Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/129

 BARAKHAR—BARAKILA AND TALIBUNDA.

119

namely those of the Eastern Bengal Railway Steam Navigation Company, ply on the Barak. The steamers stop anywhere for cargo, but have storehouses at Silchar, Sialtek, Sylhet town and Chhatak, on the Surma branch of the river; and at Kochuamak, Fenchuganj, and Bdlaganj on the Kusiyara branch. The main river and its tributaries are crowded with country boats, which require to be towed up against the stream. The chief obstacles to navigation in the upper parts of the river are snags in the river bed. In the cold or dry season, a bank of hardened mud forms a rapid, called the Kauriya bank, some miles above Chhatak, which effectually bars the passage up the northerly branch to all except very small country boats. Similarly, on the southern branch, a ledge of rocks at Fenchuganj impedes steam navigation. There are other obstacles rocks, shallows, and mud on both branches of the river, above Chhatak and Fenchuganj. Except, however, when the water is at its lowest in February, a boat of 20 tons burthen can proceed up the Kusiyara branch as far as the point where the main stream bifurcates. In 1876-77, the river trade of Cachar and Sylhet Districts, as registered at Bhairab Bdzar on the Meghn^, showed a total of exports valued at lines

of

steamers,

Company and

the India General

—

—

^1,109,574, against imports valued at ;^532,2i2. By 1880-81, the value of the export trade had increased to ^1,287,429, and the imports to ^890,967. The most important item on the export side is tea, which amounted to 5,369,200 lbs. in 1876-77, as against 13,426,880 lbs. in 1880-81. There is a Government toll station at Sialtekh in Cachar

where timber, bamboos, etc., pay toll to the amount of about 800 a year. River in Bengal. Rises on the north face of the Barakhar. central plateau of Chutia Nagpur; flows in a northerly direction as far as the Grand Trunk Road, after crossing which it turns east and then south-east, until it leaves Hazaribagh District and enters Manbhum. About 32 miles from the point where it leaves Hazaribagh it joins the Damodar, on the boundary of Bardwan and Manbhum Districts, close to the village of Sankhtoria. In its course through Manbhum District, it recrosses the Grand Trunk Road about 3 miles above the point of junction with the Damodar. Though everywhere fordable during the dry season, it is remarkable for the suddenness with which it rises during the rains, as well as for the strength of its current ; and the construction of a bridge across it presents difficulties much more serious than could be inferred from its size. Boat traffic is imposDistrict, 1

—

sible.

Principal tributary, the

Barakhati.

—Town

Khudia

in

Manbhum.

or collection of villages in

Rangpur

District,

Population (1881) 11,393, namely, Hindus, 3520, and hammadans, 7873. Area, 11,179 seres. Bengal.

Mu-

Barakila and Talibunda.— The highest peaks of the range on