Page:A Statistical Account of Bengal Vol 1 GoogleBooksID 9WEOAAAAQAAJ.pdf/114

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TOWNS OF THE 24 PARGANAS.
99

bank of the Adi Gangá, the now almost dry bed of the ancient channel of the Ganges, in lat. 220 30' 45" and long. 88° 25' 35". The town, or rather collection of villages, comprises an area of 3471 acres, or 5.42 square miles, containing in 1869, 734 houses. Population, according to the experimental Census of 1869, males 1665, females 1566—total 3231; average number of inhabitants per house, 4.40; average number of people per square mile, 596. The village has been constituted a Municipality, the income of which in 1869 amounted to £184, 2s. 4d., and expenditure to £169, 1s. 0d. The town police force consists of 1 head constable and 10 men. Pan or betel-leaf is extensively grown in the village, whence it derives its name (Bárui, literally pán-grower). The Revenue Surveyor states that the place was formerly the residence of a Magistrate, a Collector in the Salt Department, and a Doctor. It is also a Mission Station of the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and contains a church capable of holding six or seven hundred people. In 1857 there were three or four substantial masonry houses in the village, which in former times comprised the Civil Station.

Chanduria, a small trading village on the east bank of the Ichhámatí, in the north of the District, contained in 1869, 551 houses, and a total population of 2755, or an average of 5 inmates per house. Municipal income in 1869, £73, 12s. 8d.; expenditure, £71, 3s. 6d. Strength of town police, 1 head constable and 5 men.

Kaliganj, a municipal union of villages containing a large bázár, situated in Bájitpur Fiscal Division at the junction of the Jamuna and Kánksiálí rivers, on the boat route to the south or eastward. The Collector returns the number of houses at 697, and the population at 3485. Municipal income, £88, 14s. 8d.; expenditure, £80, 7s. 4d. The village police consists of 1 head constable and 6 men.

Debhata, a municipality, and the principal village in Maiháti Fiscal Division, situated on the bank of the Jamuna. The Collector states that it contains 633 houses, and a total population of 1965. The municipal income is returned at £85, 3s. 0d., and the expenditure at £64, 16s. 0d. The police force in 1871 consisted of 1 head constable and 6 men.

I have now enumerated the principal towns and hamlet-unions which have been created municipalities; but the following villages are also of importance, as seats of trade, fairs, or shrines, or from their historical interest. The list is principally condensed from the