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BARAIL— BARAK.

18

Barail {Barel).—Y.W range on north boundary of Cachar

Assam

.

— See B.rel.

Barak

(or

Survid ).

— River of North-Eastern

District,

India, which waters the

southern valley of the Province of Assam, comprising the Districts of

Cachar and Sylhet.

Its

source

lies

among

the

Cachar mountains

occupied by the wild tribe of Angami Ndgas in the neighbourhood of Kohmia. For about i8o miles it flows in a narrow valley, shut in

between steep

hills,

in a south-south-west direction, until

it

touches

Here it is joined by the Tipai river from the south, and abruptly turns due north, forming for some distance the boundary between Cachar District and Manipur. On entering Cachar a little above Banskandi, it becomes navigable throughout the year by native boats. For four months of the year, from June to September, it is navigable beyond Lakhipur by steamers. From Lakhipur its course lies almost due west through the two Districts of Cachar and Sylhet, but it describes many windings and large loo])s, some of which have been cut across and converted into marshes by recent floods. At the boundary between Cachar and British territory at the village of Tipai-mukh.

it bifurcates into two branches, the and more northerly of vhich takes the name of the Surma, the smaller and southerly branch being called the Kusiyara. After meandering with many sinuosities across Sylhet, both these branches ultimately fall into the Meghna on the border of Maimansingh District. The Barak receives many tributaries on either bank, from North Cachar and the Khasi and Jaintia Hills on the north, and from the Lushai country and Hill Tipperah on the south. The chief of these, proceeding downwards, are the Jiri, Chiri, Madhura, Jatinga, Lubah, Chengar Khal, and Painda on the right bank and the Sonai, Katakhal, Langai, Manu, and Khoar, on the left. These, with the exception of the Madhura, are navigable even in the cold season by small

Sylhet, near the village of Banga, larger



country boats.

The Barak itself is a Within British territory,

first importance for navigation. bed averages from loo to 200 yards in width, and its minimum depth is feet. As is the case with all great rivers flowing through low-lying alluvial country, its banks have been raised by successive deposits of silt to a higher level than that Consequently, when the Bdrak itself and its of the surrounding plain. tributary streams come down in flood, and the depth of water in its

river of the its

bed suddenly rises to as much as 40 feet, the inundation spreads far and wide over the plain. The fields annually fertilized in this manner do not need any artificial irrigation and it is thought that the natural line of drainage would only be hindered by the construction of embankments. The Barak forms the single means of communication between the Districts of Sylhet and Cachar and the outer world. Two