18 W. N. Edwards— Archaeological Remains in Bishnath. [Extra No. 
other inscriptions on the rocks on the island, but they have not been 
deciphered. 
Buroi Fortification. —This is a most interesting ruin situated at 
the foot of the Duffla hills, where the Buroi river debouches into the 
plain ; and was found by the writer some few years ago. The forti¬ 
fication consists of two stone walls, one on each side of the river—and it 
is assigned to the Pretappuria Raja who, the Dufflas say, entrenched 
himself in the hills with a considerable following. The stones bear 
distinct builders’ marks on them, similar to those found by Capt. 
Hannay on the Copper temple of the Sutias beyond Sudiya, some 70 
years ago. Hence we may suppose that the Sutias are responsible for 
these walls also. A detailed account of these ruins is given by the 
writer in a paper to the A. Soc. of Bengal. They appear to date back 
as far as the 13th Century. 
Behali Mandir. —The remains of another small temple I was for¬ 
tunate enough to discover in 1892, situated at the edge of an old tank 
in the Behali garden. All that remained was the plinth which was 
some 18" to 2' below the surface of the ground. The building had 
evidently been a small one, not more than 12' x 12', but was exceedingly 
well built with brick—the base had a projecting plinth with decorative 
mouldings; while the foundation of the structure, which was some 5' 
below the plinth, rose from a small base gradually widening on all 
sides until it acquired the area of the plinth—a curious and uncommon 
method of building, which I think is never seen now-a-days. 
Pertahghur. —This is the site of the ancient city of Pretappur 
which, in the middle ages, had acquired renown as “ the Splendid City ” 
the capital of the Pratappuria Raja. Captain Westmacott, in an article 
to the A. Soc. of Bengal, written in 1835, imagines that the city was 
situated on the present site of Tezpur, for he says:— 
“In theM.S. of the Assam Kings the city is stated to have been 
t( placed on the North Bank of the Brahmaputra, a little below Bishnath, 1 
“and as the entire country bordering the river from Pora (Tezpur) 
“ eastward to Bishnath * * * is covered with swamp to the extent of 
“ several miles inland, there are strong grounds for supposing that 
Pretappur’ and ‘Pora’ are the same.’’ 
From the present configuration of the country there is now no 
doubt that the Brahmaputra at one time flowed at the foot of Pertab- 
ghur, as there is a drop of some 30 feet from the red deluvial lands of 
that part to the low alluvial swamps that Captain Westmacott de¬ 
scribes. And this being the case, Pretappur would be “a little below 
i The italics are mine. 
