406 NOWGONG DISTRICT. river separating it from Darrang District; on the east by Sibságar District and the Nágá Hills; on the south by the Khásí and Jaintia Hills; and on the west by Kámrúp District, the Kalang river marking the boundary for the greater part of the distance. Area, 3417 square miles. Population (1881) 310,579. The civil station and administrative head-quarters of the District are at NOWGONG Town, situated on the east bank of the Kalang river. Physical Aspects. The greater portion of Nowgong District presents the appearance of a wide plain, much overgrown with jungle and canebrakes. It is intersected by numerous rivers and streams, and dotted with shallow marshes. The general line of drainage follows the inclination of the Brahmaputra valley from east to west. In the northeastern corner of the District, the Míkir Hills encroach upon the plain and approach the Brahmaputra. These hills are long ranges averaging from one to two thousand feet in height, the highest point being about three thousand five hundred feet above sea - level. Their area is estimated to be about 60 miles in length from north to south, by from 35 to 40 miles in breadth from east to west. They are generally tableshaped at the summits, but their slope is very steep, and in places can only be ascended by people of the plains by means of steps cut in their sides. Both hills and valleys are covered with heavy jungle, except where they have been reclaimed by the Míkirs for the purposes of cultivation. The Kámákhyá Hills—a small range stretching from the south bank of the Brahmaputra to the north bank of the Kalang river—are about two hundred feet high, flat on the top, and easy of ascent; in some places rocky, and in others covered with dense jungle. A considerable portion of one of these hills, the Kámákhya Parbat, on which there is a temple sacred to the goddess Durga, is now under tea cultivation. Besides these hills, a good deal of hilly and broken ground belonging to the Khasi and Jaintia hill system is included in Nowgong District. The chief river of Nowgong, and the only one navigable throughout the year by steamers and large native cargo boats, is the Brahmaputra, which forms the entire northern boundary of the District. The principal offshoot of the Brahmaputra, and the second largest river, is the Kalang, which issues from the parent stream in the north-east of the District, flows a tortuous south and south-westerly course, till it rejoins the Brahmaputra on the western border of the District, about 15 miles above Gauhati town. Although the upper mouth of the Kalang is closed at certain seasons by a large sandbank, it is a valuable means of communication, and is navigable throughout its course by large native boats for about six months in the year. Another smaller offshoot of the Brahmaputra is the Leteri. The numerous tributaries of the Brahmaputra are hill streams, all rising in the
