MAIMANSINII or 3Iymensing, a British dis trict of Bengal, lying between lat. 23° 56' and 25° 25' N., and between long. 89° 43' and 91° 18' E. Its rivers aro the Jamuna, the Brahmaputra, and the Megna. Its chief aboriginal tribes are the llajang, the Garo, the Chandal. The proper home of the Garo is the Garo Ilills, but the (faros of Maimansinh dwell in villages of their own at the foot of the hills. They are hard-working people, of unusually robust constitution. They eat all kinds of flesh, and are very fond of liquor, manufacturing for themselves a kind of rice-beer, of which they consume large quantities.
The Chandal are cultivators, fishermen, day labourers, etc., and some of them are also employed as menial servants in the households of the upper classes; but they are greatly despised, and arc not allowed to touch any vessel containing drinking water, or any article of food.
ADS rice is sown from February to April and even May, and reaped from the middle of May till about the middle of September. Aman or
winter rice, which forms the main harvest of the year, is sown in April, May, and June, and reaped in October, November, and December. Bore rice is sown in November and December, and reaped in March, April, and May.
Jute is largely cultivated throughout the dis trict, but particularly in the rich alluvial tracts formed by the Brahmaputra between Ghafargaon in the south-east, and Bhairab Bazar in the north of Dacca District. Tho river has here silted up a great deal of late years, and jute is grown on the alluvial accretions (chars) thus formed. Tho seed is generally sown in April or May, after the cold-weather crops have been reaped and the fields repeatedly ploughed. The ordinary quan tity of seed used is about 8 lbs. per acre. Seed is raised from the plant by the cultivator.
Tigers infest the char lands in the river beds in the north-west of the district, and bears and other wild animals are found in the Madhupur jungle.—Imp.