1876.] H. Beve ridge— Were the Sundarhans Inhabited, in ancient times ? 73 



Dutchman, and his account was first published at Amsterdam and after* 

 wards at London in 1682 under the title of ' Eelation of an unfortunate 

 voyage to the kingdom of Bengala'. The passengers and crew seem to have 

 landed on an island near Sondip, and their sufferings from hunger were 

 most terrible. They were compelled to live on most disgusting objects 

 such as a putrid buffalo, a dead tortoise^ " leganes", serpents, snails, and 

 the leaves of trees, and to drink salt water. They saw very few in- 

 habitants, and those whom they did come across seemed to be almost 

 as poor and miserable as themselves and to have been driven out from 

 more civilized regions. They were several times on the eve of resorting 

 to cannibalism, but eventually they got to Sondip, where they were kindly 

 treated and sent on to Bulwa (Bhalua). The prince of Bulwa was 

 also kind to them, and sent them on to Becke (Bhaka), where they were 

 impressed and made to serve in the war under Mir Jumlah against Asam. 

 Unfortunately the author does not clearly indicate the site of the shipwreck, 

 but it was evidently somewhere on the sea coast of the Sundarbans. The 

 people whom he met, or at least some of them, appear to have been Muham- 

 madans, for they used the expression ' salaam'. 



In Professor Bloehmann's Contributions to the Geography of Bengal, 

 No. I. (J. A. S. B., 1873, Pt. I., p. 227), reference is made to Van den 

 Broucke's map in Valentyn's work as showing the place where the " Ter 

 Schelling" was wrecked. 



I may also notice here that the copper-plate inscription found at I'dil- 

 pur in Bakirganj, and described in the Asiatic Society's Journal for 

 1838, seems to imply that the inhabitants of that part of the coun- 

 try belonged to a degraded tribe called the Chandabhandas — a fact 

 which is not favourable to the supposition of an early civilization of 

 the Sundarbans. # 



By far the most interesting account of the Sundarbans is contained in 

 the letters of the Jesuit priests who visited Bakla and Jessore in 1599 and 

 1600. Their letters were published by Nicolas Pimenta and have been 

 translated into Latin and French. I was indebted for my introduction to 

 them to my friend Br. Wise, who told me that they were quoted in Purchas's 

 Pilgrimage. Extracts from the letters and the subsequent history of the 

 mission are also given by Pierre Bu Jarric in his ' Histoire des choses plus 

 memorables advenues aux Indes Orientales', Bordeaux, 1608-14. 



It appears that Pimenta, who was a Jesuit visitor and stationed at 

 Goa, sent two priests, Fernandez and Josa, to Bengal in 1598. They left 

 Cochin on 3rd May, 1598, and arrived in eighteen days at the Little Port 

 (Porto Pequino). From thence they went up the river to Gullo or Goli, 



* Vide, however, Mr, Westmacott's remarks on this name, J. A, S. B., 1875, Pt. I, 

 p. 6. 



J 



