676 Account of the Moa Morah sect. [Aug. 



districts of Seesee, and Dumajee, three fourths of the Cassaree popula- 

 tion, originally belonging to Sudiya, and three fourths of the Dho- 

 ania population released from Singpho slavery, amounting to 8, or 

 9000, are .all located within the boundary lately assigned to the Sena- 

 puttee. 



The Bor Senaputtee pays to the British Government an annual sum 

 of 1800 rupees, and the surplus of the revenue of this country remains 

 in his own hands. What the amount of that revenue may be, is, I 

 presume, not known. My information, which I have obtained from vari- 

 ous sources is as follows. All new comers into the Muttuck country, 

 are taxed after one and a half years' residence there. A poll tax is 

 acknowledged to be in force, and the different classes pay according to 

 the following scale. 



Morans, 3 rupees per head. 



Cassarees, (Sonewahls,) 3 rupees ditto. 



Behees, (Sonewahls,) 21 rupees ditto. 



Assamese, (of all classes,) 2 to 1 rupee ditto. 



But with such a mixed population, a portion of which are no doubt> 

 people of idle and dissolute habits, the probability is that many of the 

 inhabitants escape taxation. And besides it can hardly be expected, 

 that any regular system of administration could be carried on, when 

 the head of the country, and his whole family, are so illiterate and ig- 

 norant. The Senaputtee has seven sons, and he, himself, is the only one 

 of the family, who knows any thing even of the common Assamese cha- 

 racter. Increasing prosperity however, has rendered it necessary for 

 them to employ native writers, who are placed in the different districts 

 over which different members of the Senaputtee's family have control. 

 He, and his sons, have also taken large farms into their own hands ; 

 which are worked by the Assamese, who have last gone into Muttuck, 

 so that although they escape taxation, they are thus made a source 

 of immediate profit to the chief, and his sons. 



In a letter, published in the Government Gazette, dated June, 1825, 

 the Bor Senaputtee is said to be the head of the Moa Mureeah tribe. 

 I however wish to explain, that the Moa Mureeahs are not a distinct 

 tribe, but a religious sect of the Assamese population, composed of in- 

 dividuals, from most of the known tribes of Assam, and who have risen 

 into notice within the memory of men now living. The Bor Senaputtee 

 has been generally considered as the head of a distinct tribe, tributary 

 to the Assam rajas ; but this is not the case. He is neither the chief of 

 the Moa Mureeah sect, nor of the Moran tribe, as these classes are by 

 no means confined to his territory. 



