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CHANDLAIE, NIZAMPOOR, LUSHKURPOOR, HIJRAPOOR,

SHERPOOR-HIJRAPOOR.

Nos. 16, 17, 18, 19, 20.—Pergunnahs 16 or Chandlaie, 17 or Nizampoor, 18 or Lushkurpoor, 19 or Hijrapoor, and 20 or Sherpoor-Hijrapoor, from their great intermixture, must also be statistically combined. Chandlaie is much the largest Pergunnah amongst these which lie scattered, as well as the lands of other neighbouring Pergunnahs within the limits of Chandlaie, which again has its own detached lands in different Pergunnahs of Zillah Rajshahye.

The Pergunnahs alluded to above, are bounded on the North by Basdoul-Pultapoor, and Wuzeerpoor, on the East by Bungaon of Rajshahye, on the South by Gurushat of Rajshahye, and on the West by Sheershahabad.

Rivers.-The Mahanunda forms the natural Western boundary of these Pergunnahs, besides which there is no other river; there are however two rather deep Nullahs, which generally assume the names of the villages they bound or run through; one of these Nullahs is fed by the Mahanunda at Chundpara Nudeean, and the other receives the superfluous waters of the Beel Gouree, Pergunnah Wuzeerpoor, but during the cold and hot weather they partially dry up; however, they always contain mud and water sufficient to reach within a few inches of a good sized elephant's pad; their banks are in many places precipitous and generally fringed with long grass, the resort of tigers, leopards, and other wild animals; the sportsman will very seldom be disappointed on this ground.

Roads.-A continuation of the Calcutta and Rampoor Bauleah road to Dinajpoor and Darjeeling, passes through the Eastern part of this Pergunnah; there is a neat and commodious Dâk bungalow within the limits of the village of Nizampoor, Jot Nursingh; travellers from Calcutta, between Moorshedabad and Darjeeling, who cannot put up with a surprized Moorgee, had better supply themselves with something more to their taste, at the former place, for here they will get nothing better; the bungalow servants are civil and attentive, which makes up in a great measure for many other deficiencies. Another road passes through the Western part; it is a continuation of the road which strikes off from the Byrgachee Dâk bungalow, and is always passable throughout the rains; there are also two cross-roads from the Mahanunda, which join the Dâk road near the village of Jhelune; but both are unfit for carts, and during the rains are impassable.

Grand Trigonometrical Towers.-Two Trigonometrical Towers of the Calcutta Meridional Series are situated within the limits of these Pergunnahs, viz., one near the triple boundary, and a little to the North of it are the villages of Bhaluck, Dogachee, and Kulka, Pergunnah Hijrapoor; this in the Series is called the Khetia station. The other tower is situated within the village of Bazeeondurpoor, and is called the Alsapoor station: both have been laid down on my Maps.

Towns.-The only town within the limits of these Pergunnahs is Muheepoor of Basdoul-Pultapoor; it is situated on the Mahanunda and has a respectable Bazaar; there are several apparently thriving and densely populated villages on the banks of the river; none of the interior villages are of any note.

Soil.—The soils are Muteear, Dorus and Baloo; they are productive, but cultivation excepting rice is not carried on to much extent; there are, however, whenever the land is

cleared and tilled for their reception, excellent crops of wheat, barley, lin-seed, pulse of various kinds, mustard-seed, and a little barley; these are generally cultivated in the vicinity of the Mahanunda; the surface of these Pergunnahs undulates considerably, especially on the Eastern side, and in places I also noticed small beds of Kunkur lime-stone.

Harvest. The harvests are Bhudooe, Khureef and Rubbee.

Climate. The climate is somewhat better than that of Wuzeerpoor, and the neighbouring Pergunnahs to the North; the country is equally jungly if not more so, but the jungle is not so intermixed with jheels and noisome swamps; to this alone can be attributed the altered appearance of the inhabitants; the villages in the interior are more thickly inhabited than those of Wuzeerpoor, &c., and less densely so, in the immediate vicinity of the Mahanunda, which shows that the people are not driven from their homesteads in the interior to seek for salubrity.

This Pergunnah was also visited by the fearful pestilence that desolated Wuzeerpoor about 1816, and many villages have not yet assumed their original appearance.

Factory.-There is one Indigo Factory on the bank of the river, called Kaleetullah, belonging to Mr. Peter MacArthur of Maldah; the plant which supplies it, is for the most part produced on the Western side of the river.

Jungle. The jungle is exactly of the same description as that of Wuzeerpoor, generally high grass and low jungle intermixed with forest trees; nearly 28,000 acres of Chandlaie are covered with jungle; Nazimpoor has about 2000 acres, but still it is not unprofitable; boro rice being cultivated in almost every available spot and the grass is much used for making the sides and roofs of houses.

Thannah-These Pergunnahs are under the Police jurisdiction of Thannah Chupaie, which has three Chowkies, one at Jhebun on the public Dâk road, another at Goshainpoor, and the third at Muheshpoor on the Mahanunda.

Area. The following Table will give the respective areas of these Pergunnahs.

Detached

Included

Recorded

Names of Pergun- Total Area by lands to be lands to be Area of Per

nahs.

Survey.

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Area in
Square Remarks.
Miles

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Beegahs.-The beegahs in use during the time of survey are as follows:

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Assessment. The rate of assessment is noted in the General Statistical Return.

KANKJOLE

No. 11, or Pergunnah Kankjole, is divided into four compact portions, which for distinctions sake, had better be called the Northern, Middle, Southern, and Eastern portions; it has also twelve villages detached in Shikarpoor, the most distant of these is 26 miles from the Eastern compact portion.

Northern Part.-This portion is bounded on the North, East, and South by Pergunnah Akburpoor, and on the West by Kankjole of Purneah.

Middle. This portion is bounded by Akburpoor on the North, and by Kankjole of Purneah on the South, East and West.

Southern. This portion is bounded by Kankjole of Purneah and Mukraen of Maldah on the North and East, and by Kankjole of Purneah on the South and West.

Eastern Portion.-This portion is bounded by Kankjole of Purneah on the West, and by Kotwalee of Maldah on the North, East and South.

Rivers, &c., of Northern Portion.-The principal rivers in the Northern portion are the Kalindry and the Koosee; the latter after running a Westerly course for some miles in Kankjole of Purneah nearly parallel to the Ganges, enters the district of Maldah at the village of Bungalapara, flows in a South-easterly direction for about two miles, passing through the village of Chowkeea Puharpoor of Kankjole of Purneah, and unites with a small arm of the Kalindry, and assumes the name of the Dhurumdowla Nuddee. Gorgureebah Thannah and a Moonsiff's Kutcheree are situated in this portion, as well as the towns of Bazeed poor, Russoolpoor, and Baloopoor; these are all very densely populated; the people appear to be very healthy, and are much more robust, active, and intelligent than those who reside on the Eastern side of the Mahanunda. The public road from Purneah to Maldah passes through Gorgureebah.

Middle Portion.-The middle portion abuts on the Ganges; it contains six Uslee villages and two Arazees, whose united area amounts to about 3,320 acres ; there is no place of note; a road from Gorgureebah Thannah to Maldah passes through it.

Southern Portion Roads, &c.,-The Southern portion is very irregularly shaped, it touches an extensive Dhar on the Ganges and contains 20 Uslee villages and many Arazees; there is no river, but it is plentifully watered by Dhars of the Ganges which are replenished yearly, when the inundation takes place. Two roads pass through it; the main road from Rajmahal to Maldah, and a continuation of the Googureebah Thannah road, both are kept in excellent repair by the Ferry Fund Committee. The town of Enaetpoor is situated in this portion, there are a few modees' shops in it, but it is not a place of any

note.

Eastern Portion.-This portion is situated on the Sheershahabad Map; it contains 10 villages, but no place of any note; the lands are Muteear and Dorus and are highly cultivated and productive.

Soils. The soils are Dorus and Baloo, and yield very fine crops; all the lands of this Pergunnah adjoining the Ganges, are highly cultivated; the crops are, wheat, barley, gram, kullye, maize, bajeera, mustard-seed, koosuni, and a little indigo.

Harvests.-Are Bhudooe, Khurreef and Rubbee.

Climate. Very good, which is at once known by the healthy appearance of the inhabitants; during the months of November, December and January, the fogs are excessive, but the people do not seem to suffer from them, as in Purneah.

Thannah.-The Pergunnah is under the Police jurisdiction of four Thannahs; the Northern portion under Thannah Gorgureebah; the middle under Maldah; the Southern and Eastern under Kulleea Chuk, and the Shikarpoor villages under Jugdullah; there are no Police Chowkies situated in any part of this Pergunnah.

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Beegahs.-The beegahs in use at the time of survey are as follows:

Luttah, 4 haths of 18 inches each =
Ditto, 4.9

ditto

1,600 square yards per beegah. = 2,025

ditto.

Assessment.-The rate of assessment is noted in the General Statistical Return,

KOTWALEE.

No. 23, or Pergunnah Kotwalee, partly belongs to the Havellee estate of Purneah, and partly to Maldah; the portion belonging to Purneah, was surveyed by Mr. John Fitzpatrick in the year 1844; but as no Thakbundee took place, and the lands of the two Zillahs are exceedingly intermixed, it was deemed expedient to demarcate the whole, and account for the Purneah lands by Khusruh. The Pergunnah is bounded on the North

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by Sumulpoor of Purneah, on the East by Begumabad and Bhuteea Gopalpoor and also a portion of Kumlabaree of Purneah, on the South by Akburabad, and on the West by Kankjole of Purneah, Maldah and Bhaugulpoor and also by a detached portion of Pergunnah Buhadoorpoor of Bhaugulpoor.

Rivers. The principal rivers are the Kalindry and the Bhaugaruttee; the former enters this Pergunnah and Zillah from Pergunnah Sumulpoor of Purneah, between the villages of Nowghureea and Permanundpoor; it flows for a mile and a half in an Easterly direction and then makes rather a sudden bend to the North, to the boundary of the Pergunnah, which it forms. Shortly after the cessation of the periodical rains, the stream of this river becomes sluggish ; and in April and May, it is scarcely perceptable, even when the mouth is partially open; indeed the water in places appears almost stagnant; the river abounds with fish of every description, and is for the most part farmed out by the proprietors to fishermen, several families of whom, make a very fair livelihood from its produce. The right of fishing is in some parts violently disputed; in such cases the proprietors make over disputes and all to the fishermen, and the strongest party gains the day; these disputes sometimes almost end in serious affrays. During some seasons, boats of 3 or 400 maunds can proceed down its channel; but generally its mouth is blocked up with sand from the beginning of March, until the rise of the Ganges in June; during the rainy season, boats of very large burthens can pass down its channel from the Ganges to the Mahanunda

The Bhaugaruttee on the North of the Ganges has become a very inconsiderable stream; it flows out of the Ganges near the village of Ruzakpoor, Pergunnah Kankjole of Purneah, which it bounds to the South, and then by an abrupt bend enters this Pergunnah, at the villages of Kumaloodeenpoor and Aghunbareea, and then continues its course in a due Easterly direction for 4 miles, after which it makes two or three bends in a South-easterly direction towards the ruins of Gour, which it approaches to within a quarter of a mile at the village of Sadoolapoor. About a mile above the village, the river takes a Southerly course which it maintains, until it unites its waters with the Pugla, of a mile below Muhadeepoor indigo factory, the confluence takes place near a Hindoo temple adjacent to the village of Muhadeepoor, Pergunnah Kasimnuggur; this spot is considered very sacred and is much resorted to by pious Hindoos; the streams being thus mingled, flow on uninterruptedly to the Ganges. From its entrance into this Zillah from Kankjole of Purneah, to its confluence with the Ganges at Delalpoor of Sheershahabad, taking into consideration its several bends, the stream flows over a space of about 23 miles; during the rains this river is very deep, and the Government Steamers formerly used to avail themselves of its channel to avoid the Ganges, the current of which is fierce in the extreme from Delalpoor considerably above Rajmahal.

Soils. The soils are Muteear, Dorus and Balsoonder; they are very extensively tilled and highly cultivated, 19,000 acres being under culture, producing in the greatest abundance, spendid crops of barley, wheat, pulse of various kinds, rice, indigo, mulberry, gram, bajeera, mustard-seed, Indian-corn, and sugar-cane.

Harvest. The harvests are Bhudooe, Khurreef and Rubbee, all of which are very plentiful; in fact, the whole of this Pergunnah is in a very prosperous state.

Roads. The public Dâk road from Maldah to Rajmahal passes through its Northern part, and is kept in very good repair by the Ferry Fund Committee of the District, which,

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