1875.] H. Blochmann — History and Geography of Bengal. — No. III. 283 



(dar pesli) of the town. This can only refer to the Karataya, which formed 

 so long the boundary of ancient Muhanunadan Bengal and the Kamrup, 

 and later of the Koch and Koch-Hajo, dominions ; in fact it was the bound- 

 ary between Bengal and Kamrup at the time of the Mahabharat. Though 

 the river in front of Bardhankot is said to have had the name of ' Bagmati', no 

 other river than the Karataya can possibly be meant.* Along the Karataya, 

 then, Muhammad Bakhtyar marched northward, under the guidance of 'Ali 

 the Mech, for ten days. We have to bear in mind that the Karataya in 

 former times was connected by branches with the Tista, (Trisrota) and that 

 the Tista before I78i flowed west of the Karataya, joined the Atrai, and 

 fell into the main branch of the Ganges (Paclma). Thus even as late as last 

 century, as a glance on Map V of Bennell's Atlas will show. The ten days' 

 march, therefore, extended along the Karataya and the Tista, which of all 

 Bengal rivers extends farthest into Tibbat. There is little doubt that this 

 was along the frontier of the territory of the Raja of Kamrup. Before the 

 tenth day, they were among the mountains, and on the tenth they reached 

 a bridge of hewn stone, consisting of twenty-odd arches. This bridge must 

 have been in the neighbourhood of Dorzheling, or, as we spell it, Darjeel- 

 ing.f 'Ali the Mech seems to have here taken leave of Muhammad Bakht- 

 yar. Even at the present day, the boundary separating the Meches from 

 the hill tribes, is about twelve miles due south of Darjeeling, near Panka- 

 bari. From here we have insufficient particulars regarding Muhammad 

 Bakhtyar's march. All that is said is, that after passing the bridge the 

 troops wended their way, unmolested apparently, stages and journeys, 

 through defiles and passes, ascending and descending among lofty moun- 

 tains. On the sixteenth day the open country of Tibbat was reached. 

 Everywhere they had passed through populous villages. After plundering 

 the country and defeating with heavy losses a hostile army near a fort in 

 the neighbourhood of a town (called Karbatan ?), Muhammad Bakhtyar 

 resolved to return. Since he returns by the way he had come, the direction 

 of his march from Darjeeling must have been northward! ; for if he had 



* Eegarding the changes in the courses of the Karataya and Tista,, vide Buchanan, 

 and Glazier's Bungpore Eeport, p. 2. 



t The Muhammadans write ^il^.f^ Darjiling. Major Mainwaring tells me 

 that the correct pronunciation is Dorzheling, i-£\)js£ with a short o and a short 

 accented e. The straight distance from Bardhankot to Darjeeling itself would he 

 nearly 160 miles. 



I find that Sayyid Ahmad in his edition of the Tuzuk i Jahangiri (p. 115) gives 

 Darjiling in connexion with Pegu, in the sentence 



"the Maghs whose country is adjacent to Pegd-Darjiling." But I conjecture that this 

 is a mistake for ^,y.L.J j j^-^i Pegu and Arkhang, ' Pegu and Ai-rakan'. 



X Major Eaverty suggests the route which Turner went in 1783, through Sikkim 

 M M 



