1911 Encyclopædia Britannica/Nowgong (Bengal and Assam)

NOWGONG, a town and district of British India, in the Brahmaputra Valley division of eastern Bengal and Assam. The town is situated on the Kalang river. Pop. (1901) 4430. The district of Nowgong has an area of 3843 sq. m. It consists of a wide plain overgrown with jungle and canebrakes, intersected by numerous tributaries of the Brahmaputra, and dotted with shallow marshes. The Mikir hills cover an area of about 65 m. by 35 in the S. of the district; the highest peak is about 3500 ft. The slopes are very steep, and are covered with dense forest. The Kamakhya hills near the bank of the Brahmaputra, are about 1500 ft. high. On the summit of the highest peak is a celebrated temple of Kamakhya, the local goddess of love, where three annual festivals are held. The staple crop is rice. Tea cultivation and manufacture are carried on by European capital and under European supervision, though the soil and climate are not so favourable as in Upper Assam. The population in 1901 was 261,160, showing a decrease of 24·8% in the decade, due to the extreme unhealthiness of the climate. In the previous ten years the number of deaths recorded from fever and kala azar was 93,824. The section of the Assam-Bengal railway from Gauhati to the hills passes through part of the district, but not very near Nowgong town; and feeder roads to the stations lead from the main road that runs parallel to the Kalang river.

See Nowgong District Gazetteer (Calcutta, 1905).