<J54 



BENGAL. 



Pcngal. pcrior in quality to that of the Ganges ; and, by 

 J ' ' means of irrigation, form a grand instrument of fer- 

 tilizing the parched fields. In the higher parts of 

 Bengal, this practice is, at all seasons, an indispen- 

 f.ible requisite in husbandry ; and as it is there a/icays 

 necessary, it is more effectually and industriously ad- 

 ministered. " Towards the end of the rains, the 

 fields are well ploughed in the ordinary manner ; but, 

 before sowing the seeds, they are divided into little 

 r.quare plots, resembling rhe chequers of a back- 

 gammon table. Each square is surrounded with a 

 shelving border, about four inches high, capable of 

 containing water. Between the square chequers, 

 thus constructed, small dykes are formed for convey- 

 ing a rivulet over the whole field. As soon as the 

 water has stood a sufficient time in one square to im- 

 bibe moisture, it is let off into the adjoining one, by 

 opening a small outlet through the surrounding dyke. 

 Thus one square after another is saturated, till the 

 whole field, of whatever extent, is gone over." (Ten- 

 nant's Indian Recreations, vol. ii. p. 167.) In the 

 flat countries, however, these means of remedying 

 the occasional deficiencies in the fall of the rains, and 

 the flow of the rivers, are not provided with sufficient 

 care ; and the reservoirs, water courses, &c. are more 

 generally in a progress of decay, than of improve- 

 ment. 



But no possible precautions can prevent the failure 

 of the crops in unfavourable seasons ; and as, in con- 

 sequence of the feeble and scanty husbandry practised 

 in India, there is very rarely, even in plentiful years, 

 any surplus produce to guard against the effects of a 

 scarcity, the inhabitants of that country, which is, 

 perhaps, the most fertile in the world, are more fre- 

 quently, than any other people, the victims of abso- 

 lute want. Even the province of Bengal, the most 

 fruitful in India, was often visited in former times 

 with the same calamity ; of which a very dreadful 

 instance occurred in the year 1770, in consequence of 

 an unusual drought. When the granaries of the Na- 

 bobs and of the Company began to fail, and rice could 

 no longer be supplied to the poorer classes, thousands 

 of them expired of hunger in the fields, and in the 

 streets of Calcutta. Their dead bodies, mangled by 

 dogs and vultures, tainted the air, and threatened a 

 pestilence, in addition to the miseries of famine. 

 About 100 persons were daily employed by the Com- 

 pany in throwing the dead bodies into the river ; 

 which corrupted the water, and rendered the fish un- 

 wholesome nourishment. The hogs, ducks, and 

 geese, also, fed so much upon human carcases, that 

 the only animal food which could be used was mut- 

 ton ; while that, on account of the dry season, was so 

 extremely small, that a quarter of a sheep scarcely 

 weighed a pound and a half. By the foresight, how- 

 ever, of Europeans, the benevolent exertions of the 

 East India government, and the peace and protection 

 enjoyed by the husbandmen of this province, the re- 

 currence of such an evil has been in a great measure 

 prevented, its duration shortened, and its pressure al- 

 leviated. 

 Vegetable The most important of the other vegetable pro- 

 and animal ductions of Bengal besides pulse and grain, are to- 

 produc- bacco, indigo, cotton, mulberry, poppy, guavas, 

 tioru. plantains, pomelos, limes, oranges, pomegranates, me- 



lons, pine apples, the banyan tree, the pisang or ba- 

 nana, the cocoa nut palm, which supplies a manufac- v 

 ture of cordage, called coir ; the sugar cane, which 

 thrives in every district, and might be still more suc- 

 cessfully cultivated in all ; the betle vine, a species of 

 pepper, raised in almost every village ; the mango 

 tree, the fruit of which is in the highest estimation, 

 and is almost universally used during the hot months ; 

 the date tree, which grows every where, and which 

 yields a sweet liquid of an intoxicating quality, from 

 which sugar is sometimes extracted ; the suri tree, 

 which also affords, by incision of the stem, a clear, 

 sweet, inebriating juice, which when sour is sometimes 

 used instead of vinegar ; the areca, in large planta- 

 tions, the wood of which is tough as whalebone, and 

 its nut a useful article of food ; and the bassia, 

 abounding in the hilly countries and poorer 6oils, the 

 corols of which are esculent and nutricious, while its 

 oil is a frequent substitute for butter. In the gar- 

 dens are cultivated most of the vegetables of other 

 climates fit for culinary purposes. The potatoe, par- 

 ticularly, has been introduced with considerable suc- 

 cess ; and as it thrives best in the dry seasons which 

 are destructive to the rice crops, it might be the 

 means, if cultivated to a sufficient extent, of placing 

 the lower classes in Bengal almost beyond the reach 

 of famine. 



The various sorts of flowering trees and shrubs, 

 which either grow wild, or thrive with little care, 

 are too numerous to be mentioned in this place ; but 

 we may notice as the most remarkable and beautiful, 

 the chulta, the flower of which is at first a hard green 

 ball, on foot stalks about four inches in length. The 

 calyx, after the ball has opened, is composed of five 

 round, thick, succulent leaves, and the corolla of the 

 same number of fine white petals. After continuing 

 only one day, the corolla drops, and the ball closes ; 

 while a succession of these opening and shutting 

 flowers continues during the space of several months. 

 A tall tree, called the tatoon, used in bordering the 

 walks, the leaves of which are of a deep shining 

 green colour, and the fruit resembling an olive, with 

 a kernel like the date. A large spreading tree, called 

 rusxa, which has a peculiar rich and beautiful appear- 

 ance when in full bloom, as it is then covered with 

 flowers of a bright crimson, or of a bright yellow, 

 or of some intervening shade between these two 

 colours. Of this remarkable tree, however, it is said, 

 that there are only two plants known in Bengal ; 

 one of which is in the neighbourhood of Calcutta, 

 and the other near the Dutch settlements. It has 

 been mentioned, as one cause of its scarcity, that the 

 ants and other insects are so fond of its seed, that not 

 one pod can be found entire and uninjured. 



Wild boars, bears, wolves, foxes, jackalls, hyaenas, 

 leopards, panthers, lynxes, hares, deer, zebres, wild 

 buffaloes, antelopes, apes and monkies, elephants, 

 tygers, are natives of Bengal. The foxes are feeble 

 and slender, the hare and deer very inferior to those 

 of Europe, and the venison in general lean and in- 

 sipid. The dogs are, generally of the cur species, 

 with sharp erect ears, and pointed tails. There is 

 found in the eastern districts an undescribed animal 

 called the gyal, which may be placed between the 

 tic bull and the buffaloe. The rhinoceros with 



Bengal. 



