NOAKHALT, or Noacolly, a district in the lieutenantgovernorship of Bengal, India, lying between 22° 22' and 23° 17' N. lat. and 90° 43' and 91° E. long, bounded on the N. by Tipperah, on the E. by Hill Tipperah state and Chittagong, on the S. by the Bay of Bengal, and on the W. by the main stream of the Meghnâ, with an area of 1641 square miles, consists of an alluvial tract of mainland, together with several islands at the mouth of the Meghnâ. In general, each homestead is surrounded by a thick grove of betel and cocoa-nut palms, and in the northwestern tracts dense forests of betel-nut palms extend for miles. The district is very fertile; and, with the exception of some sandbanks and recent accretions, every part of it is under continuous cultivation. The process of alluvion is gradually but steadily going on, the mainland extending seawards. Wild animals and small game are numerous.

The population of the district was 820,772 in 1881, of whom 608,592 were Mohammedans. The district contains no town exceeding 5000 inhabitants. Sudharam, the civil station, is little more than a large village, with a population (in 1872) of 4752. Rice forms the great staple of cultivation; and rice, betel-nuts, and cocoa-nuts are exported. Noâkhâli is peculiarly liable to destructive floods from the sea, generally caused by southerly gales or cyclones occurring at the time when the Meghnâ is swollen by heavy rains, and at flood-tides,—the tidal bore being sometimes 20 feet high, and moving at the rate of 15 miles an hour. The cyclone and stormwave of 31st October 1876 was terribly disastrous, sweeping over the whole delta of the Meghnâ. The loss of human life was estimated at 100,000....