Cachar

Cachar, a district of British India in the chief-commissionership of Assam, bordering on Manipur. Area, 3750 sq. m.; pop. over 320,000. The staple crop is rice, yielding three harvests in the year. The tea-plant was discovered growing wild here in 1855, since which time the tea-growing industry has become highly important, more than a fourth of all the tea exported from Assam coming from this district. Its forests are considered practically inexhaustible, and timber is exported to Bengal. The town of Silchar (pop. 6567) is the administrative headquarters.