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The traveller or antiquarian, with time at his disposal, would be well repaid, in passing a few days in this very interesting neighbourhood. These ruins are very minutely described in Buchanan's Survey by Montgomery Martin, volume 2nd, beginning at page 648 of Dinajpoor. Innumerable moslem tombs are scattered throughout the jungles for miles on either side of the road, all are more or less dilapidated. In a few places large blocks of granite are to be seen, these also are supposed to have been brought from Gour but there is no mistaking the bricks, they are exactly the same as those of Gour and Rajmahal, with their sharp edges and exactly uniform mould. The Adinah or Adeena Musjid, is in very good preservation, many of its domes (127 in number) are perfect; numerous fakeers resort here, but how they exist it would be hard to state; however it is certain, they are only beggars by name, although they complain loudly of the lakhirajdars or free-holders, for withholding their rights; this building is a quadrangle of about 170 yards in length and 60 in breadth. There is another very fine ruin, situated some distance to the East of Adeena, called Satasghur; but it is so enveloped in jungle as to be difficult of access, and unless by means of a guide, cannot be easily found. It would be very difficult to state who was the founder of Purooa; but it is supposed, that shortly after the dreadful pestilence at Gour, A. D. 1575, it was chosen as the site of the future Capital, the earliest inscriptions on monuments, &c. bear date A. D. 1592 or A. H. 1000.

Towns.-There is no town of any note in the compact part of this Pergunnah; the principal towns are detached, viz. Aokra oorf Shahpoor, in Pergunnah Rookunpoor, on the bank of the Mahanunda, three miles South of Maldah bazaar, Pokhureea detached in Pergunnah Sumulpoor of Purneah, within the limits of which village is also the large town of Peergunge on the Western bank of the Mahanunda; in all these towns are plentifully supplied shops, and a few hauts are held in some of the villages of the compact portion of the Pergunnah.

Soils. The soils are Muteear, Dorus and a little Baloo; the lands are low and produce abundantly rice and mustard-seed, mulberry is likewise cultivated to some extent; irrigation is not resorted to, the soil being sufficiently damp throughout the year.

Harvests.-The Harvests are Bhuddooee, Khureef, and Rubbee.

Inhabitants.-The people are puny, weak, and miserable in appearance; indeed you seldom see a robust looking man among them; towards the Mahanunda they look a little better. In this part of the District, the lower orders live very miserably and are in consequence, peculiarly subject to disease, such as intermittent fever attended with ague, dropsy, attacks of spleen, the two latter do their work; but it is astonishing to think of the vast numbers carried off yearly by the former, and still there appears to be no want of population except in the jungly portions; the apathy of all classes during the sickly season is astonishing, they think and speak of sickness and death as matters of course, and in many cases, I have known people when laboring under severe fever, pertinaciously refuse any kind of remedy.

When treating of the ruins of Purooa, I neglected to state, that the dâk road on leaving them, runs along the Eastern boundary for about one and a quarter miles, to the triple junction Pergunnah Station of Rajnuggur of Maldah and Dinajpoor; this part of the dâk road reflects but little credit on those who have charge of it; it is, or rather was, in a

miserable state, but it must be allowed that it is very much cut up by garies and droves of bullocks bringing merchandize from Titaleea, Dinajpoor and Rungpoor at all seasons of the year, and also that it is the high road from Maldah and its vicinity to the Nekmurd Mela or Fair, held annually during the month of March near the large village of Raneegunge, 34 miles North-west of Dinajpoor; the Fair is pretty centrically situated between Maldah, Purneah, Titaleea and Dinajpoor; it generally lasts from 15 to 20 days; but every thing relating to it will be fully explained in its proper place, when treating of Dinajpoor. Thannahs.-The Police jurisdiction of Thannah Maldah, prevails in this Pergunnah.

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There are about 7,200 acres of jungle, that about the ruins of Purooa is very dense.
Beegah.-The beegahs in use at the time of Survey are as follows:

Luttah of 4 Haths of 18 inches each 1,600 square yards per Beegah.

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No. 6 or Pergunnah Rajnuggur is divided into two portions; the Western portion adjoining Bhalasuree is bounded on the North by Pergunnahs Radhabulubpoor and Rajnuggur of Dinajpoor, on the West and South by Pergunnah Bhalasuree, and on the East by Pergunnah Rajnuggur of Dinajpoor, a strip of which averaging from 2 to 5 miles wide, separates it from the Eastern portion. Pergunnah Rajnuggur of Dinajpoor bounds the Eastern portion on the North, while Pergunnahs Ajhour, Shikarpoor, and Rookunpoor, bound it on the South and West.

Rivers.-The only river of any importance, flowing through or bounding this Pergunnah, is the Tanggon; its channel is very deep and its banks low; so that during the floods it overflows the country to a great extent; in the North-eastern part of the Pergunnah, the river has broken into two channels; the intermediate space during the rains is one sheet of water. There is a great deal of grass and some tree jungle, the resort of tigers, leopards, buffaloes, deer of various kinds and wild hog.

Roads.-Only one good road exists, that from Maldah to Dinajpoor; it is kept in pretty good repair by the Ferry Fund Committee of the former place; this road comes in a direct line from Purooa, passes through the town of Gajole, and then strikes off in a North-easterly direction towards Dinajpoor.

Towns. The principal Towns are Gajole and Kishunpoor, the former is the capital of the Western portion, the latter of the Eastern; there are bazaars in both these towns; the former is very inconsiderable and scarcely deserves the name of town, except from being very thickly populated.

Soil. The Soil is very good, being principally Muteear, there is also some Dorus; they yield the very finest rice, which is its principal crop; they also produce mustardseed, barley, pease, kullye and koorthee, but on account of the lowness of the lands, these crops are not much cultivated.

Harvests.-The Harvests are Khureef and Rubbee, in many villages only Khureef.

Climate.—The Climate is exceedingly damp and far from being healthy; the jungle part of the Pergunnah is almost deadly at certain seasons, that is from September to January, and again when the jheel waters begin to stagnate, namely, from the end of March to the latter end of May.

Inhabitants. The people have the same sickly, weak appearance as those of Bhalasuree; more especially those of the Eastern part of the Pergunnah.

Thannahs.-This Pergunnah is under the Police jurisdiction of Thannah Jugdullah, two chowkees of which are placed in the villages of Gajole and Kishunpoor.

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Assessment. The rate of assessment appears in the General Statistical Return.

AJHOUR.

No. 9 or Pergunnah Ajhour, is perhaps the most compact in all Maldah, and it is quite extraordinary that it should be so, as it is surrounded by lands in a very interlaced, state; Rajnuggur bounds it on the North, Khirdah and Bardaul of Dinajpoor on the East Shikurpoor of Maldah and Dinajpoor on the South, and Rajnuggur on the West.

Roads. There are only a few cart roads in this Pergunnah, and they are so bad, as scarcely to deserve the name; in many places, it is difficult to distinguish them; there are also several bullock tracks, which are much frequented in carrying on the rice trade to Bamun Gola.

Towns. The principal town is Bugdulla, containing about 1,500 inhabitants; there is a very good bazaar in this town, and a market every Thursday; much business is done in the several hauts throughout the Pergunnah; there is also a great traffic in rice and other grain at Bamun Gola, which is close to the Thannah-chowkie of that name, and situated in the village of Munaul Arazee; this Gola is a noted place on the Tanggan and large quantities of rice are exported from thence to Maldah, Rahimpoor and Nuwabgunge, from whence the up-country boats supply themselves.

Soil. The soils of this Pergunnah are Muteears, Dorus and Baloo; they are very rich and produce in abundance rice, mustard-seed, pulse of various kinds, koorthee gram; barley and wheat are also cultivated, but not in very large quantities.

Harvests. The harvests are Bhudooe, Khureef and Rubbee.

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Climate. The climate is damp, but not so very unhealthy as that of Rajnuggur and Bhalasuree. This is the natural consequence of the country being highly cultivated and comparatively free from noisome swamps.

Thannah.-The jurisdiction of Thannah Jugdullah prevails here; a Chowkie of which, is placed in the village of Manaul Arazee.

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Assessment. The rate of assessment appears in the General Statistical Return.

SHIKARPOOR.

No. 10, or Pegunnah Shikarpoor of Maldah and Dinajpoor; the lands of these two Pergunnahs are so intimately intermixed with each other and also with other Pergunnahs, that in giving a description of them it would be next to impossibe to do so separately: these Pergunnahs belong to three Zumeendars; Kumlakunt Raie who resides at the small village of Telasun, within the Pergunnah, Golam Mahummed Shah who resides at Dinajpoor, and Alum Chuna Shah who resides at Angraisbad, there are other petty landholders who reside within the Pergunnahs. They are bounded on the North by Rajnuggur and Ajhaur, on the East by the District of Dinajpoor and Basdaul Pultapoor of Malda, on the South by Sheershahabad, and on the West by Rookunpoor of Maldah and Dinajpoor.

Roads.-There are no roads whatever in this Pergunnah, not even for carts, for they are unknown, except near Bungabaree.

Towns.-The only town is Bungabaree to which the Mahanunda forms a natural Southern boundary. There is an Indigo Factory in this Mouzah, the property of Mr. Peter MacArthur.

Soil. The soils are Muteear, Dorus, Balooa and Oosur; tillage is not much practised, the Jera being simply broad-cast and there harrowed, even this is not always done. Boro Dhan is much cultivated, it is sown in the dampest places and very commonly; when there is a foot or two of water, in such cases when the grain is ripe, the ears are cut off by the ryots from Canoes, the straw is left to rot in the water and increases malaria tenfold in the hot weather. The grain of the Boro rice is large and coarse, but nutritious; foreigners, however, unmixed with other food cannot eat it for any length of time, as it is of a very heating nature. Mustard-seed is also partially cultivated; a little wheat is here and there sown, and patches of very good Indigo are to be seen in the vicinity of Bangabaree ; but the chief supply of the plant for the use of the Factory, is brought from the opposite side of the river.

Harvests.-The Harvests are Khureef and Rubbee.

Climate. The climate is excessively damp and very unhealthy. During the time of Survey my Establishment suffered very severely in this Pergunnah; party after party were completely broken up; one in particular consisting of a Native Surveyor and eleven Kalassees, were to a man so completely prostrated in 18 days, that I was obliged to have them brought on a boat down the Tanggan to my Camp on the banks of the Mahanunda; three of this party died; one poor fellow in the delirium of fever jumped into the river and was drowned. It is worthy of remark that, when an Easterly or South-easterly wind prevails in this part of the District, that sickness invariably attends it; but that the contrary is the case, when a Westerly wind blows, that is the people rapidly recover from the effects of the Easterly breeze.

Rivers.-The rivers are the Mahanunda, the Tanggan and the Poornababa.

The Mahanunda forms the natural Southern boundary, and the Tanggan the natural Western boundary of this Pergunnah; the former shall be adverted to hereafter, the latter as the crow flies, bounds the Pergunnah for about fourteen miles to the village of Kendooa Istumrur, excepting on a part of the village of Pathar Oojrung, round the Western boundary of which, however, it throws off a small rivulet-the main channel passing through the above named village.

From Kendooa Istumrur, some years ago, the river formed a new channel for itself, cutting its way through the South-eastern portion of Pergunnah Rookunpoor of Maldah and Dinajpoor to the Mahanunda distant from Kendooa about 1 miles; a small nullah formerly bounded the village of Mocheea to the East and South, into which the river made an inroad, and as the soil is loose and sandy, it very soon forced a passage for itself to the Mahanunda; from the contrary reports I received respecting the occurrence, I am unable to state correctly when this event took place. The Murra Tanggan forms the natural Western boundary from Kendooa to Bangabarree on the Mahanunda. After the rains when the river has retired to its channel, it averages from sixty to eighty yards wide, the

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