Monghyr--Wells of Seetacoond--The Fort of Monghyr--Storms on the
Ganges--Cossim Ali Khan--Monghyr the Birmingham of India--Employment
of Women--The Gaol--A Sacred Bathing-place--Bhaugulpore--Its
Population--Hill Rangers--The Bheels--Mr. Cleveland--Lieut.-Colonel
Tod--Colonel Francklin--Colgong--The Jungheera Rocks--The
Fakeers--The Rajmahal Hills--Sickreegullee--Boatmen of the
Ganges--Rajmahal--Ruins of Gour--The Bhauguretty--Soottee--The
Sunderbunds--Bogwangola--Jungepore.
AFTER a very stormy night, we reached Monghyr, and at eight on the
morning of the 31st of May, cast anchor before this once celebrated
fortress. It is about fifty-seven miles from Bar, and 436 from
Calcutta. Monghyr is a town in the Province of Bahar, beautifully
situated on the south bank of the Ganges. It was formerly a place of
great importance, and is still celebrated for the cultivation of grain,
and the manufacture of opium. A large portion of the district around,
is hilly and unproductive, but the cultivated lands are extremely
fertile, and yield rich returns. Some fifty years ago, the government
tried the plan of granting certain waste lands, to the invalid officers
and native Sepoys, and the experiment has succeeded beyond all
expectation, some of the reclaimed lands being the best in the place.
In the immediate vicinity, and about a mile from the fort, are some
famous wells; they are called by the natives, "Seetacoond," and are
highly venerated by the Hindoos. Seetacoond is a common appellation for
hot springs among them: Koond in Sanscrit means a spring, hence the
meaning would be the "spring of Seeta," which Seeta was the wife of
Ram. Only one of these wells, however, is really a hot spring, for in
the second well, the water is cold, and in the third chalybeate. They
are all situated about half-a-mile from the Ganges, twenty paces apart
from each other, in a plain backed by hills, and in the midst of rocks.
The hot spring is considerable, and the air-bubbles rise in great
quantities, the temperature varying from 90° to 140°. The water is much
used on voyages to Europe, or on the sea, on account of its extreme
purity; indeed it is asserted that it keeps for ever without becoming
putrid. The renowned goddess Seeta pledges herself for its eternal
purity. It certainly is very good, and people going to England, viâ
the Cape, would do well to provide themselves with a few dozen large
bottles, and fill them at this spring, for the water on board a ship is
often extremely bad.
The Fort of Monghyr is very large and situated on a rising ground. The
fortifications were formerly quite in the Indian style, encompassed
with a lofty wall flanked with towers and surrounded by a dry ditch,
except on the river side. But the government found it too expensive to
keep these fortifications in repair, and have suffered them to fall
almost into complete decay; and at present, the fort alone would be
able to stand a siege. The view from the fort is one of the finest in
India. The river, in the rainy season, forms quite a large expanse of
water, and the Ganges becomes a rapid stream. Sometimes the violence
of the torrent is so impetuous, that it undermines the banks of the
river and uproots the largest trees. During the hurricanes, which are
frequent here at certain seasons, the Ganges assumes the appearance of
the sea; and the water dashes over the boats with such violence, that
the men are frequently washed overboard; numerous boats are capsized in
an instant, and men and goods swept down the engulphing stream. These
storms are always accompanied by thunder, lightning, and fierce winds,
against which it is impossible to make head. There is a protruding
rock here, which juts out boldly into the stream, and withstands the
whole force of the water. This morning the river presented a melancholy
spectacle, from the numerous wrecks of vessels which had perished
during last night's storm.
From a brass plate that was discovered in the immediate vicinity of
the fort, in 1781, it would seem to have been a place of importance
before the Christian era, and to have been subject to the Hindoo kings
of Bengal, who resided at Gour. There is, however, no mention made
of Monghyr by the Mahomedan historians, till the beginning of the
sixteenth century, when the kings of Bahar disputed its possession
with the kings of Bengal. Cossim Ali Khan, whom the British raised
to the throne of Moorshedabad, in supercession of Mir Jaffier,
having previously created him Nawab, on dethroning Suraj-ud-Dowlah
(ludicrously called Sir Roger Dowler), in 1757, after throwing off
all allegiance to the British government, repaired to Monghyr to take
up his residence there. He added considerably to the strength of the
fortifications, and endeavoured to discipline the natives for its
defence. But the English took it after a siege of nine days, and made
it a military station. At the time that the government of Bengal raised
Cossim Ali Khan to the throne, it recommended him to keep troops like
the British Sepoys; to drill and arm them after the English fashion,
and to make them wear red coats, in fact, entirely to doff the Oriental
costume and training. Cossim took this advice, but turned the weapons
against those who had placed them in his hands; and for several years
he fought many battles against his quondam counsellors. Had Cossim
Ali Khan's plan, to lay siege to Kathmandoo (Kath, _wood_, the wooden
city), succeeded, the British would have been spared the trouble of the
Nepaul war of 1814-16; but at that time, there was no shadow of coming
events in that direction.
In 1766, a strong brigade of six battalions, and some artillery, used
to be in quarters at Monghyr; in short, one-third of the Bengal army
was stationed here, while at Patna and Allahabad there were other
brigades. It is now a station only for invalids, being a very healthy
spot. The Commandant occupies the old palace, the former residence of
the Sultan Soojah. It is extremely handsome; and is surrounded by fine
gardens, tanks and plantations. The houses of the staff-officers are
also convenient.
Monghyr is the Birmingham of India, for the natives excel in the
manufacture of guns, pistols and rifles; many of them marked with the
names of Manton, Egg, and other celebrated gun-makers. I have seen
one or two of them fired off, and perhaps safely with light charges.
A sporting engineer belonging to our steamer, bought a Manton for
£1 4_s._, and fired several times successively. These guns are very
cleverly made; and a novice could not possibly detect that they had not
been manufactured by those whose names they bear. Forks and knives,
cork-screws, hammers, and other articles of hardware of very good
descriptions, are also made here. Fans, table-mats, straw hats and
bonnets, necklaces and bracelets, made of a wood resembling jet, etc.;
everything in fact may be purchased, very good, and at reasonable cost.
In our visit to the bazaars, indeed all over the place, we were beset
by beggars, who are excessively numerous, and in the most piteous and
abject condition. All the hard work, it seems, is done by the women.
I am told that they work much better than the men, and get but badly
paid. About twenty brought the fuel required for our steamer, and put
it on board, while the men were looking idly on.
The consumption of coals daily, on board our steamer, averages 400
maunds; but when the current is strong, 500 maunds are expended. Three
maunds of wood are only equal to one maund of coals.
I really felt quite mortified at seeing the gentler sex engaged in
such masculine work; one of them especially looked quite incapable of
undergoing the toil. It is the custom for the men to sit lounging at
home, or roaming about begging alms of strangers, while the women work
in the open air--a strange perversity of our nature, and one which
tends to shew the barbarous state of these people; wherever heathenism
or infidelity prevails, woman is degraded. Christianity alone, restores
her to her proper sphere.
I visited the gaol, which is a large building, and contains, as one of
the chained men informed me, "a hundred as good as himself." I likewise
went to the burying-ground, which is crowded with monuments, but they
cannot last long--a few more monsoons will assuredly destroy them.
There is a chaplain at Monghyr and two missionaries, besides several
civilians.
Monghyr is considered a sacred bathing-place; and during the season the
throng is immense. There the pilgrims, men, women and children, meet to
unite in the worship of the Ganges, by bathing in its hallowed stream,
and by pouring out water as libations to the sun and moon, or to the
spirits of their departed friends. Sir J. Chardin observed a similar
custom in Mingrelia and Georgia, as also in other Eastern countries. He
says: "The people, before sitting down to a feast, go out abroad, and
with eyes turned up to heaven, pour out a cup of wine on the ground as
a libation." This idolatrous practice we likewise find prevalent among
the Jews, who, when reproved by Jeremiah, persisted in continuing, not
only to burn incense to the queen of heaven, but to pour out their
drink-offerings unto her.[103]
We had a fine view of the Kurruckpore hills; and at six o'clock the
same day anchored off Bhaugulpore, having passed Sooltangunge, on
the right bank of the river. There is an indigo factory and house at
Sooltangunge, very prettily situated; the lofty rocks of Jehangeera,
crowned with a Mahomedan tomb, are in a most singular position.
Bhaugulpore is a town in the Province of Bahar, situated about
two miles from the main branch of the Ganges. A nullah runs past
Bhaugulpore; it separates a strip of land from the Ganges, into which
it afterwards flows. The Ganges is extremely broad here; and in the
rainy season, when the waters are much swollen, is full eight miles
across. It is pleasantly situated; and commands a distant view of
Mount Mandar, an insulated conical hill, and noted place of Hindoo
pilgrimage. There are two very peculiar round towers about a mile
north-west of the town, which the Rajah of Jeynugur considers so holy,
that he has erected a building to shelter his subjects who frequent
them from the burning rays of the sun.
At the entrance of the town is a noble banyan tree, which Lord Valentia
also mentions in his travels. This tree is found in most parts of
India; but perhaps the largest are to be met with towards the South.
Humboldt, in his Cosmos,[104] speaking of the banyan, or Indian
fig-tree, says, "The Indian fig-tree, that takes root by its branches,
and whose stem has a diameter of twenty-eight feet; and which, as
Onesicritus remarked with much truth to nature, forms 'a leafy canopy,
similar to a tent supported by numerous pillars.'"
The population of Bhaugulpore is a mixture of Mahomedans and Hindoos.
The majority are Mahomedans, who had a college, which existed in 1815,
though in a state of great decay.
I must remark that many cities in India, such as Delhi, Benares,
Allahabad, and Bhaugulpore, exhibit a mixture of Hindoo and Mahomedan
buildings. The former, as having been the seat of the Hindoo and
Mahomedan governments, is easily accounted for. At Benares, as I
stated, the Mussulman emperor erected the mosque, to insult its
inhabitants, who were Hindoos. In the cases of Allahabad, Bhaugulpore,
and other cities, we must refer the fact to different circumstances.
At Bhaugulpore there is a corps called the "Hill-rangers": it was
raised in 1792, and is composed of men who reside in the hills near the
District, and sends detachments to Monghyr, Purneah, Bootan frontier,
and to Titalyah. Mr. Cleveland, of the Bengal Civil Service, who
died in 1784, early recognised the fact, that the wild hill tribes
could only be kept in subjection by a system of strict justice and
moderation. He went among them, and brought over their chiefs to a
sense of the necessity of promoting peace among their people. In order
to create a feeling of unanimity, and to put a stop to the quarrels
in which they were continually embroiled with the Lowlanders, he
disciplined a party of these men, who were subsequently formed into a
corps, denominated the Paharees, or "Hill-rangers." In their mountain
homes, these men are not far removed from the savage; they live by
the chase, and never go unarmed. They are extremely hospitable and
honest, and are remarkable for their probity, as servants. With this
naturally good foundation, it will readily be conceived that they make
good soldiers. They are kept in a state of admirable discipline; and
in place of devastating the country, and plundering their neighbours,
they now protect the district from the marauders, and both person
and property are secure. The character of these tribes bears a close
resemblance to that of the Bheels and Nairs, the latter being peculiar
to the Madras Presidency.
The Bheels are considered to be the Aborigines of central India; a
bold, daring set of banditti, possessing nevertheless, many virtues.
Truth, honesty, and fidelity are their distinguishing features. They
are born warriors and despise the tillers of the soil. In 1817,
Lieut.-Colonel James Tod offered some of these Bheels four rupees,
or eight shillings, a month, if they would cultivate the soil; but
they indignantly refused, "because their forefathers had never done
so before them." In 1840, two Bheel corps were formed; one at Malwa,
and the other at Mewar. The Bheels are a decidedly distinct race, and
are divided into numerous tribes: they are Hindoos by religion, but
some few of them have become followers of the prophet. They have been
deprived of the fairest portions of their land by the Rajahs, and are
now confined to the uncultivated tracts of their mountains.
Thus Mr. Cleveland's laudable efforts have been more successful than
might have been expected, and the people in the neighbourhood of
Bhaugulpore, instead of being in a state of continual strife, are
now living very peaceably. Mr. Cleveland's former residence, a large
handsome building, is situated immediately on the banks of the Ganges,
and a monument to his memory has been erected in the burial-ground.
There are several other very good houses, this being a civil station.
A Branch of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society has been
flourishing for the last ten years, and the Botanical Gardens are
worth visiting. There is a resident chaplain who divides his duties
between this place and Monghyr. I may remark, by the way, that all the
chaplains are military; and, as in the Navy, are entitled to prize
money in war time.
The late Colonel Francklin endeavoured to make Bhaugulpore the site
of the ancient Palibothra, because he supposed the Chundun to be the
Erannoboas of the Greeks. This subject has, however, been so fully
discussed, that it is to be hoped that the mind of the reader has been
duly impressed with the conviction that Allahabad is the veritable
site, as being the spot where the junction of those two mighty rivers,
the Ganges and the Jumna, occurs.
Bhaugulpore is noted for its silk manufacture, particularly for a
very light material much used in dishabille, as well as for screens,
punkahs, etc. The trade has latterly been much promoted by the facility
of exportation by the Calcutta steamers, for this is one of the
Company's stations.
On the 1st of June, we started at daybreak, and arrived at Colgong at
half-past-seven A.M., having passed three singular and romantic looking
rocks, rising to a height of about sixty feet from the bed of the
river, and covered with verdure, among which some fanatics have built a
few sheds.
We left Colgong at eight, A.M. on the same day. Seven miles below
Colgong, the river takes a singular turn, round a hill covered with
wood, and where some rocks, with carvings of Hindoo deities, jut out
boldly into the stream. These rocks are very dangerous, because in
descending the river, you must hug the right bank, so as to keep them
on your left hand, for just below the rocks, which rise in the middle
of the river, there is a strong back-water. The captain's object
is to prevent his boat from getting into this back-water, and thus
being carried and lost upon, these rocks. There is moreover a kind
of whirlpool near the spot, so that we may call it the "Scylla and
Charybdis" of the Ganges. Boats ascending the river keep to the left,
where the stream is not rapid; but in descending, the boatmen, in order
to meet and overcome this back-water, must pull very hard, and for a
sixteen-oared boat at least twelve or fourteen of the crew must row.
The back-water is probably caused by the tendency of the water to run
to the rocks, in consequence of the turn in the river to the right, the
rocks being on the left.
The Jungheera rocks, lower down the river, are very picturesque. A
Fakeer resides in a small dwelling, on one of these rocks. The natives
furnish him with food; but he sometimes makes an excursion on shore,
and supplies himself. The Fakeer pleasantly sleeps in the midst of the
howling storm, none the worse for the wind and rain; neither has he any
fear of being blown out of his cabin, or of his house being washed down
the stream; a few monkeys keep him company, and possibly some fairy
queen may visit this presiding deity of the stream, and soothe, what to
a stranger, would appear a wretched existence.
Just before passing Peerpointee, on the right bank, the river Koosee
flows into the Ganges, and above Sickreegullee, or the dangerous pass,
so called from the difficulty I have named, which the steamers and
boats have in rounding it, we reached the place where the Teryagullee
hills end, and those of Rajmahal commence. They are crowded with fine
forest trees, shrubs, and other verdure, most pleasing for the eye
to rest upon, after the tameness of the first part of our voyage.
The hills abound in game; and the sportsman would be rewarded with a
variety not frequently met with.
The Rajmahal hills, are intersected by a line which runs as far south
as Balasore, traversing the districts of Nagore and Bishunpore, and
the mountain chain between Kimore and the Ganges. Extensive coal-beds
have recently been discovered along this line of demarcation, and
have greatly enhanced the value and importance of the whole district.
This mountain-chain is broken by numerous valleys, defiles, and
wide-spreading plains, many of which are very fertile, and well
cultivated, especially those which lie at the base of the mountains.
The highest part of these ridges may be estimated at 4,000 feet, and
some of the plains run along at an elevation of more than 2,000 feet
above the level of the Ganges.
This chain is for the most part covered with lofty timber trees, and
various kinds of woods, which are much used by the natives in building
and in cabinet manufactures. These hills are clothed from the base
to the summit, and the trees grow in tiers or terraces, down into
the plain of the Ganges. In the northern rear of this chain, run the
Rajmahal hills, which are divided from the Kimore range by the narrow
valley of the Sone. The mountain-chain runs so close to the Ganges,
between Bhaugulpore and the Rajmahal hills, as scarcely to admit of
a causeway along the banks of the river. The government has wisely
met this difficulty, by constructing a good road between Rajmahal and
Colgong, which crosses the narrow defile of Sickreegullee.
We anchored off Rajmahal at a quarter to six in the evening of the
1st of June; and having to take in coal, we waited for the night. As
usual, whenever an opportunity occurred, I hastened on shore for a
stroll. Rajmahal is in the Province of Bengal, and about seventy miles
from Berhampore. The Province of Bengal terminates a little below
Sickreegullee, a village cultivated by invalided Sepoys, who have
redeemed the land from the wilderness of former times. At Teryagullee,
on the borders of the district, is the pass of Sickreegullee, which,
during the Hindoo and Mahomedan dynasties, was the commanding entrance
from Bahar into Bengal, and was strongly fortified. It runs up a narrow
winding road, where the traveller will see a ruined gateway and fort,
to tell of days gone by. He will also find a great deal of waste land,
and mountainous tracts of country. The people are a wild race, quite
distinct from those of the plains. They are low in stature, but stout
and well proportioned, many being under four feet ten inches high, and
many more under five feet three inches, than above that standard. The
women are small indeed. They have flat noses, and lips thicker than
those of the Lowlanders. They do not venerate the cow like the Hindoos,
and have no knowledge of letters, or of any kind of written characters.
They subsist principally on maize--the Indian corn. Nearly all the
laborious work is done by the women; and a man is rich in proportion
to the number of his wives, and who are indeed so many labourers, or,
I may say, domestic slaves. These mountaineers have a great regard for
the truth, and an utter abhorrence of lying, which ranks them far above
their brothers of the plains, where lying is joined to the other vices.
Their traffic is in bedsteads, wood, planks, charcoal, cotton, honey,
plantains, and sweet potatoes, which they barter for tobacco, rice,
salt, cloth, iron arrow-heads, hatchets, crooks, and iron implements.
Their weapons are the bow and arrow; but some few among them possess
swords and matchlocks. Their domestic animals are hogs, goats, fowls,
dogs, and cats.
It was among these wild races that Mr. Augustus Cleveland, the judge
and magistrate of the district, made a permanent settlement about the
year 1780. Unfortunately he died at the early age of twenty-nine, in
the year 1784, as I have before observed. A monument, in the form
of a pagoda, was erected by the Zumindars, or landholders of the
neighbourhood, to commemorate his exemplary conduct, and another was
put up at the expense of the Government, in honour of a man, who,
though young, had done so much to benefit his fellow-creatures.
The Ganges flows close under the ruins of an old palace, on the brink
of its right bank. Previous to the year 1638, it was the residence of
Sultan Soojah, the brother of Aurungzebe, but scarcely any vestiges of
the building now remain. The Ganges, about 1639, wholly quitted the
vicinity of Gour, and approached the rocky bank of Rajmahal, where
it still holds its course. The force of the current, on the right or
Rajmahal side, is so great in the rainy season, that I am told an
officer, who was sailing in a twelve-oared budgerow against the stream,
which came rushing down like a torrent, actually had the sides of his
boat split. The Dandees (not fops, but the boatmen of the Ganges), in
sailing up the river used to call out, "Allah! Allah!" _i.e._ "God!
God!" on entering that strong water, just as the native boatmen are
wont to do in crossing the surf at Madras. On the left bank the river
is smooth and always safe. The ruins of the palace still extend over
a large space of ground. Close to the margin of the river are three
arches supported by pillars of the colour of black marble. No doubt the
Ganges has washed away much; and, probably, many slabs of beautiful
marble, like that with which the ball-room of Government House, in
Calcutta, is paved, now lie submerged under the stream. It is supposed
that the Ganges, in rushing over these ruins, causes the sound of water
running over rocks, which is the effect produced in this place.
The ruins of the palace are quite overspread with low jungle,
abounding, as I was informed, with snakes and other reptiles. Broken
gateways of beautiful architecture, mosques, and a large hall of
audience--as it is reported to have been--still indicate the former
importance and grandeur of this place.
In the absence of Hindoo historical dates, we must content ourselves
with traditions, till we come to the Mahomedan writers. We are told
that Rajmahal was anciently the seat of the Hindoo sovereigns, in whose
time it bore the name of Raj Ghur. Its first mention by Mussulman
historians, is in 1576; and again in 1592, when, in the reign of the
Emperor Akbar, Rajah Maun Singh, governor of Bengal and Bahar, made it
his capital, gave it the name of Rajmahal, and fortified it with walls
and bulwarks. In 1608, Islam Khan, the Mogul governor, transferred the
seat of government to Dacca, in consequence of the invasion of the
Portuguese. In 1639, Sultan Soojah, the brother of Aurungzebe, again
made it the royal residence, and lavished vast treasures in restoring
the fortifications, and erecting the palace, of which I have just
spoken.
On the expulsion of this sovereign from his dominions, the Mogul
governor again moved the seat of government to Dacca. Since this period
the ancient capital of Bengal has rapidly declined, not only from the
withdrawal of the government; but in consequence, also, of the frequent
ravages committed by those two irresistible elements, fire and water.
In recent times, Rajmahal was sought as a place of refuge by the
unhappy Suraj-ud-Dowlah, who concealed himself in an out-building in
a lone garden; but he was discovered, and betrayed to his enemies
by a wretched Fakeer, whom he had treated with great barbarity on
a former occasion, having ordered his ears and nose to be cut off.
Suraj-ud-Dowlah was seized, and carried to Moorshedabad, where he was
murdered with wanton cruelty.
Not many years ago, Rajmahal was a military station; but now no
European resides here. There is a small Christian burial-ground, which
has been walled in by some liberal and kind-hearted persons. In it is
the last resting-place of many an unfortunate European, who has died
near the town in his way up or down the river.
On the 2nd of June, we again proceeded at daybreak, and about noon
cast anchor nearly opposite to the ancient city of Gour, and close to
a village called Lall Dobree. Gour was built about 2,000 years ago,
and is the ancient name of the capital of Bengal Proper: it is a few
miles to the south of the town of Malda. The name of Gour is said
to be derived from Gur or Goor, which, in the Sanscrit and modern
languages of India, signifies raw sugar; and, from the Sanscrit term
for manufactured sugar (sarcara) are derived the Persian, Greek, Latin,
and many of the European names for the same article.
The ruins of Gour extend fifteen miles along the old banks of the
Ganges, and are from two to three miles in breadth, which would give
a circuit of thirty-four or thirty-five miles. Several villages
now occupy part of the ground on which the ancient Gour stood; the
remainder is either covered with thick forests, the resort of tigers
and beasts of prey, or else has been converted into arable land, the
soil of which contains much brick-dust. The city of Gour is nearly
central to the populous parts of Bengal and Bahar, and not far from
the junction of the principal rivers which form the excellent inland
navigation. It is now about four miles from the Ganges; and this
river, with a slip of land of a few miles in width, separates it from
Rajmahal. The freak of the Ganges, in 1639, in parting from its old
bed and rushing over to Rajmahal, proves that very strong shields,
or river-bank defences, will be required to protect the banks of the
Ganges.
The ruins of this city of former days have supplied the materials
for building the more recent towns of Rajmahal, Moorshedabad, Dacca,
and Malda. Enough, however, still remains to prove its former
magnificence--broken palaces, mosques, mausolea, and temples, testify
to its ancient splendour. Major Rennel says, that Gour is supposed to
be the Gangia Regia of Ptolemy.
On re-visiting Gour, in September, 1849, I called at one of Lord
Glenelg's indigo factories, the superintendent of which, Mr. R.B.
M'Intosh, showed me some old coins, which had been found by his
workmen at different periods; some slabs of marble, too, taken from a
large Mahomedan temple, had been converted by the same gentleman into a
handsome outer doorway to his house.
At a little before sunset, we changed the Ganges for the Bhauguretty
river.
On the 3rd of June we were early off Sootee, on the right bank, and
210 miles from Calcutta. In 1757, when Suraj-ud-Dowlah, the Subahdar
of Bengal, apprehended an attack from the English, and believed that
their ships of war could proceed up the eastern branch of the Ganges
to the northern point of the Cossimbazar island, and thence down the
Bhauguretty to Moorshedabad, he commanded immense piles to be driven
into the river at Sootee. By this act, the river has been rendered
unnavigable for any vessels beyond boats, and even for these it is
navigable only during the rainy season. The Subahdar remembered that
Chandernagore, a French settlement, had been attacked on the 14th of
March of the same year, and captured, by Admiral Watson and Colonel
Clive, with line of battle ships, which cast anchor before it.
The river at times is not less than six miles broad at Sootee; during
the rains, the steamers proceed down the Hoogly to Calcutta. At other
seasons they go _viâ_ the Bhauguretty and the Sunderbunds, or "the
beautiful wilderness," where sportsmen may enjoy themselves by killing
"a royal Bengal tiger," ten or twelve feet in length, from the head
to the tip of the tail. The Sunderbunds consist of that part of the
Delta of the Ganges, which is near the sea, and are in extent equal to
the Principality of Wales. Salt is made here; and here also is found a
boundless stock of timber, for boat building and other purposes.
About forty miles to the south of Mohungunge, at the head of the
Bhauguretty, stands Bogwangola, a large inland trading town, eight
miles N.E. of Moorshedabad. It is a great mart for grain. The town has
a very poor appearance, being constructed entirely of bamboos, mats,
and thatch; it has often been removed on account of the encroachment
of the Ganges. It has more resemblance to a temporary fair, or an
encampment, than to a town. The designation of town in Hindoostan, does
not so much depend upon the nature of the buildings (for villages
contain brick houses), as upon the rank of the public officer who
superintends the general duties of the place, his rank depending on
the extent of his charge. Bogwangola is a very stirring town; and the
landing-place is always crowded with country boats of all sizes, and
even with budgerows.
At about ten o'clock in the morning, we passed Jungepore, the site
of one of the Company's principal silk factories, a portion of which
is now conducted by private individuals; for since the loss of the
Company's trading charter, their factories here and at other places,
have been dismantled. Up to 1833, the East India Company, as is
well known, held the monopoly of the trade in India and China; but
the Government at home considering such a constitution of affairs
incompatible with the position of a supreme legislative body, as well
as injurious to the commercial and manufacturing interests, passed
an act for the abolition of this monopoly, on the removal of what is
commonly termed "the last charter of the East India Company, on the
25th of August, 1833." This act, as was expected, has already produced
a vast change in the commercial relations of India. By throwing open
the trade to private merchants, a greater stimulus has been given to
individual enterprise and energy; and the market prices have been
considerably lowered.
FOOTNOTES:
[Footnote 103: Jer. xliv. 17.]
[Footnote 104: Vol. ii. p. 524.]