A History of Assam c14.68

c14.68

Some interesting information regarding the condition of the country towards the close of the eighteenth century is contained in Captain Welsh's reports. At that time Gauhāti was an extensive and populous town. It was situated on both banks of the Brahmaputra and extended to the neighbouring hills. Along a portion of the river bank there was a rampart, on which were mounted one hundred and thirteen guns of different calibre, including three of European manufacture. The only other fortification of any kind was a large oblong enclosure, a hundred yards from the river, surrounded by a brick wall six feet in height, with a narrow wet ditch inside and out, and containing a thatched building, so large that the whole of the detachment found accommodation in it. Rangpur, which had been for many years the Ahom capital, was a large and thickly populated town, twenty miles in extent. In the centre was an enclosure, similar to that found at Gauhāti, but much out of repair. The surrounding country had been very highly cultivated. The nobles held large tracts of land, which were tilled by their slaves, but the produce was never brought to market, and it was all but impossible to buy grain. Salt and opium were found more serviceable than money as a means of procuring supplies.