SHILLONG  , a

town of British India, in the Khasi Hills district of Eastern Bengal and Assam . It is situated in 25° 34' N. and 91° 53' E., on a plateau 4978 ft. above the sea, 63 m. by cart-road S. of Gauhati, on the Brahmaputra . Pop . (1901) 8384 . Shillong practically dates from 1864, when the district head-quarters were transferred from Cherrapunji . It was chosen as the seat of government in 1874i when the province of Assam was constituted . Every one of the public buildings and houses that quickly grew up was levelled to the ground by the great earth-quake of the 12th of June 1897, but they have since been rebuilt . Cantonments are provided for a battalion of Gurkhas with two guns, and Shillong is the headquarters of the Assam brigade of the 8th division of the Northern army . There are a government high school and a training school for masters . The Welsh Presbyterian mission i; active in promoting education . Since 1905, when Dacca became the capital of the new province of Eastern Bengal and Assam, Shillong has declined in importance; but it is still the summer residence of the government and the headquarters of the district .