HIS TONY
iq~
pheasants are common. The rivers swarm with fish, m:~d the drying of
fish forms an important industry. Excellent mahseer lfishing is to be
had in the streams issuing from the northern hills.
The climate is characterized by extreme humidity. The winter
is milder than that of the Assam Valley, but there is no hot
season, and the heavy precipitation during the rains keeps the
air unusually cool. The country is fairly healthy, except at the
foot of the hills in the north and south, where malaria is not un-
common.
The monsoon clouds sweeping up the valley are stopped by the
precipitous face of the Khâsi and Jaintiâ Hills, and descend in torrents
of rain. In the north of the District the annual fall averages between
zoo and zso inches; but towards the south the effect of the mon-
soon is less pronounced, and the normal rainfall is only about roo
inches. The whole of the western portion of the District is under
water during the rains ; but these floods aré looked upon as a matter
of course, and the water, when it subsides, leaves behind a layer of
fertilizing silt. Severe shocks of earthquake were felt in Sylhet in
January, î86q, and October, r88z, but the damage done was inconsider-
able in comparison with the havoc wrought by the earthquake of
June rz, i8gq. Nearly all the masonry buildings in the north of the
District were wrecked, the banks of the rivers caved in, the earth was
furrowed by cracks and fissures, and bridges and embanl~ed roads were
destroyed. The total number of deaths reported was 545; but had the
catastrophe occurred at night, this number would have been very
largely increased. The majority of these casualties were due to drown-
ing, but cases are said to have occurred in which peoplf; were actually
swallowed up by the earth.
The District was at one time divided into at least three petty king-
doms : Gor, or Sylhet proper, hAUR, and JAINTIA; and the country
south of the Kusiyârâ seems to have been under the
control of the Râjâ of Hill Tippera. Gor was con- History.
quered by the Muhammadans in A. n. x384, the last Hindu king, Gaur
Gobind, being overcome more by the magic of the fakir, Shâh Jalâl,
than by the prowess of the officer in command of the expedition,
Sikandar Ghâzi. After the death of Shâh Jalâl, Gor was included in
the kingdom of Bengal and placed in charge of a Nawâb, In the reign
of Akbar it passed with the rest of Bengal into the hands of the
Mughals; and, in the time of this emperor, Lattr was also conquered,
though its rulers were for some time entrusted with the charge of the
frontier, and were exempt from the payment of land revenue. Gor and
Laur were included in Bengal when the British obtained the Dïwâni of
that Province in rg65. Jaintiâ was never conquered b:y the Muham-
madans, and retained its independence till î8g5, when it was annexed
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