

74 H. Beveriage—Were the Sundarhans inhabited in ancient times? [No. 1 



where they arrived eight days after leaving the ' Little Port'. While at 

 Gullo, they were invited by the Eaja of a place, called Chan dec an (in 

 Italian Giandecan), to pay him a visit, and accordingly Fernandez sent Josa 

 there, and he was favourably received by the king. One year after 

 these two priests had left Cochin, Pimenta sent two other priests, namelv 

 Melchin de Fonseca and Andrew Bowes, to Bengal, and they arrived at 

 Chittagong or at Dianga some time in 1599. On 22nd December 1599 

 Fernandez wrote from Sripur, giving an account to Pimenta of the suc- 

 cess of the mission, and on the 20th January, 1600, Fonseca wrote from 

 Chandecan, giving an account of a journey which he had made from Dianga 

 to Chandecan by way of Bakla. Fonseca's letter is most interesting. He 

 describes how he came to Bacola, and how well the king received him, and 

 how he gave him letters patent, authorising him to establish churches' &c, 

 throughout his dominions. He says that the king of Bakla was not above 

 eight years of age, but that he had a discretion surpassing his years. The 

 king " after compliments asked me where I was bound for, and I replied that 

 I was going to the king of Ciandecan, who is to be the father-in-law of your 

 Highness. These last words seem to me to be very important, for the king 

 of Ciandecan was, as I shall afterwards show, no other than the famous 

 Pratapaditya of Jessore, and therefore this boy-king of Bakla must have 

 been Kamchandra Rai, who we know married Pratapaditya' s daughter. 

 Fonseca then proceeds to describe the route from Bakla to Chandecan and 

 I shall give this in the original Italian. 



II viaggio di Bacola sin a Ciandecan e il pin fresco, delitioso ch'io 

 mai vedessi, per i varii fiumi con alberi alle rive ch' irrigano il paese, e per 

 veder&i da una parte correre numerose schiave di cervi, per l'altra pascere 

 moltitudine di vacche ; lascio le campagne spatiose di viso, e li molti can- 

 neti di canne mele, gli sciami d'api per gli alberi, e le simi andar saltando 

 da uno albero all' altro e altri particolarita di grande ricreatione aviandanti. 

 Non mancono pero Tigri e Crocodili che si pascono di carne humana, per 

 trascuragine, e peri peccoti d' alcuni. Sono ancoraper quelle selve Einoc'eroti 

 ma io non ne ho visto veruno." 



Now though the good father evidently had an eye for natural scenery 

 and was delighted with the woods and rivers, it is evident that what he ad- 

 mired so much must have appeared to many to be « horrid jungle", and was 

 very like what the Sundarbans now are. In fact, a great part of this de- 

 scription of the route from Bakla to Ciandecan is still applicable to the 

 journey from Barisal to Kaliganj, near which Pratapaditya's capital was 

 situated. The chief difference is, that the progress of civilization has driven 

 away the herds of deer and the monkeys from the ordinary routes, though 

 they are still to be found in the woods, and the deer have given their name 

 to one of the largest of the Sundarban rivers (the Haringhata). The 



