Sylhet District, 1908
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units, units, and many tahsils upgraded to districts.Many units have since been renamed. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
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Sylhet District, 1908
Srihaffa
Physical aspects
District on the south-west frontier of Eastern Bengal and Assam, lying between 23° 59' and 25° 13' N. and 90° 56 and 92° 36' E., with an area of 5,388 square miles. It is bounded on the north by the Khasi and Jaintia Hills ; on the east by Cachar ; on the south by the Lushai Hills and the State of Hill Tippera ; and on the west by the Eastern Bengal Districts of Tippera and Mymensingh. Sylhet consists of the lower valley of the Barak or Surma river, a rich alluvial tract about 70 miles wide, bounded north and south by mountains, and open- ing westwards to the plain of Eastern Bengal. The greater part of the District is a uniform level, only broken by clusters of little hillocks called tilas, and intersected by a network of rivers and drainage channels. During the rainy season, from June to October, the torrents that pour down from the surrounding hills convert the entire western part into a sea of water. The villages are, as a rule, built on the banks of the rivers, which, as is the case in most alluvial tracts, are raised by the annual flood deposits to a higher level than that of the surrounding country, and stand out above the waste of waters like islands in a lake. The central and eastern portion con- sists of a broad plain, covered with rice-fields, and dotted over with hamlets embowered in groves of fruit trees and bamboos. On the north the Khasi Hills rise abruptly like a wall from the level of the plain. On the south the Tippera Hills throw out eight spurs into the valley, the highest of which is about i,ooo feet above sea-level. In their natural state these hills are overgrown with grass and low scrub jungle, but many have been cleared for the cultivation of tea.
The river system of Sylhet is constituted by the Barak or Surma, with its many tributaries and offshoots. This river enters the District from Cachar, and forthwith bifurcates into two branches. One, under the name of the Surma, flows beneath the hills bordering the north of the District ; the other, called the Kusiyara, runs in a south-westerly direction, and the two unite again near the south-western boundary to fall into the estuary of the Meghna. The principal tributaries on the north bank are the Lubha, the Bogapani, and the Jadukata, while from the Lushai and Tippera Hills come the Singla, the Langai, the Manu, and the Khowai. There are no lakes in the ordinary meaning of the term, but the low-lying haors, or swamps, are a peculiar feature of the District. During the rains they become filled with water; but in the cold season this dries up, except in the very centre of the basin, and the land affords excellent pasturage or can be sown with mustard or early rice. The submerged area is being steadily reduced by the deposit of silt, and in course of time these basins wiU no doubt be raised above flood-level.
The plain presents the usual characteristics of an alluvial tract, but the process of deltaic formation has proceeded slowly, and the town of Sylhet is only 48 feet above sea-level. The low ranges of hills are, for the most part, composed of sandstone of Upper Tertiary origin, and the t'llas are formed of layers of sand, clay, and gravel, highly indurated by a ferruginous cement.
The vegetation of the plains of Sylhet does not differ materially from that of Eastern Bengal. The marshes are covered with grasses and reeds, and during the rainy season with floating islands of aquatic plants and sedges. The low hills are clothed with scrub, and towards the south with forest.
Wild animals are not common, except at the foot of the hills, where elephants, tigers, leopards, wild hog, and deer are found. Teal and wild duck abound in the low-lying marshy country to the west, and in the Jaintia plains to the east ; and wild geese, jungle-fowl, and pheasants are common. The rivers swarm with fish, and the drying of fish forms an important industry. Excellent mahseer fishing is to be had in the streams issuing from the northern hills.
The climate is characterized by extreme humidity. The winter is milder than that of the Assam Valley, but there is no hot season, and the heavy precipitation during the rains keeps the air unusually cool. The country is fairly healthy, except at the foot of the hills in the north and south, where malaria is not un- common.
The monsoon clouds sweeping up the valley are stopped by the precipitous face of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, and descend in torrents of rain. In the north of the District the annual fall averages between 200 and 250 inches ; but towards the south the effect of the mon- soon is less pronounced, and the normal rainfall is only about 100 inches. The whole of the western portion of the District is under water during the rains ; but these floods are looked upon as a matter of course, and the water, when it subsides, leaves behind a layer of fertilizing silt. Severe shocks of earthquake were felt in Sylhet in January, 1869, and October, 1882, but the damage done was inconsider- able in comparison with the havoc wrought by the earthquake of June 12, 1897. Nearly all the masonry buildings in the north of the District were wrecked, the banks of the rivers caved in, the earth was furrowed by cracks and fissures, and bridges and embanked roads were destroyed. The total number of deaths reported was 545; but had the catastrophe occurred at night, this number would have been very largely increased. The majority of these casualties were due to drown- ing, but cases are said to have occurred in which people were actually swallowed up by the earth.
History
The District was at one time divided into at least three petty king- doms : Gor, or Sylhet proper, Laur, and Jaintia ; and the country south of the Kusiyara seems to have been under the control of the Raja of Hill Tippera. Gor was con- quered by the Muhammadans in ad. 1384, the last Hindu king, Gaur Gobind, being overcome more by the magic of the fakir. Shah Jalal, than by the prowess of the officer in command of the expedition, Sikandar Ghazi. After the death of Shah Jalal, Gor was included in the kingdom of Bengal and placed in charge of a Nawab. In the reign of Akbar it passed with the rest of Bengal into the hands of the Mughals ; and, in the time of this emperor, Laur was also conquered, though its rulers were for some time entrusted with the charge of the frontier, and were exempt from the payment of land revenue. Gor and Laur were included in Bengal when the British obtained the Diwani of that Province in 1765. Jaintia was never conquered by the Muham- madans, and retained its independence till 1835, when it was annexed by the British Government, as no satisfaction could be obtained for the murder of three British subjects, who had been kidnapped and sacrificed to the goddess Kah.
During the early days of British rule, Sylhet, lying on the outskirts of the Company's territories, was much neglected. The population was turbulent, means of communication were difficult, and the arts of civilization were in a backward condition. The savage tribes living to the north and south of the valley disturbed the peace of the plains, and there were continual disputes as to the boundary between British territory and the Native State of Hill Tippera. On the south the offending tribes were the Kukis and Lushais. In 1844 the Kukis raided and secured 20 heads, and three years later killed 150 persons ; but the scene of the massacre was, after careful inquiry, found to be beyond the frontier of the District. Another raid was committed in 1849, and an expedition was sent into the hills in the next year, which kept the country quiet for a time. The Lushais, however, broke out again in 1862, 1868, and 1871. The expedition sent into the hills in 1871 had a most salutary effect; and, though further expenditure of life and money was required before the tribe was finally subdued, no raids have been committed on the plains of Sylhet since that date. At the beginning of the nineteenth century robbery and murder were also common on the northern frontier, but the Khasis were soon pacified after the annexation of the Assam Valley, and the last outbreak took place in 1831. In 1857 a party of sepoy mutineers from Chitta- gong entered the District from Hill Tippera, but were defeated at Latu and driven into Cachar. The District originally formed part of the Dacca Division of Bengal, but in 1874 it was placed under the charge of the newly appointed Chief Commissioner of Assam.
Sylhet contains few archaeological remains of interest. The mosque of Shah Jalal in Sylhet town is, however, deeply venerated ; and at Phaljor in pargaua Baurbhag there is a piece of stone which is said to be Sati's left leg, which fell there when she was hewn in pieces by Vishnu, while her neck is said to have fallen near Sylhet town.
Population
The District, which is by far the most populous in Assam, contains 5 towns and 8,330 villages. The population at each of the four last enumerations was: (1872) 1,719,539, (1881)1,969,009, (1891) 2,154,593, and (1901) 2,241,848. The com- paratively small increase during the last intercensal period is due to the unhealthiness of the North and South Sylhet subdivisions, where the population outside tea gardens decreased by about 4 per cent. The District includes five subdivisions : North Sylhet, with head- quarters at Sylhet town ; South Sylhet, with head-quarters at Maulavi Bazar ; and Sunamganj, Habiganj, and Karimganj, with head-quarters at places of the same name.
The following table gives particulars of area, towns and villages, and population according to the Census of 1901 : —
Nearly 53 per cent, of the population in 1901 returned themselves as Muhammadans, and nearly 47 per cent, as Hindus.
Bengali is the common speech of the people, and was returned by 92 per cent, of the population, though the local dialect known as Sylheti differs materially from the language spoken in Bengal proper. Five per cent, speak Hindi and one percent. ManipurT. In spite of the importance of the tea industry, the proportion of foreigners is much lower than in most of the plains Districts of Assam; in 1901 they formed only 7 per cent, of the whole.
The respectable Hindu castes are much more strongly represented in Sylhet than in other Districts of Assam. In 1901 Brahmans num- bered 40,000 and Kayasths 64,000, but many of these have probably a somewhat doubtful title to the names. The Navasakha or functional castes, traditionally nine in number, from whose hands water can be taken by Brahmans, are found here as in Bengal. Those most strongly represented are the Baruis or betel-leaf growers (16,000), the Goalas or cowherds (14,000), the Napits or barbers (21,000}, and the Telis or oilpressers (30,000). The chief cultivating caste of Sylhet is the Das (164,000), but the Jugis or weavers (79,000) have almost entirely forsaken the loom for the plough. The Shahas (34,000) are by tradition liquor-sellers, but have now taken largely to general trade. The fishing and boating castes are represented by the Dom-Patnis (73,000), the Kaibarttas (44,000), and the Namasiidras or Chandals (132,000). "The tribes most largely represented are the Manipuris, the Tipperas, and the Haijongs. The last-named people are only found in any numbers in the Garo Hills and in the adjacent Sunamganj sub- division. Their language is akin to Bengali and they profess to be Hindus, but there is probably a considerable admixture of hill blood in their veins. Members of European and allied races in the District numbered 317 in 1901. Nearly 82 per cent, of the population in that year were supported by agriculture, a proportion which, for Assam, is comparatively low, and is accounted for by the presence of the fishing and functional castes in considerable numbers. The proportion of priests is also large.
Members of the Welsh Presbyterian Mission are stationed at Maulavi Bazar, Sylhet, and Karimganj, and there is a Roman Catholic priest at Badarpur ; but the total number of native Christians in the District in 1901 was only 394.
Agriculture
The soil consists, for the most part, of a blue clay, which becomes black on the borders of the swamps, or haors ; but the character of the crop depends more upon the level of the land, the liability to flood, and the rainfall than upon the constituents of the soil in which it is grown. Rice, which is the staple crop, falls into two classes, early and late. Early rice includes aus and sailbura, or boro, a variety which is sown on low land when the water subsides in November and is reaped in the spring. Late rice consists of sail, which is sown about May, transplanted two months afterwards, and reaped in December ; and dman, a long-stemmed variety, which is sown in April or May, and ripens towards the end of the year.
The following table shows the area of settled and cultivated land, in square miles : —
The estimated area (in square miles) under the principal crops in 1903-4 was rice 3,220, linseed 108, mustard 58, and sugar-cane 23. The cultivation of jute is believed to be extending, and it is thought that there are about 9,200 acres under that fibre; but, in the absence of definite measurements, all these figures have to be received with caution. Cotton is grown by the hill tribes, and minor crops include til, linseed, tobacco, China millet, and different kinds of pulse.
The greater portion of the District is permanently settled, and there are no means of ascertaining the extent to which cultivation is increas- ing. Little has been done to improve the quality of the staple crops or to introduce new varieties, and the system of making loans to agricul- turists is still in its infancy. In recent years the District has, however. witnessed a great development of the tea industry. 1lie tea plant was first discovered growing wild in 1856, and gardens were opened out in the following year; but some time elapsed before capital was attracted to Sylhet to any considerable extent. In 1875 the out-turn of manu- factured tea was only 470,000 lb. By 1S82 it had risen to 4,660,000 lb., but this was barely a third of the yield in Cachar or Sibsagar. Since then the industry has grown rapidly in importance. In 1904 there were 124 gardens with 72,497 acres planted out, which yielded 39,000,000 lb. of manufactured tea, and gave employment to 194 Europeans and 79,397 natives, nearly all of whom had been brought from other parts of India. The majority of the gardens are situated in the south of the District, on the low hills projecting into the plain from Tippera and in the intervening valleys. As in Cachar, the yield of leaf is large, but the flavour is not as good as that of Assam tea. The largest companies are the Consolidated Tea and Lands Company, with head-quarters in the Balisira valley ; the Chargola Tea Association, in the Singla valley ; and the Langla Tea Company, in the South Sylhet subdivision.
No attention is paid to stock-breeding, and the cattle are poor, undersized animals. During the dry season they are herded in the haors or turned loose to graze on the rice stubble; but in the rains, when the country is under water, they are fed on cut grass or straw. Buffaloes are, as a rule, imported from Bengal. Goats are usually kept for food or sacrificial purposes.
Artificial irrigation is only used for the boro crop, which is sown in the cold season. The water lying in the centre of a basin is retained by an embankment, and then distributed through small channels over the neighbouring fields.
The plains portion of the District has been almost denuded of timber ; but the low hills are still to some extent covered with forest, the greater part of which is, however, included within the limits of the permanently settled estates. There are two Reserves, situated in the south-east corner of the Karlmganj subdivision, which cover an area of 103 square miles; and the total area of Government waste or ‘unclassed ' state forest amounts to 177 square miles. There is a considerable demand for timber in both Sylhet and the neighbouring Districts of Eastern Bengal, but the bulk of the supply is obtained from Cachar, Hill Tippera, or private land. The most valuable timber trees are jarul or ajhar (Lagerstroemia Flos Reginae) and nahor (Mesua ferrea).
No minerals are worked within the District, though the excellent limestone extracted from the hills immediately beyond the northern border is generally burnt on the banks of the Surma and other rivers, and is known to the trade by the name of 'Sylhet lime.'
Trade and communications
Apart from tea, the industries of Sylhet are in a somewhat languish- ing condition. The Manipuri women settled in the District weave cotton cloth, handkerchiefs, and mosquito curtains ; but weaving is not practised, as in the Assam Valley, as a home in- Iradeand dustry, and even the professional weaving castes have communications. . . largely abandoned that occupation for agriculture.
At the village of Laskarpur there was formerly a colony of Muhamma- dans who inlaid iron weapons with silver and brass scroll-work, or lac with feathers and talc ; but these industries have almost died out. The famous sitalpdti mats are still made ; and there is a trade in bangles cut from shells, basket-work furniture, leaf umbrellas, and other things of that nature. Boat-building has always been important in Sylhet. Mr. Lindsay, the Collector in 1778, built one ship of 400 tons burden and a fleet of twenty craft which carried rice to Madras ; and large numbers of boats are still made every year. Blacksmiths forge hoes, billhooks, and axes ; and rough pottery is made, but not in sufficient quantities to satisfy the local demand. In pargana Patharia there is a manufacture of agar attar, a perfume distilled from the resinous sap of the agar tree (Aquilaria Agallocha), which is much esteemed by Oriental nations, and is exported via Calcutta to Turkey and Arabia. The only factory, besides those in which tea is manufactured, is a saw-mill at Bhanga Bazar, which in 1903 gave employment to one European and 50 natives.
The trade of the District is very considerable. The principal imports are cotton piece-goods, gram and pulse, metals, kerosene and other oils, salt, sugar, spices, and unmanufactured tobacco. The chief exports are rice, hides, oilseeds, lime and limestone, and tea. The bulk of the trade is with the neighbouring Province of Bengal, and is carried by country boats, which travel along the numerous waterways into almost every corner of the District. Steamers, however, have a large share, and the amount carried by the Assam-Bengal Railway is steadily increasing. The largest mart is at Balaganj on the Kusiyara. Other important places are Chhatak, where there is a big business in lime, oranges, and other products of the Khasi Hills ; Habiganj, Sunamganj, Ajmiriganj, and Karimganj, which is con- veniently situated on both the river and the railway. Sylhet Town is still the largest place ; but it is steadily declining in importance, as the bed of the river has silted up and steamers are no longer able to come so far in the dry season, while it is far removed both from the principal centres of the tea industry and from the railway. In addition to these established marts, there are a large number of bi-weekly markets at which the villagers dispose of a great deal of their produce. Some of the wealthiest traders are Marwaris, but they do not here enjoy the pre-eminence to which they have attained in the Assam Valley. Many of the natives of Sylhet, more especially the Shahas, are keen and enterprising men of business, and there are a large number of traders from the neighbouring Districts of Bengal. Rice is exported in considerable quantities to the tea gardens of Cachar ; and the trade with Hill Tippera, which lies to the south, is valued at about 6 lakhs a year. The chief imports from this .State are timber, bamboos, and raw cotton ; the most important exports are fish, gram and pulse, salt, tobacco, and kerosene and other oils.
The Assam-Bengal Railway runs for 120 miles through the south of the District between Chandura and Badarpur, connecting it with the port of Chittagong, and, by means of the steamer service between Chandpur and Goalundo, with Calcutta. A light railway has also been sanctioned from Dwara Bazar on the Surma river to the Maolong coal-field in the Khasi Hills. The India General Steam Navigation Company and the Rivers Steam Navigation Company run a daily service of steamers during the rainy season from Calcutta up the Kusiyara into Cachar. Small steamers also run from Karimganj by the Langai to Langai ghit, up the Manu to Chatlapur, along the Doloi to Kurma, and from Markhali near the western border of the District past Sunamganj and Chhatak to Sylhet town. During the cold season the large steamers proceed to Chhatak ; beyond that point there is not enough water in the Surma for steamer tratitic in the dry season, 'i'hrough traffic continues to go from Markhali to Silchar, but small feeder-steamers have to be employed, as the river contains very little water. The total length of unmetalled cart-roads maintained in 1903-4 was 1,559 miles, of metalled roads 7 miles, and of bridle-paths 118 miles. With the exception of 22 miles of road and 118 miles of bridle-path, which were under the charge of the Public Works department, and the roads within municipal limits, all are maintained from Local funds. Water is, however, the recognized means of trans- port and locomotion, and in many parts of the District roads would be liable to obstruct the drainage and would thus have a prejudicial effect upon cultivation. During the dry months a large number of cold- season tracks are made over the fields. The most important lines of communication are those from Sylhet to Silchar via Karimganj and Badarpur, and to the Kulaura railway station via Fenchuganj ; and the roads that connect Maulavi Bazar and Habiganj with the railway. Targe sums of money have also been spent on the construction of the Sunamganj-Pagla road, and the road from Salutikar to Companyganj, which is a section of the route from Sylhet to Shillong. Both of these roads have been made across the line of drainage, and are exposed to enormous pressure from the floods that pour down from the hills. Except in the immediate vicinity of tea gardens, there is hardly any cart traffic, and goods taken by land are, as a rule, carried by coolies.
Famine
Like the rest of Assam, Sylhet has been free from scarcity during the past century ; but it is said that nearly one-third of the population died in 1781 from the effects of a famine, caused by a flood which swept away the produce of an unusually bountiful harvest. In 1901 some distress was caused m the western part of the District by the failure of the harvest of the previous year, and a few thousand rupees were distributed in relief by the local authorities.
Administration
For general administrative purposes, the District is divided into five subdivisions : North Sylhet, which is in the immediate charge of the Deputy-Commissioner; South Sylhet and Karim- Ganj which contain a considerable European popu- lation and are in charge of members of the Indian Civil Service ; and Habiganj and Sunamganj, which are usually entrusted to native magistrates. The superior staff includes the usual officers, but the number of Subordinate magistrates is larger than generally in Assam. This is rendered necessary by the density of the population and the complexity of the land revenue settlement.
Sylhet differs from the rest of Assam and resembles Bengal in its arrangements for the administration of civil justice. The District Magistrate and his Assistants do not, as elsewhere, exercise civil juris- diction powers, this branch of the work being entrusted to the District Judge assisted by two Sub-Judges and ten Munsifs. The peculiar features of the revenue settlement give rise to a large number of rent and title suits, and unfortunately the parties concerned not unfrequently take the law into their own hands. In 1903 there were no less than 402 cases of rioting, a few of which were attended with loss of life. A special feature of the District is the river dacoities committed by bands of armed men, who attack boats loaded with merchandise. Detection is extremely difficult, as the robbers leave no tracks, and can quickly cross the frontier of the Province. Burglaries and thefts are not uncommon. The Sessions Judge of Sylhet exercises the same functions in Cachar, and the High Court at Calcutta is the chief appellate authority for both civil and criminal cases.
In 1582 the land revenue of Sylhet is said to have been assessed by the Mughals at Rs. 1,67,000; but the greater part of this seems to have been absorbed in the defence of the frontier, and the District apparently yielded little revenue beyond a few elephants, spices, and wood. When it passed into the hands of the East India Company, the revenue demand was fixed by Mr. Holland in 1776 at 5/2 lakhs; but considerable difficulty was experienced in collecting this amount, though it was declared to be by no means an oppressive assessment. Payment was made in cowries, more than 5,000 of which went to one rupee, and the management of this unwieldy medium of circulation occasioned much loss and trouble. In 1789 Sylhet was measured up in a very perfunctory manner by the Collector, Mr. Willes, and an assessment imposed of nearly 13/2 lakhs. This assessment was subse- quently made permanent, but it only applied to 2,100 square miles, large areas of waste being altogether omitted. Two features dis- tinguish the Permanent Settlement as here effected from that carried out in most of the Districts of Bengal. The leases were issued after the land had been, in theory at any rate, surveyed and demarcated, and were given, not to large zamidars, but to the actual tillers of the soil. The result is that all land not included in the Permanent .Settle- ment or subsequently alienated is claimed as the property of Govern- ment, and the number of estates and proprietors is extraordinarily large. Altogether there are nearly 50,000 permanently settled estates, more than 21,000 of which pay a revenue of less than one rupee, while less than 500 pay one hundred rupees or over. Considerable uncer- tainty has always existed as to the exact boundaries of the areas included within the Permanent Settlement, and it is quite certain that its provisions have, from time to time, been extended to land to which it did not originally apply. Of the various kinds of temporarily settled estates, the largest class is that known as Ham, or land not included in the Permanent Settlement, for which notices or ilams calling for claimants or objectors were issued in 1802. These estates, which are scattered all over the District, covering an area of 108,000 acres, have been settled from time to time, the last settlement having been con- cluded in 1902. The rates assessed varied from 3/2 annas per acre for waste to Rs. 2-10 for the best class of homestead, and produced an enhancement of 36 per cent., chiefly owing to large extensions of cultivation. Land has also been taken up for tea in Sylhet under the different rules prescribed from time to time. A full account of the various tenures in force in the District will be found in the Introduc- tion to the Assam Land Revenue Manual. The Jaintia Parganas, which lie between the Jaintia Hills and the Surma river, were, however, never included in the Permanent Settlement. They cover an area of about 484 square miles, and formed part of the territory of the Jaintia Raja till 1835, when he was deprived of them as a punishment for atrocities committed by him on British subjects. They were last resettled in 1898, the rates imposed varying from Rs. 2-10 per acre of first-class homestead to 3 annas per acre for waste.
The land revenue and total revenue of the District are shown in the table below, in thousands of rupees : — •
Outside the towns of Sylhet and Habiganj, which are under muni- cipal law, the local affairs of the subdivisions are managed by boards, presided over by the Deputy-Commissioner or the Subdivisional officers, and composed of Europeans elected by the managers of tea gardens, and natives, most of whom are elected by the members of the chaukidari panchdyats. The expenditure of these five boards in 1903-4 exceeded 3I lakhs, nearly one-half of which was laid out on public works and one-third on education. The chief source of income was, as usual, local rates.
For the purposes of the prevention and detection of crime, the District is divided into 31 investigating centres. The police force in 1904 consisted of 84 officers and 533 constables, with 5,158 chaukidars or village watchmen. In addition to the Sylhet District jail, there are jails at each of the subdivisional head-quarters, which can collectively accommodate 162 males and 12 females.
Education has made more progress in Sylhet than in most of the Districts of the Province. The number of pupils under instruction in 1880-1, 1890-1, 1900-1, and 1903-4 was 11,508, 26,913, 40,269, and 35,144 respectively. During the past thirty years there has been a great development of education, and the number of scholars in 1903-4 was more than five times the number in 1874-5. At the Census of 1901, 4-3 per cent, of the population (8.1 males and 0.4 females) were returned as literate. This proportion was exceeded only by the neighbouring Districts of Cachar and the Khasi and Jaintia Hills. Inhere were 872 primary and 64 secondary schools, and one special school, in the District in 1903-4. The number of female scholars was 1,664. The great majority of the pupils under instruction were only in primary classes, and no girl had advanced beyond that stage. Of the male population of school-going age, 16 per cent, were in the primary stage of instruction, and of the female population of the same age one per cent. The proportion of Muhammadans under instruction to those of school-going age for boys was 12 and for girls less than one per cent. There is an aided second-grade Arts college in the town of Sylhet. The total expenditure on education in 1903-4 was Rs. 2,52,000, of which Rs. 60,000 was derived from fees. Of the direct expenditure, 36 per cent, was devoted to primary schools.
The District possesses 5 hospitals and 41 dispensaries', which con- tain accommodation for 56 in-patients. In 1904 the number of cases treated was 302,000, of whom 800 were in-patients, and 10,300 opera- tions were performed. The expenditure was Rs. 55,000, the greater part of which was met from Local and municipal funds.
The proportion of persons successfully vaccinated in 1903-4 was 1 Includes one dispensary, details of wliich are not available. 40 per 1,000, or about 4 per 1,000 less than the average for the wliole Province. Vaccination is compulsory only in the town of Sylhet.
[Sir W. W . Hunter, A Statistical Account of Assam, vol. ii (1879) ; B. C. Allen, District Gazetteer of Syihet (1906).]
