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 . (Igor) 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 dotter' a,ith 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 fort . 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 19or 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) .