840 Memoir of Sylhet, Kachar, ^ adjacent districts. [No. 104. 



If any doubt should still be entertained, that the first Mahomedan 

 expeditions into Kamrup and Assam passed through the mountains 

 north of Sylhet, I may mention, that in 1256 a. d. Malec Yusbeg, who 

 had invaded Kamrup from Bengal, was killed while retreating " across 

 the mountains ;" and that between 1489 and 1499 Ala- Udin, having 

 *'frst overrun Assam" proceeded westward to the conquest of Kamrup, 

 which course is impossible on any other supposition, than that he 

 entered Assam by the way either of Hirumbah or Sylhet, most likely 

 the former. 



Mahomed Bukhtiyar's army consisted of ten thousand men, chiefly 

 Tartar cavalry, and that he was able to subsist them^ proves that the 

 countries through which he passed must have been well cultivated ; 

 but when we reflect that this expedition was made before the in- 

 vention of fire-arms, and that the invaders had therefore no advantage 

 over the people of the country in regard to their weapons, while the 

 country is in no part favourable for cavalry, we cannot but feel our 

 respect for the skill, energy, and enterprize of the early Mahomedan 

 conquerors of India considerably elevated. 



The condition of Sylhet, as noticed in the Ayin Akhbari, with the 

 fact formerly noticed, that the Bhatta country was only recently con- 

 quered, proves that in the time of Akhbar, the district had not acquired 

 above one half of its present dimensions, and this supposition is 

 confirmed by Sunnuds bearing date in the 15th and 16th centuries, 

 shewing that adventurers were encouraged to make war upon *' the infi- 

 dels" on the frontier, and that lands were granted, of which they 

 were to obtain possession by force. The town of Sylhet existed 

 in the time of Akhbar, and as this is known to date from the Mosque 

 built over the tomb of Sha Gelaal, its patron saint, who con- 

 quered it from a native Raja, we may assume, that the current tra- 

 dition, which assigns its erection to the middle of the 13th century, is 

 correct. 



The first appearance of the English power occurs in 1762, when 

 a detachment of five companies of Sipahis under the direction of Mr. 

 H. Verelst marched from Chittagong under the Tippera Hills through 

 the southern part of Sylhet into Kachar, where they remained nearly 

 a year, encamping at Kaspur, then the capital and residence of Raja 

 Hurrishch under. After a lapse of seventy years the object of this 



