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Show this building had been given to them by a native, and that in no manne had it come under the influence of Occidental support. I was next show the Union Board,a town office where matters relating to the town wer transacted. The president of the Board, Mr. Pm[ la Chandra Sen, presented to me a hand-written account of the activi ites of the village, fro which T was surprised to learn that Autsahai ) d a population of 10,554 ‘ment of 2117 rupees, the Hindus contributing 1512 rupees of this amoun and the Mohammedans 605 rupees. The manuscript enumerated ten temples and fifteen mosques, and listed the following as village needs: "on burning-ghat, more tube vells, one grave-yard, one play-ground." We nex visited the school, a rambling buil ing set e dense tropical trees an n to understand that loca surrounded b handmade pap thabhe wisc moen and teachirs o the cormmmunty had decided, aftelength consideration, to make a change in the language which had long bee employed as a medium for teaching. The change was to be from Englis to Bengali; for, as the learned gentlemen explained to me, the Bengal language would be so much more useful to the youth of the district when the went out into the world. The villagers made it plain to me that the Britis without Western assistance. There were apparently no missionaries and n converted Indians in Autsahai, but from all indications the people were i better health and had less acute poverty than in other more enlightene districts we had visited; in fact, I thought the townspeople of the Autsaha section the most educated, understanding, and sanitary encountered in m journeys in India Our inspection of the school completed, we walked through a windin ‘path, past temples and mosques, to the library, a small structure on the edg Digtal image© 2005 Marriott Library University of Utah, All rihts reserved |