ASSAM'. A chief eommissionship in the north-eastern part of British India, bordering on China, Burma, Slanipur, and Bengal (Map: Burma, A 1 ). Area, 52,078 square miles. The in terior belongs chiefly to the valley of the Brahma putra, while the territory on both sides of the river is mostly mountainous. Among the moun tain districts are the Garo, Khasi, and Jaintia Hills. The streams are abundant and the lower lands frequently suffer inundations. The climate is moderate as regards temperature. The annual rainfall in some sections is the heaviest on the globe. The frequent occurrence of earthquakes is a great hindrance to the development of the country. A large portion of the country is cov ered with jungle, in which elephants, tigers, leop ards, and other wild beasts are fourid in abund ance. Large deposits of coal, iron, and petroleum are known to exist. but only the first is exploited to any extent. The soil is mostly very fertile, and the extensive forests contain numerous kseful woods. The tea-plant is indigenous and tea-cul ture is making rapid strides. The area under tea is now about 300,000 aeres,and the tea plantations are owmed largely by Europeans. The great staple of agriculture is rice. The principal ar ticles of export are rice, tea, silk, cotton, rub ber, ivory, and gold. The commerce is mostly in the hands of the Jains. The population in 1901 was 6,122,201, showing an increase of 11.S per cent. since 1801. Over 70 different lan
guages and dialects are spoken in Assam. The seat of administration is Shillong.
The Assamese, or Ahoms, are probably a Hindu-Shan (Mongolian) mixed stock, with the Hindu element predominant. They are short and thickset, with coarse, black hair and Mon goloid face. Their language has some right to be classed as a sister-tongue of Hindi, Bengali, etc., and not as a mere dialect of the latter. It is spoken by about 4,500,000 people, the standard dialect being that of Yowgong. The Assamese literature is extremely scanty, although it em ploys a special alphabet of its own. The As samese have a national festival called Baisakh Bihu, a gay occasion, in which young women especially are prominent. Besides the Assamese, the country contains a number of more primitive peoples (Lushai, etc.), whose language and folk tales have recently been studied by Major Shakespeare (1S98-90). Over 50 per cent. of the population are Ilindo in faith. The Mo hammedans number about 1,500.000.
Consult: Cooper, 'the Mishmee Drills (London, 1873) ; hunter, ,Statistical Account of Assam (London, 1880) ; Reid, Chin-Lushai Land (Cal cutta, 1894); Brown, Grammatical Notes on the Assamese Language (Nowgong, 1S93) ; Bron son, Dictionary in Assamese and English, (Sibsa gor, 1367).