Page:Reports on the State of Education in Bengal (1835 & 1838).djvu/197



The report on the State of Education dated 1st July 1835 presented a view of the information possessed on that subject at that date with reference to all the districts of Bengal; and the object of the report, now respectfully submitted to the General Committee of Public Instruction for the information of Government, is to fill up a small portion of the outline then sketched with ampler, and it is hoped more accurate, detail.

The district to which those details exclusively relate is that of Rajshahi, to which attention was, in the first place, directed on the following grounds:—The route prescribed to Dr. in conducting the statistical investigations which he undertook by the orders of Government about 30 years ago, as quoted in the preface to the printed edition of his report on the district of Dinajpur, is described in these terms—“The Governor General in Council is of opinion that these inquiries should commence in the district of Rangpur, and that from thence you should proceed to the westward through each district on the north side of the Ganges until you reach the western boundary of the Honorable Company’s provinces. You will then proceed towards the south and east until you have examined all the districts on the south of the great river, and afterwards proceed to Dacca side and the other districts towards the eastern frontier.” In conformity with these instructions, Dr. Buchanan visited and examined the Bengal districts of Rangpur, Dinajpur, and Purniya; and when the route to be fol-