Page:Adam's reports on vernacular education in Bengal and Behar, submitted to Government in 1835, 1836 and 1838.djvu/119

Rh In 1827, the collector of the district was directed to make enquiries respecting a Native institution supported by endowment, and to report the result to Government. He reported that Meer Hinja had bequeathed lands for the endowment of a madrasa, and that they then yielded for the purpose of education not more than rupees 1,570 per annum, two-thirds of the endowment having been judicially assigned to the founder’s children in the year 1790; that with the remaining one-third the then incumbent Maulavi Ali Machtulul Khan Kemoun professed himself unable to keep up the institution on its then present footing, which provided for the instruction of 50 students and for the support of three teachers, one of Arabic and two of Persian; that the number of students originally contemplated was 150; and that the buildings consisted of a small mosque in good order and two low ranges of attached houses for the dwelling of the master and disciples, which were of little value. The collector suggested that the lands would realize twice their present rental, if put up to the highest bidder by order of Government; and submitted that they should be so re-let, and the proceeds paid to the Maulavi in monthly instalments, who in return should periodically submit his accounts and a report of the state of the institution to the Board of Revenue for the information of Government. The Governor General in Council approved this suggestion and it was ordered accordingly.

Population.—In 1801, the population of this district was estimated at 750,000 persons in the proportion of four Hindoos to three Mahomedans. This district is the chief eastern boundary of Bengal, and its eastern limits are not yet accurately defined. The Tripura nation or tribe continue to maintain a kind of independent principality among the eastern hills about thirty miles wide. In features and manners they resemble the more eastern nations, but their princes have adopted Hindoo names and usages. The three tribes into which the Tripuras are divided are said to speak the same language though varying in character. Still further towards the east between the territory of the Tripura race and the central inaccessible mountains, there is a wide hilly region occupied by the people called Kookies, the Lingach of the Burmese and Lingta of the Bengalees, who appear to be a martial and predatory people.

Indigenous Schools.—I have no information regarding either common schools or schools of learning in this district. Hamilton states, perhaps too positively, that there are not any regular schools or seminaries where the Hindoo and Mahomedan laws and religion are taught. In reply to enquiries made by the general