valley,

where the cultivation and occupation of land are of a permanent
character.* The large tracts of land, however, consisting chiefly
of the chaporl, or inundated tracts along the rivers, and the thinly-
peopled country under the hills, where only shifting cultivation is
practised, were left to the system of annual settlements, as the only
one adapted to their peculiar circumstances. In the five districts

of Assam Proper, the bulk of the more permanently cultivated land

is, therefore, now held under a ten-year settlement, during the
currency of which die raiyat is guaranteed against enhancement of
the revenue rates. He is at liberty to relinquish any portion of
his holding that consists of entire fields, up new lands and to take ;

while he will receive compensation from Government for any lands

taken up for a public purpose. The rest of the area, where a
fluctuating system of cultivation prevails, is resettled annually on
the basis of actual occupation ; and if dispossessed by Government
for a public purpose, the raiyat is only entitled to compensation for
the value of trees, houses, crops, &c., actually standing on the land
at the time of its resumption, but not to compensation for the land
itself.

173. Chamuas are said to have originated in the early days of

British administration, when raiyats sometimes
Chamuas a.ndkhirai-1-Juils. -, i • , c
made over their leases to some person 01

standing in the neighbourliood, and paid their revenue to him in

order to avoid the exactions of the inauzaddrs. An estate thus

formed was called a chamiia, and the chamuaddr was allowed the
privilege of paying direct into the Government treasury. The only
chamua still remaining is situated in the Barpeta subdivision.
There is one estate called a klidt in Kamriip and another in
* Although nominally decennial, all snch settlements are fixed so as to expire in the

same year, so that only those settlements which are made in the first year of the term are
actually made for ten years. All decennial leases now being issued will expire in the
year 1903, so that leases issued in 1893-94 will be for a term of ten years, those issued in
1894-95 for nine years, and so on.
X 2
 156 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. {C'CiSi^. IV.

Section i. Nowgong, while in Lakliimpur there are two khirdj-khat^. The

Lajtd owners of these estates, hke the chamuaddr of Barpeta, pay their
Tenures.
revenue direct into the Government treasury instead of through the
mauzaddr. Except for this privilege, there is nothing to distinguish
the holders of these tenures from ordinary raiyats. Their estates are
mostly cultivated by sub-tenants, who pay a grain rent of half the
produce of their fields {ddhyd), or, where cash is taken, the
Government rates, except in the more densely-peopled parts, where
land is specially valuable. Where the Government rates only are
paid, the landlord's profit consists in the command of his tenants'
services for supplies, carriage, and house-building, and for reaping
and harvesting his crops, and in such occasional contributions as
he is able to levy.
174. The history of the nisf-khirdi tenure in Assam is a curious
example of the manner in which rights in
Nisf-khirdi and lokhirdi
estates.
in
land are
.
•

sometimes allowed to
it -i

grow up.
,

Former rulers of the country had granted

certain lands rent free for religious and other purposes (that is,

had assigned to persons or institutions the Government right to

the revenue, then taken mostly in labour, of these lands). The
last Ahom ruler, however, Chandra Ivanta Singh, imposed on the
lands in question a tax called kliarikdtdna, of 6 annas a pura (a
measure of four bighas), which continued to be levied by the
Burmese invaders after their conquest of the country. When Assam
became British by conquest, all these grants were held to have
lapsed but Mr. Scott retained the moderate assessment which he
;

found in force upon them, adding later on 2 annas a pui^a, so that

the whole assessment came, as left by him, to 8 annas a pura. In
1834 the Government directed that a full enquiry should be made
into all claims to hold land rent free, as debottar, dharmottar, or on
any other plea, throughout the districts of Assam. Captain Bogle
was appointed to make this enquiry, subject to the control and orders
of the Commissioner, Captain Jenkins. Another officer, Captain
Matthie, was also similarly employed. At the same time the
following principles were laid down for the guidance of these officers :

(1) All rights to hold land free of assessment founded on grants

Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. 157

by any former Government were to be considered as cancelled ;

Section i,

and it was pointed out that all claims for restoration to any Umd
^^'"^^«-^-
such tenures could rest only on the indulgence of Govern-
ment.

(2) All lands found to be held in excess of what was held and
possessed on Z^o?i(2 yic/e grants prior to the Burmese conquest, or
for services still performed, as well as all lands held for services
no longer performed, w^ere to be assessed at full rates.

(3) All lands held on bona fide grants before the Burmese
conquest, or for services still performed, were to be reported to
Government ; on receipt of the report, special orders would be
issued on each case.

(4) Captain Jenkins might in his discretion suspend the orders

for bringing any particular land on full rates ; but he was to
submit his reasons for the consideration of Government.
(5) Pending the lakhiraj enquiry, Mr. Scott's moderate rates
were to be levied as before on all lands claimed as lakhiraj
(whether as dehottar, brahmottar, dharmottar, or on whatever plea)
until brought under assessment at full rates, or until orders to the
contrary were received from Government.

The work was commenced in 1834, but was not concluded till

1860, and in the lapse of time these orders were altogether forgotten.
Instead of referring the cases which came before him for the orders
of Government, General Jenkins dealt with them manner in a
which was not authorised by his instructions. He drew a distinc-
tion between dehottar, or temple lands, and other grants, such as
brahmottar (personal grants to Brahmans for religious service),
dharmottar (grants to religious communities other than temples, or
for pious uses), &c. In the case of the first, when he found the
grants to be bond fide and valid, he confirmed them as revenue free,

without, as he was ordered, referring the case to superior authority.

In all other cases oihond Rde and valid grants, he simply confirmed
the grantee in possession, and directed that, as ordered in his in-
structions, the land should be assessed as before, i.e., at Mr. Scott's
favourable rates of 8 annas a pM?^a, pending the Qnal orders of
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. IV.

Section- I. Government on the ^Yllole question. Where the hxnd held was not
Ta'^d found to be lield under a bond fide and vahd grant, it was resumed
Tenures.
^^^^ settled at full rates, which in those days were Ee. 1 a jmra.

But no reference was ever made to Government on the conclusion of

the proceedings and thus until 1861, when the revenue rates
;

were raised throughout Assam, the second class of lands continued

to be assessed at rates which, though this was not expressly in-
tended, were, as a matter of fact, half the rates prevailing for
other lands.
The question what was to be done with these lands was not
again stirred till 1372, when a long correspondence began, which
was not finally closed till 1879. It was considered by the Govern-
ment of India that the grantees having so long been suffered to
hold at half rates, it would not be judicious to make any alteration
in their status and so General Jenkins' unauthorised action was
;

condoned. These half-rate holders were at that time called,

equally with the revenue-free holders, Idkhirdjddrs. The term

nisf-khirdjddr was adopted in 1871, as a more accurate de-
scription of their status as landholders liable to be assessed at only
half the current rates of revenue, whatever these may happen to
be.
A nisf-hhirdjddr enjo3"s the further privilege of paying for the
waste land of his estate onl}^ one-eighth of the rate assessed on
ordinary rwpit land in the neighbourhood. Nisf-kliirdj estates
generally are settled for a term of ten years throughout the Brah-
maputra Valley.
Three-fourths of the total number of nisf-hhivdj estates are
situated in the district of Kamrup and
date from the last period of
Ahom rule, when Government had been transferred from
the seat of
GarhgaoD to Gauhdti, and the Ahom kings gave away lands whole-
sale with all the zeal of recent converts to Hinduism. The Idkldrdj
or dehottar grants, on the other hand, are usually of older date, the
most ancient being ascribed to kings Dharmapal and Vanamdla,
who are said to have reigned between 1100 and 1200 A.D.
These estates are, like the chamuas and khirdj-Ichdts already
mentioned, ordinarily cultivated by sub-tenants, who, when their
Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. 159

superior landlord is (as is generally the case) a religious institution, Sectiox i.

are known as paiks or hliakats of the temple or chaitra ; they usually Land
Te mires.
pay only the Government rates as rent, but are in addition bound
to do service for their, superior landlord.
175. The history of the permaijently-settled portion of Goalpara
,, ,
has been ^
eiven above (paragraphs
Vi o r 80 and
Goalpara. .

81). It consists of nineteen permanently-

settled estates and eight small temporarily-settled holdings. These
between them cover the whole district, excluding the Eastern Duars.
Twelve of the nineteen permanently-settled estates are those
of the border Chaudhuris described in paragraph 89. The remaining
seven consist of lands held originally revenue free on invalid titles?

which were resumed in consequence, and settled at :\,jama fixed in

perpetuity. The eight temporarily-settled estates include five chars,
which are farmed yearly to the highest bidder. Of the remaining
three, two are resumed Idkhiraj, and the third was acquired by
Government as a free gift from the zemindar.
176. The Eastern Duars comprise five separate tracts, viz.,

^
Eastern Duars.
Biini, Sidli, Chirano', Eiplm, and Guma.
, ox The
last three are the sole property of Government,
and are managed on the same system as the raiyaticdri tracts of
Assam Proper, the only difference being that cultivation is entirely
on annual leases, and that the revenue rates are lower than those
prevailing in Assam. Bijni and Sidli, with the exception of tli3

submontane forests wdiich have been excluded from them and

brought under conservancy, are the estates of the Etijas of the

same names. But they are at present managed by Government on

the same terms as the remaining three Duars, a fixed percentage of
the revenue realised being paid over to the zemindars.
177- The land tenures in the district of Sylliet (excluding
Jaintia, which was not annexed to the district
SylLet. .
'

until 1835) present a remarkable contrast to

those of all the districts of permanently-settled Bengal except
Chittagong. In no other district was the permanent-settlement
preceded, as in these, by a survey ; in no other district were the
zemindars passed over at that settlement in favour of the superior
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. IV.
l6o

Section- i. raiyats or middlemen called mirasdars or taluqddrs* (c/. the Cliitta-

2^ goni? tarafdars). The consequence of the survey is that all lands
Tenures.
^^i^\^\y^ the Surveyed portion of the district which were not settled

in 1791-92, the date of the decennial settlement, and have not

since been specially settled in perpetuity, are the property of
Government and held under temporary settlement. The result of
the settlement having been made with a large number of middle-
men is that while in the districts of permaneutly-settled Bengal
estates are counted by tens or hundreds, in Sylhet they are counted
by thousands, and the individual revenue of each estate is generally
very small. Of 49,946 permanently-settled estates at the close of
the 3'ears 1892-93, only 469 paid a revenue of over Es. 100, and
20,621 paid under one rupee. Thus, Sylhet is distinguished (1) by
the large proportion of its area which is not permanently settled, and
(2) by the extremely small payments of revenue due from individual
estates, which make the collection (in the absence of ynufassal
revenue establishments, entertained nowhere in permanently-settled
districts) a peculiarly difficult and complicated task.
178. The permanently-settled tenures of Sylhet are all held on
the same conditions, but have received the
Permanently-s ettled .
^ ^ . . .

tenures. nani8s given below with reterence to their

revenue history :

(1) Dassana, estates included in the decennial settlement of

1791-92, which
1793 became permanent
in in 1892-93 these ;

numbered 25,967, and paid a revenue of Es. 3,16,838.

(2) Bdzyajti Ddimi, lands resumed by the Special Commis-
sioner appointed under Eegulation III of 1828, and then permanently
settled. Number 23,028 revenue ; Es. 39,605. Of these, 33 estates
paying a revenue of Es. 402 are in the Jaintia parganas.
(3) Ildin lands settled permanently (see below under tempora-
rily-settled estates). Number 9 ; revenue Es. 26.
** The above statement docs not apply to (1) parganas Taraf, Bamai, and Putijiiri,

forniing zila Laskarpur in the Ilabiganj subdivision, whicli were transferred to Sylhet
from the Dacca and Mymensingh districts after the assessment for the decennial settle-
ment had been effected and (2) certain parganas in the Sunumganj subdivision which
could not be surveyed on account of difficulties with the Khasis. In other parts of Sylhet
also, the settlement was occasionally made with the zemindars, and not with the raiyats.
Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. idl

^4) Khds Ddimi, permanently-settled estates purchased by Section i.

Government at sales for arrears of revenue and sold again as Land

permanently-settled. Number 4.'^5 ; revenue Rs. 5,782.
(5) Hdldbcidi. The term hdldhddi literally means "recently
cultivated, " but in Sylliet it is applied to all lands not included
in the decennial settlement of 1791-92. The so-called hdldbddi
(also known as dbddi or jawjal dbddi) pattas or sanads were
granted between the ^^ears 1791 and i8u7. They contained no
express limitation of the term of settlement, and in 1869 were
held by
Government to have been settlements in perpetuity.
Number of estates 474 revenue Es. 2,767. ;

(6) Khds hdldbddi, estates belonging to class (5) whi(ih, having

been bought in by Government at sales for arrears of revenue
have been resettled permanently. Number 31 ; revenue Es. 1,337.
(7) Permanently -settled loaste land grants. The proprietors of
three hdldbddi estates paying a revenue of Es. 9-5-3 claimed a large
tract in the Eaghunandan hills. Their claims were compromised
by the grant in perjDctuity of two estates covering an area of 1,659
acres and paying a revenue of Es. 9-6-0.

(8) Dhali Miijrai, mahdls exempted from assessment on

condition of the holders furnishing dhali servants for the Sylhet
Collectorate. At present two such servants are furnished. There
are 41 such estates in Sylhet, covering an area of 377 acres.
179. The temporarily-settled estates of Sylhet Proper are also
rn
Temporanly-s
., .~^
e 11 1
A
e d
known under different names, but by far the
' -J

tenures. most extcusive class is that called ildm. In

consequence of the success met with in Behar in bringing under
assessment land not included in the decennial settlement which
afterwards became permanent, the pargana pdtwdris were, in

1802, directed to prepare and submit schedules of lands in their

respective parganas, which had not been included in that
settlement. On receipt of these schedules, the Collector issued
proclamations {ildms) inviting claimants to any of the lands to

come forward ; but no one appeared to claim them. These lands

have thus acquired the name of ildm or proclaimed lands. During
the years 1829 to 1834, these ildm lands were surveyed, and in
V
 iSa ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. 1>^^

Section i.
jg^^^^ those that were found cultivated were settled with the occu-
Land otherwise they were farmed. The term
Tenures.
pants
^ if o to engaf^e
willinfT o o ;
' ^ ^

of the first settlementwas ten years for cultivated and fifteen years
for jungle lands, and it was subsequently renewed on its expiry for
successive further periods. In 18G9, a systematic survey was
commenced, and revised rules of settlement and a form of patta
were drawn out. These rules were again revised in 1875 and
modified in 1876. The resettlement commenced in 1871, and was
practically concluded in 1881. On resettlement, all waste lands in
excess of one-fifth of the cultivated area of an estate were, as a
rule, excluded from the settlement. In order to protect the rights of
Government in these excluded lands, and to prevent encroachment
by the neighbouring permanent settlement-holders, a special form of
farming lease was sanctioned in 1889, Holders of these leases have
no right to resettlement. Holders of ilcim pattas, on the other
hand, have a permanent and heritable right of occupancy subject to
payment of the revenue assessed and to acceptance of the terms of
settlement. But, as the proprietary right vests in Government,
they have no title to mdlikdna if they refuse to engage. The last

settlement of ildm lands in zilas Parkul and Latu, which expired

on 31st March 1893, has been extended for one year. The settle-

ment in the rest of the district will expire on different dates

between 1st April 1894 and 31st March 1896. There are 3,262
ildm estates, with a total area of 97,571 acres.*
So much of the ildm area as was not included in the settlement
of 1835 and subsequent years has been entered in the waste land
register as waste at the disposal of Government ; much of it has
been taken up by tea planters on the tenures to be described in the

next section.
The rest of the temporarily-settled area in Sylhet falls apart
into two divisions first, the small tenures settled on the same prin-
:

ciple as ildm lands, but different in their origin ; and, secondly, the
areas held kltds by Government, in which, instead of makinir over
definitely the use and occupancy of the land to a settlement-holder

* Exclusive of ildm lands in parganas Pratabgarli and Egarasati, whicli have been
cadaatrally surveyed.
 Chap. IV.] LAND TENTTEES^ ^TTIEMENT, StTRVET. 1
63

who may eventually become a middleman, the Government has re- Section i.

tained the management in its own hands, and deals directly with the Land
cultivators. The first class consists of 2,428 mahdls covering an area
of 24,214 acres, and technically known by the following names:

(1) Ncinkdr patwdrigari. —

Lands formerly held by the pargana
pdtwdris as ndnkdr, i.e., in lieu of salary. The pdtwdris were
abohshed in 1833, and the lands were ordered to be assessed in 1835.
(2) Char-bhardt. —
Alluvial accretions, which in Sylhet all belong
to the State.

(3) Bil-hhardt. —The which were excluded

silted-up beds of hils,

from the permanent settlement because they were then useless.

(4) Izdd. — Surplus lands discovered after the permanent
settlement (but not formally proclaimed as the ildm lands were),
and thus not included in it.
(5) Resumed revenue-free land. — Resumed because found to be
held on invalid titles.
(6) Khds. — ^The khds lands in Sylhet are, for the most part,
originally ildm estates, the settlement of which has for various
reasons broken down in some the holders as a body refused to
;

accept resettlement with joint responsibility ; Government

in some,
has bought in the estate at sales for arrears of revenue in some ;

the settlement has been cancelled for default inpayment of revenue.

These estates are, for the most part, situated in the Karimganj
subdivision of the Sylhet district, which contains a large area of
waste land stretching south to the They are
Tippera Hills.

managed by the tahsilddrs of the Pratabgarh and Hakaluki

tahsils upon principles in general similar to the raiyatwdri settle-
ment of Assam Proper. Certain fixed rates are' laid down, and
raiyats are free to take up land when they please at those rates,
after application to the tahsilddr. The Mas lands in the Pratdb-
garh tahsil have been cadastrally surveyed.
In addition to the above, the term ''khds''' includes- also petty
permanently-settled estates of httle value, bought in by Govern-
ment at sales for arrears of revenue and not resettled' in perpetuity.
A full account of the last settlement of the estates in classes (1)
to (5) and of the petty estates in class (6) will be found- in
 — f

164 ASSAM AD^IINISTRATION REPORT. Chap. IV.

S«cTio;j I. paragraph 51 of the Administration Eeport for 1880-81. This

Land settlement will expire in 190G-7.
180. The Jaintia parganas have, since they first came under
, . ,.
Jaintia parganas.
British rule,5 been temporarily
r j settled.* The
firstwas made in 1838-40,
rej?ular settlement

when the tract was professionally surveyed and measured. It was

made for a term of five years, at the end of which it was further
extended for ten years, and then again extended, so that the
settlement of the whole area expired in 185G. In that year the
whole of Jaintia was resettled, without remeasurement, for twenty
years. This settlement expired in 1876, when a nev/ settlement was
begun, which, owing to errors in the classification and assessment of
land, was not finally completed until 1882. The term of settlement

will expire in 1894, and resettlement operations are no^ in pro-

gress, the tract having been cadastrally surveyed for this purpose*.

181, Besides these permanently and temporarily settled

estates in Sylhet, there are, as in other

Ld^^/ra; estates. . ti 7,77. ,• r.

districts, valid iakliira] or revenue-iree estates*

There are in all 11,489 revenue-free estates, with an area of 41,914
acres, including
178 grants, which were declared valid after resumption
(1)
proceedings under Eegulations II of 1819 and III of 1828.
(2) 6,345 petty grants, mostly under 10 bighas in area, which
were exempted from assessment under order of the Bengal Govern-
ment in 1841.

(3) Kasha Sylhet. —These estates are nominally all less than 10

bighas in extent, but many, as a matter of fact, greatly exceed

this area. This anomaly probably originated through fraud, but
it is hard, if not impossible, to rectify it now. Eesumption
proceedings were initiated many years ago, but the cases were
struck off for no apparent reason. The number of these estates
has been returned as 2,554, with an area of 4,560 acres.
° With the exception of 33 permanently-settled and 29 revenue-free estates. The
former consist of lands claimed as revenue-free, but resumed by the Special Commissicmer
appointed under Regulation III of 1828 and subsequently permanently settled.

f These figures, wliich are taken from a chitha drawn up by a former Collector for the
pyrpose of aaeeesing chaukidiri tax, are only approximate.
Chap. IV.] i^AND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, STJRYEY. l6^

(4) 2,412 redeemed estates, consisting of ildm estates paying Se ction i.

a revenue of Ee. 1 and under, which were sold at auction revenue Land
16)1 TiY&S
free and other estates redeemed on payment of twenty or twenty-
five times the annual revenue.
182. In the plains portion of Cachar there is, excluding the
waste land grants, but one form of revenue-
Cachar.
paying tenure, that known as mirdsddri.
The peculiarity of the system as found in this district is that joint
responsibility for the revenue prevails among all the holders of
a mahdl, who are usually numerous. In this district, on the
margin of cultivation and settlement, it has been the custom from
the days of the native rulers to the present time for bodies of
cultivators, often consisting of persons of quite different castes,
and even of combinations of Hindus, Musalmans, and hillmen, to
join together in a coparcenary body in obtaining the settlement
of new The Government deals with them as a single holder,
land.
and they arrange among themselves the distribution of the revenue
payable, the joint responsibility, however, remaining. This system
is a curious survival of primitive conditions which is now tending
to break up, though division of responsibility is not yet formally
recognised in Cachar. Whether in long-settled mahdls, or in new
allotments of waste (the latter being known as jVm^a/^z^n grants

and given on a progressive assessment), the niirdsddri tenure is,

in face of Government, the same. The cultivators have a perma-

nent, heritable, and transferable right of use and occupancy of the
land, subject to payment of the revenue assessed and to acceptance
of the terms of settlement. The settlement of Cachar, like that of
the temporarily-settled lands in Sylhet, is for a term of years. The
existing settlement, which is for a term of fifteen years, will expire
on the 31st March 1898.*
There are a few Idkhirdj or revenue free estates in Cachar,
being the grants held by dependents of the old royal family, or
dating from the time of native rule. These are known as bakhsha
•*
The Jangalburi Rules have since been be repealed, so far as futui'e applications for

land are concerned, by settlement rules framed for the Surma Valley under sections 12
and 29 of the Land and Revenue Regulation. The diaft of these rules does not provide

for the settlement of waste land at progressive rates,

 l66 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOHT. [Chap. IV.

Section i.
j^^^^jg^ ^^(j ^j-g revenue-free only so long as they remain in posses-
Land gJQ^ ^f the grantee and his heirs when alienated, they are liable
Tenures. ^ ;

to assessment like other mirdsddri lands.

183. In the hill districts there is no land revenue settlement
,

properly so called, except in a few isolated

I lb nc p.
tracts. The strip of plains land which en-
closes Gdro Hills on three sides is managed on the system of
the
settlement which obtains in Assam Proper, save in one portion,
where the zemindars of Mechpdra hold certain land as part of their
permanently-settled estates, and manage it themselves. The terms
of tenure are similar to those of the annual pa ^^a -holders of Assam.
In the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, a class of land known as rajhdli, in
the Jaintia Hills subdivision, has since the year 1886 been assessed
to land revenue under special rules, the rate charged being 10 annas
per bigha. In the Naga Hills district there is also some land in
the Nambar forest, which is held on annual joaiia. In the rest of
these districts Government does not assess the land, but the houses.
Each however, in the Garo, Khdsi and Jaintia, and Naga
village,

Hills has its own known lands, in which rights of private owner-
ship' are recognised to a degree which seems surprising in so
primitive a state of society. The system of cultivation by ^/A^m,
which prevails throughout the greater part of this area, demands
lonc' periods of rest during which the land becomes reclothed

with forest; and it is often difficult to believe that what

seems an uncared-for wilderness is really the jealously-guarded
private property of a clan, family, or village. But the case is so ;

and no quarrels have been more enduring or more bitter among

these people than those relating to land. The customs of land

tenure among these primitive races are often strangely complicated

and full of interest ; but they have as yet been insufficiently
explored, and it is impossible to describe them at length here. The
practice of tidxing houses, instead of assessing the land, prevails

also in certain remote parts of the plains districts, such as- the
North Cachar subdivision and the Mikir Hills in Nowgong, while
from the Miris in Lakhimpur and the Tipperas in Sylhet a
poll-tax is collected in lieu of.land.revenue.
Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SUIIVET. 167

SECTION 2.— IFAST E LAND TENURES.

184. In a province like Assam, thinly peopled and sparsely Section 2.

cultivated, with a boundless extent of waste, Waste Land

o/3e knd ifAsSr.*' inviting new settlers, the terms upon which
land is allotted for extension of cultivation
have always naturally been a subject of much consideration. The
discovery of indigenous tea in Assam and of the possibility of
growing this important staple on a large scale in the plains
portion of the province, has given a special impetus to the taking
up of waste, and the various rules which have from time to time

been issued have generally had the extension of tea cultivation in

view.

165. It is not intended in this section to deal with the ordinary

tenures, common to all revenue-paying lands
Waste taken up on or-
|^ on which land under tea, like
^j^g district,'
dinary tenures.
that under any other crop, may be held.
There is a considerable extent of land in Assam Proper, amounting
at present to 86,382 acres, held by planters under the ordinary
raiyatwdri leases described above, the greater part of which is

under tea, and in Cachar the mirdsddri tenure is the favourite form
in which land is now taken up for tea cultivation. The jangatburi
or reclamation lease in this district, which is allotted to any ap-
plicant whose appropriation of the land will not prejudicially affect
existing rights, gives a lease at favourable rates for twenty years,
for the first which the land is revenue free, for the
two years of
next four it is assessed at 3 annas an acre, for the next four at 6
annas, and for the remaining ten at 12 annas, after which the land
is assessable at the ordinary district rates for lands of similar
description.

186. ITie following an account of the special terms under

is

„ . , which waste land grants are held from Govern-

ment in the various districts of the province*
Only one of these systems, ^;^V., the Thirty-years' Lease Rules, is

now actually in force for new applications ; but grants made under
 i68 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. IV.

Section 2. all of tlie prior rules actually exist, and are governed by the con-
Waste Land ditions in force at tlie time when they were given.

I. The first special grant rules were those of the Gth March
•
1808, and related to Assam Proper only. No grant was to be
made of a less extent than 100 acres, or of a greater extent than
10,000 acres. One-fourth of the entire area was to be under
cultivation by the expiration of the fifth year from the date of
grant, on failure of which the whole grant washable to resumption.
One -fourth of the grant was to be held in perpetuity revenue free.
On the remaining three-fourths no revenue was to be assessed for the
first five years if the land was under grass, ten years if under reeds
and high grass, and twenty 3^ears if under forest ; at the expiry of

this term, revenue was to be assessed at 9 annas per acre for the
next three years, after which the rate was to be for twenty-two
years Ee. 1-2 an acre. At the close of this period (the thirtieth

year in the case of grants of grass lands, thirty-fifth in the case of

reed lands, and forty-fifth in the case of forest lands), the three-
fourths liable to assessment were to be assessed, at the option of

the grantee, either at the market value of one-fourth of the

produce of the land, or at the average rate of revenue paid by
rice lands in the district where the grant was situated ; the revenue
was thereafter to be adjusted in the same manner at the end of
every term of twenty-one years.
Very few grants under these rules still exist. There are now
only two in Kamriip and sixteen in Sibsagar, with a total area of
5,533 acres.
The next rules were those for leasehold grants of the 23rd
II.

October 1854, commonly called the Old Assam Eules. Under

these rules, no grant was to be less than 500 acres in extent
(afterwards reduced to 200 acres, or even 100 acres in special
cases). One-fourth of the grant was exempted from assessment in
perpetuity, and the remaining three-fourths were granted revenue-
free for fifteen years, to be assessed thereafter at 3 annas an acre
for ten years, and at G annas an acre for seventy-four years more,
making a whole term of ninety-nine years which the grant
; after

Was to be subject to resurvey and settlement " at such moderate

 Chap. IV.] lAKD TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. 169

Sk ctiqn 2.
assessment as might seem proper to tlie Government of the day
the proprietary right remaining with the grantee's representatives W^^^^ Land

under the conditions generally ajDplicable to the owners of the

estates not permanently-settled." One-eighth of the grant was to be
cleared and rendered fit for cultivation in five years, one-fourth
in ten years, one-half in twenty years, and three-fourths by the
expiration of the tiiirtieth year ; and the entire grant was declared
to be liable to resumption in case of the non-fulfilment of these
^conditions. The grants were transferable, subject to registration of
transfer in the Deputy Commissioner's office. These rules were
extended to Sylhet and Cachar in 1856, and were in force until
1861, when they were superseded by rules for grants in fee-simple,
which at the same time allowed holders of leasehold grants under
the prior rules to redeem their revenue payments, on condition
that the stipulated area had been duly cleared, at twenty years'
purchase of the revenue at the time payable. This permission is still

in force, and has been largely taken advantage of. Two hundred and
seventy-one grants, with an area of 238,206 acres, have thus been
redeemed, and 36 grants, with an area of 35,451 acres (most of
which are in Cachar), remain upon the original terms.
III. To these succeeded a new policy, that of disposing of land
in fee-simple. The first fee-simple rules were those issued by
Lord
Canning in October 1861. The Secretary of State took objection
to some of their provisions, and a fresh set of rules was issued on
the 30th August 1862. The rules issued by Lord Canning provided
for the disposal of the land to the applicant at fixed rates, rangincp
•from Es. 2-8 to Es. 5 per The rules of August 1862
acre.
provided that the lot should be put up to auction. Grants were
to be limited, except under special circumstances, to an area of
3,000 acres. In each case the grant was ordinarily to be compact,
including no more than one tract of land in a ring fence. The upset
price was to be not less than Es. 2-8 an acre, and in exceptional
localities it might be as high as Rs. 10. Provision was made for
the survey of lands previous to sale, and for the demarcation of
proper boundaries where applicants for unsurveyed lands were
for special reasons, put in possession prior to survey, and also for
55
 jyo assa:m administratiox report. [Chap. IV.

Section 2.
^]^q protection of proprietary or occupancy rights in the kinds
Waste land apphed for. The purcliase-mone}^ was to he paid either at once or
by instahnents. In the latter case, a portion of the purchase-money,
not less than 10 per cent., was to be paid at the time of sale, and
the balance within ten years of that date, with interest at 10 per
cent, per annum on the portion remaining unpaid. Default of
payment of interest or purchase-money rendered the grant liable

to re-sale.
These rules were in force August 1872, when the Lieutenant
till

Governor of Bengal stopped further grants under them, pending

revision of the rules.
IV. Eevised fee-simple rules were issued in February 1874
just before the constitution of the province as a separate Adminis-
tration, which raised the upset price of land sold to Es. 8 per acre,
and made more careful provision for accurate identification of the

land, and for consideration of existing rights and claims, before its

disposal. These rules continued in force till April 1876.

There now exist in the province 319 fee-simple grants (exclud-
ing redeemed leasehold grants already mentioned), covering an
area of 192,734 acres.
V. The existing special rules under which applications for waste
land for the cultivation of tea, coffee, or timber trees are dealt with,
were originally issued in April 1876, and were revised and re-issued
under sections 12 and 29 of the Land and Kevenue Eegulation in
1887. The land is leased (for thirty years) at progressive rates,
and the lease is put up for auction sale, but only among applicants
prior to its advertisement in the Gazette^ at an upset price of Ee. 1

per acre, under the provisions of Act XXIII of 1SG3. The

progressive rates are as follows :

For the first two years ... ... revenue free.

„ next four „ ... ... 3 annas an acre.

» » four „ ... ... 6 „ „

„ „ ten „ ... ... o „ „
„ „ ten „ ... ... 1 rupee „

After the expiration of the last mentioned term, the land is to

be assessed under the laws in force, " provided that no portion of
Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SUHVEY. 1^!

the said land shall at an}^ time be assessed at a rate higher than Section a.

that then pa3^able on the most highly-assessed lands in the said Wasteland
««"^«*-
district, cultiva.ed with rice, pulses, or other ordinary agricul-
tural produce," The grantee is required to pay the revenue
punctually on the due date ; to devote the land only to the
special crops for cultivating which it is granted ; to personally

reside in the district, or have an agent residing there ; to

erect, and maintain in repair, proper boundary marks ; not

voluntarily to alienate any portion of the land, unless the estate is

transferred as a whole ; and to give notice to the Deputy Commis-

sioner of all such transfers. On breach of any of these conditions,

the concession of the favourable rates of assessment on which the

land is held is liable to be withdrawn, and the estate is liable to be
assessed at the ordinary district rates. There were altogether, at
the end of 1892-93, 645 estates, covering 244,011 acres, held on
this tenure in Assam.
Mention should here be made of a special tenure, compounded
of the lease under the rules of April 1876 and the terms on which
ildm land is held in the district, on which certain tea planters have
been allowed to hold land for tea in South Sylhet. When the ildm
resettlement was in progress in this district, it was found that several
planters had recently acquired considerable areas of waste land
held under ikbn pattas. One of the rules of the ildm settlement was
that waste land within the boundaries of the ijatta which exceeded
the proportion of one-fifth of the cultivated area should be cut off

and resumed by Government. But it was precisely in order to

obtain this waste land that tea planters had acquired the ildm
pattas. A compromise was, therefore, made in 1879. The. land
already under tea was assessed at Re. 1-8 per acre ; of the waste,

an area equal to one-fifth of the cultivated area was allowed at 8

annas an acre and the rest was permitted to be held on the terms
;

and at the rates specified in the waste land rules of 1876. There
are 61 such estates in Sylhet, with an area of 2G,317 acres.
From the above summ-ary it will be seen that from 1838 to
1861 the principle on which waste lands were granted for tea
cultivation was that they should be held on a leasehold tenure for
 172 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. IV.

Se ction 3. \ong terms at low rates of assessment, the cultivation of the land
System of heiug secured by stringent conditions as to clearance; from 1S61
Survey and -in-z^i t t p tic t
Settlement, to lb<D the policj was to alienate land tree ol revenue demand,

and without any clearance conditions ; while from 1876 to date

the principle of leases has again been reverted to, but this time
without any special stipnlations as to the area to be brought under
cultivation within the term of lease. The total area held on these
special terms for tea cultivation in the province is no less than
992,598 acres, or 1,550*93 square miles.

SECTION 3.— SYSTEM OF SURVEY AND SETTLEMENT.

187. The nature of the raiyatwdri tenure in the Assam Valley
has already been described. Estates held
Settlements in Assam ^^^ annual lease are resettled every year. -^
Proper. '' '

while the ten-year settlements undergo no

alteration during the length of their term, save such as may be
caused by the raiyat's relinquishing some fields of his holding, and
such relinquishments are naturally less common in decennially-

settled lands, where the nature of the cultivation affords some

guarantee of permanence, than in those tracts where the system of
annual settlements continues to prevail. In either case settlement
is preceded by measurement, which, like the assessment, is effected
by the tahsildar or mauzadar with the help of his subordinate
officials, called mandals. The position and duties of these officers

have already been prescribed {ante., paragraph 109). A mauza is,

as already explained, a defined revenue circle averaging 11 "589

square miles (though the area varies exceedingly in different parts
of the same district), while a mandal's charge averages nearly 20
square miles of gross area. These figures include unoccupied waste,
ofwhich most parts of the valley contain an enormous extent,
and waste land grants, with which a mauzadar has nothing to do.
Excluding these, the average assessed area under a mauzadar is
about 7,023 acres, and that in charge of a mandal about 1,986 acres.
188. The old system making these measurements was by
of
measuring up the four sides of the field with
a 30 -foot chain and multiplying together the
Chap. IV.j LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. 1 7;^

mean lens^tli and breadth tlius ascertained. The result of this Section 3.

method was usually to give areas in excess of the reality, but this System of

tendency was more than compensated by the omission to measure settUment.

up the gradual extensions of cultivation which take place on the
edges of waste. This system is still followed in tracts which have
not yet come under survey ; but whenever the land has been
cadastrally surveyed, its place has been taken by a regular survey.
All new fields are connected with permanent points (prisms, theo-
dolite and the like), and are carefully plotted on the
stations,
village map, old and permanent cultivation being distinguished
from lands newly taken up by the use of different coloured lines.

In all cases alike the area is recorded in terms of bighas, kdthas, ^

B,ndilessas, a biglta (14,400 square feet) being equivalent to 5 kdthas

and 20 lessas. The registers in which the results of the measure-
ments are recorded are two in number, — a field register or jamd-
bandi, and a dag chit ha or revenue roll. The former shows the
number borne by each field in the mandal's circle, the raiyat's name,
the area and the class of soil ; in non-cadastral tracts the bounda-
ries and dimensions are also entered. The jamdbandi is a record
of the fields constituting each raiyat's holdings, their area, soil class,

and assessment. Separate dag chithas and jamdbandis are main-

tained for lands held on annual and lands held on decennial leases.
These measurements are made, and registers kept, by the mandals,
who answer to the pdtwdris of other parts of India, and of whom
there are usually three or four in a mauza.
189. In the five upper districts of the Brahmaputra Valley, the
soil is divided into three main classes,— bastL
rupit, R.nd.fai'ingdti. The first mentioned is the
land on which the raiyat's house stands, with the garden enclosure
around it ; rupit land is that on which the winter crop of trans-

planted rice (sail) is grown, as well as the low swampy lands

devoted to the cultivation of bao ; the term Jaringdti denotes the
higher and lighter soils which produce dhu or summer rice, sugar-
cane, mustard, oil- seeds, and other crops.
Until the present year, no attempt had ever been made to proceed
further in the direction of classification. Advantage has now been
Second
Chap. IV,] LAND I'ENUIIES, SETTLEltfENT, SURVEY. 1 75

supplementary settlement, however, is needed, in order to assess Section- 3.

the lands which are broken up for oil-seeds and pulses in Septem- System of
ber and October, when the floods subside. The measurements for slttUnient.
this purpose are conducted during the winter months ; the papers
of the dariabadi or supplementary settlement are filed before the
and the settlements are reported to the
close of the financial year ;

Commissioner for confirmation in the same manner as the main

settlements concluded in the July preceding. In the following-
year these dariabadi lands come into the main settlement.
The revenue is paid in two instalments of three-fifths in
November and two-fifths in February but dariabadi lands, beino- ;

settled too late for the November instalment, pay the whole year's
revenue in a lump sum in February.*
191. In paragraph 188 reference has been made to the cadas-
tral survey. Prior to 1883, maps showing
Cadastral suivey. r ti ^
,-,
^r
the cultivation m each
•
i -n
village did
,

not exist,
•

and the only record of the fields occupied by the raiyats was that
contained in the mandal's dag chillia and jauidbandi. It was then
decided, wherever practicable, to replace this inaccurate system by
the exact record of a regular survey, and with this object operations
were commenced by a professional survey party in November
1883. During the cold weather of 1883-84, 228 square miles were
cadastrally surveyed in Kamrup, and between that year and 1890-
91 the whole of the more permanent and densely cultivated tracts
in the five upper districts of the valley (consisting in all of 4^460
square miles) were brought under survey. As the survey
progressed, steps were taken to ensure the proper maintenance of
the maps and other records by increasing the number of Sub-
Deputy Collectors (there is now one of these officers in each sub-
division), who are held directly responsible for all survey and
settlement operations by appointing a new class of officers known as
supervisor kdnungos, whose duty be constantly on the move»it is to
checking the work done by the mandals and training those whose
knowledge is deficient ; and, lastly, by improving the status of the

* In certain maiizay, where tlie cultivation of mustard is considerable, the whole

revenue is paid in one instalment, on the 15ih February.
 :

[Chap. IV.
176 ASSAM ADM^^^STRATION REPORT.

SECTION'S- mandals Formerly, the latter were all paid at a

themselves.

Sylt^iof tuiiform rate of Rs. 6 per month now they ;

are divided into three
and promotion
%memni grades drawing Es. 12, Ks. 9 and Rs. 6
respectively,

to the higher grades is made directly

dependent on their quali-
fications as surveyors.
The principal statistics connected with the cadastral survey

are set forth in the following statement

Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. 1 77

these fiizures do not take into account tlie normal increase in Section 3.

revenue that would in any case have taken place, nor the fact that Syste?n of

revised definitions of basti and rupit land, which were issued while slulem&rit.
the survey was in would
progress, in any case have produced a
considerable ccain under the head of reclassification ; neither do
they allow for the increased cost of survey and settlement opera-
tions due to the necessity of maintaining the more elaborate system
which the survey has inaugurated. But, even after making allow-
ance for all this, it must be conceded that the operations have
proved a fair financial success and it must, moreover, be borne
;

in mind that the more powerful supervising staff now placed at the
disposal of district officers, together with the increased facilities for
checking afforded by the survey maps, will be of permanent
benefit to the revenue by making it almost impossible for concealed
cultivation to exist in the area over which the survey has extended.
The work of the professional party has now come to an end,
as no tracts remain of sufficient extent and cultivation to render
it profitable to carry out their survey through this expensive
agency. Bat it has been the steady policy of Government
throughout the course of the survey to employ as many mandals
as possible as amins, and thereby to secure a trained staff in every
district ; and it is now intended to utilise the services of these men
for the gradual extension of the surveyed area wherever there is

sufficient cultivation to render this course desirable. Small areas

will be selected annually in each district for survey by trained
mandals from adjacent mauzas, under the supervision of the Sub-
Deputy Collector and the supervisor kdnungo of the circle ; and by
these means, in course of time, the whole of the cultivated area in
the Brahmaputra Valley will be brought under cadastral survey.*
192. In Sylhet the temporarily-settled portions, as already
g ,, explained, consist of the Jaintia parganas and
the ildm and other miscellaneous mahdls not
included in the permanent settlement.

* The practicability of this scheme has been proved by an experimental survey at

Barpeta, where 111 square miles were surveyed by the ordinary revenue s'aff al a total
cost of Rs. 50-45 per square mile.

2 A
 lyS ASSA3I ADMINISTRATION EEPORT. [Chap. IV.

Section- 3. 193. The history of the Jaintia settlement has already been
System of ^. . i)artlv
^
i>-iven. In l-SoS-lO a cadastral or
Suy-npv n'n,1 Settlement in Jaiiitia. ^ ^
Settlement-
was made
proiessional kliasra survey
these or

parganas, and the maps of this survey formed the basis, with
additional surveys by amins where fresh land had beea taken up,
of the resettlement made in 1856. At this settlement, the rates of
assessment were determined on local enquiry by the Settlement
Officer and his subordinates, according to the nature of the soil

and its capabilities. The rates varied from 2 annas 6 pie to

Re. 1-0-3 per acre ; but these rates were pitched extremely low in
consequence of the successful opposition of the cultivators to the
imposition of any higher assessment.
This settlement expired in 1876 ; but, owing to errors commit-
ted in the classification and assessment of the land, the new settle-

ment was not finalh'' completed until 1882. A survey and re-
assessment are now beinsf carried out with a view to the introduc-
tion of a new settlement for ten years from the 1st April 1892.

For this purpose, land is divided into four main classes, — (1)
homestead, (2) cultivation, (3) fallow, and (4) waste. The seven-
teen parganas, covering an area of 459 square miles, are further
divided into homogeneous net profit tracts, after taking into consi-
deration the productiveness of the soil, cost of cultivation, proximity
to markets, liability to ravages by wild beasts, &c. In each of
these tracts the four main classes of land are subdivi led into four
sub-classes, called first, second, third, and fourth class homestead,
cultivation, &c. Differential rates are fixed for these sub-classes
in each homogeneous circle, the ultimate result for all the parganas
taken together being that homestead land bears six diflerent rates
of assessment, varying from 10 annas to 3 annas 9 pie per higha ;

cultivation (seven rates), varying from 7 annas to 2 annas 7^

pie; fallow (seven rates), varying from 2 annas to 9 pie ; and
jungle from 1 anna to 44 pie per higha.
(eight rates), varying
194. Ihe resettlement of ildm and other miscellaneous tem-
poraril3'-settled estates in Svlhet has been
7Z(im and niiscfllaneons "

tcniporaiily-sottled oh- Conducted Under rules sanctioned

. ,

m
. -,
otfr.
lb7o by
i

^^^^^'
the Govermnent of India. Before settlement,
Chap. IV.] LAND TENURES, SETTLEMENT, SURVEY. 179

Sections.
the were measured with chahi and compass by native
lands
System of
amins, a plan of the estate on the scale of IG inches to the iiHrvey
' -t and _ _

mile was prepared, and the area was calculated in both bighas and Settlement.
acres. These measurements were tested by the Settlement Deputy
Collector. The rates of assessment have not been scientifically
determined with reference to the advantages of situation or
productivity of the soil, but were fixed in each case by the Settle-
ment Officer (himself a zeminddr of the district) with regard to the
rates paid by cultivators for similar lands in the neighbourhood.
From these rates, a deduction of 15 per cent, was made to cover
cost of collection and risks, and the remainder was fixed as the
assessment of the mahdls. The resultant assessment is considerably
in excess of the former revenue derived from these mahdls, but is
not, so far as can be judged, in itself burdensome, being considerably
lower in its incidence than the revenue rates, which are found to be
paid with ease in the more backward and less civilised districts of

the Assam Valley. These settlements will all expire in 1907 A.D.
195. The last settlement of the Pratabgarh tahsil was effected

previous one
in 1881-83, the ^ having broken
Pratabgarh tahsil. ^ •
t n ^
down, owing to the rates havmg been lixed
at too hiixh a fif^ure. At this settlement, the land was divided into
four classes (homestead, dqfasal, ekfasal, and chetia), the rates
varying from Ee. 1 to 7 annas per acre. This settlement expired
in 1887, since which time it has been extended from year to year,
pending a fresh survey which is now at last approaching comple-
tion. For the purposes of this settlement, the land has been divided
into ten classes, some of which are again divided into first and second
sub-classes, according to the productiveness of the soil. The rates

per bigha* which have been proposed vary from 3 annas to Re. 1-2-0.
198. The first regular settlement of Cachar was made in 1 838-
and was based
39 for a term of five years,
Cachar.
on a somewhat imperfect survey. In 1841-42
the district was surveyed on the same plan as the adjacent Jain^ia
parganas. The cultivated land in the several mauzas was survey-
ed field by field, and so much of the uncultivated area as seemed
likely to come under cultivation was also surveyed and divided
* 3-025 highas = 1 acre.
 l8o ASSAM ADMINISTEATION REPORT. [Chap. IV.

Section- 3. into numbered dihjs or plots, the intention being that, as cultivation
Syite/n of extended, these plots should afford the means of determining its

Seuhnient ^^^^ ^^^ ^ basis for a detailed map of its area. In 18-43-44 a re-
settlement, based upon this survej^, was made for fifteen years.
Then followed the settlement of 1859, made for twenty years, which
expired in 1879. This also was based on the survey of 1841-42,
the fresh vsince that was made being measured up by
cultivation
native amins. The land was divided into two classes, called awwal
and duam respectively and within these classes it was ranged,
;

according to situation, distance from navigable rivers, and exposure

to the ravages of wild beasts, in four grades. The local measure of
land in Cacliar is the hdl, or plough (also called by the Arabic
name hidbah), which is equal to 4*82 acres and the rates imposed ;

varied from Es. 3-8 to Es. 3-0 for first-grade land to Ks. 2 to
Ee. 1-8 for fourth grade. Waste land producing thatching-grass
and reeds, -which are valuable products in the densely-peopled
Surma Valley, was settled at the full rates of revenue charged
for cultivated land in the neighbourhood. Forest jungle, which
required much clearing, was settled for three 3'ears revenue-free,
and then at a progressive jama, rising to the full rates charged for
adjacent lands at the end of the term, twenty years.
197- On the expiry of this settlement, a fresh survey was made,
and a settlement was effected for fifteen years,
^^^
years in 1879-84!^ whicli extends up to 31st Marcli 1898. For
the purpose of this settlement the three
fiscal divisions, known as the Katigora tahsil, the Ilaihikandi tahsil,
and the sadr tahsil, were dealt with separately. In each tahsil the
soilwas divided into four classes, viz.^ homestead, cultivation, tea,

and waste, and each class was again subdivided into four circles,

the constitution of the circles being based on a consideration of the

productiveness of the soil, the facility or otherwise of communica-
tion, the liability to inundation, the exposure to the ravages of wild
animals, and the proximity to dense forests.
The rates fixed at this assessment vary from Es. 8-4 to Es. 4-12

per hcH for homestead land, from Es. 7-2 to Es. 3-12 for cultivation,
and from Es. 7-2 to Es. 6-0 for tea. Waste was assessed at a
uniform rate of Ee. 1 per hul.
 Chap, v.] CIVIL DIVISIONS OF BEITISH TERRITORY. I8l

CHAPTER V.

Civil Divisions of Britisli Territory.

198. The province of Assam is divided, for administrative pur- ex-VIL

^^^^^^°^^-
poses, into twelve districts, viz., the six dis-
adininistrative
di^4sTc^'s^^
^ricts of the Brahmaputra Valley, the two
districts of the Surma Valley, and the four hill
districts. These districts, their administrative headquarters, the
subdivisions into which tlie}^ are divided, their area, and their popu-
lation according to the census of February 1891, are shown below:

Name of district.
 I«2 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. Chap. V.

Civil
Divisions.
Name of district.
 Chap, v.] CIVIL DIVISIONS OF BRITISH TERRITORY. 183

At each headquarters station there is a Deputy Commissioner '^'^'ii'

and at each subdivisional station other than that of the head-

quarters subdivision an Assistant or Extra Assistant Commissioner,
or, in one or two cases, a j^ohce officer.

The six districts of the Brahmaputra Valley constitute the

charge of the Commissioner of the Assam Valley Districts, whose
headquarters are at Gaulniti.
199. In the eight plains districts and the Khc4si and Jaintia
T3 ,. ,. . .
Hills the area is further subdivided into
rulice divisions.
tlianas, or jurisdictions of poUce stations.
There are 46 thana areas in these districts. Some of the larc^er
thanas are again divided into outposts, of which there are 58 in
the province. These areas, though they originally define police
jurisdiction, are convenient for other purposes : thus, the jurisdic-
tion of the munsifs in Sylhet is arranged by thanas ; the registra-
tion sub-districts are similarly arranged; Muhammadan Marriai?e
Eegistrars and Kazis in the Surma Valley are also appointed for
thana and outpost areas.
200. In Assam Proper and the Eastern Duars the district is

, . .
portioned out for revenue purposes into
Revenue divisions.
mauzas. The average area of these mauzas
is 115-89 square miles. They thus correspond in size rather to the

pargana or tappa than to the mauza of Upper India. In Assam there

is little cohesion in the village society, and almost nothing which
represents the complex social organization of the North-Western
Provinces or the Punjab. Hamlets of a few houses are scattered
about the whole mauza area ; and though the boundaries of the
lands recognised as belonfyini:^ to a particular villao-e some are in

districts {e.g., parts of Kamriip) known to the people, they do not

imply any definite appropriation of the soil to that village ; an3^one
applying for it can settle upon Government waste wherever it is

situated.
Formerly, each of these mauzas was under a mauzadar or reve-
nue contractor (see paragraph 109 ante) ; but since 1882 the
tahsildari system has been partially introduced into Kamriip,
Darrang, Nowgong, and Sibsagar, each tnhsil being under a tahsil-
 1
84 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT.

Civil dar paid bv salary and not by commission, and consisting of a

division's.
collection of from three to eleven of the old mauzas. This system
is still being extended as opportunity occurs, and the entire dis-

appearance of the old mauzadari system is now only a matter of

time. The following statement shows the extent to which mauzas
have already been amalgamated into tahsils :
Chap, v.] CIVIL DIVISIONS OF BRITISH TERIIITORY. 1
85

of the* district is
...
divided into three tahsils, the offices of which are
located at Silchar, Haihikaiidi, and Katigora.
In the hiU districts different divisions for revenue purposes
Civil
Divisions.

prevail. In the Garo Hills, the strip of plains land which surrounds
the hill area on three sides is managed by two mauzadars, who,
however, are not contractors, as in Assam, but officers on a fixed
salary. The hill area is also portioned out into five mauzas but ;

the mauzadar here is merely the superior officer who receives the
house tax from the lashkars, or Garo headmen of groups of villages.
These a^ain collect from the lakma or nokma, the head and
representative of each village.
In the Khasi Hills, as already mentioned, there is not much
British territory, the area being generally included in the States of
the Khasi Seims, Sardars, Longdohs, or other petty chiefs. Only
25 villages, or groups of villages, are British, and these pay house
tax through a villacfe headman. In the Jaintia Hills there are 19
circles of villages, each of which is managed by a dolloi or head-
man, who collects the house tax and pays it in, receiving com-
mission. There are, besides, four Sardarships, the management of

which is hereditary, the headmen being Kuki or Mikir chiefs.

In North Cachar, the assessment and collection of house tax
were formerly carried out by a special tahsil establishment, but
this has been replaced since 1884 by mauzadars, who are remu-

nerated by a commission of ten per cent., and occupy much the

same position .as the mauzadar in the Brahmaputra Valley.
In the Naga Hills, part of the district is in charge of mauzadars
(the Mikir and Eengma and the land revenue paying villages
Hills
in the Nambar forest), and in part (the Angami, Rengma, Sema,
Lhota, Ao, and Kacha ISTaga villages on the main range) the house
tax is collected headmen, called lamhdrdars, who receive
by village
a commission varying from 12^ to 20 per cent.

2 B
 1 86 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VI.

CHAPTER VL
Details of the last Census {1891).

Census. 201. The last census of Assam was taken on the 26th February
1891 in all those portions of the province in
Manner of taking the
census.
^^^^.^-^^ .^.
^^.^^ synchronous,
./ '
that is tO Say,
•'
'

throughout the plains and in some parts of

the hill districts. In the greater portion of the latter a more
gradual enumeration was carried out, but the total number of
persons included in the non-synchronous returns amounted only

to about 400,000, or less than 8 per cent, of the total population.

A census was taken of Manipur, but all papers connected therewith

were destroyed in the disturbances which took place in the
following March, and no statistics are, therefore, available for that

State. In the North Lushai Hills the Civil and Military popula-
tion was censused on the 26th February, while, for the Lushais;

an estimate of the population was prepared by the Political Officer,

based on enquiries made by him during his tours. The figures

furnished for the last mentioned tract are, of course, only approxi-

mate, but it is believed that they are very fairly accurate. The
report and tables were issued in June 1892, or about fifteen

months after the census was taken. A brief summary of some of

the more important results is given below.

202. As stated in the last chapter, the area of the province

is about 49,004 square miles, and the popu-

Area and dcnsitj".
lation 5,476,833, or on the average 111
persons per square mile, which is less than in any other part
of India, except only .in Burma and Coorg. The details of the
 :

Chap, VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 187

population in each district are shown in the following state- Census.

ment
 ASSAM ADMINISTi^ATION REPORT. [Chap. VI.

Census. stand
The KliAsi and Jaiiitia and the Niiga Hills districts first

in respect of area ; but they consist, to a large extent, of rocky

and unculturable uplands, and their population is consequently

sparse. Their combined area is double that of Yorkshire, but

they contain only about one-ninth of the population of tliat

county. The next largest district is Sylhet, which contains very

nearly two-fifths of the total population of the province. AYitli

the exception of a large belt of jungle at the foot of the hills

along the southern boundary and of a smaller similar tract towards

the north, the whole of the district is very densely peopled. It is

equal in area to Durham, Cumberland, Northumberland, and West-

moreland its population is larger by 33 per cent, than that
;

of these four counties taken together. The next district, Goalpdra,

isabout the size of North Wales, and is equally densely peopled.
Lakhimpur comes next in size, and then Kdmryp, with an area
equal to that of Lincolnshire and Nottinghamshire, but only
about 70 per cent, of the combined population of these counties.
The smallest district in the province is North Cachar, which is
somewhat larger than Somersetshire, but has less than 4 per cent,
of its population.* As a general rule, it may be said that the
density of the population is greatest in the west, and decreases
gradually towards the east, the main reason for this result
ajDparently being that in the days of native rule the eastern districts
suffered more from wars and a disturbed frontier than those further
west.

203. For census purposes a house was defined to be " the

homestead where the members of one family
Ilouses and house room. ^ ^ ^

reside under a common head with their

servants," That the definition Avas well understood is shown by
the great uniformity in the average number of persons per house
returned in the difTerent districts. With the exception of the
Naga Hills and Goalpdra, the average in all districts lies between

• North Cachar is adniiiiiKtratively a subdivision of the Cachar dis-trict, hut, OM'ing

to thewide physical and ethnological differences between it and the plains portion of
Cachar, it was treated as a separate district for the purposes of the census.
 J

Chap. VI. DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 189

5-0 in Kdmriip, Sylhet, ard three out of the four hill districts, Census.

and 5 "3 in Nowgong, where the figures are higher than they

otherwise would be, owing to the great number of Mikirs living

in the district, amongst whom it is customary for large groups
of relatives to reside tosjether under a common roof. The mate-
rials of which houses are constructed in Assam are extremely

plentiful, and can be got everywhere at a very trifling cost ; in fact,

in most parts they cost nothing more than the labour involved
in cutting them and bringing them to the homestead. So far,

therefore, as their houses are concerned, the condition of the

people is one of great comfort, and overcrowding is practically

unknown.

204. The number of males exceeds that of females in every

district except
^
the Khdsi and Jaintia Hills
Proportions 01 the sexes.
and North Cachar, which are peopled mainly
by aboriginal tribes. In the Ndga Hills and the Garo Hills districts
the preponderance of males is very slight, and is due entirely to

the Hindu and Musalman population. In the province generally,

not only does the number of males exceed that of females, but

this excess is more marked now than it was in 1881, males havino-

increased by 316,000, or 12-62 per cent., and females by 279,407,

or 11*75 per cent. The explanation of these figures will be found

in the fact that amongst the immigrant population males largely

outnumber females. In 1881 there was a foreign-born population
of 280,609, viz., males 163,664, and females 116,945. The total

foreign-born population now numbers 510,672, including 297,301

males and 213,371 females, that is to say, the excess of immigrant
males over females is greater by 37,211 than it was in 1881.

Excluding immigrants, 50-79 out of every 100 persons are males

and 49-21 are females.
 190 ASSAM AD]MINISTRATIOX REPORT. [Chap. VI.

C2NSU5. 205. The statement below displays some of tlie most prominent
facts regarding the distribution of the popu-
Towns and villages.
lation over towns and villag^es :

Towns. Villages,

Mr:: fcoto

Cachar (plains) 7,523 638 360,019 980

Sylhet 27,305 C,J15 2,127.28

Oo&lpira 1,098 442,039

Kamrup 20,159 3-1 1,565 614,090

Darrang 4,011 1-3 1,116 303,750

Kowgong 4,815 339,320

SibsAgar 2-1 1,306 447,655

Lathimpur .. 9,876 244,177

Korth Cachar .. 18,941

Kiiga Hills .. 1,781 121,086

Khdsi and Jaiiitia Hills fi,720 1,329 191,184

GAro Hills .. 1,005 121,570

Nortli Lnsbai Hills 43,631

Total 102,074 17,142

Chap. VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. I9I

The urban population is extremely small, being only TS per Census.

cent, of the total population of the province. The corresponding

percentage in Bengal amounts to 5"3, in Bombay to 17'8, and in

England and Wales to 66"6. The reasons for the absence of

large towns in x^ssam are that the country is still very sparsely
populated ; there are no large industries to encourage the growth
of towns, and the main occupation of the great bulk of the people
is- agriculture. The figures regarding the number of villages are

of very little statistical value, as the definition adopted for census

purposes in the diflerent districts was far from uniform. In the

cadastrally-surveyed portions of the Brahmaputra Valley and

Cachar, the area which formed the revenue survey village was

taken as a " village "; elsewhere it was taken to be a group of

houses bearing a separate name, outlying hamlets being included

in, or excluded from, the parent village according to the require-
''
ments of the work of enumeration. The total number of " villages

returned is 17,160, and the average population per village is

319. Nearly half of the population reside in villages containing

from 200 to 499 persons, and nearly half of the remainder in

villages containing more than 500 and less than 1,000; 13 per

cent, of the people live in hamlets, where there are less than

200 persons, and only 19 per cent, in places of which the

population exceeds 1,000.

 ASSA31 ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VI.
192

Cexsus. ^

a
 Chap. VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 1
93

The general result of the statistics for the diflerent districts Census.
appears to be that the population of the eastern portion of the
province is advancing far more rapidly than that of the western
districts.The natural increase in Cachar is more than three times
as great as in Sylhet. In the Brahmaputra Valley, Goalpdra shows
a considerable decrease in its natural population, and so also
does Kdmrup, though to a less extent. The population of Darrang
is stationary, that of Nowgong is growing at the rate of 10 per
thousand per annum, and that of Sibsdgar at the annual rate of
11 '5 per thousand, while in Lakhimpur the rate reaches 17 '3 per
thousand, which is approximately the same as in Cachar, the
eastern district of the Surma Valley. The growth of the popula-
tion in the hill districts cannot be stated with any degree of
accuracy. The total increase in the people of the province is
contributed to by all districts except Kdmriip and the North Cachar
subdivision, where there is a decrease of 10,711 and 1,179, respect-
ively, due, in the former case, to the prevalence of hdla-azdi\
which also accounts for the comparatively small increase in Goal-
pdra, and, in the latter, to the migrations of Kachdris and other
tribes. The largest additions to the population are in Sylhet
(185,584), Sibsdgar (87,000), Lakhimpur (74,160), and Cachar
.plains (73,804). The largest percentage of increase is in Lakhim-
pur (41-22), Sibsdgar (23-49), and Cachar (25-12), in all of which
districts immigration, due to the extension of the tea industry,
accounts for the greater part of the excess of the present figures
over those of 1881. Excluding the Ndga Ilills, where the increase
is mainly dne to the inclusion of the newly-formed Mokok-
chang subdivision, the Khdsi and Jaintia Hills district furnishes
the largest proportional increase (16*85 per cent.) amongst
the districts in which tea is not largely cultivated. The
population of the lower portion of the Brahmaputra Valley,
where the land is not very favourable to tea cultivation, and
which has, moreover, suffered considerably from kdla-azar,
has been stationary, the nominal increase in Godlpdra and
Mangaldai being more than counterbalanced by the decrease in
Kdmrup.
2 c
 194 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VI.

Census. 207. The increase in the number of immigrants from other

provinces is remarkable. The number of

graSon!*"^^
'°" '^" ^"^''
persous bom elsewhere is 510,672, against

280,710 in 1881, being an increase of nearly

82 per cent, in the course of the decade. It has been estimated

that out of the total number of immigrants, about 424,000, or 83

per cent., are probably persons who originally came to the province

as garden coolies, and that of the remainder, some 61,000, or

nearly 12 per cent., are cultivators from adjacent districts of

Bengal. The Census Superintendent calculates that, on the aver-

age, an annual immigration of close upon 39,000 persons must

have taken place, in order to keep up the number of immigrants
censused in Assam in 1881 and to produce the increase over that
number which has been recorded at the present census.

The loss to the province by emigration during the inter-censal

interval has been very slight. The total number of persons born

in Assam who were censused in other provinces in 1881 was

41,038, and the number has now risen to 43,611, so that the

net increase of persons born in the province, who have emigrated

during the decade, over the number of such persons who were
absent in 1881, but have since returned, is only 2,573. The total

net emigration of persons born in Assam is, therefore, represented

by this figure, |;Zi<5 the number required to keep up the

emigrant population of 1881, which, at the assumed death-rate
of 35 per thousand, would involve an annual exodus of 1,687

persons.
Chap. VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 195

o
'So
r 1

u
rd

bO
 :

196 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION KEPOET. [Chap. VI.

Census.
Speaking generally, it may be said that nearly 55 per cent, of
the total population profess the Hindu religion, that 2 7 '09 are
Muhammadans, 0'30 Christians, and 0"14 Buddhists, while 17'70
per cent, consist of persons whose tenets have been described as
Animistic. Under the head " Others " are included the Jains,
who are all immigrants, and also a few Theists and Agnostics.
The Hindu religion predominates most largely in Sibsdgar and
Lakhimpur, where the influence of the Vaishnava Gosains is

greatest. It includes amongst more than half the

its adherents
population of Cacliar, Ka,mrup, Darrang, and Nowgong, and slightly
less than half of the people living in Sylhet and Godlpdra. In the
hill districts, the number of Hindus is nominal. The prevalence
of the Muhammadan religion is precisely that which one would
expect from the previous history of the province. Musalmans
constitute slightly more than half of the population of Sylhet and
very nearly one-third of the population of the Cachar and Goalpdra
districts. Higher up the Brahmaputra Valley, the proportion of
Musalmans steadily decreases, while in the hill districts the
number is almost nominal. There has been very little change
during the decade in the proportion which Musalmans bear to the
total population. In 1881 the percentage was 26-98, and it is now
27*09. The primitive beliefs of the different Mongolian tribes
have been classed together under one head, " Animistic," partly
because too little is known about them to enable any more minute
classification to be adopted, and partly because their general
characteristics are everywhere much the same. The following
description of them is taken from the last Census Eeport
There is a vague but very general belief in some one omnipotent being,
who is well disposed towards men, and whom, therefore, there is no necessity
for propitiating. Then come a number of evil spirits, who are ill-disposed
towards human beings, and to whose malevolent interference are ascribed
all the woes which afflict mankind. To them, therefore, sacrifices must be
offered. Ihese malevolent spirits are sylvan deities, spirits of the trees
the rocks and the streams, and sometimes also of the tribal ancestors.
There is no regular priesthood, but some persons are supposed to be better
endowed with the power of divination than others. When a calamity occurs,
one or more of these diviners, shamans, or soothsayers, is called on to
Chap. VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CEXSUS. 197

ascertain the particular demon who is offended, and who requires to be Census.

pacified by a sacrifice. This is done either by devil-dancing, when the

diviner works himself into a paroxysm of drunkenness and excitement, and

then holds converse with the unseen spirits around him, or by the exami-
nation of omens, — eggs, grains of rice, or the entrails of a fowl. There
is a profound belief in omens of all sorts ; no journey is undertaken unless
it is ascertained that the fates are propitious, while persons who have started

on a journey will turn back, should adverse omens be met with on the way.
One peculiarity in connection with their sacrifices may be mentioned. On
all necessary occasions goats, fowls, and other animals are offered to the

gods ; but it is always assumed that the latter will be contented -oith the

blood and entrails ; the flesh is divided amongst the sacrificer and his friends,

the presiding soothsayer usually getting the lion's share.

The great majority of the people in the hill districts are still

animistic, and so also are from 20 to 30 per cent, of the popula-

tion of Kamriip, Darrang, and Nowgong. Elsewhere the number

are comparatively small, owing to the proselytising influence of

Hinduism, which has almost efl'aced the identity of the non- Aryan
constituents of the Surma Valley population, and is rapidly doing

the same in Upper Assam, where the Yaisnava Gosains are

especially active, and the observances which they enforce in the

case of new converts are few^ and light. Owing to defects in the

form in which information on the subject was collected in 1881,

it is impossible to furnish figures to show at what rate the process

of conversion is proceeding to-day, but there is no doubt that it is

steadily going on.

 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VI.
198

Census. ij^he fio-ures for Christians are given in greater detail below
 Chap. VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 199

reported amounts to 3,718, against 1,475 at the previous census. Census.

The greater part of the increase is found in Godlpara and the Garo
Hills. In Nowgong the number is almost |^stationary, the increase
during the last ten years being only 29, or less than three new
converts a year. Next, in point of numbers, come the missions of
the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, whose converts have
risen from 640 to 1,324. There is a small colony of Sonthals of
the Lutheran Church in Goalpdra ; but this is rather a settlement
of persons converted to Christianity elsewhere than a centre of
mission work in the generally accepted use of the term. The total

number of native Christians has risen during the last ten years
from 5,462 to 14,762. A small proportion of the increase is due
to the immigration of Christian Uriyas and Sonthals, but by far
the greater part is the result of the labours of the missionaries of
different denominations within the province.
The other religions may be dismissed in a few words. The
persons shown as Bhuddhists in Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, and the
Naga Hills are chiefly the descendants of persons who immigrated
from the Hukong valley about a hundred years ago those in ;

Kamrup and Darrang are Bhutias, of whom numbers visit these

districts every cold weather and those in Goalpara and the Gdro
;

Hills are the relics of the Burmese occupation at the beginning of

the century.
209. The age statistics have been discussed in the Census
Beport, and it would be superfluous to

reproduce them here. It will suffice to say that

an examination of the fii^ures recorded seems to indicate a birth-
rate of 49 and a death-rate of 42 per thousand, and an average
duration of life of rather less than 24 years ; but the age returns
are so unreliable thatwould be unsafe to accept these figures as
it

anything more than a rough approximation to the truth.

Assuming that men are fit for work between the aoje of 15 and 59,
and women from 15 to 44, it has been calculated that 63 per cent.
of the male and 46 per cent, of the female population of the
province are capable of adding to the material prosperity of the
community.
 200 ASSAM AD3IINISTRATI0N REPORT. [Chap, VI.

Census. and widowed of

g-j^Q. The proportion of the married, single,

each sex per ten thousand of the population in

Mariia2-e.
the different districts is as follows :
Chap. Vl.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 201

any spread infirmities during Census.

tabulation, rather than to of these
the decade. The figures for insanity and leprosy show that these
infirmities are more prevalent in Assam than in most parts of India,

but the number of the insane is nevertheless far lower than that
recorded in European countries. The proportion of deaf-mutes is
much the same in Assam as in other Indian provinces, while that
of the blind is considerably smaller, the reasons for the latter
result being apparently the dampness of the climate and a less

general prevalence of small-pox.

The high proportion of somewhat unexpected the
lepers is ;

liability of the people to this loathsome complaint was first noticed

in a report by the Civil Surgeon of Sibsdgar to ^Ir. Mills, on his

visit to the province in 1853.

212. The census returns display a great variety of language.

The province is peopled by numerous differ-
Languages. ., -, ., ^
ent tribes, and each tribe has its own pe-
culiar dialect. The list of languages is further swollen by the various
tongues spoken by the large immigrant population. The indi-
genous languages may all be classed under four main families,
between the individual members of which verbal and grammatical
resemblances are sufficiently numerous, and the difierences are,
generally speaking, not more marked than one would have
anticipated from the former isolation of the difierent tribes and the
fact that their languages are, as a rule, unwritten. First come two

languages of the Aryan family, Bengali and Assamese, the former

being spoken by some two and three quarter millions of people,
residing chiefly in the Surma Valley and Goalpdra, while the latter
is the parent tongue of nearly one and a half millions in the five

upper districts of the Brahmaputra Valley. Next to be mentioned

is the Assam branch of the great family of Tibeto-Burman languages,

which, with the exception of the small Khasi family, includes all

the tongues spoken by the Non-Aryan tribes whose residence in

the province dates from pre-historic times. More than 800,000
persons still speak languages of this stock, chief amongst which
may be reckoned Kachari, spoken by 200,000 persons, Garo, spoken
by 120,000, and Manipuri^ by 72,000. These languages have been
2 D *
 20 2 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VI.

Census, classified into groups, of wliicli, so far as our knowledge at present

extends, that known as the Bodo group is the most homogeneous,
and at the same time the largest, containing, as it does, more than
half the total number of persons returned as speaking one or other
of the Tibeto-Assam languages. One of the most interesting

pieces of information derived from the returns of the last census

is the proof afforded us that these languages, especially those of the
Bodo group, are rapidly dying out. Two Bodo dialects (Moran
and Chutiya) have entirely disappeared from the realms of spoken
speech and Koch, Eabha, Kachari, and Lalung are also showing
;

signs of a rapidly approaching extinction. It is only in the hills,

where contact with other languages is very slight, that these dialects
still retain their hold over the tribes to which they belong. The
Khasi family, referred to above, consists of Khdsi and three allied
dialects (Synteng, Dyko, and Langam), which are spoken in all by
over 178,000 people. This family is noteworthy as being altogether
distinct from the Tibeto-Burman dialects spoken from the tribes
around it, and in fact from all other non- Aryan languages in India.
No allied language is known anywhere, except perhaps that spoken
in Anam. The only family remaining to be referred to is the Shan,
ofwhich several dialects are spoken in this province by people whose
ancestors immigrated within comparatively recent years. The older
Shdn settlers (the Ahoms and many of the Noras) have abandoned
their ancestral forms of speech, and now ta Ik Assamese, while the
Turungs, another Shan tribe, speak the language of the Singphos.
213. The number of castes and tribes returned at the census
is very great, and only a very brief reference
can be made to the subject here. The
following table shows the strength of the professional classes under
which the castes were tabulated :
 :

Chap. VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 2O3

Each class was subdivided into groups, but space forbids a Census.

detailed examination of the scheme. It may, however, be said

that the most numerous Hindu castes included in class A are the
Kalita (222,606), Halwa Das (143,536), Koch and Eajbansi
(377,807), Kewat (91,129), and Kaibartta (67,324), and that the
aboriginal hill tribes, which number in all 1,188,974, are also
classified under the same head. Chief amongst these tribes are the
Kacharis (243,378), the Gdros (119,754), the Khasis (117,891), the
Mikirs (94,829), the Meches (70,201), the Chutiyas (87,691),
the Eabhas (69,774), the Ldlungs (52,423), the Syntengs (51,739),
and the different Ndga tribes, numbering in all 102,085. Class B
includes 102,569 Brahmans, 92,395 Kayasthas, and 23,739 Ganaks.
Class C is almost entirely composed of immigrants belonging to the
different Baniya castes. In class D, group 40 — '* Fishermen, Boat-
men, and Palki bearers "
— is numerically the most important ; it

includes 205,053 Doms, 180,539 Chanddls, and 58,100 Mdhimals,

the last mentioned being a Musalman fishing caste of Sylhet.
Other important castes in class D are the following

Jugi 177,746

Shaha 51,971

Bhuimali 50,940

Teli 35,624

Napit 32,989

Kamar 29,654

Kumar 25,441

Dhoba 24,299

In class F have been included —non-Asiatic foreigners (1,698)

[amongst whom Enghsh(1,381) and Europeans unspecified (237)
are the most numerous], Eurasians (383), Christian converts
(14,756), and "non-Indian Asiatic races" (1,573,237). The last

mentioned group is artificially swollen by the inclusion in it of all

Musalmans who described themselves as Sheikh (1,377,015), Saiad

(12,127), Moghal (2,126), or Pdthdn (13,088). It is weU known
 204 ASSAM ADMINISTHATION EEPORT. [Chap. VI,

Census. ^]^^^ ^|^q ^^^g^ majority of tlie persons tlius returned have no foreign
blood in their veins, and are simply natives of the country, who
have assumed these titles on conversion to Muhammadanism ; and
it would, therefore, have been more correct ethnologically, had these
persons been classified under some other head. Their entry under
this head was made under instructions laid down for the whole of
India by the Census Commissioner. It should be mentioned that
the Ahoms (153,528), Khamtis (3,040), and other tribes of Shan
extraction have been included in this class, as the country from
which their ancestors emigrated lies outside the British boundary.
214. The occupations returned at the census were classified
under seven classes, twenty-four orders, and
ccupa ion.
seventy-seven sub-orders. The following
statement exhibits the distribution of the people per 1,000 over
the seven main classes in the province generally, in town and
country and in the three principal divisions, —the Surma Valley
the Brahmaputra Valley, and the hill districts :

Class.
Chap. VI.] DETAILS OF THE LAST CENSUS. 205
 2o6 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION KEPOHT. [Chap. VI.

Census. 849 per thousand. In the hill districts, it is somewhat lower,

owing to the figures for the Khdsi and Jaintia Hills, where a large
number of persons were returned as general labourers. It is

lowest in the Surma Valley, which is the most advanced portion

of the province, and in which the smaller number of agriculturists

is partly due to a larger number of persons engaged in the prepara-

tion and supply of material substances, and partly to the fact that

many cultivators follow also other occupations, and have thus been
entered under the latter.

Next to the large proportion of cultivators, the primitive

condition of the people of this province is best illustrated by the

exceptionally small number of persons engaged on personal and
domestic services. In the hill districts only 6 persons per thousand,

and in the Brahmaputra Valley only 12 per thousand, derive

their support from this source, while in Sylhet and Cachar the ratio

only rises to 22 per thousand.

The number of persons engaged in the preparation and supply
of material substances is 184 per thousand in the Surma Valley ;

in the Brahmaputra Valley it falls to 81, and in the hill districts

to 57 per thousand.

The commercial and professional classes are small everywhere

but are better represented in Sylhet and Cachar than in the
Brahmaputra Valley, and in the latter than in the hill districts.
 f

Chap. VIIJ.' FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 207

CHAPTER VIL
Frontier Relations and Feudatory States.

215. The only Feudatory States with which the Assam Frontier
4 1 • • •
1 T • 1 1 •
Relations.
Administration has pohtical relations are
Feudatory States. .
. ,

Manipur and the petty States in the Khdsi

Hills, Of the latter, sufficient has already been said in Chap-
ter II, Section 5, of this report. A list of these States, their
population, revenue, and the names of their rulers will be found
among the statistical tables appended (Part I, Tables Bl
and 2).

216. Manipur is a protected State lying between Burma on the

east, the Naga Hills on the north, Cachar on
the west, and the Lushai Hills and the
country of the Sukte Kukis on the south. It is almost entirely a
hill country, the exception being the valley of Manipur in its
centre. Its area is between 7,000 and 8,000 square miles, and
its population, according to the census of 1881,* 221,070 souls.
Of these, 85,288 are returned as hill tribes, the remainder being
by Hindu or Muhammadan, and consisting of the popula-
religion
tion of the valley of Manipur, in which is vsituated the capital of
the State. The claim of the Manipuris to be Hindus, however,
rests on no better foundation than the same claim on the part of
Ahoms, Kacharis, or Tipperas (with all of whom the Manipur
ruling family has intermarried) ; and while their features clearly
show that they belong to the Indo-Chinese stock, their language
is closely allied to those of the Kuki tribes which border them on
the south.

* It was explained in the last chapter that the records of the Census taken in Manipur
in 1891 were destroyed during the disturbances of the following March.
•f Although the above ia is some reason
true of the present people of Manipur, there
was the road by which Hindu influence from the west was
for believing that this territory
first brought to bear upon the Burmese races of the Irrawaddy Valley (see Phayre,
" History of Burma," pages 3, 4, and 15).
 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VII.
2o3

Frontier The kingdom of Maiiipur first emerges from obscurity as a

RELATION'S.
Qgjgi^|3o^^i, and ally of the Shdn kingdom of Pong, which had its

capital at Mogaung. The regalia of the royal family are said to

have been bestowed by king Komba of Pong, who at the same
time added the valley of Khambat to Manipur. In 1714 a Naga,
named Pamheiba, became Edja of Manipur, and adopted
Hinduism, taking the name of Gharib Kawaz. His people followed
his example, and since that date have been conspicuous for the
rigidity with which they observe the rules of caste and ceremonial
purity. Gharib Nawaz, during his reign of forty years, was
eno-ao-ed in constant warfare with Burma, and this state of things
continued during those of his successors. Manipur was frequently
invaded by the Burmese, whose last occupation of the country
beo-an in 1819. The three Manipuri princes, Mdrjit, Chaurjit, and
Gambhir were compelled to escape to Cachar, which
Singh,
country, as has already been related, they occupied. With them
laro-e numbers of Manipuris emigrated, and many of their
descendants, together with emigrants of later date, are still to be
found in Cachar and Sylhet.
When war was declared against Burma by the British Govern-
ment in 1824, and the Burmese had been expelled from Cachar,
assistance in arms and money was given by the Company to
Gambhir Singh in an attempt to recover possession of Manipur.
In this he was successful, occupying not only the valley in which
the capital is situated, but also the Kubo Valley down to the

Nino-thi or Chindwin river, lying to the east of the former bounda-

ries of the State,and peopled by Shdns (called Kabau in Manipuri).
The treaty Yandabu
of with Burma, executed in February 1826,
declared (article II) that should Gambhir Singh desire to return
to Manipur, he should be recognised by the king of Ava as lUja
thereof.
Gambhir Singh being thus established on the throne, the levy
with which he had effected the reconquest of his country was
placed under the management of two British officers, and supplied
with ammunition, and also with pay, by the British Government.
In 1833 the British Government agreed to annex to Manipur the
 ]

Chap VII. FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 209

ranges of hills on the west, between the eastern and western bends Frontier
. . . . .
Rll\tions.
of the Barak, giving that State the line of the Jiri and the western
bend of the Barak as its boundary, on condition that the Raja
removed all obstructions to trade between his State and Cachar,
kept in repair the road between Manipur and British territory,
and promised to assist the Government, in the event of
war with
Burma, both with carriage and with troops. In 1834 Gambhir
Singh died, and his death was followed by the regency of Nar
Singh, his minister, and a great grandson of Gharib Nawaz, on
behalf of the dead king's son, Chandra Kirti Singh, then one year
old. In the same year, the British Government decided to restore
the Kubo Valley to Burma, the Government of which had never
ceased to remonstrate against its separation from that country^
The valley was given back, and a new boundary laid down in the
presence of British Commissioners by an agreement dated the 9th
January 1834, and at the same time the British Government
bound itself to pay a monthly stipend of Rs. 500 to the Eaja of
Manipur in compensation for its loss. In 1835 the assistance
formerly given to the Manipur levy was withdrawn, and a Political
•Agent was appointed to reside at Manipur.
In 1844 the Queen Dowager, widow of Gambhir Singh and
mother of Chandra Kirti, attempted to poison Nar Singh, the
Eegent ; her attempt failed, and she fled from the country with
her son. Nar Snigh then assumed the raj in his own name, and
ruled till his death in 1850. He was succeeded by his brother

Debendra Singh but this prince ruled for only three months,
;

Chandra Kirti Singh, with the help of Nar Singh's three sons
succeeding in ejecting him and recovering possession of the
throne. 'J'his was followed by some disorder in the State but in ;

February 1851 the Government of India decided upon recognising

the succession of Chandra Kirti Singh, fruaranteeincf the raj to him
and his descendants, and preventing, by force of arms if necessary,
any attempts by rival chiefs to dislodge him.
In 1851 Debendra Singh's and Nar Singh's sons attempted a
rising. In 1852 another attempt occurred, led by Kanhai Singh,
son of Marjit, Gambhir Singh's brother. In 1857 some of the
2 E
 2IO ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOET. [Chap, VII.

Frontier rebellious sepoys from Cliittagong, wlio had found tlieir way to
Relations. ,,
Cacliar, were used by one Narendrajit, a younger son of Chaurjit,

to raise a disturbance. Narendrajit was transported. In 1859

Maipdk, a descendant of Gharib Nawaz, invaded tlie valley, but
was defeated and fled. In 1862 he again, in conjunction with
another Eajputra, named Khaifa Singh, headed an attack, and
penetrated to the Eaja's palace, where he was captured. Kanhai
Singh made another attempt in 18G5, when his followers were
attacked and dispersed by British troops and police. Another
raid was perpetrated by Gokul Singh, a younger son of Debendra
Singh, in 1866. His enterprise failed, like the rest, but he escaped
for the time. He was captured in 1868, tried in Cacliar, and
sentenced to seven years' imprisonment.
In the Naga w^ar of 1879 the Mahardja of Manipur distinguish-
ed himself by rendering loyal assistance to the British Government.
He furnished a force, which under the leadership of the Political
Ageiit, Tolonel (now Sir James) Johnstone, raised the siege of
Koliima by the Nagas, and prevented a great catastrophe. In
recognition of this service the Government of India bestowed upon
the Mahdraja Chandra Kirti Singh the dignity of K.C.S.I. Another
series of events, which gave occasion for much correspondence,
was the raids of certain Kukis known as Chasads on the eastern
frontier Manipur territory. It was believed that these raids
of
were abetted by the Shdn Tsawbwa, or chief of Samjok in the
Kubo Valley ; and, as there was much indehniteness in the frontier
north of the Kubo Valley proper as set forth in the agreement of
1 834, was determined by the Government of India to send a
it

Commission to define and demarcate the boundary of Manipur in

this direction. This task was accomplished in the cold weather
of 1881-82, and the Burmese Government (who were invited to
co-operate in the demarcation, but did not do so) were informed
that boundary so
the laid down would be maintained by the
Government of India. The raiding Kukis, who were favoured in
their enterprise by the uncertainty of the frontier, were found to be
settled within Manipur territory, and some of them were induced
to move further in, and were thus brought under stricter control.
Chap. VII,] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 211

On the death of Chandra Kirti Singh in 1886, Bara Chauba Frontier

the eldest son of Nar Singh, who had been Maharaja from 1844
to 1850, made an attempt to get possession of the gadi^ but was
eventually defeated by a detachment of the Cachar Military Police,
after which he gave himself up, and was deported with his
relatives to Hazaribac^h.
The last event to be recorded in the history of this State is

the terrible disaster which took place in March 1891. In Septem-

ber 18yO the Mahdnija Sura Chandra Singh was driven from his
palace by his two youngest brothers, at the instigation of the
Senapati, Tekendrajit Singh, and took refuge with the Political
Agent. Notwithstanding the advice given by the latter, he
declared his intention of abdicating, and left Manipur for Brinda--
ban. On reaching British territory, he repudiated any intention
of abdicating, and requested the assistance of the Government of
India to regain the gadi. The Government of India, after duly

considering the matter, decided that the Jubraj should be confirmed

as Raja, but that the turbulent Senapati should be removed from
Manipur. To carry out this decision, Mr. Quinton, who was
then Chief Commissioner, proceeded to Manipur early in 1891 with
an escort, and ordered the Senapati to surrender himself. This
he refused to do. Troops were sent to arrest him in his house
in the palace enclosure. They were fiercely attacked by the
Manipuris, and the engagement continued until the evening, wlien
an armistice was agreed to, and firing temporarily ceased. The
Chief Commissioner and four other officers were then induced,
under a promise of safe conduct, to enter the " Pat " and
hold a Darbar in the Darbar hall at the entrance to the Pidja's

citadel. No agreement being found possible, the oSicers started

to return to the Residency ; but on the way
the crowd closed in
on them, and the Political Agent, Mr. Grimwood, was fatally
speared and Lieutenant Simpson severely wounded. The Chief
Commissioner and his companions were then kept prisoners for
two hours, after which they were marched to the green space in
front of the dragons, and there beheaded by the public execu-
tioner. The attack on the Residency was then resumed, and the
 2

2 1 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VIF.

Froxtiek defenders, tliinking it untenable, retreated to Cacliar. These

*
events took place on the 2^111 March. On the 27th April the
place Tras entered b}^ three columns of British troops, marching
from Silchar, Koliima, and Tammu.
Ihe Eegent and his brothers
had fled the night before, together with the Tangkhul Major, the
Senapati, and other persons implicated in the outrage, but all were
subsequently captured. The Senapati, Tangkhul Major, and some
others were sentenced to death and executed, and the Eegent and
his brothers were transported for life. The future of the State
had then to be considered, was eventually decided by the
and it

Gcjvernment of India to regrant the State and to place upon the

throne a j'outh named Chura Chand, a scion of a collateral line.
During his minority the administration of the State is to be con-
ducted by the Political Agent, and numerous reforms, including
the introduction of better judicial tribunals, the abolition of the
system of lalup, or forced labour, etc., have already been effected.
The Political Agent in Manipur was till 1879 only partly under
the control of the Chief Commissioner, with whom he corresponded
only in regard to matters connected with Assam and its frontier,
but in that year he was made directly subordinate to the Chief
Commissioner. On the regrant of the State in 1891, his designation
was changed to " Political Agent and Superintendent of the State. "
217. The frontier States and tribes which adjoin the province

Frontier States and tribes. ^^ ^^^^^^^' Commencing at the north-west cor-

ner, are the followinij;' :

(1) Bhutan, (8) Mishmis,

{i) Ehutias subject to Thibet, (9) Khamtis,
(3) Independent Bhutias, (10) Singpbos,
(4) Akas, (11) Ncl^ras,

(5) Dafla«, (bere Manipur intervenes,

(6) Miris, and tben follow) —
(7) Abors, (12) Lusbais, and
(13) HillTippera.

218. With the Deb Eaja Bhutan the Chief Commissioner,

of

gjjy^^j^
has now no direct relations. Whenever it
may be necessary to communicate with him,
Chap. VU] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 213

this is (lone tliroiigli die Commissioner of Koch Bihar, a copy of Frontier

,1
the communication
. .
'
.
, , ^ . Relations.
1

beini^^ sent at the same time to the Government

of liengal. Akhough this State adjoins Assam to the north of the

districts of Goalpara, Kdmrup, and Darrang, as far east as the
Doishdm river, no official intercourse other than complimentary
interviews with local officials is kept up.
On the conquest of Assam, tlie northern portion of Kdmrup,
consisting of the Bijni, Chappakamar, Chappaguri, Banska, and
Garkaha Duars was found in possession of Bhutia chiefs, who
paid a tribute of Es. 3,049 yearly to the Assam Eajas. 'Jo the
east of the Bornadi the two Duars of Khalim? and Buriiruma were
held by the Bhutias for eight months of the year, and by the
Assam Eaja for the remaining four (the rainy season). The pay-
ment of tribute by the Bhutia Jungpens during the first fifteen
years of our rule was very irregular, and the frontier was conti-
nually harassed by dacoities and outrages perpetrated on our sub-
jects, which necessitated frequent armed reprisals. At last, in
1841, it was determined (since the possession of these tracts by
the Bhutias was of recent date) to resume the Dudrs, and bring
them under British management, paying to the Bhutan Govern-
ment an annual sum of Es. 10,000 as compensation for their loss.
This sum was regularly paid until the outbreak of the Bhutan war
in 1864, when it was stopped, and the seven Assam Duars (as
well as the five Eastern Duars north of Goalpara, by name
Guma, Eipu, Chirang, Sidli, and Bijni, and the seven Western
Dudrs north of Koch Bihar, were finally annexed to British territory.
At the same time the Fort of Diwangiri and its neighbourhood,
which commands the passage down to the bazars of Kdmrup, was
occupied and retained as British territory.
The Bhutias come dowm during the cold weather for pasture
and trade into the north of Kdmriip and western Darrancf, but few
ofthem appear to visit the thinly-peopled submontane tract of
Godlpdra. Most of their trade is done at Subankhata, Kumori
Kata, and Genbdri in the Kdmrup district south of Dewangiri,
and at Ghagrapara in Darrang. There are a few Bhutia settle-
ments in British territory at the foot of the hills, but their condi-
 214 ASSAM AD:\nNISTRATION REPOHT. [Chap. VII'

Frontier tion is not very prosperous, and they seem to be a survival of the
old days of Bhutia supremacy, rather than the beginning of a more
extended immigration.

During their visits to the plains it is not uncommon to hear

of exactions made by the Bhutias visiting the Kamrup district,
who take advantage of the timorous nature of the villagers to
force upon them chillies and salt and extort in exchange large
quantities of rice and other articles. These exactions have of
late become so bad that it has been found necessary to place an
additional guard at Kakolabari, the cost of which is deducted from
the posa of the Eaja.

21q. The Bhutias of the Kan^pdra Dudr, which lies east

Bhutan Proper and extends from the
of
Bhutias subject to Thibet. -r\
Doisham to theit-.
•
i
Eota river, are dependent
upon Towang, which is a dependency of the Government of Lhassa-
The chiefs of this Duar, called the Sat Rajas, used, like their neigh-
bours of Bhutan Proper, to levy dues from the inhabitants of the
adjoining plains. In 1844 their claims were bought out by the
British Government on payment of an annual sum of Es, 5,000.
Our relations with these people since the composition of 1844 have
only once been disturbed. In 1852 one of the Gelongs, or Thibet-
an officials appointed from Lhassa to supervise the local chiefs,
having some misunderstanding with his superiors, fled to British
territory. His surrender was peremptorily demanded by the autho-
rities of Lhassa, and a Thibetan army moved towards the frontier.
A British force was assembled at Udalijuri, with two suns. But no
hostihties actually occurred ; the Thibetans retired, the fugitive
Gelong was removed to Gauhati, and the Dudr was reopened for
trade. This pass is specially interesting, as it is the only place in
many hundred Himdlaydn barrier where the British power
miles of
is in actual contact with Thibet. The hillmen, including Thibetans
from the higher ranges, resort in considerable numbers during the
cold weather through this Dudr to the annual fair at Udalguri,
which lies due south of the gap through which the Dhansiri river
issues from the hills.
Chap. VII.] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 2 1$

Exactions, similar to those referred to in

have occasionally been reported ;
the last

but these acts of oppression are

lor
para^fraph Fi^o^-'tier
Relations.

now comparatively rare. Owing to the fall in the price of salt

imported from England, the Bhutias find their trade less profitable
than it used to be, and the number who visit the plains is decreas-
ing every year.

220. Next to these Bhutias subjectTowang come the Sat

to
Eajas of Charduar, chiefs who live at villages
Independent Bhutias. i\ i i i ^ r i i •
t-» , "^z •

called by the people ot the plains Ftuprai-

gaon and ShergAon. They claim to be independent of Towang, and
rule the face of the hills from the Rota to the Diputa river. The
Thebengia Bhutias are a distinct race and live several days'
journey into the hills, but they used, in conjunction with the
Sat Edjas, to levy contributions from the people of the adjacent
plains. Erom 1839 to 1844 these people were excluded from the
plains by the British Government, in punishment for outrages com-
mitted bv them. On their submittinc^ and executinof a formal
agreement to refrain from aggressions, they received annual pen-
sions, — the Shergdon and Ruprdigdon Bhutias of Rs. 2,526-7 a year,
and the Thebengia Bhutias of Rs. 145-13-6. They come down
annually to receive their pensions at Tezpur. They also hold an
annual beyond British territor}'-, in the gorge of the
fair at a place

Belsiri river, called Daimdra, where some trade is done with the
people of the plains, which is registered by a police post at the
boundary pillar on the frontier.

221. Next to the Bhutias come the Akas, who occupy the
sub-Himalayan region as far east as the
issue of tlie Khari-Dikarai river. This
tribe is divided into two sections, called by the Assamese
the Hazdrikhoas and the Kapahchors.* The former rec3ived a

The first of these names probably indicates that a thousand gots of pails, or indi-

vidual groups of revenue-payers, was set aside to provide a stipend for the tribe : kiwa
(eater) is the usual Assamese termination, indicating tliat a person is supported f -om
the revenues of any place or people. Kapuhchor means cotton-thief, this cla-s of Akas
being famous for their night attacks, in which they lurked in the cotton-fieldg with a
primitive sort of dark lantern, waiting their opportunity.
 2l6 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VII.

Frontier ^jo^w * or stipend, from tlie Assam Rajas, and tlie latter levied
'

contributions without having any such title. Both tribes are

believed to be very limited in number but to the north of them is ;

an allied race called the Mijis, of whose strength nothing certain is

known. Though small, however, this tribe has a great reputation

for violence and audacity. For many years Tdgi Rdja, the chief
of the Kapahchor Akas, gave us much trouble by his robberies
and murders in the plains. In 1829 he was captured, and lodged
for four years in the Gauhati jail. In 1832 he was released, in
the hope that hehad learnt a lesson, and would be quiet in future ;

but he immediately resumed his attacks, and in 1835 massacred

all the inhabitants of the British village and police outpost of
Balipara. For seven years after this he evaded capture-, his tribe
remaining outlawed in the hills. At length, in 1842, he surren-
dered, and it was decided to use his influence with the other chiefs
to secure the peace of the border. An agreement was made, under
which the Kapahchor Aka chiefs receive Es. 520 a year as pen-
sion. The Hazarikhoas receive a pension of Rs. 180. Both tribes
have certain small areas of land in the plains allotted to them for
cultivation. The Kapahchors threatened in 1875 to give trouble,
claiming an extensive tract of forest and other land on the Bharali
river,which was cut off by the demarcation of the boundary in
1874-75. Nothing further occurred at the time, and the new
boundary was quietly accepted.
This dispute, however, coupled with one or two other grievances
of a very minor nature, is believed to have been the cause of the
acts of aggression which resulted in the expedition of 1883-84.
In Ot'tober 1883, Lakhidhar mauzadar, who had visited the village
of Medhi, the Kapahchor Aka chief, to ask him to supply articles
for the Calcutta Exhibition and to send down a man and a woman
* Tlic word ^:)o.sa or jmcha ( •'(5! ) litei ally means a collection or subsciiption for a
common purpose ; it is probably connected with the word pnnch (live), and recalls the
Mahratta chanlh, <>r fourth. Tlic word is still well understood in this sense in Upper
Assam. In its special sense of payment to a hill tribe, it strictly denotes the subscription
which the \illafre raised in order to mr;et the customary demands of their visitors from
the hills, in other words, blackmail. It is not properly applicable to a fixed stipend,
paid, as in these cases, by Government in accordance with treaty ; but it has now come
to include such stipends.
Chap. VII.] FKONTIEll llELATIONS, ETC. 2 1
7

to be modelled there, was forcibly detained, and shortly afterwards Frontier

' ''

p p Relations,
-I

Medhi's brother, Chandi, carried off a clerk and forest ranger trom
BaHpara. A punitive expedition was despatched, and Medhi's
village was occupied, the Akas taking refuge in the jungle. They
gave up their captives (except Lakhidhar, who had died) and
sent in some rifles and other articles which they had carried off;
but the chiefs themselves did not come in before tlie departure of
the troops, which took place only fourteen days after their arrival'
and appears have been somewhat premature. The expedition
to
was followed by a blockade of the frontier, which was maintained
until 1888, when the Aka chiefs appeared before the Deputy
Commissioner and tendered their submission. Since that time they
are reported to have been perfectly well behaved and contented.
222. Next to the Akas come the Dafl as, who, with the Hill Miris
and the Abors, occupy the whole of the rest
of the sub-Himdlaydn hills until the Mishmi
country is reached. These three races speak languages which are
said to be mutually intelligible, and they are evidently, though
differing in arms and style of dress, nearly akin. The Daflas and
Miris were, hke the Akas, in receipt of f>05a5, or pensionary allowance,
under the Assam Government, as a condition of their refraining
from aggression on the northern tracts of Darrang and Lakhimpur,
and these allowances have been continued by the British Govern-
ment. There are two divisions of the Daflas, one called the Paschim,
Tagin Daflas, who live to
or Western, Daflas, and the other the
the east of these. For many years the Daflas have been quiet
neighbours. Previous to 1837 their raids on the frontier were
numerous, but in that year the system of annual pensions was
settled. The only occasion since then when they have given
trouble was in 1872 and 1873, when the Tagin Daflas broke the peace
on two occasions by seizing some plains Daflas who were believed by
them to have caused sickness in the hills. These outrages were
punished first by a blockade on this proving ineffectual in obtain-
;

ing the surrender of the captives, an expedition was sent into the
hills north of the Dikhrang river in the cold weather of 1874-75,
which was followed by the release of the prisoners and the
2 F
 2i8 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VII.

Frontier Submission of the tribe. Since then our relations with the Dallas
Relations, whose
j^^^,^ }^een peaceful. Considerable numbers of this people,
superstitions in regard to sickness and witchcraft lead them to
frequent attacks by one village upon another, have settled in the
plains of Darrang and Lakhimpur as Government ryots. The last
census showed 1,137 Daflas as settled in these districts, against

549 in 1881 and 418 in 1872.

223. The Miris are a quiet and inoffensive race. They receive
an annual allowance in money, salt, and rum
Miris.
from the North Lakhimpur treasury. It is
believed that they stand in some sort of servile relation to the
Abors, to avoid which large numbers of this people have settled

in Upper Assam as British subjects. In the plains they still

preserve their customs of building houses on piles, and of cultivat-

ino- hy j hum ; they are expert and fearless boatmen, and always
settle on the banks of a river. Eetaining their own language
among themselves, they also speak Assamese, to which is due the
name by which they are known in Assam (Miri, or Mili, meaning
go-between or interpreter), as they act as a channel of communica-
tion with the Abors of the hills. The total number of Miris
settled in Assam is 37,430, of whom all except about 3,000 are
found in Sibsdgar and Lakhimpur.
224. The Abors, who call themselves P^ddm {Abor being an
, Assamese word designating an independent,
remote, and unknown savage), occupy the
hills east of the Miris as far They bear a
as the Dibong river.

very different character from the latter, and the want of popula-
tion on the north bank of the Brahmaputra from opposite
Dibrugarh to Sadiya is chiefly due to dread of their raids. Their
principal villages are in the hills about the course of the Diliong,
but several recent settlements have been founded in the plains.
Murders and outrages committed by them on Government ryots,
in some cases close to the headquarters station of Dibrugarh, have
led to several punitive expeditions. In 1858 one was sent to punish
the massacre of a Bihia village by the Bor Meyong Abors, but was
not successful in its object. In 1859 a second expedition was sent.
Chap. VII.] FRONTIER EELATIONSj ETC. 219

and met with better fortune. In 18G1 another massacre of Bihias, frontier
Relation's.
a few miles from Dibrugarh, on the south side of the Brahmaputra,
occurred. This was followed by preparations for establishing a line
of outposts along the north bank of the Brahmaputra, connected
by a road, to guard against such attacks in future. The Abors
appear to have been impressed by these operations. They made
overtures, which were responded to, and a meeting took place in
November 1862 between them and the Deputy Commissioner. A
treaty was arranged with eight communities of the tribe, promis-
ing them, on condition of good behaviour, an annual allowance
of iron hoes, salt, rum, opium, November
and tobacco. Later, in
1862 and in January 1863, some other powerful villages made
similar as^reements. The last concluded was made with the
remaining communities in April 1866. All these agreements recite
that the British territory extends to the foot of the hills. The
allowance to the tribe is paid at the Darbdr held annually at Sadiya ;

but on several occasions the Abors have held sulkily aloof, and
have not presented themselves at the Darbar.
In 1881 it was apprehended that certain villages of Abors, who
had expressed an intention to cross the Dibong river and settle
upon the hills beneath those occupied by the Chuhkdta Mishmis,
would carry their hostihties with the latter tribe into British
territory, and cut them off from access to Sadiya. The execution
of this plan was prevented by the despatch of a mixed force of
troops and police to occupy the post of Nizamghat, where the
Dibong river issues from the hills north of Sadiya, and another
lower down, opposite the Abor village of Bomjur.
In 1889 two Meyong villages combined to decoy four British
subjects, Miris, beyond the Inner Line, where they murdered them,
the object apparently being to establish a claim iovposa. A fine of 20
mithans was imposed upon them, and the whole of the Passi and
Meyong Abor frontier was blockaded pendinpj payment. The fine was
paid in less than a year, and no trouble has since been given by this
tribe.

225. The Mishmis, who occupy the hills from the Dibong to
the Brahmakund in the north-eastern corner
of the valley, are divided into three tribes,
 2 20 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VU.

Frontier called respectively the Chulikata or crop-haired Mishmis, the Tain

R£LATIONS.
or Digaru Mishmis, and the Mizhu or Midhi Mishmis. The first
named have on several occasions attacked Khdmti settlements in
the neighbourhood of Sadiya, and have threatened to give trouble.
Of late years, however, they have become embroiled with the Abors,
and have looked to the British Government for protection and
assistance. They resort in considerable numbers to the Sadiya
fair, and are active traders. The Digdru Mishmis are a qtiiet,
inoffensive people, and act as guides to the pilgrims to the Brahma-
kund. Of the Mizhu or Midhi Mishmis, who are the most remote
of the three, we know little. In 1854 two French priests, M. M.
Krick and Bourry, who endeavoured to pass through their country
from Assam to Thibet, were murdered by a party of these Mishmis
under a chief named Kai-i-sha. This outrac^e was aveng^ed in
February 1855 by an expedition under Lieutenant Eden, who with
20 Assam Light Infantry and 40 Khamti volunteers reached
Kai-i-sha's village, stormed it, and took the murderer prisoner.
In December 1885, Mr. F. J. Needham, Assistant Political Officer
at Sadiya, accompanied by Captain E. II. Molesworth, Commandant
and three police orderlies, succeeded in penetrat-
of Military Police,
ing through the Mizhu Mishmi country and in entering the Thibetan
province of Zayul, and thereby establishing the identity of the
Sanpo with the Dibong.
The Chulikata Mishmis were blockaded from 1884 to 1887 in
consequence of the murder of an Assamese at Dikrang in revenge,
it is said, for the death of a Chulikata chief, Lako, on his return
from the Calcutta Exhibition, which the superstitious tribesmen
for
believed the British Government to be responsible. The blockade
was raised in 1887 on the payment of a fine of Es. 2,000.

None of the Mishmi tribes receive any jiosa^ nor do formal

treaties or aojreements with them exist.

226. The Khamtis settled about Sadiya have already been

Khimtis
mentioned in paragraph 75 of this report.

They are immigrants from a Shfln State beyond

the Pjitkoi range, formerly tributary Burma, and known to the
to
Assamese as Bor Kluimti, They are of the same race as the
Ahoms, but differ from the latter in being Buddhists. They are
Chap. VII.] FRONTIER llELATIONS, ETC. 22 1

a literary and cultivated people, and much more civilised than Froxtier
•^
.
^ ^ Relations.
. .

any of their neighbours, not excluding the Assamese. They first

settled in Sadiya during the latter part of the eighteenth century.

When the Burmese were expelled from Assam, the Khdrati Gohain,
or chief of Sadiya, executed an agreement of allegiance to the
British Government, and Sadiya was selected as the residence of
the Political Agent in Upper Assam. In 1839, after the death of

the Khamti chief, with whom we made the agreement, the Khdmtis of
Sadiya suddenly rose, and massacred the Political Agent, Colonel
White, and many of his guards and attendants. A war folio ,ved,

ending in the transportation of the Khdmti chief's son and his

followers to a distant part of British territory. In 1843 some chiefs
of this race were again allowed to and insettle about Sadiya ;

1850 a new immigration from Bor Khamti took The Khamtis place.
living about Sadiya and Saikwa are British ryots, and pay reve-
nue. Those living on the Tengapc4ni beyond the Inner Line acknow-
ledge allegiance to the British Government, but pay no revenue.
A small force of 24i men, known as the Khamti Volunteers, are em-
ployed for the protection of the villages about Sadiya. They
receive a trifling yearly pay from (jovernment, and have been
supplied with muskets and ammunition. They patrol the paths to
the north and east of Sadiya by which the Mishmis come down to
that place. This force is gradually being abolished, and no new
appointments are being made to replace losses by death, &c. The
last census showed 3,040 Khamtis to be resident in Assam.

227. The Phakials, or Pliake, are said to have left Mogaung for
Assam about 17G0 A. D., immediately "^
after the
Phakials and lurungs. ^ ^ ^

subjugation cf that province by Alomphra.

Colonel Hannay tells us that, prior to their immigration into this
province, they were resident on the banks of the Turungpani, and
were thus apparently near neighboursof the Turungs. On reaching
Assam, they at first settled on the banks of the Buri Dihing, whence
they were brought by the Ahoms, and settled near Jorhdt. When the
Burmese invaded Assam, they and other Shan tribes were ordered
by the Burmese authorities to return to Mogaung, and they had
got as far as their old settlement on the Buri Dihing when the
province was taken by the British.
 222 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. Vll.

Frontier
Relations. o o closely resembles that of the other northern
Their lancruasje ./

Shuns. Like the Khamtis and Turungs, they are Buddhists. They
seldom marry outside their own community and, as this is very ;

small, their physique is said to be deteriorating. They are adepts

in the art of dyeing. The total strength of the Phakidls is only
565 ; all of whom are found in the Sadr subdivision of the Lakhim-
pur district.

The Turungs immigrated into the province less than seventy

years ago. Their own tradition came from
is that they originally
Mungmang Khaosang on the north-east of Upper Burma, and set-
tled on the Turungpani, whence the name by which they are now
known. While there, they received an invitation from the Noras,
who had preceded them and settled near Jorhat, and in conse-
quence they started across the Patkoi en route for the Brahmaputra
Valley. They were, however, taken prisoners by the Singphos
and made to work as slaves, in which condition they remained for
five years. They were released by Captain Neufville, along with
nearly 6,000 Assamese slaves, in 1825, and continued their journey
to the Jorhat subdivision, where they are still settled.

228- The Singphos, who live intermixed with the Khamtis on

the New and Old Dihings,
° the Tenojapani,
» i
Singphos. . .
'

and themountams beyond, are, like the latter,

but an outlier of the main population of the same race who occupy
in force the hilly country between the Patkoi and Chindwin river,
where they are nominally subject to Burma. To the Burmese they
are known as Ralchye7ift, and Shigpho is but the word in their lan-
guage meaning " man." They are, apparently, from what is known
of their language, related to the Nfiga tribes in their neighbour-
hood, to whom, however, they stand distinctly in the position of

masters and superiors ; where brought in contact with the

Khamtis they have borrowed something of the civilisation and out-
ward appearance of the latter, and have also in some cases been
converted to Buddhism. They are, however, probably quite
distinct by race.
The Singphos are recent arrivals in Assam, having made their
appearance at the head of the valley during the troubles of Kdja
Gaurindth Singh with the Moamarids about 1793. It was through
Chap. VII.] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC, 223

their country that *'

tlie Burmese invaders passed into Assam in 1818 Frontier
^, ^ Relations.
and 1822 ; and the ravages of the Singphos, added to those of the
Burmese, contributed greatly to the depopulation of the Matak
country and Sibsagar. When Assam was conquered from tlie
Burmese, the chiefs of the Singphos, after several engagements with
our troops, tendered their allegiance, and entered into agreements
not to disturb the peace of the frontier. Great numbers of Assamese
slaves, who had been carried off by them in the early years
of the century, were released, and the wealth and power of the
tribe were in this manner much reduced. In 1839 they joined the
Khamtis in their attack on Sadiya ; but by 1842 they had again
been brought to acknowledge their subjection. Many of the
Singpho immigrants, with whom
agreements were made in 1826,
have since retired across the frontier into Hukou"'.
The Duaniiis, or Singpho-Assamese half-breeds (so called from
the Assamese dudn =
language, because they act as interpreters),
are the offspring of the intercourse between these slaves and their
captors. They are chiefly settled along the Buri or Old Dihing,
and are quiet subjects.
The now universal habit of opium-eating is believed to have con-
tributed largely to the present quiet attitude of the Singphos and
Khdmtis. The chiefs of these people meet annually at the full
moon of Magh (in the end of January or beginning of February)
at Sadiya to present themselves, with the chiefs of the Mishmi and
Abor tribes, before the Political Officer, who receives their offerings,
and gives them in return small presents. They pay no revenue
except where settled within the Inner Line.
229. The tribes known to the Assamese as Nagas stretch un-
interruptedly from the P4tkoi alonor the south-
Nagaa. . - , . .

ern frontier of the Lakhimpur and Sibsagar

districts, to the valley of the Dhansiri and North Cachar. Of the
Nagasin the British district of the Naga Hills (the Angamis, Kacha
Ncigas, Eengmas, Semas, Lhotas, and Aos) mention has already been
made. Our relations with the remaining tribes are conducted
through the Deputy Commissioners of Dibrugarh and Sibsagar.
From the Tirdp river eastward to the Patkoi, the Nagas are com-
 ASSAM iVDMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. Vll.
224

Froxtier pietely in subjection to the Singplios, and are apparently a very

quiet race. West of tliis point begins a succession of groups of

villa"-es known to the Assamese by the names of the passes or Dudrs

throuf^h which their inhabitants resort to the plains,— as the Ndm-

sdm^ias, Bordudrias, Panidudrias, Mithonias, Banpheras, Jobokas,
Bhitarndmsangias, Jdtungias, Tdblungias, Assiringias, etc. The
outer tribes of this region are in constant communication with the
plains, and in the times of the Assam Edjas used make annual
to

offerings of elephants' tusks and other such articles. They do a

considerable trade in cotton and other hill produce, and carry back
larcre quantities of salt and rice. The inner tribes, known to the

Assamese as Abors, or wild men, are kept from access to the plains

by these outer or Bori (subject, civihsed) Ndgas, who thus keep the

carrying trade in their own hands. Besides, for purposes of trade,

these outer Nagas come down in considerable numbers to labour in
tea plantations and on roads during the cold weather. Unlike the
Ano-amis, Semds, and Lhotds, who are intensely democratic in their
social economy, many of the Eastern Ndgas appear to acknowledge
the authority of Edjas and minor chiefs among themselves.
With the internal affairs of these people we hardly meddle at

all but they are prohibited from carrying their quarrels into the
;

settled British territory, and, if they do so, are tried and punished

by our courts. On this frontier, a system prevails by which

the Na""as of each group have allotted to them certain Assamese
a^^ents, called kotokis, who manage small plots of revenue-free land

called Nciga khdts, on behalf of the tribes. When the attendance

of the chiefs in the hills is required for any purpose, they are sum-
moned through these kotokis. If satisfaction for robberies and
other outrages is not in this way obtained, theDudr or pass through
which the tribe visits the plains is blocked, and no one is allowed to
come down or go up. This system has rarely failed to secure
reparation : and, on the whole, the conduct of the Ndgas on this

frontier, when left to themselves, has been peaceable and quiet,

so far as the settled lands of the plains are concerned. Among

themselves, however, their feuds are incessant, and are only com-
posed to break out anew. The easternmost tribes of Bordudrias
Chap. VII.] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 225

and Ndmsdnofias have thus been prosecutmf^r a quarrel for over fifty Frontier
,. ,. ii-iiir
years, each group taking, when it can, the hves and heads of some
Relations.

of the others. With these feuds it has not been our pohcy to
meddle, though attempts have occasionally been made to mediate

between contending tribes.

The Nciga country up to the Ptitkoi range is nominally British

territory by inheritance from the rulers of Assam and by our trea-
ties with Burma. It has from time to time been explored by survey

parties, and on one of these occasions, in February 1875, a party sent

into the hills south of Jaipur was treacherously attacked at Ninu,
a village four marches from the plains up the valley of the Disang,
and Lieutenant Holcombe, the Assistant Commissioner accompany-
ing the party, with eighty coolies and followers, was killed. Captain
Badgley, the survey officer, and fifty others being wounded. This
was followed by a punitive expedition, by which the villages which
took part in the massacre were attacked and destroyed. During
the same season the survey party in the western Naga Hills was
attacked by Ndgas and in December 1875 Captain Butler, the
;

Political Agent, who was accompanying the survey party, was

again attacked near the Lhota Niiga village of Pangti, and received
a wound of which he died a few days later. The village was at
once destroyed by the force which accompanied the survey
party.

230. Passing by the British district of the Naga Hills and

Manipur already described, we come to
the country of the Lushai Kukis lying south
of Cachar.
From the earliest period of which we have any knowledge, the
hills lying to the south of Manipur, Cachar, and eastern Sylliet
have been inhabited by various tribes known to the Bengalis by
the common name of Kukis. These tribes have always, so far
as we know, been divided numerous families, each family
into
acknowledging a chief or ruling house, and these houses being
generally engaged in warfare with one another. Each village had
its chief, whose object it was to extend the fame and power of his

village by fighting with his neighbours. As among the Garos and

2 G
 2.26 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPOHT. [Chap. VII.

Frostier otlier wild tribes ill tilis part of India, the gathering of heads was
ELATioNs.
^j^^ QJ^ject of many of these attacks and of raids upon the adjacent
plains. During the weak rule of the last E^jas of Cachar, the
valleys in the south of that district were almost depopulated by
attacks from these hillmen, and same time the district began
at the

to be invaded by refugee bodies of Kukis who had been driven out

of their own country by more powerful chiefs, and sought protection
from the rulers of Cachar. Many of these communities settled
across the Bardil in North Cachar, where they were comparatively
safe from pursuit. Those who settled in the southern hills were
often followed up by their conquerors and massacred. The older
immigrants of this period (none of whom probably date from before
the beginning of the present century) are known to the Kacharis
as " old Kukis," those who have immigrated since British rule
began being called the " new Kukis." Govind Chandra is said to
have employed Kukis in his contest with Tulardm Senapati, and
this no doubt increased their numbers in North Cachar.

The Kuki families whose feuds first attracted most attention,

and from whose raids we suffered during the first years of British
rule, were the Tldngams, Changsels, Thadois, and Poitus. The
Lushais* were not heard of until about 1840, when they made their
appearance on the Chattachura range, from which they were
driving the Poitus. Their chiefs are all descendants of Chunglunga,
whose successor, Lallula, had four sons, Lalpuilena, Lalienvunga, —
Mangpor, and Vuta. The descendants of the first mentioned are
the Eastern chiefs, of whom Lengkdm, LtUbura, and Poiboi are
names of note in our recent relations with the Lushais. Of the
descendants of Ldlienvunga, Lulhai may be mentioned of Vuta- ;

Laleya and of Mang^por-Lenkhunga, Khiilkam, Lengpunga,

Thdnruma, Ldlrima, and Thdngula, all of whom, with the excep-

* Liisliai is said to be derived from Z2i=head ands7ia = cut. This name is not
known to the people so designated, who are paid to call themselves Zlto. This name is

haid to "include all tlic liill tribes of this region who wear their hair in a knot resting on
the napo of the neck. The tribes further south and east are distinguished under the
generic title of Poi ; these wear the hair knotted upon the temple." Between the Lushais
wuil the Puis are the Howlongs and the Kamhows, and cast of the Pois are the Suktes.
Chap. Vll.] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 227

grandsons of
tion of the last mentioned, are sons or *^ Sukpildl, wlio Frontier
Relations.
died in 1880, and wlio at the time of his death was ruler over the
whole of the Western Lushais.
The hrst atttacks upon British territory made by the Lushais
after their advance northwards were in November 1849, when
almost at the same time a party of woodcutters was massacred, a
village of Tipperas was burnt, and another was plundered,
village

in the Singla valley in Sylhet, west of the Chdttachura range, and

an attack was made by Mora, son of Ldlienvunga, on three villages
of refuofee Thadoi Kukis within ten miles of the station of Silchar.
To punish these outrages, the first expedition was led against the
Lushais by Colonel Lister, who in January 1850 surprised and
destroyed Mora's village, situated a little way south of the great
peak of Nisapwi, between the Dhaleswari and the Sonai rivers.

This expedition secured peace for many The Lushais

years.
gradually withdrew their advanced posts southwards, and we
ceased to have much communication with, or information about,
them. A raid was committed in 1862 on Hill Tippera and South
Sylhet near Adampur, which two years later was discovered to
have been perpetrated by Sukpihil but this was followed only by
;

negotiations. A meeting was held between the Deputy Commis-

sioner of Cachar and Sukpilal's agents, and it was arranged that
the captives taken should be surrendered, and that Sukpildl should
receive an allowance for keeping the peace of the frontier. A
similar arrangement was made with Vonpilal, son of Mora. But,
although four of the captives were surrendered, these arrange-
ments were never actually carried much further. In November
1868 the Eastern Lushais began a series of attacks on Manipur.
In December of the same year Sukpihil carried his feuds with the
Poitus into Sylhet, In January 1869 the tea garden of Nodrbdnd
in Cachar was plundered and burned, several coolies being killed,

by Ldlruma, son of Ldlpunga and brother of Poiboi. On the 14th

January, Diintdu, son of Vonolel and brother of Lengkdm and
Ldlbura, attacked the garden of Monierkhdl, which he burned and
plundered. In February a combined attack was made upon the
Kala Naga stockade in Manipur. It was determined to punish
 2 23 ASSAM ADMINISTJIATION REPORT. [Chap. VII.

^^'"^^^ outrages by an expedition, one portion of which was to go

RelSoks
up the Dhaleswari river to attack Sukpilal, and another up the
Sonai, while a Manipuri force was to march south and join the
second. The season, however, was too late for effective measures,
and the expedition was practically a failure. Emboldened by this
result, a new series of attacks was planned by the Lushais in the
cold weather of 1870-71. A new family now appeared on the
scene. While the Eastern Lushais of the family of Yonolel
(Ldlbura and Lengkdm, his sons, and his nephew Thondong) led
an attack on the Monierkhdl stockade, the Benc^ali villao^e of

Nagdirgrdm, and the Ndgas in Manipur, the Howlongs of Lalpitang's

house, who dwell south of Sukpildl's Lushais, and the western
Poitu Kukis raided down the Hailakdndi valley, and attacked the
tea garden of Alexandrapur, where they killed a number of coolies
and the manager, Mr Winchester, and carried off his daughter
and several other captives, besides much plunder. A subsequent
attack on a neighbouring garden, Katlacherra, was repulsed.
Upon this it was determined to send a thoroughly effective expedi
tion to march through and exact reparation. Two
the hills

columns were despatched in the cold weather of 1871-72, one from

the Chittagong side, which marched northwards through the
country of the Sylus and Howlongs and recovered the captives
taken from Alexandrapur ; and the other, which advanced, vid
Tipaimukh, southwards into the country of Vonolel and his sons.
This expedition was completely successful in procuring the sub-
mission of the chiefs and satisfaction for the outrages ; and from
its termination down to 1892, no raid was made on territory under
the Assam Administration.
In 1889, however, made in the Chengri valley on
a raid was
the Chittagong and a number of captives were taken,
frontier,
whom the chiefs concerned (Lengpunga and his brother Zarok)
declined to release, and an expedition w^as accordingly undertaken
in the cold weather of 1889-90. The main column marched
through the Lushai Hills from Chittagong, and were met by a
detachment of 400 Military Police from Silchar. The captives
were surrendered, but Lengpunga escaped for the time. His
 Chap. VII.] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 229

village was burnt, and tlie troops then left the country. Previous Frontier
to this raid, the pohcy of Government since 1872 had been to ^^^^^ions.
maintain a line of outposts connected by patrol paths, and, while
cultivating, as much as possible, a friendly intercourse with the
chiefs, to abstain from interfering in their internal affairs. It
was now decided to endeavour to put down raids once for all by
'proving our power to occupy their country and estabhshing military
outposts in their midst. Two
such outposts (at Aijal andChangsil)
with a garrison of Mihtary Police were estabUshed in the portion
of the Lushai Hills bordering on the Cachar district, and Captain
Browne was deputed thither as Political Officer. For a time, the
Lushais appeared to have accepted the situation, and, amongst
other proofs of friendship, the leading chiefs attended a darbdr
held by Captain Browne, and killed a metna and swore an oath of
friendship to the British Government. But the hopes thus raised
were soon dissipated. Suddenly, without a word of warning, they
rose in a body, attacked simultaneously the stockades at Aijal and
Changsil, and killed Captain Browne, who was marching from
Saireng to Changsil with a small escort of four sepoys. This was
on the 10th September 1890, Three daj'-s later a relieving force
of 200 Military Police left Silchar under Lieutenants Swinton and
Tytler. Lieutenant Swinton was killed on the passage up the
river Dhaleswari,whereupon Lieutenant Tytler assumed command,
and reached Changsil and relieved the garrison under Lieutenant
Cole, on the 28th September. The force at Changsil was further
augmented by a detachment of 200 men of the 40tli Bengal In-
fantry under Lieutenant Watson, who arrived at Changsil on the
30th. Mr. McCabe, who had been deputed to Cachar on special
duty, reached Changsil on the 5th October 1890, and on his arrival
offensive operations were commenced, with such success that
at once
within two months all but one of the Western Lushai chiefs had been
arrested. The three ringleaders, Khjilkdm, Lengpunga, and Thdn-
gula, were deported, and the others were released on payment of the
fines imposed on them, A few months later Khalkdm and Lengpunga

put an end to their existence by hanging themselves with ropes,

which they had surreptitiously manufactured from their clothes.
 230 ASSAM AmUNISTEATION EEPOET. [Chap. VII.

Frontier These ox3erations resulted in the complete pacification of the

ELATioNs.
2^Qj.^]^Qj,jj Lushai villages west of the Sonai river and the uncondi-
tional surrender of all the chiefs implicated in the rising, with the
exception of Thdnruma, who fled for refuge towards the east, and
who is still at large. At the commencement of 1891, the Lushais
were peacefully employed in jhihning and in rebuilding their
*
villages, many
which had been destroyed by our troops as a
of
punishment. The feeling of insecurity which our operations had
occasioned was beginning to wear off, and Lushais came readily
to trade at the newly reopened bdzdr at Changsil and to barter
vegetables and live stock with the garrison of Fort Aijal, Ee-
quisitions for the supply of coolies woik on roads and carry to
stores and baggage, &c., were promptly complied with by all the
chiefs so requisitioned except Ldlbura, in consequence of whose
non-compliance, Mr. McCabe, with an escort of 100 Military Police
under. Lieutenant T^^tler, marched to his village, where he halted
for the night. Next day, as Lalbura refused to come in, Mr.
McCabe commenced collecting supplies and making other arrange-
ments for halting in the village. Shortly afterwards 300 armed
Lushais were observed to advance towards the north crest of the
commanding his camp.
hill The Political Officer promptly ordered
them to be fired on, and at once commenced to make dispositions
for the defence of the camp. Before they could be completed,
however, the Lushais attacked the camp from all directions, and
set fire to the village. They were driven ofi, and the fortification
of the camp was then proceeded paddy were with. Stores of
collected from the jungle where they had been hidden by the
Lushais a bridle path from Aijal to the Sonai was pushed on with
;

great rapidity and a reinforcement of 100 Military Police was at

;

once sent to Mr. McCabe's assistance from Aijal. The fact was
recognised that it would be impossible to undertake punitive
measures in a satisfactory way with the small force then available,
and it was therefore decided to bring up 300 men of the 18th
Bengal Infantry from Silchar to hold Aijal and Changsil, and thus
enable the whole of the Military Police stationed at those places
to join the force with Mr. McCabe. In the meantime, skirmishing
 1

Chap. Vll.] FRONTIER RELATIONS, ETC. 23

^^^^'^^^^^_
partieswere sent out daily to disperse the Lushais in the neighbour-
hood of the camp, and search for further stores of paddy. The
Lushais soon found that it was hopeless to try to take the camp,
and confined themselves to ambuscading small parties.
Encpiries showed that Ldlbura was assisted in his rising by all
the Lushais east of the Sonai, and also probably by the Howlongs ;

but that the Western Lushais had profited by the lesson taught
them in the previous year, and had stood aloof. The attack at
Ldlbura took place on 1st March 1892. On the 10th April, the
punitive force, consisting of 225 men of the Military Police and
75 of the 18tli Bengal Infantry under Captain Loch, left Aijal.
Ldlruya, Poiboi, Ldlhai, Bungteya, Maite, and other villages were
occupied in turn, and all the chiefs submitted, except Ldlbura,
who fled, accompanied by only twenty followers, to the impenetrable
jungles on the Manipur frontier. These operations were followed
by the complete submission of the Eastern Lushais, who now, like
the Lushais west of the Sonai, appear at last to have recognised
that it is far better to submit willingly to our rule than to sufier
the inevitable consequences of fighting against it.

In the course of these operations, the inconvenience of dividing

the Lushai country amongst three Administrations —Assam, Bengal,
and Burma — was found to be considerable. It has now been
settled that the portion administered from Bengal will shortly be
made over to Assam. The Burma portion will, however, for»the
present at least, continue to be under the control of the Chief
Commissioner of Burma.
231. With the State of Hill Tippera this Administration has
no direct relations ; all communications for
Hill Tippera. i-»rirf
Mahardja
the are
r-

forwarded
t -i ,
through the
, -,

Government of Bengal. The State is conterminous with Sylhet,

along the whole of the southern border of that district, and con-
up and down the valleys of the rivers
siderable intercourse takes place
which flow northwards from the Tippera Hills. The Mahdrdja's
boundary was laid down on this side by a joint Commission in
1865-66. The Mahdrdja is the zeminddr of considerable estates in
Sylhet, and is to that extent subject to our revenue jurisdiction.
 232 ASSAM ADMINISTRATION REPORT. [Chap. VU.

Froxtier 030 111 the precedinsj parai^raplis reference has been made to
the " Inner Line." This expression denotes a
The Inner Line. ,
m
•
^ , . , .
^ .

boundary which, accordance with the

poHcy to which eHect was given by Kegulation V of 1873, has
been laid down in certain districts as that up to which the protec-
tion of British authority is guaranteed, and beyond which^ except
by special permission, it is not lawful for British subjects to go.
The Inner Line Eegulation was the result of much correspondence
between the Government of Bengal and that of India on the subject
of frontier policy. It was believed that many complications were

caused by permitting persons from the plains to penetrate into the

hills or submontane forests inhabited or frequented by wild tribes,

where no eflective protection could be given by Government, and

where disputes relating to buying and selling frequently occurred.
At the time the Eegulation was passed, the great demand and
competition for India-rubber brought down by the hillmen gave
special prominence to these considerations and it was decided :

that the best way to prevent these complications was to stop, as far
as possible, the access of strangers to tracts where adequate control
could not be exercised. An Inner Line has been laid down in the
following districts :
— In Darrang, towards the Bhutias, Akas, and
Daflas ; in Lakhimpur, towards the Daflas, Miris, Abors, Mishmis,
Khdmtis, Singphos, and Ndgas ; in SibsAgar, towards the southern
Ndgas ; and in Cachar, towards the Lushais. The line is marked
at intervals by frontier posts, held by Military Police or troops,
and commanding the roads of access to the tract beyond and ;

any person from the plains who has received permission to cross
the line has to present his pass at -these posts. At the close of
1892-93 there were 5 such outposts in the Darrang district, 4 of
which were manned by detachments of the Military Police and the
other by troops 13 garrisoned by Military Police in the Lakhim-
;

pur district one at Abhaypur in Sibsdgar garrisoned by Military

;

Police ; and 7 in Cachar, all held by troops.

ASSAM SECRETAKIAT PRINTINO OFFICE (GENL.) NO. 168 — 300 — 29-4-96.
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