of the Calcutta District. 41 



of Titaghur, they are equally applicable to the immediate 

 vicinity of Calcutta. 



Except near the river, which is shut in on both banks by 

 a strip of jungle^ the country round is fairly open and quite 

 flat, with alternate stretches of open cultivated land and of 

 marshes (called "jheels") surrounded by belts of trees, in 

 which the native villages are built, among their orchards and 

 gardens. These orchards and gardens are always raised 

 above the level of the surrounding country, and a steep 

 bank of earth is thrown up round, with a ditch at the bottom. 

 Mango, jack-fruit, lichi, and plantain-trees are grown here, 

 and cocoa-nut and betel-nut palms. The palms are planted 

 around the tank, which is formed in every orchard for the 

 purpose of irrigating it and watering the trees. A good deal 

 of sugar-cane is also grown on the raised ground, and crops 

 of tall grass, for thatching purposes. 



The lower land, which in the rainy season is flooded with 

 water, is planted principally with rice and jute. The divisions 

 between the different fields are low, narrow banks of earth, 

 called " bunds," covered with grass, and these " bunds " 

 are the pathways through the fields during the time the 

 country is under water. Scattered about in the open country 

 are clumps of thorny bushes and of date-palms, and solitary 

 babool-trees. 



Some of the jheels, though very large, dry up entirely 

 during the hot season, but during the rains they have the 

 appearance of a vast expanse of waving reeds, with here and 

 there patches of open water. The shallow edges are planted 

 with paddy and jute, and the whole is surrounded by the 

 usual belt of tree-jungle, the tall palms being the most con- 

 spicuous trees, as they overtop the rest. The commonest 

 trees are mango, neem, jack-fruit, tamarind, plantain, 

 bamboo, banyan, peepul, and cotton-trees ; but, with the 

 exception of a number of casuarina- trees at Titaghur, and 

 some of the trees in Barrackpore Park and on the Grand 

 Trunk Road, they are mostly small, though there is often a 

 large banyan or peepul in the centre of the villages. 



Compared with other parts of the Indian plains, Bengal is 



