Nov. 1850. SILCHAR. TIGERS. CULTIVATION. 329 



116 feet above the sea. The bank it stood on was of clav, 

 with soft rocks of conglomerate, which often assume the 

 appearance of a brown sanely slag. 



During the first Birmesc war, Colonel Lister was sent 

 with a force up to this remote corner of Bengal, when the 

 country was an uninhabited jungle, so full of tigers that not a 

 day passed without one or more of his grass or wood-cutters 

 being carried off. Now, thousands of acres are cultivated 

 with rice, and during our stay we did not see a tiger. 

 The quantity of land brought into cultivation in this 

 part of Bengal, and indeed throughout the Gangetic 

 delta, has probably been doubled during the last twenty 

 years, and speaks volumes for the state of the peasant 

 under the Indian Company's sway, as compared with 

 his former condition. The Silchar rice is of admirable 

 quality, and much is imported to Silhet, the J heels 

 not producing grain enough for the consumption of 

 the people. Though Silchar grows enough for ten 

 times its population, there was actually a famine six 

 weeks before our arrival, the demand from Silhet being 

 so great. 



The villages of Cachar are peopled by Mahometans, 

 Munniporees, Nagas, and Cookies; the Cacharies themselves 

 being a poor and peaceful jungle tribe, confined to the 

 mountains north of the Soormah. The Munniporees* are 

 emigrants from the kingdom of that name, which lies 

 beyond the British possessions, and borders on Assam and 



* The Munnipore valley has never been explored by any naturalist, its moun- 

 tains are said to be pine-clad, and to rise 8000 feet above the level of the sea. 

 The Rajah is much harassed by the Bhmese, and is a dependant of the British, 

 who are in the very frequent dilemma of supporting on the throne a sovereign 

 opposed by a strong faction of his countrymen, and who has very dubious claims 

 to his position. During our stay at Silchar, the supposed rightful Rajah was 

 prevailing over the usurper; a battle bad been fought on the hills on the frontier, 

 and two bodies floated past our bungalow, pierced with arrows. 



