90 J. Westland — Exhibition of old maps of Bengal. [Mat, 



was no doubt meant for Pergunna Nuldi in Jessore, which, however, 

 was a good way north of its position in the map, and did not properly be- 

 long to the Sunderbuns at all. The " Jessore" mentioned in the map was 

 probably either the original " Jessore" in the 2 1- Pergunna district, or the 

 place now known as Khoolna. The present " Jessore" was not known by 

 that name till 1780 or 1790 at the earliest. 



Another map was a reproduction of a map of Bengal engraved in 1776 

 from surveys in 1769. Mr. Westland drew attention to the fact that the 

 various districts all bore their territorial names as distinguished from their 

 official ones, — thus, Pachete for Manbhoom, Eamgur for Hazaribagh. He 

 drew attention also to the great change in the Gangetic Delta which had 

 occurred since the date of the map. The Brahmaputra river which the 

 map shewed as flowing east of the Maddapur jungle, Dacca, and the Gran- 

 ge tic Delta, now flows west of the jungle and Dacca, and breaks in on the 

 north of the Delta. He connected this with another change of which he 

 had independent historical evidence, namely, the opening of the Madhumati 

 branch of the Ganges, a petty stream in this map, but now receiving by 

 far the largest share of the Ganges water, The Ganges had now ceased to 

 find its way farther east, being interrupted and thrown back by the irruption 

 of the altered Brahmaputra into the Megna. He dated these changes 

 between 1795 and 1805, which were years of excessive inundation in the 

 northern district of the Madhumati. 



The two other papers were, one a sketch of Calcutta in 1756, and the 

 other a plan of it in 1757. He drew attention to the grouping of the set- 

 tlement round the Fort (on the present Customs House site) and the Park 

 (now Tank or Dalhousie Square) ; and to the creek running up along the 

 line now occupied by the High Court, Government House, and Dhurrum- 

 tolla ; the recollection of which he believed was still preserved in the name 

 of a small street " Creek Eow". 



Mr. Beverley said that the two maps of Calcutta exhibited by Mr. 

 Westland were apparently reprints of maps that were first published in 

 Orme's History of the War in Bengal. They had been treated of by him 

 (Mr. Beverley) in para. IOJj of his Report on the Census of the Town of 

 Calcutta (1876), which he read. Mr. Beverley believed that all the old 

 maps of the Town now in existence in Calcutta had been referred to in 

 that Report. He had hoped that Mr. Westland had come across Holwell's 

 map of 1756, described by him in a letter to the Court of Directors as " an 

 exact plan of your Settlement and of every house in it." That map ought 

 to be in the India Office, and its publication would throw considerable light 

 on the early history of the town. Possibly the Society might take steps 

 to have it traced out, and to have copies sent to this country. 



