Chapter X: Part 10

The grains of rice, which are called by Europeans ‘_paddy_,’ retain the name of _d’haun_ so long as in their coats; as we often see a few grains among the rice imported to us: these coats are peculiarly harsh to the feel, and are fluted longitudinally, so that no water can lodge upon them. Each grain is fastened to a short stalk, joining to a main stem, and furnishing a very pleasing bunch of grain, not very dissimilar to an ear of oats, but far richer, both in color, and in quantity. Rice has no husk or chaff; therefore is easily separated from the straw, which is eaten by cattle when no other provender can be had, and makes excellent litter, it being very long and soft. Where the inundation prevails, the straw is of little use: the grain being cut in boats, and the straw settling at the bottom as the waters subside; thereby adding to the natural fertility of the soil. In the more elevated parts, the straw is cut the same as in the _rubbee_, or corn crops, and bundled for domestic purposes: there, its length rarely exceeds two feet, whereas, among the inundations, it is often seen from fifteen to eighteen feet in length. The head, or pannicle, generally bears from a hundred and fifty, to three hundred, grains of rice.

Two modes of clearing rice from the shell are in use; the one performed by the very simple process of scalding, which occasions the rice to swell, and to burst the shell, so that the latter is removed with very little trouble; the other is, by putting the _d’haun_ into an immense wooden mortar, called an _ookly_, and beating it by the application of two or more beetles, called _moosuls_, of about four feet in length, by three inches in diameter, shod at the bottom with iron ferules, and thinned towards their centres, so as to be grasped by the women; each alternately impelling one, in nearly a perpendicular direction, among the _d’haun_ in the _ookly_. After the shells have been duly separated, the rice, now called _choul_, is separated, by winnowing either in a strong draught of air, or by means of a kind of scoop, made of fine wicker-work, called a _soop_, wherewith the native women can most dexterously separate different kinds of corn, and effectually remove all rubbish. The coat of rice is peculiarly harsh, and not much relished by cattle: I have seen it mixed with dung for fuel with excellent effect.

The natives, in general, make little distinction between the rice separated by scalding, which is called _oosnah_, and that dressed by the _ookly_, which is called _urwah_; but some of the more fastidious prefer one or the other, according to particular prejudices handed down in their families, or supposed to appertain to their respective sects. I think the scalded rice generally deficient in flavor; the grains are larger, and less compact; the beaten rice certainly boils with rather more difficulty, but appears whiter, and drier. The scalded rice does not immediately separate from the coat, but is usually submitted to the operation of a machine composed of a stout beam, nearly equipoised by means of a thorough-pin, on a fork, of wood also, fixed in the ground.

It is inconceivable what quantities of rice, of a coarse reddish cast, but peculiarly sweet, and large grained, are prepared, about Backergunge, near the debouchure of the Megna, for exportation. In that quarter fuel is cheap, and water conveyance every where at hand; so that the immense crops raised in the inundated districts find a ready sale. The average return from a _bigah_ of 1600 square yards, of three _bigahs_ to our statute acre, sown with about twenty-five seers of _d’haun_, may be taken at nine maunds. The price of the grain, when cleared of its coat, may be from thirty to forty seers of fine rice, and from sixty even to _a hundred and twenty seers_ (_i.e._ three maunds) of coarse, commonly called ‘cargo-rice.’ But the demand always regulates the value; especially when great consignments are forwarded to the coast of Coromandel.

Large quantities of rice are usually cleared by contract, the operator receiving the grain at the door of the _golah_, or warehouse, where he sets up his cauldron and machines, and returning twenty-five seers of clean rice for every maund (forty seers) delivered to him; he finding the fuel, and reserving the husks. In a country where labor is so very cheap, it is not so very necessary to have recourse to mechanical devices for the purpose of diminishing the expence of such operations; yet it occurs to me, that, were tide wheels to be used at Backergunge and elsewhere, or a floating mill, like that moored between Blackfriars’ and London Bridge, to be made out of some condemned hulk, an immense advantage would be gained in regard to time. By the proper adaptation of machinery, whereby the rice might be hoisted in, or lowered down, either by the force of water, or of steam, and the beetles be properly worked, the grain might certainly be prepared for market in less time, and infinitely less charge for _cooly_ hire, in landing, loading, &c.: should this hint be well received by any speculating European, it might tend to lower the prices of rice at those times, when, either from want of laborers, or from the expediency of shipping off with as little delay as possible, the saving of a few days might prove an object of importance. At all events, the work might be done more regularly, more frugally, and more independently, than by manual process.

The rice grown in the low countries by no means equals that produced in the uplands, where it is cultivated with great care, and subjected to many vicissitudes in regard to the state of moisture in which its roots are retained. In many parts of the most hilly districts _d’haun_ is to be seen in every little narrow valley, winding among the bases of those stupendous eminences from which the torrents of rain supply a superabundant flow of moisture at one time, while, at others, only the little rills proceeding from boggy springs seem to feed the artificial pools in which the growing plants are kept in a state of semi-immersion, by means of small embankments made of mud. In every instance the _d’haun_ is to be kept duly watered; else it withers, and becomes unproductive. In order to preserve the water as much as possible, the bed, or level, nearest to the springs, is raised as high as can be afforded, and its exterior border banked up, to about a foot and a half, with soil: the next level may be from a foot to a yard lower, and receives the overflow; which is again passed on to the next lower bed; and thus, in succession, for perhaps a mile or more; the ends of the beds requiring no embankment, on account of the land rising on either side. Such situations afford a certain crop in ordinary seasons; and, if the rains should fail, the dews falling on the adjacent hills, generally covered with jungle of some kind, ordinarily afford moisture enough to keep up the springs, thus causing sufficient dampness to prevent the rice from perishing, before some ample showers may again float the whole of the irrigated cultivation. Rice thus produced is commonly small in grain, rather long and wiry, but remarkably white, and admirably suited to the table. The natives, though they admire its appearance, are not partial to it; they generally preferring the larger-bodied grain, with a reddish inner rind, which does not readily separate, when new, from the rice: this kind, as I have before expressed, is assuredly the sweetest, and is, on that account, preferred by those who distil arrack.

Remoteness from the sea air is said to be the reason why the up-country rice possesses less saccharine matter than that grown near the sea-coast, and among the inundation; but this appears an erroneous judgment. There is, no doubt, a great encrease of saccharine matter in plants (of the same genus) cultivated on spots well manured: now, few, if any, of the places devoted to the cultivation of rice in the upper country, receive much aid from manure; nor are they, in general, subject to the reception of nutritious particles, such as are either floated down, or are engendered and deposited by, the inundation, which may be viewed as the grand depôt of whatever can enrich the soil. When we look to the large tracts of plain, not subject to such an immense flow of feculous moisture, but seeming merely as reservoirs for the retention of local rains, we shall then see, that the superior sweetness of the rice produced about Backergunge, Dacca, Hajygunge, Luricool, Mahomedpore, Comercolly, Jessore, &c., is to be attributed solely to the superior fatness of the soil, on which the most luxuriant crops of cotton, and of esculents, are raised during the dry season. When the soil is fresh turned up for the second crop, it is generally very offensive, and, doubtless, by no means favorable to the health of the cultivators, who, at that season, (commonly in November, December, and January,) are subjected to very obstinate agues.

Rice is very subject to the weevil, which often multiplies among it so fast, as to threaten destruction to the whole depôt. The natives have recourse to a very simple preventive; viz. by placing one or two live cray-fish within the heap: their effluvia quickly expel the predatory tribe. Here we have a question for naturalists and philosophers; a question pregnant with interest to the agricultural world, namely, ‘Whether there is any particular, and what, property in a live cray-fish, that produces this effect upon insects under such circumstances?’ Whatever may be the cause, the effect is well known; therefore the enquiry is so far forwarded as to furnish data, or at least hints, respecting those results which might be expected both from marine productions, and from other living bodies. The inhabitants of the lower provinces are chiefly Hindus; therefore, owing to religious tenets, by which they are led to consider almost every animal as unclean, few experiments could be expected to take place among them; otherwise, we might probably have found that any living animal, such as a rat, a frog, &c., if confined in a small box, and placed within a heap of rice infested by weevils, would produce a similar effect. Rice is by no means subject to this species of depredation when in the coat, that is, in the state called _d’haun_, but the natives are averse to retaining it in that form, because the grains shrink considerably, and, when beat out for sale, do not occupy so much space as when exposed to the air. Hence, it is an object with the rice-merchants to dispose of their crops before the month of March, unless the markets may be so glutted as to cause that grain to sell, as it has in some years done, at such low prices as could not fail to ruin the farmer. It has been known so cheap as seven and eight maunds (equal to seven cwt.) for a rupee! When this happens, such merchants as have the command of money rarely fail to make immense fortunes. Many have been known to possess four or five lacs of maunds!

Rice is the most common article of food among the natives, whether Hindus or Mussulmans, throughout the lower provinces, where it is to be found in far greater abundance than corn of any description. The inhabitants of the upper provinces, where wheat and barley are cultivated to such an extent as to be sold in the retail for about a rupee and a quarter, and a rupee, respectively, subsist chiefly on the meals of those grains; which, being well kneaded with water, are made into _chow-patties_, or _bannocks_, are baked at the common _choolahs_, and are both palatable and nourishing. The natives hold an opinion that rice is very injurious to the sight; but, I believe, whatever injury may arise from its use proceeds entirely from eating it too hot, and in such quantities at one meal, generally about sun-set, as can scarcely fail to injure the stomach. Barley-meal is considered, and with great justice, to be very nourishing, but heating; therefore most of those who prefer _ottah_ (meal) to rice, use that made from wheat. Large quantities of rice are carried upwards, towards the Nabob Vizier’s dominions, where it sells to great advantage; while, on the other hand, immense consignments of corn, chiefly wheat, barley, and _r’hur_, are made from those parts towards the lower districts; where they are consumed by all classes of persons. While the _Baugrutty_, (_i.e._ the Cossimbazar river,) and the _Jellinghy_, both of which branch from the Ganges, and, uniting at Nuddeah, form the Hoogly, which passes Calcutta, are open, boats of all kinds proceed that way; but chiefly through the former channel, on which Moorshadabad, Berhampore, Cossimbazar, and Jungypore, are situate. This is the shortest line of communication by water between the Presidency and the upper provinces; but, unfortunately, it is open only for about six months in the year; it rarely having water before the middle of June, and being commonly reduced to a very low ebb by the middle of December; though, in some years, it remains navigable for small boats for a month or six weeks longer. It may, indeed, be passed in such all the year through, provided they be dragged over the shallows, which, often for a mile or more, oppose the progress of whatever may draw more than a few inches of water: in such case, the bottom of a boat should be good, otherwise she may be strained by the immense exertions of perhaps fifty men, who, ranging along either side, and dragging by means of ropes, as well as by pushing and lifting behind, force her along the shallows, and thus pass her over all the more prominent obstacles. I have, more than once, had a very small _pulwar-budjrow_ navigated, if I may so call it, down the _Baugrutty_, from Mohanahpore, at the mouth of that river, as far as Berhampore; which, by land, is full forty miles, and, by water, cannot be less than seventy. But there are so many bars, or shoals, between Berhampore and Augah-Deep, about thirty-five miles by land, lower down, as to render that part absolutely impassable, except when the river has an average depth of two feet, or two feet and a half.

During the dry months, the whole of the commodities transmitted from the upper provinces to the Presidency, with the exception of some few articles of small compass, which may be landed at Bagwangolah, and proceed to Augah-Deep overland, are sent down the Ganges for the purpose of proceeding through the _Soonderbunds_. This highly interesting, but difficult navigation, reaches from the Megna to Calcutta, near to which a canal offers to adventurers a safe and easy communication between the Hoogly and the Salt-Water Lake, which lies at the back of Calcutta. The generality of trading and passage vessels proceed by this cut, paying a moderate toll, either on the tonnage of the former, or the number of oars of the latter. But the salt vessels despatched from Joynaghur, &c., with the produce of the different pans in that quarter, commonly take the lower passages near _Chingree-Cauly_, and _Culpee_, which are by far the most dangerous, though rather more direct.

The _Soonderbunds_, or _Sunderbunds_, consist of an immense wilderness, full fifty miles in depth, and in length about a hundred and eighty miles. This wilderness, which borders the coast to the water’s edge, forming a strong natural barrier in that quarter, occupies the whole of what is called the Delta of the Ganges; every where intersected by great rivers, and innumerable creeks, in which the tides are so intermixed, that a pilot is absolutely necessary, both to thread the intricacies of the passage, and to point out at what particular parts the currents will, at certain times, be favorable in proceeding either to the eastward or to the westward. In many places there is scarcely breadth for the passing of a single boat, and even then the boughs of the immense trees, and of the subordinate jungle, frequently are found so to hang over, as nearly to debar the progress of ordinary trading vessels. Fortunately, these narrow creeks are short, or, at least, have in various parts such little bays as enable boats to pass: one or two are, however, so limitted throughout in point of width, as to render it expedient that musquets should be discharged before a boat proceeds, in order that others may not enter at the opposite end of the narrow: but for such a precaution, one of them would be compelled to put back. The water being brackish, or rather absolutely salt, throughout the _Sunderbunds_, it is necessary for all who navigate this passage, to take a good stock; calculating for at least a fortnight’s service. Even the villages, which here and there are to be found on the banks of the great rivers, are sometimes supplied from a great distance; especially during the dry season, when the tides are very powerful.

The regular trading vessels, which pass through the Sunderbunds, perhaps every month, or two, are usually provided with very large _nauds_, or _gounlahs_, made in the form of a rather flat turnep, of a black earth which bakes very hard. Casks are never used in India for water; all the ships in the country trade have one or more tanks made of _teak_ wood, rendered perfectly water tight, and containing from twenty to fifty butts. The water is thus carried in a small compass, and remains sweet much longer than when in casks. Even if no other reason could be assigned, it must be obvious, that, in a tank, the surface of wood necessary to contain fifty butts of water, will not exceed six hundred and fifty square feet; whereas, each of the fifty butts would present a surface of more than forty feet, whence the whole must amount to two thousand square feet.

Where a ship is navigated by lascars, many rules and ceremonies are adopted for the preservation of the water from impure contact. When native troops are on board, only particular persons are allowed to lay it in, or to serve it out, and even under such precaution, many of the more fastidious shew great aversion to using the tank water; often undergoing great sufferings, both from hunger and from thirst, rather than drink of it, or even taste of viands prepared therewith. But this prejudice has, of late years, subsided considerably, in consequence of the frequent occasions the British government have had to send native troops on distant expeditions by sea.

Casks would certainly prove obnoxious to servants, and others, proceeding through the Soonderbunds, owing to a general opinion among them, that we convey spirits, meat, &c., in such vessels; which, having been once used for such a purpose, could never be viewed by them as receptacles for beverage, without disgust and execration.

The town of Calcutta is supplied with firewood by persons who resort to the woods, about twenty-five miles from Calcutta, where they cut the smaller kinds of _serress_, _jarrool_, _soondry_, _g’hob_, &c., into junks about four feet in length, which are rived into two or four pieces, according to their diameter, and carried to market, where such billets are usually retailed at from twelve to fourteen rupees per hundred maunds, delivered at the door. This is the only kind of fuel used in the kitchens of Europeans, and forms the supply of nine-tenths of the native population also: the remainder use the _gutties_ made of dung.

It is to be lamented that Government have never adopted a plan I long ago offered, of employing the convicts in clearing away a sufficient tract around Diamond Harbour, which is now peculiarly unhealthy, and is the grave of full one-fourth of the crews of the India Company’s, and other ships, that generally are moored there for months.

I am aware that objections have been stated in regard to clearing away the forests in the Soonderbunds, on account of their being considered a natural defence in that quarter; but, without entering upon the policy, or otherwise, of such a retention of that ‘wilderness of all wildernesses,’ there does not appear to me any sound reason for suffering the principal naval station to be backed and flanked by woods and swamps, from which disease is poured forth amidst our unfortunate countrymen.

I have been assured, that, taking one year with another, full three hundred European sailors die of diseases incident to the laying up of ships for a while in the river, of whom, the larger portion are taken ill at, or below, Diamond Harbour.

Those who have occasion to pass through the Sunderbunds, which can be done by water only, ought to be extremely careful not to venture ashore, unless at some of the little towns, whose vicinity may afford some security against the attacks of tigers, by the jungle having been partially cleared away. The romantic scenery, every where inviting the eye, should not be permitted to allure the traveller from his state of safety; nor should the abundance of game, especially of deer, lead him among those coverts in which danger equally abounds.

Nor are the waters less devoid of mischief: sharks, of an uncommon size, are every where numerous and greedy; while their competitors, the alligators, not only infest the streams, but often lie among the grass and low jungle, waiting for a prey, with which, so soon as seized, they plunge into the water.

Instances have been know, both of tigers swimming off to board boats, and of alligators striking the _dandies_ (boatmen) out of the boats, with their tails, and snapping their victims up with a nimbleness fully proving the falsehood of that doctrine, which teaches to escape from the crocodile by running out of the right line, ‘_because the animal cannot turn to follow_!’

If those who either gave, or believed in, such advice, were to see with what facility an alligator can turn about, or with what agility he can pursue, _and catch_, the large fishes that abound in the great rivers of India, the folly would be so self evident, as to cause an immediate dereliction of so preposterous an opinion.

Besides, the _koomeer_, or bull-headed alligator, which, generally speaking, is the only kind to be seen in brackish waters, is peculiarly fierce and active; far more so than could be supposed, at first sight, of an amphibious animal of the _lacerta_ tribe, (for it is nothing more than an immense lizard, or guana,) whose length has been thirty feet, and whose girth has equalled twelve feet.

Such is the ravenous disposition of the _koomeer_, that it will not hesitate to seize cattle that proceed to drink of the river water where it is fresh; but this does not often happen; the places where cattle proceed to slake their thirst, being, for the most part, rather shallow, so that an alligator, sufficiently formidable for such an attack, could not lie concealed. It has fallen within my way to see some oxen that had been seized by the head, or by the fore leg, but which had either been rescued by their drovers, or had succeeded in escaping from their merciless enemy: they were all so lacerated as to be completely disfigured!

The size of a boat may make much difference regarding the time required to make the Soonderbund-passage: generally from ten to twelve days will elapse in making the shortest cut in a _budjrow_ of from twelve to sixteen oars; while a light _pulwar_, that can pass through the lesser creeks, and make way against the tides, which are extremely intricate, on account of the numerous channels that wind in every direction, may perhaps get through in seven or eight days. Much will depend on the route: if Dacca, or any part of the Megna, be the destination, full ten days will be requisite, but if the Comercolly track, which opens into the Ganges nearly opposite to Nattore, be followed, the great body of the wilderness will be avoided, and the fertile districts of Jessore, Mahomedpore, and Comercolly, will be passed through with facility and gratification.

It does not appear that any accurate survey has been taken of the Soonderbunds, further than to ascertain the several channels, and to lay down the bearings of particular shoals, which run for many miles off the coast, presenting, on the whole, a most intricate and dangerous approach to vessels even of small burthen; though, with proper care, ships of great size may be carried into the Rogmungul, the Hooringattah, and the Mutwallah rivers, where they may ride in perfect safety.

Mr. Benjamin Lacarn, many years back, explored the passage at the back of Saugur Island, and presented to the Government in India very accurate draughts of the soundings and bearings; from which he enabled the Board to judge of the practicability of resorting to that passage, with more safety and convenience than now exists, in respect to those channels that lie to the westward of Saugur.

The spot selected for the reception of vessels was called New Harbour, and the stream leading to it from Culpee was designated Channel Creek. It is to be presumed, that, notwithstanding the plan has not been carried into effect, although occasionally resorted to, the merits of the suggestion must have been considerable, as the Company have thought it but just to remunerate that gentleman’s abilities and research, by an annuity of £600., which has been lately raised to £1000.

Several objections have been urged against the adoption of New Harbour, of which some may be cogent; but, from all I have ever heard on the subject, it appears to me, that the reasons given for rejection exist at least as formidably in the western channels, where some of the advantages offered by New Harbour are totally wanting.

The time will probably arrive, when Saugur Island, instead of being a desolate waste, inhabited by various wild animals, may present a rich expanse of agriculture, destined for the support of an industrious population, inhabiting those shores so favorably situated for extensive commerce, and so highly protected by nature against foreign incursion. The channels leading past it, on either side, are narrow, and certainly might be defended by a very small force against a powerful fleet.

Many opinions, and some bold assertions, have been offered regarding the Soonderbunds. Some consider the immense wilderness that borders the coast, to be of no great antiquity, and pretend, that probably one hundred years would be too much to allow for the duration of that soil, whereon such stupendous forests of noble trees are now to be seen.

That the whole of the country south of the Ganges, from Bogwangolah to Saugur, and in the other direction to Luckypore, &c., was formerly covered by the ocean, may be readily believed, both from the nature of the soil in general, and from the various marine productions to be found occasionally, when wells are dug to any considerable depth.

The ancient city of GOUR, of which only an immense assemblage of ruins, covering full thirty square miles, are to be seen, stood not very far from Mauldah.

That able geographer, Major Rennell, states it to have been the capital of Bengal 730 years before Christ, and that it was deserted in consequence of a pestilence; that it formerly stood on the banks of the Ganges, from which it is now distant nearly five miles; the river having, as is very common in that quarter, changed its course: the Mahanuddy, which passes within two miles of it, is navigable throughout the year. Many parts of GOUR are now full twelve miles from the Ganges.

The following extract from Major Rennell’s Memoirs, pages 55-6, may serve to illustrate the position I have to assume regarding the Soonderbunds: he says, ‘Taking the extent of the ruins of GOUR at the most reasonable calculation, it is not less than fifteen miles in length, (extending along the old bank of the Ganges,) and from two to three in breadth. Several villages stand on part of its site: the remainder is either covered with thick forests, the habitations of tigers, and other beasts of prey, or is become arable land, whose soil is chiefly composed of brick-dust.

‘The principal ruins are a mosque, lined with black marble, elaborately wrought, and two gates of the citadel, which are strikingly grand and lofty. These fabrics, and some few others, appear to owe their duration to the nature of their materials, which are less marketable, and more difficult to separate, than those of the ordinary brick buildings; and are transported to Moorshadabad, Mauldah, and other places, for the purpose of building. These bricks are of the most solid texture of any I ever saw; and have preserved the sharpness of their edges, and the smoothness of their surfaces, through a series of ages.

‘The situation of Gour was highly convenient for the capital of Bengal and Bahar, as united under one government; being nearly centrical with respect to the populous parts of those provinces, and near the junction of the principal rivers that compose that extraordinary inland navigation for which those provinces are formed; and, moreover, secured by the Ganges, and other rivers, on the only quarter from which Bengal has any cause for apprehension.’

Here I feel at a loss; for the author has evidently been deficient in that perspicuity which characterizes his work; it does not appear to me what quarter is meant in this instance; the greater part of Bengal being divided from GOUR by that same river, the Ganges, which is here described as a protection to GOUR against incursions from Bahar. If this be not the Major’s meaning, I can find no other; at all events, the passage is incongruous.

Setting, however, that matter at rest, as being irrelevant on this occasion, I shall proceed to observe, that throughout the Delta of the Ganges, which forms an area of full twenty thousand square miles, (it being nearly a right-angled triangle, whose sides average about two hundred miles,) we have not one vestige of remote date!

It has, no doubt, been asserted by some travellers, and I have heard several of the natives declare, that, in some parts of the Soonderbunds, ruins of great extent are to be seen. These are said to be the remains of cities which formerly flourished on the borders of the ocean, but were abandoned in consequence of the depredations of the _Burmans_, or _Muggs_, who inhabited the country lying south of Chittagong, and who have, within the last fifteen years, called to our memory that such a nation was still in existence.

Admitting the existence of such reputed ruins, we have no right to place them to the account of the earlier ages; we have no records of their existence; the whole of the details that have hitherto been offered to the world, either by native traditionists, or European surveyors, give no account of any such fragments; while, on the other hand, every presumption is in favor of the whole Delta being comparatively modern.

Major Rennell, at page 347 of his Memoirs, observes in a note, that ‘a glass of water taken out of the Ganges, when at its height, yields about one part in four of mud. No wonder then that the subsiding waters should quickly form a stratum of earth; or that the Delta should encroach upon the sea.’ If we estimate the course of the Ganges, (setting apart the Barampooter,) at fifteen hundred miles, and take its mean width at half a mile; which is, indeed, reducing that magnificent flow of water to a mere stream, we have then a surface of seven hundred and fifty square miles, of which, one fourth is said to be mud, or matter light enough to be kept suspended by the violence of the current. This should give nearly two hundred square miles of soil.

The foregoing computation proves the Delta to contain twenty thousand square miles; therefore, if Major Rennell’s hypothesis be correct, the whole of the Delta might have been formed in one hundred years; taking the depth of the river, when at its highest, to be equal to the depth of the soil. But, if we recollect that probably many fathoms of sea were filled up by the encroachment that thus took place, we may be correct in allowing ten times that period, _i.e._ a thousand years, for the completion, or, rather, for the gradual accumulation, of so extensive an addition to the _terra firma_ of Asia.

At page 348, Major Rennell argues very strongly, though unintentionally, perhaps, in support of my hypothesis, that GOUR formerly stood on the borders of the ocean, and was, probably the Tyre of Hindostan. He says, ‘As a strong presumptive proof of _the wandering of the Ganges_, from the one side of the Delta to the other, I must observe, that there is no appearance of _virgin_ earth, between the Tipperah Hills on the east, and the province of Burdwan on the west; nor on the north _till we arrive at Dacca and Bauleah_.’

Uniting all these points, and agreeing with Major Rennell that the Ganges discharges, on a medium, 180,000 cubic feet of water in a second, we may easily imagine that the present Delta has been formed by the sedimentary portion propelled forward in constant succession, until it gained the highest level to which the annual inundation could raise it; after which, the black mould on the surface must have been produced by the constant accumulation of vegetable matter that rotted thereon.

It is a curious, but well known, fact, that from Sooty to that part of the Cossimbazar Island which lies nearest to the tide’s way, the whole is obliged to be preserved from inundation by an embankment, called the _poolbundy_, maintained at a very great and regular expence; an obvious demonstration that the present course of the Hooghly has not been settled many centuries; for almost all rivers, long subject to such overflows as those we witness in Bengal, ultimately raise their banks, by an annual deposit of matter, to such a height as afterwards prevents their streams from passing over into the adjacent country.

There can be little doubt, that the city of Gour stood on a spot which, in very ancient times, was washed by the sea; and we may, without being accused of credulity in the extreme, admit the great probability of the Ganges having then debouched into the _sinus_, or bay, at that same spot.

Nor should we doubt, that those sands, which are, at this day, so dangerous to navigation, from Balasore to Chittagong, will, at some remote period, be encreased and raised, so as to become, in the first instance, islands; and, ultimately, parts of the continent; the present channels serving for the courses of future rivers, which, in so loose a soil, may, like the Ganges in our times, be subject to changes of locality, whenever the floods may prove so impetuous as to open new beds, and cause the streams to be diverted into them.

The Sunderbunds, whatever may be their date or origin, present, at this day, a most inhospitable aspect, and give, exteriorly, a feature to the country which by no means corresponds with the interior: they are, in truth, a hideous belt of the most unpromising description, such as could not fail to cause any stranger who might be wrecked on that coast, and who should not proceed beyond the reach of the tide, to pronounce it ‘_a country fit for the residence of neither man nor beast_.’

When Major Rennell remarked, ‘that they furnish an inexhaustible supply of wood for boat building;’ he might have added, ‘of timber for ship building.’ Many very large vessels have been launched from this quarter, but, no pains having been taken to season the timber, it was not to be expected they should prove so durable as they might have been rendered by due precautions in that particular. Nor is the wood itself of the best quality for naval architecture; for, though it is very strong, and to be bent with facility to any necessary form, it, being extremely subject to be worm-eaten, proves a great draw-back on its being brought into more general use, unless for such vessels as are intended to be coppered: for such, the _jarrool_ may answer, as may also the _soondry_; both which abound in every part of the Sunderbunds.

The whole coast, from Balasore to Chittagong, has at times been occupied by a class of natives called _Molungies_, who manufacture salt from the sea-water. The produce of the several _chokies_, or manufactories, is immensely valuable, as has already been shewn, and suffices for the consumption of the whole population of all the Company’s dominions, besides what is exported into those of the Nabob Vizier, &c. About thirty-five years ago, salt used to be sold at a rupee, or a rupee and a half, per factory maund of 72lb.; which might average about one half-penny per lb.; but, since the Company monopolized the manufacture, and imposed a heavy duty, the price of salt has gradually risen to about four rupees per maund.

The importation of salt, by sea, is prohibited, except under partial or temporary licences; but it is brought from the mines to the northward of Delhi in large quantities, though not of so good a quality, it being generally very bitter, especially the _Salumbah_, or more opaque rock-salt, which is far less serviceable for curing meat than the _Samber_; both these kinds are brought in small prismatic masses, and, though in common use among the natives of the upper provinces, are never, except from necessity, allowed to appear at the tables of Europeans, though employed in their culinary preparations.

Salt is also obtained, but not of a prime quality, by piling up large quantities of the sand forming the beds of rivers, after the waters have subsided into very narrow channels. On these heaps water is poured in abundance, and, being afterwards drained into reservoirs, the salt either chrystalizes by solar heat, or by being boiled in large iron pans, similar to those used for chrystalizing sugar from the expressed juice of the cane.

In travelling by water, many points, totally unheeded by European tourists, are necessarily to be attended to previous to departure. I have already warned my readers, that no furnished house, no lodgings, no public vehicles, no inns, and, in short, no preparation for the lodgment or convenience of temporary sojourners, are to be expected in any part of India; with the exception of the taverns and punch-houses already described. Therefore, when an excursion is to be made by water, a _budjrow_ must be hired, which may commonly be effected either by what is called ‘_teekah_,’ or so much for the trip, according to the distance, with some allowance for demurrage; or the vessel may be hired at a certain monthly sum; generally taken at ten rupees per oar. Sometimes return-_budjrows_ are to be had at a cheaper rate: whichever way the bargain may be made, the person hiring has nothing to do with the pay, or provision, of the several men employed in navigating the vessel.

The following Table of Allowances granted by the Company to officers, and others, proceeding, according to orders, from one station to another, will be both useful to those who may be proceeding to the East, and serve to give a general idea of the periods required, in ordinary seasons, taking the year round, for a boat’s reaching her destination, and returning to the place she quitted. The allowance likewise includes whatever may be intended for not only the _budjrow_, but for an attendant baggage-boat, and a cook-boat.

TABLE OF ALLOWANCE
FOR
BUDJROWS AND BOATS.

Sonaut Rupees
per Month.

To a Colonel 930

To a Lieutenant-Colonel, Physician, General, or 630
Chief Surgeon

To a Major and Head Surgeon 360

To a Captain, Pay-Master, Deputy Pay-Master, and 180
Regimental Surgeon

To a Subaltern, Hospital, or Regimental Mate 100

To a Cadet 80

To a Conductor 50

Officers are entitled to the allowance for _budjrows_ and boats only in the following instances: viz.

When posted to corps on their first joining the army.

When ordered to proceed, by water, upon any duty.

When removed, _without their own application_, to supply vacancies in the corps to which they are removed.

When water conveyance is not practicable, the difference of _batta_ is to be drawn, calculating from the day of appointment, and allowing ten miles for daily progress.

Where no ascertained rate is given, officers are to draw at the rate of ten miles against, and fourteen with, the current, for each day’s progress. The following may be considered the general standard; by which extraordinary cases are likewise governed.

From Calcutta to Berhampore is allowed for 1
as

Ditto to Monghyr 1½

Ditto to Patna, or Dinapore 2

Ditto to Buxar 2¼

Ditto to Chunar or Benares 2½

Ditto to Allahabad 3

Ditto to Cawnpore 3½

Ditto to Futty-Ghur 4

Ditto to Dacca 1

Ditto to Chittagong 2

Ditto to Midnapore ½

It is proper to remark in this place, that a boat may, at most seasons of the year, proceed to Berhampore, (provided the river be open,) in about seven or eight days. The distance by water is nearly double that by land, owing to the winding course of the river, which formerly could competite with that passing under Lucknow; which, owing to the mazes of its course, received the name of ‘_Goomty_,’ or winding.

Within the last twelve or fifteen years, many of the narrow isthmuses have been cut through, whereby the distance from Moorshadabad to Calcutta has been reduced full twenty miles; some yet require the aid of art, to perfect what the hand of time seems preparing for the still further abbreviating the passage by water: probably, in the course of twenty years, the river may be brought into a tolerable line; but, how long it will remain so, is another consideration; as the soil is every where, except about Rangamatty, (_i.e._ the red soil,) a few miles below Berhampore, so loose as to be totally unqualified to restrain the violent current which prevails in every part during four months in the year.

The passage to Chittagong can rarely be performed in a common _budjrow_, a great part of it being across the mouth of the Megna, indeed, in an open sea, subject, at least, to very heavy swells, if not to squalls, such as give much trouble even to those who are on board substantial sloops, and other vessels coming under the description of _sea-boats_. However, during the cold months, an adventurous _manjy_ will sometimes make the trip with his _budjrow_, provided a handsome gratuity be offered on such a hazardous occasion.

The best mode is to embark at Calcutta on board one of the Chittagong traders, of which some are commonly on the point of sailing, and to make a sea trip at once, in a secure, and tolerably pleasant manner. It is true, this mode does not offer all the conveniences of a good large _budjrow_; but that is balanced by the safety and celerity with which the voyage is made. A _budjrow_ will rarely complete the trip to Chittagong under three weeks; whereas, a coasting sloop will commonly perform it in as many days, after quitting the pilot, either in the northerly or southerly monsoon; the coast being east, with a very little southing.

After a _budjrow_ has been offered for hire, it will be but common prudence to send a carpenter on board to search her bottom, and to place a servant on board for a day and a night, to ascertain how much water she may take in during that time. Some of the best, in appearance, are extremely rotten, and can only be kept afloat by constant baling, in consequence either of the depredations of worms, or of the number of years they may have been built. Some are neat and clean, others are filthy in the extreme; some are supplied with good Venetians, lockers, curtains outside the windows, &c., &c.; while not a few, though not totally destitute of such conveniences, offer them in a most miserable state of wretchedness and of inutility. The roofs of nine in ten do not keep out water.

It will, on every occasion, be indispensably necessary to make memoranda of the terms on which the _budjrow_, &c., may be taken; and to obtain from the _manjy_ a written agreement; the want of which may prove unpleasant, either in consequence of any misunderstanding, or from any attempt that may be made to impose upon such Europeans as may not be supposed to have sufficient knowledge of the ordinary routine of such affairs, to secure them from depredation.

The masts, sails, rigging, &c., of the vessel should be carefully over-hauled; and, in particular, great care should be taken that one or two good _ghoons_, or track ropes, of sufficient length, be on board; since a defect in this branch of equipment will inevitably produce great delay, and, in strong currents, subject the boat to imminent danger.

Let it be remembered, that, whatever the number of oars paid for may be, so many actual boatmen there ought to be, exclusive of the _manjy_, or steersman, and the _goleah_, or bowman: it is a very common deception to count the latter in among the rowers, because he sometimes sits to an oar fitted out for him on the very prow of the vessel, when there is no occasion for his standing to throw the _luggy_, or bamboo-pole, whereby the boat is kept clear of banks, shoals, stumps, &c.

When an engagement is made of the _teekah_, or job-kind, the _manjy_ will, for his own sake, endeavor to get away as speedily as possible, and will ordinarily make sure of a good crew, in order that his money may be the sooner earned; but, when paid by the month, there will be no end to excuses, delays, and evasions: the _dandies_ will generally be wanting in number, and their quality be very indifferent.

The best mode, on such occasions, is to apply to the police, which, under proper circumstances of established criminality, will put a _peon_ (or messenger) on board, at the expence of the delinquent, and make such a change in the posture of affairs as cannot fail to please the employer. This is a safe and efficacious mode of proceeding; whereas, when justice is taken into the hands of the person hiring the boat, and that abuse and blows are dealt out, under the hope of gaining the point, the grounds of complaint are laid, and the _dandies_, so far from doing their duty, will either abscond wholly, or secrete themselves in such manner as effectually to impose an embargo.

I do not mean to say, that sometimes a recourse to the _manual_ may not be advisable, or even peremptorily necessary; but such must be adopted with extreme caution, and with such a mixture of resolution and conciliation, as may produce the desired effect, without establishing a character for brutality, or unnecessary harshness. If, during the trip, occasion for complaint should arise, it is best to refer the matter to any persons in office, whether native or European, who may be within a suitable distance. The _manjies_ have an insuperable antipathy to this mode of proceeding, because it deprives them of all grounds for justification, or representation; the want of which, in the hearing of an European magistrate, speedily induces to their corporal punishment; while, in the estimation of a _cutwal_, or chief of a village, it is sure to subject them to some pecuniary loss, whether by fine, by deduction from the sum to be paid as hire, or by having to maintain one or more _peons_, according to the nature of the offence.

Most _budjrows_ have two apartments, exclusive of an open _veranda_ in front; the latter is on a level with the dining apartment, but the chamber, which is more towards the stern, rises one or two steps above their level, in consequence of the form of the vessel’s stern: beyond all there is usually a small privy, which, being still more elevated, is ascended by other steps.

As the chamber contracts considerably towards the after-part of its floor, it will be necessary to ascertain whether a small cot (_i.e._ a bedstead) can stand in that part of the _budjrow_, without inconvenience; as also whether the height, between the floor and the roof, may admit of the bed-posts being erected. If the space should not allow them to be elevated, they must be unshipped, either by taking off their hinges, or by drawing them forth from their sockets, and the curtains must be suspended from hooks, nails, &c., driven for that purpose into the beams that support the roof.

Though floating on a large river, whose waters are celebrated for their virtues and purity by the whole population of Hindostan, it will, nevertheless, be indispensably necessary to take on board a good large _g’oulah_, or jar, which may be lashed to the mast, and be used as a depot for such water as may be intended for culinary purposes, or for beverage. In a few hours it will have settled thoroughly, and should then be drawn off as required into smaller vessels, called _kedjeree-pots_ by Europeans, but by the natives _gurrahs_.

Whence the former designation originated I never could learn, but conclude it resulted either from the supplies of crockery furnished to our shipping at _Kedjeree_, or from the very common circumstance of that preparation of rice, split peas, &c., called _kitchurry_, which may often be seen boiling, wholesale, in vessels of this description, for the supply of a dozen, or more, of _dandies_, &c.

The forepart of every _budjrow_ is decked, and furnished with two hatchways, with appropriate coverings: the whole of the part under the deck, which reaches from the _veranda_ to the stern, is generally considered by the _manjy_ as a privilege, of which he rarely fails to avail himself, when it is possible to render the trip a trading voyage. Against this too much precaution cannot be adopted; for not only will the _budjrow_ be so heavily laden as to draw more water, (an object of considerable importance,) but to track with far greater difficulty, and to leak very abundantly.

If any contraband trade can be carried on with tolerable safety, it is usually in this manner; because, owing to the general deference paid by the custom-house officers, and _chokey-peons_, in every part of the country, to European gentlemen, and to their equipages, few, or none, will attempt to search a _budjrow_ under hire: the facility with which goods can be landed, is such as to obviate, almost totally, any danger to be apprehended in the performance of that part of the adventure.

Government has, it is true, placed a number of checks on this kind of fraud; but, unhappily, it is out of its power to go so far into the remedy as would put a total stop to illicit commerce, without subjecting their own servants, of whatever rank, to the intrusive, and ultimately insolent, researches of those natives by whom they should, on every occasion, be treated with the utmost respect and consideration. It is inconceivable with what secresy, and caution, the manjies act on such occasions. An instance is within my knowledge, of a gentleman hiring a _budjrow_ at Patna, to proceed to the Presidency, but it was in vain that he importuned the _manjy_, day after day, and hour after hour, to complete his crew, and to have all in readiness for embarkation: at length, all was adjusted, and the vessel proceeded in high style.

The gentleman was unaccountably drowsy, and often wondered at the rapidity with which he seemed to be making his passage, but was not displeased to find himself so speedily floated towards the place of destination: it was in vain that he endeavored to prevent the _manjy_ from stopping at Chandernagore, a French settlement, about twenty-two miles from Calcutta; when, to his great surprize, he saw several boxes of opium, which had been concealed in various parts of the _budjrow_, and particularly under the floors, handed out to some _sircars_ who were at the _g’haut_, or landing-place, anxiously awaiting her arrival.

However unpleasant the above-mentioned cargo might have proved, it cannot be compared with the truly offensive practice common among all the boat-men of Hindostan, of cutting such fish as they may purchase, catch, or steal, into slices, and hanging them over the quarters to become sun-dried. This custom should never be tolerated on any account; not only because the effluvia are cruelly distressing, but, that, wherever it is allowed to obtain, all the rats are sure to be attracted from whatever boats, or banks, may come in contact with the _budjrow_: once in, Old Nick cannot get them out; except by emptying the vessel completely, and fumigating her with sulphur; or by sinking her for a while, so as to drown the vermin, of all descriptions, that harbour in the numberless recesses, chinks, &c., to be found in every quarter of an old _budjrow_.