ASSAM, a former province of British India, which was amalgamated in 1905 with "Eastern Bengal and Assam" (q.v.). Area 56,243 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 6,126,343. The province of Assam lies on the N.E. border of Bengal, on the extreme frontier of the Indian empire, with Bhutan and Tibet beyond it on the N., and Burma and Manipur on the E. It comprises the valleys of the Brahmaputra and Surma rivers, together with the mountainous watershed which intervenes between them. It is situated between 24° 0' and 28° 17' N. lat., and between 89° 46' and 97° 5' E. long. It is bounded on the N. by the eastern section of the great Himalayan range, the frontier tribes from west to east being successively Bhutias, Akas, Daphlas, Miris, Abors and Mishmis; on the N.E. by the Mishmi hills, which sweep round the head of the Brahmaputra valley; on the E. by the unexplored mountains that mark the frontier of Burma, by the hills occupied by the independent Naga tribes and by the state of Manipur; on the S. by the Lushai hills, the state of Hill Tippera, and the Bengal district of Tippera; and on the W. by the Bengal districts of Mymensingh and Rangpur, the state of Kuch Behar and Jalpaiguri district. Entry: ASSAM
Although the northern limits of the Tsanpo basin are not sufficiently well known to locate the Indo-Tibetan watershed even approximately, there exists some scattered evidence of the nature of that strip of Northern Himalaya on the Tibeto-Nepalese border which lies between the line of greatest elevation and the trough of the Tsanpo. Recent investigations show that all the chief rivers of Nepal flowing southwards to the Tarai take their rise north of the line of highest crests, the "main range" of the Himalaya; and that some of them drain long lateral high-level valleys enclosed between minor ridges whose strike is parallel to the axis of the Himalaya and, occasionally, almost at right angles to the course of the main drainage channels breaking down to the plains. This formation brings the southern edge of the Tsanpo basin to the immediate neighbourhood of the banks of that river, which runs at its foot like a drain flanking a wall. It also affords material evidence of that wrinkling or folding action which accompanied the process of upheaval, when the Central Asian highlands were raised, which is more or less marked throughout the whole of the north-west Indian borderland. North of Bhutan, between the Himalayan crest and Lhasa, this formation is approximately maintained; farther east, although the same natural forces first resulted in the same effect of successive folds of the earth's crust, forming extensive curves of ridge and furrow, the abundant rainfall and the totally distinct climatic conditions which govern the processes of denudation subsequently led to the erosion of deeper valleys enclosed between forest-covered ranges which rise steeply from the river banks. Entry: 6
In 1886 the eastern Dwars were annexed from Bhutan; and in 1874 the district of Goalpara, the eastern Dwars and the Garo hills were incorporated in Assam. In 1898 the southern Lushai hills were transferred from Bengal to Assam, and the north and south Lushai hills were amalgamated as a district of Assam, and placed under the superintendent of the Lushai hills. Frontier troubles occasionally occur with the Akas, Daphlas, Abors and Mishmis along the northern border, arising out of raids from the independent territory into British districts. In October 1905 the whole province of Assam was incorporated in the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam. Entry: ASSAM
Magnolias are trees or shrubs with deciduous or rarely evergreen foliage. They bear conspicuous and often large, fragrant, white, rose or purple flowers. The sepals are three in number, the petals six to twelve, in two to four series of three in each, the stamens and carpels being numerous. The fruit consists of a number of follicles which are borne on a more or less conical receptacle, and dehisce along the outer edge to allow the scarlet or brown seeds to escape; the seeds however remain suspended by a long slender thread (the funicle). Of the old-world species, the earliest in cultivation appears to have been _M. Yulan_ (or _M. conspicua_) of China, of which the buds were preserved, as well as used medicinally and to season rice; together with the greenhouse species, _M. fuscata_, it was transported to Europe in 1789, and thence to North America, and is now cultivated in the Middle States. There are many fine forms of _M. conspicua_, the best being _Soulangeana_, white tinted with purple, _Lenné_ and _stricta_. Of the Japanese magnolias, _M. Kobus_ and the purple-flowered _M. obovata_ were met with by Kaempfer in 1690, and were introduced into England in 1709 and 1804 respectively. _M. pumila_, the dwarf magnolia, from the mountains of Amboyna, is nearly evergreen, and bears deliciously scented flowers; it was introduced in 1786. The Indian species are three in number, _M. globosa_, allied to _M. conspicua_ of Japan, _M. sphenocarpa_, and, the most magnificent of all magnolias, _M. Campbellii_, which forms a conspicuous feature in the scenery and vegetation of Darjeeling. It was discovered by Dr Griffith in Bhutan, and is a large forest tree, abounding on the outer ranges of Sikkim, 80 to 150 ft. high, and from 6 to 12 ft. in girth. The flowers are 6 to 10 in. across, appearing before the leaves, and vary from white to a deep rose colour. Entry: MAGNOLIA
_Commerce._--The sea-borne trade of Bengal is almost entirely concentrated at Calcutta (q.v.), which also serves as the chief port for Eastern Bengal and Assam, and for the United Provinces. The principal imports are cotton piece goods, railway materials, metals and machinery, oils, sugar, cotton, twist and salt; and the principal exports are jute, tea, hides, opium, rice, oil-seeds, indigo and lac. The inter-provincial trade is mostly carried on with Eastern Bengal and Assam, the United Provinces and the Central Provinces. From the United Provinces come opium, hides, raw cotton, wheat, shellac and oil-seeds; and from Assam, tea, oil-seeds and jute. The frontier trade of Bengal is registered with Nepal, Sikkim, Tibet and Bhutan, but except with Nepal the amount is insignificant. Entry: BENGAL
EDEN, SIR ASHLEY (1831-1887), Anglo-Indian official and diplomatist, third son of Robert John Eden, third Lord Auckland and bishop of Bath and Wells, was born on the 13th of November 1831, and was educated at Rugby, Winchester and the East India Company's college at Haileybury, entering the Indian civil service in 1852. In 1855 he gained distinction as assistant to the special commissioner for the suppression of the Santal rising, and in 1860 was appointed secretary to the Bengal government with an _ex officio_ seat on the legislative council, a position he held for eleven years. In 1861 he negotiated, as political agent, a treaty with the raja of Sikkim. His success led to his being sent on a similar mission to Bhutan in 1863; but, being unaccompanied by any armed force, his demands were rejected and he was forced under circumstances of personal insult to come to an arrangement highly favourable to the Bhutias. The result was the repudiation of the treaty by the Indian government and the declaration of war against Bhutan. In 1871 Eden became the first civilian governor of British Burma, which post he held until his appointment in 1877 as lieutenant-governor of Bengal. In 1878 he was made a K.C.S.I., and in 1882 resigned the lieutenant-governorship and returned to England on his appointment to the council of the secretary of state for India, of which he remained a member till his death on the 8th of July 1887. The success of his administration of Bengal was attested by the statue erected in his honour at Calcutta after his retirement. Entry: EDEN
EASTERN BENGAL AND ASSAM, a province of British India, which was constituted out of Assam and the eastern portion of Bengal on the 16th of October 1905. Area 111,569 sq. m.; pop. (1901) 30,961,459. It is situated between 20° 45' and 28° 17' N., and between 87° 48' and 97° 5' E. The province, as thus reconstituted, consists of the Bengal districts of Dacca, Mymensingh, Faridpur, Backergunje, Tippera, Noakhali, Chittagong, Chittagong Hill Tracts, Rajshahi, Dinajpur, Jalpaiguri, Rangpur, Bogra, Pabna, Malda, and the native states of Kuch Behar and Hill Tippera; and the whole of the former area of Assam consisting of the districts of Goalpara, Kamrup, Darrang, Nowgong, Sibsagar, Lakhimpur, Sylhet, Cachar, Garo Hills, Khasi and Jaintia Hills, Naga Hills and Lushai Hills. It is bounded on the N. by Bhutan, on the W. by Burma, on the S. by Burma and the Bay of Bengal, and on the E. by Bengal. The line of demarcation between Bengal and the new province begins at the frontier of Bhutan, east of Darjeeling, runs south-west to Sahibganj on the Ganges and thence follows the course of the Ganges down to the deltaic branch, called the Haringhata, which leaves the main stream above Goalanda, and the course of the latter, which runs south into the Bay of Bengal. The capital of the province is Dacca, and its chief port is Chittagong. Entry: EASTERN
Among ruminants, the Sze-ch'uen takin represents a genus (_Budorcas_) found elsewhere in the Mishmi Hills and Bhutan, while serows (_Nemorhaedus_) and gorals (_Urotragus_), allied to Himalayan and Burmo-Malay types, abound. The Himalayan fauna is also represented by a race of the Kashmir hangul deer. Of other deer, the original habitat of Père David's milu (_Elaphurus_), formerly kept in the Peking park, is unknown. The sika group, which is peculiar to China, Japan and Formosa, is represented by _Cervus hortulorum_ in Manchuria and the smaller _C. manchuricus_ and _sika_ in that province and the Yangtsze valley; while musk-deer (_Moschus_) abound in Kan-suh and Sze-ch'uen. The small water-deer (_Hydropotes_ or _Hydrelaphus_) of the Yangtsze valley represents a genus peculiar to the country, as do the three species of tufted deer (_Elaphodus_), whose united range extends from Sze-ch'uen to Ning-po and I-ch'ang. Muntjacs (_Cervulus_) are likewise very characteristic of the country, to which the white-tailed, plum-coloured species, like the Tenasserim _C. crinifrons_, are peculiar. The occurrence of races of the wapiti in Manchuria and Amurland has been already mentioned. Entry: I
The basins of the Dibong and Subansiri are as yet very imperfectly known. That of the Lohit has been fairly well explored. Near Goalpara the discharge of the river in January 1828 was computed to be 140,000 cub. ft., or nearly double that of the Ganges. The length of the river is 700 m. to the Dihong junction, and about 1000 in Tibet and eastern Bhutan, above the Dihong. The Brahmaputra, therefore, exceeds the Ganges in length by about 400 m. The bed of the great river maintains a fairly constant position between its extreme banks, but the channels within that bed are so constantly shifting as to require close supervision on the part of the navigation authorities; so much detritus is carried down as to form a perpetually changing series of obstructions to steamer traffic. Entry: BRAHMAPUTRA
In Sikkim the mountains are covered with dense forest of tall umbrageous trees, commonly accompanied by a luxuriant growth of under shrubs, and adorned with climbing and epiphytal plants in wonderful profusion. In the tropical zone large figs abound, _Terminalia_, _Shorea_ (sál), laurels, many _Leguminosae_, _Bombax_, _Artocarpus_, bamboos and several palms, among which species of Calamus are remarkable, climbing over the largest trees; and this is the western limit of _Cycas_ and _Myristica_ (nutmeg). Plantains ascend to 7000 ft. _Pandanus_ and tree-ferns abound. Other ferns, _Scitamineae_, orchids and climbing _Aroideae_ are very numerous, the last named profusely adorning the forests with their splendid dark-green foliage. Various oaks descend within a few hundred feet of the sea-level, increasing in numbers at greater altitudes, and becoming very frequent at 4000 ft., at which elevation also appear _Aucuba_, _Magnolia_, cherries, _Pyrus_, maple, alder and birch, with many _Araliaceae_, _Hollböllea_, _Skimmia_, _Daphne_, _Myrsine_, _Symplocos_ and _Rubus_. Rhododendrons begin at about 6000 ft. and become abundant at 8000 ft., from 10,000 to 14,000 ft. forming in many places the mass of the shrubby vegetation which extends some 2000 ft. above the forest. Epiphytal orchids are extremely numerous between 6000 and 8000 ft. Of the Coniferae, _Podocarpus_ and _Pinus longifolia_ alone descend to the tropical zone; _Abies Brunoniana_ and _Smithiana_ and the larch (a genus not seen in the western mountains) are found at 8000, and the yew and _Picea Webbiana_ at 10,000 ft. _Pinus excelsa_, which occurs in Bhutan, is absent in the wetter climate of Sikkim. Entry: 6
Lord Canning left India in March 1862, and died before he had been a month in England. His successor, Lord Elgin, only lived till November 1863, when he too fell a victim to the excessive work of the governor-generalship, dying at the Himalayan station of Dharmsala, where he lies buried. He was succeeded by Sir John Lawrence, the saviour of the Punjab. The chief incidents of his administration were the Bhutan war and the terrible Orissa famine of 1866. Lord Mayo, who succeeded him in 1869, carried on the permanent British policy of moral and material progress with a special degree of personal energy. The Umballa durbar, at which Shere Ali was recognized as amir of Afghanistan, though in one sense the completion of what Lord Lawrence had begun, owed much of its success to the personal influence of Lord Mayo himself. The same quality, combined with sympathy and firmness, stood him in good stead in all his dealings both with native chiefs and European officials. His example of hard work stimulated all to their best. While engaged in exploring with his own eyes the furthest corners of the empire, he fell by the hand of an assassin in the convict settlement of the Andaman islands in 1872. His successor was Lord Northbrook, whose ability showed itself chiefly in the department of finance. During the time of his administration a famine in Lower Bengal in 1874 was successfully obviated by government relief and public works, though at an enormous cost; the gaekwar of Baroda was dethroned in 1875 for misgovernment and disloyalty, while his dominions were continued to a nominated child of the family; and the prince of Wales (Edward VII.) visited the country in the cold season of 1875-1876. Lord Lytton followed Lord Northbrook in 1876. On the 1st of January 1877 Queen Victoria was proclaimed empress of India at a durbar of great magnificence, held on the historic "Ridge" overlooking the Mogul capital Delhi. But, while the princes and high officials of the country were flocking to this gorgeous scene, the shadow of famine was already darkening over the south of India. Both the monsoons of 1876 had failed to bring their due supply of rain, and the season of 1877 was little better. The consequences of this prolonged drought, which extended from Cape Comorin to the Deccan, and subsequently invaded northern India, were more disastrous than any similar calamity up to that time from the introduction of British rule. Despite unparalleled importations of grain by sea and rail, despite the most strenuous exertions of the government, which incurred a total expenditure on this account of 11 millions sterling, the loss of life from actual starvation and its attendant train of diseases was lamentable. In the autumn of 1878 the affairs of Afghanistan again forced themselves into notice. Shere Ali, the amir, who had been hospitably entertained by Lord Mayo, was found to be favouring Russian intrigues. A British envoy was refused admittance to the country, while a Russian mission was received with honour. This led to a declaration of war. British armies advanced by three routes--the Khyber, the Kurram and the Bolan--and without much opposition occupied the inner entrances of the passes. Shere Ali fled to Afghan Turkestan, and there died. A treaty was entered into with his son, Yakub Khan, at Gandamak, by which the British frontier was advanced to the crests or farther sides of the passes and a British officer was admitted to reside at Kabul. Within a few months the British resident, Sir Louis Cavagnari, was treacherously attacked and massacred, together with his escort, and a second war became necessary. Yakub Khan abdicated, and was deported to India, while Kabul was occupied in force. Entry: HISTORY
_Tea._--The cultivation of tea in India began within the memory of men still living, and now has replaced indigo as the chief article for European capital, more particularly in Assam. Unlike coffee-planting the enterprise owes its origin to the initiation of government, and has never attracted the attention of the natives. Early travellers reported that the tea-plant was indigenous to the southern valleys of the Himalayas; but they were mistaken in the identity of the shrub, which was the _Osyris nepalensis_. The real tea (_Thea viridis_), a plant akin to the camellia, grows wild in Assam, being commonly found throughout the hilly tract between the valleys of the Brahmaputra and the Barak. There it sometimes attains the dimensions of a large tree; and from that, as well as from other indications, it has been plausibly inferred that Assam is the original home of the plant, which was thence introduced at a prehistoric date into China. The real progress of tea-planting in Assam dates from about 1851, and was greatly assisted by the promulgation of the Waste-land Rules of 1854. By 1859 there were already fifty-one gardens in existence, owned by private individuals; and the enterprise had extended from its original headquarters in Lakhimpur and Sibsagar as far down the Brahmaputra as Kamrup. In 1856 the tea-plant was discovered wild in the district of Cachar in the Barak valley, and European capital was at once directed to that quarter. At about the same time tea-planting was introduced into the neighbourhood of the sanatorium of Darjeeling, among the Sikkim Himalayas. The success of these undertakings engendered a wild spirit of speculation in tea companies both in India and at home, which reached its climax in 1865. The industry recovered but slowly from the effects of this disastrous crisis, and did not again reach a stable position until 1869. Since that date it has rapidly but steadily progressed, and has been ever opening new fields of enterprise. At the head of the Bay of Bengal in Chittagong district, side by side with coffee on the Nilgiri hills, on the forest-clad slopes of Kumaon and Kangra, amid the low-lying jungle of the Bhutan Dwars, and even in Arakan, the energetic pioneers of tea-planting have established their industry. Different degrees of success may have rewarded them, but in no case have they abandoned the struggle. The area under tea, of which nine-tenths lies in the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, expanded by 85% during the sixteen years from 1885 to 1901, while the production increased by 167%. This great rise in the supply, unaccompanied by an equal expansion of the market for Indian tea, involved the industry in great difficulties, to meet which it became necessary to restrict the area under tea as far as possible, and to reduce the quantity of leaf taken from the plant, thus at the same time improving the quality of the tea. The area under tea in 1885 was 283,925 acres and the yield 71,525,977 lb., while in 1905 the area had increased to 527,290 acres and the yield to 222,360,132 lb., while the export alone was 214,223,728 lb. As much as 92% of the export goes to the United Kingdom, where China tea has been gradually ousted by tea from India and Ceylon. The other chief countries that afford a market for Indian tea are Canada, Russia, Australia, Turkey in Asia, Persia, and the United States. India's consumption of tea is computed to average 8¼ million pounds, of which 5½ millions are Indian and the remainder Chinese. There should therefore be considerable room for expansion in the home market. In 1905 there were 134 tea-planting companies registered in India, about 80% of the capital being held by shareholders in London. Entry: 13
The wild dog, or dhole (_Cyon_), is found in all the wilder jungles of India, including Assam and Lower Burma. Its characteristic is that it hunts in packs, sometimes containing thirty dogs, and does not give tongue. When once a pack of wild dogs has put up any animal, that animal's doom is sealed. They do not leave it for days, and finally bring it to bay, or run it down exhausted. A peculiar variety of wild dog exists in the Karen hills of Burma, thus described from a specimen in confinement. It was black and white, as hairy as a skye-terrier, and as large as a medium-sized spaniel. It had an invariable habit of digging a hole in the ground, into which it crawled backwards, remaining there all day with only its nose and ferrety eyes visible. Among other dogs of India are the pariah, which is merely a mongrel, run wild and half starved; the poligar dog, an immense creature peculiar to the south; the greyhound, used for coursing; and the mastiff of Tibet and Bhutan. The striped hyaena (_Hyaena striata_) is common, being found wherever the wolf is absent. Like the wolf, it is very destructive both to the flocks and to children. Entry: 4
The Tibetan plateau, or Chang, breaks up about the meridian of 92° E., and to the east of this meridian the affluents of the Tsanpo (the same river as the Dihong and subsequently as the Brahmaputra) drain no longer from the elevated plateau, but from the rugged slopes of a wild region of mountains which assumes a systematic conformation where its successive ridges are arranged in concentric curves around the great bend of the Brahmaputra, wherein are hidden the sources of all the great rivers of Burma and China. Neither immediately beyond this great bend, nor within it in the Himalayan regions lying north of Assam and east of Bhutan, have scientific investigations yet been systematically carried out; but it is known that the largest of the Himalayan affluents of the Brahmaputra west of the bend derive their sources from the Tibetan plateau, and break down through the containing bands of hills, carrying deposits of gold from their sources to the plains, as do all the rivers of Tibet. Entry: 6