Jalpaiguri

Jalpaiguri, or Julpigoree, a town and district of British India, in the Rajshahi division of Eastern Bengal and Assam. The town is on the right bank of the river Tista, with a station on the Eastern Bengal railway about 300 m. due N. of Calcutta. Pop. (1901), 9708. It is the headquarters of the commissioner of the division.

The District of Jalpaiguri (organized in 1869) occupies an irregularly shaped tract south of Darjeeling and Bhutan and north of the state of Kuch Behar. It includes the Western Dwars, annexed from Bhutan after the war of 1864-1865. Area, 2,962 sq. m. Pop. (1901), 787,380, an increase of 16% in the decade. The district is divided into a “regulation” tract, lying towards the south-west, and a strip of country, about 22 m. in width, running along the foot of the Himalayas, and known as the Western Dwars. The former is a continuous expanse of level paddy fields, only broken by groves of bamboos, palms, and fruit-trees. The frontier towards Bhutan is formed by the Sinchula mountain range, some peaks of which attain an elevation of 6000 ft. It is thickly wooded from base to summit. The principal rivers, proceeding from west to east, are the Mahananda, Karatoya, Tista, Jaldhaka, Duduya, Mujnai, Tursa, Kaljani, Raidak, and Sankos. The most important is the Tista, which forms a valuable means of water communication. Lime is quarried in the lower Bhutan hills. The Western Dwars are the principal centre of tea cultivation in Eastern Bengal. The other portion of the district produces jute. Jalpaiguri is traversed by the main line of the Eastern Bengal railway to Darjeeling. It is also served by the Bengal Dwars railway.