54 
NOVEMBER 1765. 
Baramputrey was finished, I judged it proper to trace the Roads to that Place & then 
to return to the Baramputrey by way of Coorygong 1 & the Dherla River ; at the same 
time describing the Courses of the Dherla & Teesta Rivers, which intersect the Roads. 
The iotli. of November entered the Teesta Creek & proceeded up it towards 
Olyapour which lies in the Rungpour Road. The I2th. in the Forenoon came to 
8 Olyapour after going 22\ miles thro’ the Creek, altho’ the distance by Land is only 
ioj miles. The Teesta Creek is not above ioo 3^ards over, & very shallow in some 
Places, so that it cannot be navigable during the dry Months. 
Olyapour 2 is a large Village situated on the North Bank of the Teesta, but the 
Bazar is small & ill supplied. The Countrey round it is pleasant & well cultivated, 
every spot of Ground being either sown with Padda or planted with Betel Trees. But 
within 5 miles of the great River’s Bank there is but little cultivated Land. Rannygunge 
a middling Village lies 3 miles SE from Olyapour & on y e north Bank of the Teesta. 
The Countrey round Olyapour belongs to Baharbund Purgannah. 3 
From Olyapour we proceeded towards Rungpour by Land, there being no Water 
Passage at this Season. We passed the Teesta + about 6 miles WNW of Olyapour at 
a small Village named Tytari ; after this its Course is more to the NWh About a 
mile & half West from Tytari crossed the Monaash Creek, 6 which is now fordable : 
its Course is to the ESE, joining the Teesta at Callygunge. The Countrey from 
Olyapour to this Place is full of Padda Fields & Betel Trees, but here it is unculti- 
9 vated for several Miles, owing I suppose to its lying too high to be overflown during 
the rainy Season. 
After crossing the Monaash Creek we proceeded 3^- miles along the southern Bank 
of it, having a pleasant Plain to y e Southward, & thick Woods to the Northward. 
After leaving this Plain we entered a well cultivated Countrey, being full of Padda 
fields & Betel Groves, & having a very good Road through it. At Dammo-Choculo 
6 miles ESE from Rungpour, crossed the Allykury Creek, which is another Branch of 
the Teesta, & about 2 foot deep at this Time. The whole Countrey appears to be 
very well watered, being everywhere intersected by small Creeks. The Alljduirey 
frequent and great changes are unavoidable ; so that whole channels have been swept away by others, and new ones are 
constantly forming. The nomenclature therefore is exceedingly difficult. After tracing the name of a river from some 
distance you all of a sudden lose it. and perhaps recover the same name at a distance of 20 miles, while many large 
rivers intervene, and no channel remains to assist. in discovering the former connection. * * * * The confusion 
that has arisen from these cir umstances is so great, that Major Rennell seems to have been overpowered, or unwilling 
to waste time on the investigation ; and owing to the contradictory accounts given by the natives, he seems to have 
altogether avoided giving names to many of the rivers. ****’’ An account of the rivers as they were in 
Buchanan Hamilton’s time follows (op. cit., Vol. Ill, p. 358 seq.). 
1 Kurigram, on the right bank of the Dharla, which is now bridged here by the E. B.S. Railway. 
1 Ulipur, a village about half-way between the Dharla and the present channel of the Teesta, due south of 
Kurigram. 
• Pargana, a fiscal division of a district. The two parganas of Bhitarband (Bittrebund of Reunell’s Atlas), or 
‘ inner,’ and Baharbund, ‘ outer boundaries (V bawl) or frontiers, lay a’ong the Brahmaputra, and were two of the 
former divisions of the ancient Hindu kingdom of Kamarupa, which extended westwards to Rangpur. 
+ i.c. the Teesta creek above mentioned, not the main river at that time. This was the channel taken possession 
of by the river in 1787. 
6 The Manas, one of the numerous branches of the Teesta, not the larger Manas, or Banas, of Assam. 
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