BANKURA.
78
The
is narro’vv.
and
which
bar,
is
about a mile outside of the rocky
cliffs,
miles west-south-west of Fort Victoria, has 9 feet at low water, while the rise of the tide is 1 1 feet at ordinary springs, and 6 or 7 feet at
2
neaps
it is
Bankura.
well buoyed.
—
District of the
Bardwan
Division, within the Lieutenant-
Governorship of Bengal, l)'ing between 22° 40' and 23° 37' n. lat., and between 86° 38' and 87° 47' e. long.; area, 2621 square miles; population, according to the Census of 1881, 1,041,752 souls. The District
shape, an
forms, in
triangle, with
irregular
its
apex to the
Bounded on the north and east by Bardwan District, the Damodar river marking the boundary for most of the distance on the south by Midnapur and on the west by Manbhiim. The chief town and administrative head-quarters of the District are at B. kura town. north.
—
Bankurd forms the connecting link between the on the east and the highlands of Chutia Nagpur on In the east of the District, where it adjoins Bardwan, the the west. scenery presents the ordinary features which characterise the lowlands The country is flat and the land alluvial and well suited of Bengal. for the cultivation of paddy. Proceeding in a westerly or northerly Physical Aspects
.
plains of Bengal
direction, the character of the scenery gradually changes
the land
becomes more and more undulating, while patches of jungle and rocky boulders
appear,
succeeded
by
forest-crowned
hills,
which
gradually increase in height until they reach an elevation of more than
above sea level. Of these hills, the most prominent is Susunia which forms a prominent feature in the landscape. It was formerly quarried on its southern face by the Bardwan Stone Company, but the works have now (1883) been closed. The jungle which 1400
feet
(1442
feet),
covers this
home
hill
and the western part of the
District generally,
of tigers, leopards, small but fierce bears, and
many
is
the
other wild
animals, and shelters the cobra and every variety of Indian snake.
Here, too, large supplies of lac and tasar are obtained, the gathering of which gives occupation to the poorer classes of the people, especially Santals and Bauris. The principal rivers of the District are the D.vmod.vr and the Dhalkisor or Dwarkeswar, which, although insignificant streams during the hot weather,
become navigable
in the rains
(from the middle of July to the middle of October) by boats of 50 to 60 tons burden. At times, during the rainy season, these rivers rise so suddenly, owing to the flow of rain-water from the neighbouring that a head-wave tidal
wave
in
is
the
hills,
formed, called the hiirpd ban, not unlike the bore or Hugh', which often
destruction of property.
The
causes loss of
life
and great
other streams are the Silai and Kansai,
which flow through the south-western part of the District, recently added to it from Manbhiim. There are no lakes, or canals, or artificial Near the town of Bishnupur, and within watercourses in the District.
