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SYLHET

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Originally appearing in Volume V26, Page 281 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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SYLHET , a See also:

town and See also:district of See also:British See also:India, in the See also:Surma valley See also:division of Eastern See also:Bengal and See also:Assam. The town is on the right See also:bank of the See also:river Surma, on rising ground, embowered in groves. Pop. (1901), 13,893. There are manufactures of mats, carved See also:ivory and shells, and See also:furniture. There is an unaided See also:college, founded in 1892, which is mainly supported by a native See also:gentleman. There are two dispensaries and an See also:English See also:church. The See also:great See also:earthquake of the 12th of See also:June 1897 destroyed every substantial See also:building, but caused very little loss of See also:life. Sylhet is the largest town in Assam, but is steadily decaying, being 30 M. from a railway and inaccessible to steamers during the dry See also:season. The DISTRICT OF SYLHET has an See also:area of 5388 sq. m. It consists of the See also:lower valley of the Surma or Barak river, and for the most See also:part is a See also:uniform level broken only by scattered clusters of sandy hillocks called tads, and;bintersected by a network of See also:rivers and drainage channels. It is a broad and densely-cultivated See also:plain, except in the extreme See also:north, where the enormous rainfall converts many square See also:miles of See also:land into one huge See also:lake during the rains, and in the See also:south, where eight See also:low ranges of hills, spurs of the See also:Tippera mountains, run out into the plain, the highest range being about 1500 ft. above See also:sea-level.

There is also a small detached See also:

group in the centre of the district called the Ita hills. The district is watered by the branches of the Surma (q.v.) which are navigable by large boats, and support a busy See also:traffic. The See also:climate is extremely See also:damp and the rainfall is heavy, reaching an See also:annual See also:average of over 150 in.; the See also:rainy season generally lasts from See also:April to See also:October. In 1901 the See also:population was 2,241,848, showing an increase of 4% in the See also:decade. More than See also:half are Mahommedans. See also:Tea cultivation is a flourishing See also:industry in the See also:southern hills. The Assam-Bengal railway crosses the district, but See also:trade is still largely river-See also:borne. Great damage was done by the earthquake of June 1897, which was followed by an outbreak of malarial See also:fever. Sylhet passed into the hands of the British in 1765, with the See also:rest of Bengal, of which it formed an integral part until 1874, being included in the Dpca division. In that See also:year it was annexed, together with the adjoining district of See also:Cachar, to the See also:chief-commissionership of Assam which was amalgamated with eastern Bengal in 1905. See Sylhet District Gazetteer (See also:Calcutta, 1905).

End of Article: SYLHET

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