134 On the Antiquities of Bdgerlidt. [No. 2, 



" 3rd. There is a story (to which you allude) of a Collector sending 

 down people in a boat to find out about its whereabouts, who heard 

 the noise always to their south, till they reached the Hurungotta, and 

 were compelled by the weather and sea to return. 



" 4th. The general belief in natives that they are not marriage 

 guns. 



" 5th. The dissimilarity between the sound and that of marriage 

 guns, noticed by all who hear them. 



" 6th. The fact that sound would be conveyed very far by the south- 

 west monsoon along the surface of the large rivers of Backerganj. 

 They are generally heard in a lull after a squall, at least I think so, 

 just when the surf breaks most regularly and simultaneously. I am 

 sorry I have no more certainty to give you." 



The cause above assigned to the sounds by Mr. Pellew may be the 

 right one, but the reasons he has adduced, plausible as they are, do not 

 seem to be conclusive. It may fairly be argued that had the sound 

 been produced by the surf, they would have been noticed near the 

 seashore, wherever there is a low beach. Such, however, is not the 

 case. I have nowhere read of such sounds in books, and never heard 

 them anywhere beyond the mouths of the Ganges. 



At Balasore, which is only seven miles from the Bay, they are never 

 noticed. Mr. Pellew says that a sound similar to the " marriage guns" 

 of Burrisal is heard at Pooree, which is occasioned by the breaking of 

 the swell on the beach, during a certain time ; but it is not a constant 

 occurrence. During my stay for more than two months at Basdebpur, 

 a village five miles from the sea between Bhadrak and Soroh, I never 

 heard a report of the kind, though the surf rises and breaks on the 

 beach with equal or perhaps more violence, during all seasons. Even 

 at places near to Bagerhat, or in other parts of the Sunderbuns 

 equally distant from the shore of the bay, the noise is not audible ; 

 and the only tract which enjoys the honour of these salutes is that 

 which extends from the eastern border, from the river Baleswar to 

 the foot of the Chittagong hills. 



I had an opportunity of going down as far as " Tiger's Point," and 

 I carefully watched the phenomenon, but I did not notice that the 

 sounds became louder and louder as my boat drifted down from 

 Morellganj to the mouth of the Huranghata. This would lead to the 



