Nov. 1850. BOAT SWAMPED. S1LHET. 335 



they swarm at Silhet, and on the river lower down. Both 

 on the passage up and down, we were tormented in our 

 canoes by them for eighty or ninety miles above Silliet, 

 and thence onwards to Cachar we were free. 



On the 30th of November, we were preparing for our 

 return to Silhet, and our canoes were loading, when we 

 were surprised by a loud rushing noise, and saw a high 

 wave coming down the river, swamping every boat that 

 remained on its banks, whilst most of those that pushed 

 out into the stream, escaped with a violent rocking. 

 It was caused by a slip of the bank three quarters 

 of a mile up the stream, of no great size, but which 

 propagated a high wave. This appeared to move on 

 at about the rate of a mile in three or four minutes, 

 giving plenty of time for our boatmen to push out from 

 the land on hearing the shouts of those first overtaken 

 by the calamity ; but they were too timid, and conse- 

 quently one of our canoes, full of papers, instruments, 

 and clothes, was swamped. Happily our dried collections 

 were not embarked, and the hot sun repaired much of the 

 damage. 



We left in the evening of the 2nd of December, and 

 proceeded to Silhet, where we were kindly received by 

 Mr. Stainforth, the district judge. Silhet, the capital of 

 the district of the same name, is a large Mahometan town, 

 occupying a slightly raised part of the Jheels, where 

 many of the Teelas seem joined together by beds of gravel 

 and sand. In the rains it is surrounded by water, and 

 all communication with other parts is by boats : in winter, 

 Jynteapore and Pundua may be reached by land, crossing 

 creeks innumerable on the way. Mr. Stainforth' s house, 

 like those of most of the other Europeans, occupies the 

 top of one of the Teelas, 150 feet high, and is surrounded 



