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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 14, p. 337.

ADMINISTRATION 337 number are held in different parts of the District. In the interior, as well as at Gauhati, the principal shopkeepers are Marwaris, who sell piece-goods, salt, grain, and oil, and not infrequently opium, and buy silk cloths, rice, and mustard seed, for which they often make advances before the crop is cut. The bulk of the trade is with Bengal, and is carried by steamer, though when the rivers rise in the rains country boats penetrate into the interior. The only foreign trade is with Bhutan, whose subjects come down through the DEWANGIRI, SUBAN- KHATA, and Kakilabari Duars to fairs held at Darranga and Subankhata, arid starting from these centres travel about the country. The principal imports from Bhutan are rubber, ponies, and blankets ; the exports are cotton and silk cloths. The Assam-Bengal Railway runs for 33 miles through the District to the Nowgong boundary, connecting Gauhati with Dibrugarh, and with Chittagong via the North Cachar hills. Through railway com- munication to Calcutta will be provided by a line now under construc- tion, which will run from a point just opposite Gauhati to Golakganj on the Dhubri extension of the Eastern Bengal State Railway. A daily service of passenger steamers and large cargo boats, owned by the India General Steam Navigation Company and the Rivers Steam Navigation Company, ply on the Brahmaputra, calling at Gauhati, Soalkuchi, Palasbari, and Kholabanda. During the rains country boats come from Bengal, and proceed up the various rivers into the interior. Two trunk roads pass through the District, along the north and south banks of the river. In 1903-4 there were 16 miles of metalled and 160 miles of unmetalled roads maintained from Provincial funds, and 371 miles of unmetalled roads under the local boards. Generally speaking, Kamrup is well supplied with means of com- munication. A steam ferry crosses the Brahmaputra at Gauhati. As in other parts of Assam, famine is unknown in Kamrup; but in 1901 the rice crop was the poorest that had been reaped for many years, and there was local scarcity which necessitated some assistance from Government. For general administrative purposes, the District is divided into two subdivisions: GAUHATI, under the immediate charge of the Deputy- Commissioner ; and BARPETA, usually entrusted to . . . ji _.. ,e Administration. a native magistrate. Ihe sanctioned District staff includes five Assistant Magistrates, a Forest officer, and an Engineer who is also in charge of the Khasi and Jaintia Hills, and whose head- quarters are at Shillong. The Deputy-Commissioner has the powers of a Sub-Judge, and certain of the Assistant Magistrates exercise jurisdiction as Munsifss Appeals, both civil and criminal, lie to the District and Sessions Judge of the Assam Valley, whose head-quarters are at Gauhati, while the