---

Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 13, p. 177.

HOOGHLY TOWN 177 town in 1632, which carried it by storm after a three and a half months' siege. Over 1,ooo Portuguese were slaughtered, and more than 4,000 men, women, and children were made prisoners, and the place was then established as the royal port in lieu of Satgaon. The Portuguese were allowed to return to Hooghly in 1633, the emperor making them a grant of 777 highas of land at BANDEL. The English factory at Hooghly dates from 1651, having been established under a farman granted by the emperor to Dr. Boughton, a surgeon in the East India Company's service, who had cured his favourite daughter of a dangerous illness. In 1686 a dispute took place between the English factors at Hooghly and the Nawab of Bengal, and a military force was dispatched from England to strengthen and protect the Company's factories there. An accident precipitated the rupture. In October, 1686, three English soldiers were set upon and beaten in the Hooghly bazar and taken to the governor's house. After some street fighting the battery and the governor's house were captured by the English, who subsequently withdrew under an armistice to Calcutta, or Sutanuti as it was then called. This was the first collision between the English and the Muhammadan government in Bengal. Hooghly was the head-quarters of the Burdwan Division from 1871 to 1875, and from 1879 to 1884 they were at its suburb, Chinsura; they were then moved to Burdwan, but were transferred to Chinsura in 1896. The place is now decadent and its population with that of Chinsura, with which it is incorporated as a municipality, has declined from 34,761 in 1872 to 29,383 1n rgo1. Hindus constitute 8i.8 per cent. and Musalmans 16.6 per cent. of the total. The municipality was created in 1865. The income during the decade ending 1901-2 averaged Rs.5o,ooo, and the expenditure Rs.47,000. In 190?; 4 the total income was Rs.6o,ooo, including RS. 28,ooo derived from a tax on houses and lands, Rs. 18,ooo from a conservancy rate, F.s. 5,000 from a tax on vehicles, and Rs. 3,000 from tolls. The incidence of taxation was Rs. 1-13-10 per head of the population. In the same year the expenditure was Rs. 53,000, of which Rs. 4,000 was spent on lighting, Rs. 3,000 on drainage, RS. 28,ooo on conservancy, Rs. 5,000 on roads, and Rs. goo on education. The municipality maintains 51 miles of metalled and 76 miles of unmetalled roads. The grand trunk road, which passes through the town, and a few short lengths of road in the old cantonment are kept up by Government. The Jrnambara is a Shiah mosque, which was completed in 1861 at a cost of 2•2 lakhs from funds bequeathed by a wealthy Shiah nobleman, Muhammad Mohsin. The other principal buildings are the municipal office and jail; the latter has accommodation for 437 prisoners, who are chiefly employed on bag-sewing for the neighbouring jute-mills and oil-pressing. The chief educational institutions are the Hooghly College at CHINSURA, VOL. XIII. N