1840.] Memoir of Sylhet, Kachar, ^ adjacent Districts. 811 



Even in the plains there is less of uniformity than would be supposed 

 on a casual inspection, and the experienced agriculturist well knows 

 that the lands in the eastern part of Sylhet, and in Lower Kachar, 

 are far more valuable than those to the westward, even up to the banks 

 of the Megna. This is explained by the greater elevation of those parts, 

 and by the number of hill streams passing through them, the banks of 

 which are always higher than the adjacent country. The vegetation, as 

 well as the husbandry of these tracts, is greatly influenced by this par- 

 ticular, of which I shall take more notice hereafter. 



The hill regions may be conveniently separated into two divisions, 

 distinguished by great difference of elevation, the point of separation 

 being fixed on the Soormah at Luckipuf in Lower Kachar, to the 

 south-west of which, whatever elevations present themselves, are under 

 two thousand feet, while those in the north-west still maintain a much 

 greater altitude, and even tower occasionally above six thousand feet. 

 But the division is more appropriate on account of a decisive differ- 

 ence in structure, the northern mountains forming clearly one system, 

 while those of the south belong to another, having reference to high 

 ground in the central parts of Tippera, the existence of which cannot 

 be doubted, though it has never been unequivocally proved. In sup- 

 port of this opinion, I must first point out that the numerous streams 

 flowing from the southward into the Soorma and Kusiara rivers, and 

 of which the very existence was scarcely known before this Survey was 

 made, are many of them of a force and volume indicating a long 

 course, and shewing them to be the drains of high land, from which 

 alone they would draw the water which they discharge, for the 

 Delaseri, the Sungai, the Munu, the Khwa-hi, and the Cognati streams 

 appear to furnish during the rains on an average a discharge of about 

 25,000 cubic feet per second ; a quantity quite inconsistent with any 

 supposition, but that of long courses and elevated origins, as none of 

 these rivers are more than fifty yards in width. 



If a reference be now made to some of the older maps on which the 

 other rivers of Tippera are traced, it will be found that the Gumti, 

 which emerges at Commilla, has an east and west course, and that the 

 Chingri and Kurumphuli, which debouche at Chittagong, run nearly 

 southward, while the Kola-dyng, as delineated on more recent maps, 

 has a south-west course, and the river of the Kungfui Nagas falling 



