BEN 



2*2 



BEN 



men exept those of Bengal and Ava. The bicktec and 

 Mbl-Qih are much esteemed by Europeans. Mullet arc 

 \ery numerous in the river* within a certain distance of the 

 seal They aw taken by shooting them with small shot, as 

 they swim against the stream close to the surface. A small, 

 but excellent kind of oysters is found on the coast of 

 Chittagcng. Turtle are procured from the island of Che- 

 duba in the bay of Bengal. Almost everv river in the pro- 

 is infested by alligators, ami in all the large rivers 

 uorpoiscs ascend to a distance of 200 miles from the sea. 



Mineralt. The province of Bengal is poor in mineral 

 product! in*. The hills in Silhct produce iron ore. Iron 

 is made at Punduah by a curious process, which at once 

 smelts the ore and renders its malleable. Granular iron 

 ore of the fineness of sand is. washed clean and mixed 

 with water into a soft mass or magma ; bits of reed, slicks, 

 or leaves are then dipped in it, and take up as much as 

 they will hold, and these when pretty dry are thrown into 

 the top of a small clay cupola-furnace and melted. It ap- 

 pears from this detail, that the ore must possess a great 

 degree of purity. The ore might be collected in large 

 quantities, and us limestone of good quality and coal are 

 found in the same range of Lil'.s, the smelting might be 

 easily effected. Some petroleum springs exist in the same 

 district. [See SILHET.] 



Coal is abundant also in the Jungle Mahals whence it 

 can be easily conveyed to Calcutta in the rainy season, 

 down the DwiHBOodah river. Coal and iron ore are both 

 of them procured in Birbhoom, and iron-works have long 

 been carried on there by the natives. Kxtensive forests 

 occur in the neighbourhood of these works, and the smelt- 

 ing is performed by means of charcoal. 



Progress of linglish political power in Bengal. The 

 commencement of the power of the English in Bengal 

 dates fi'iin the year I6j'2, when, through the influence of 

 a medical gentleman who had been sent to the court of 

 the Mogul, where he had successfully applied his pro- 

 fessional skill, a license was given permitting the Eng- 

 lish East India Company to trade to an unlimited extent 

 free from all payment f customs' duties: this privilege was 

 granted upon payment of the merely nominal sum of 3000 

 rupees. The first suttlement made by our countrymen in 

 the province appears to have been at the town of Hoogly, 

 twenty-three miles higher up the river than the city of 

 Calcutta. The station here formed was considered subor- 

 dinate to the presidency of Surot. 



It was not until 1098 that the English factory was re- 

 moved from Hoogly to Calcutta, and that Furl William was 

 built. This station was obtained by purchase as u Zamin- 

 dary. In 1707 the subordination to Madras ceased, and 

 Calcutta was made a separate presidency. In 1717 the 

 Company obtained a license from the Mogul, permitting 

 the purchase of lands contiguous to the factory, and con- 

 firming the exemption of their trade from duties. In 1756 

 the English authorities in Calcutta having been induced by 

 the dread of hostile proceedings on the part of the French, 

 then at war with England, to strengthen their fortifications, 

 the Soubahdar of Bengal, Suraja Dowla, who had never 

 been friendly to the English, made this a pretext for 

 attacking the city. The outposts were attacked on the 

 18th of June, 1756, and were badly defended. The fort 

 held out only two d.ijs, during which time it was deserted 

 by the women and children, as well as by the principal 

 people of the factory, and at the expiration of the time 

 mentioned the place was carried by storm. On the first 

 day of the following year Calcutta was retaken by the 

 English ; on the 23d of June following the nabob wag de- 

 feated at Plassey by Lord Clive; and early in July was 

 assassinated by order of the son of his successor. 



From this time may be dated the beginning of the abso- 

 lute government of the English in Bengal, although the 

 Dewannee, or authority to collect the revenue, was not 

 formally given by the Mogul Shah Allum until the 12th of 

 August. 1765. Previously to this cession the possessions 

 of the East India Company in Bengal were the factories of 

 Couirnba*ar, Dacca, and Calcutta, with a district in the 

 vicinity of the last-named city denominated the 24 1'er- 

 gunnahs, situated principally to the south of Calcutta, on 

 ist side of the Hoogly river. The grant of this dis- 

 trict was made in the first instance (17J9) as the personal 

 Jaghire, or leasehold estate, of Lord Clivo, by whom l was 

 I iiuiil I77.">. when it came into the full possession 

 ef the East India Company. 



The grant of the Dewannee already mentioned was con- 

 trary to the wishes <>f Nujcvin ad Dowl.i, then &oul>ahdar 

 or nabob of Bengal. Such, howeu r. wa> ti:e power of the 

 English that he wax obliged t,. submit, am! m.. le over 

 the management of'the province, with all its advantages, to 

 the Company, upon the assignment of an animal pension 

 equal to nearly half a million sterling. At the sjme time 

 an annual payment of twenty-six lac- of in|.,-e>, at that 

 time equal to about 300,0'JC/., was promised on the part of 

 the Company to the Mogul Shah Allum, but this annuity 

 was considered to be forfeited, when in 17"! that priiu-e 

 pl.icrd himself voluntarily in the hands of the Mali., 

 The payment fur which the nabob hail stipulated was Ru- 

 pees 17,78,85-4 for his house, servants, and other expenses 

 indispensably necessary, and rupees 24,07,277 for the sup- 

 port of such scpahis, peons, and berkundasses as might be 

 thought proper for his answarry only.' The sums were 

 reduced by a treaty with his successor Mobarek-ul-Dowlah 

 in 1770 to rupees 15,81,991 in the former, and rupees 

 16,00,000 in the latter account. The whole stipend of this 

 family was afterwards fixed at rupees 10,10,000, at which 

 rate it has remained ever since. 



Since the occurrence of those events the English have 

 remained undisputed masters of the province of Bengal, 

 the capital of which has become the scut of government to 

 which the governors of the other presidencies have lieen 

 made sulrardinate. From this circumstance the pulitical 

 occurrences within this province must be considered as 

 applicable to the whole of BRITISH INDIA, under which head 

 will lie given a statement of the rise, progress, and present 

 condition of our Eastern empire. 



I'ulitieal divisions. The province of Bengal is divided 

 into seventeen districts as follows : Baekergunge, Bir- 

 bhoom, Burdvvaii. Chittagong, Hoogly, Jessore, Myman- 

 singh, Moonbedabad, Nuddea, Purneah, Rajshahy, Hmig- 

 porc, Silhct, Tipeia. the twenty-four pergunnahs, Midnaporc, 

 and the Jungle. Mahals. 



Population. The population of these di-lricts in 1822 

 was estimated at '23,358,750, in a statement given in the 

 4 Appendix to the Report of the Select Committee of the 

 House of Commons on the A flairs of the East India Com- 

 pany,' which made its report in WsJl. This statement was 

 g:ven on the authority of a memorandum appended to the 

 police report of Mr. Henry Shakespeare, superintendent of 

 police in the Lower Provinces, in the year 18'-'2, on which 

 the Bengal government in their letter to the Court of 

 Directors, dated the 3rd of November, 1826, observed : ' Its 

 accuracy cannot be confidently relied on, but the calcula- 

 tions are probably not far wide of the truth.' The total 

 population of the provinces immediately subject to the pre- 

 sidency of Bengal is stated in the same report to have been 

 estimated in 1822 at G'J,71 0,071 souls. 



The cities and principal towns of the province mv said to 

 contain 1,214,000 inhabitants, who are thus distributed: 

 Calcutta, including the suburbs . C25.000 

 Dacca .... 180.000 



Moorshedubad . . . I50.0UO 



Burdwan . . . !>?., 000 



Chandernagore . . . 41,000 



Purneah . . . 33,000 



Ka.jmali.il . . . 30,000 



Dinagcpore . . . 28.000 



Naraingunge . . . 20,000 



Mulda .... 18,000 



Gour .... 18,000 

 Chandercona . . . 18.000 



The remaining population is collected in villages, each 

 containing from 100 to 500 inhabitants. These are princi- 

 pally built near the banks of navigable rivers, so that a 

 stranger passing along the stream would form a very ex- 

 aggerated notion of the populousness of the country. 



The houses in Bengalese towns arc not regularly arranged 

 in the form of streets, but the residences of different divi- 

 sions of the inhabitants arc in different quarters : Hindus 

 occupy one quarter, Mohammedans another, Europeans 

 and their descendants another, and that quarter in which 

 the Hindus reside is often further subdivided, so that 

 different castes, or followers of different prolessmns are di- 

 vided from the others ; brahmins are not found intermixed 

 with weavers, nor these with barbers, nor the last with cul- 

 tivators, scribes potters, &c. This subdivision, although 

 piUty generally observed, is not universal. The houses of 

 persons in easy circumstances are usually brick buildings 



