May, 1850. MALDAH". RAMPORE-BAULEAH. 252 



with tamarinds, banyan, and figs. Date and Caryota 

 palms, and rattan canes, grew in the woods, and parasitic 

 Orchids on the trees, which were covered with a climbing 

 fern (Acrostic tun scandens), so that we easily doubled our 

 flora of the river banks before arriving at Maldah. 



This once populous town is, like Berhampore, now quite 

 decayed, since the decline of its silk and indigo trades : 

 the staple product, called " Maldy," a mixture of silk and 

 cotton, very durable, and which washes well, now forms its 

 only trade, and is exported through Sikkim to the north- 

 west provinces and Tibet. It is still famous for the size 

 and excellence of its mangos, which ripen late in May; 

 but this year the crop had been destroyed by the damp 

 heats of spring, the usual north-west dry winds not having 

 prevailed. 



The ruins of the once famous city of Gour, a few miles 

 distant, are now covered with jungle, and the buildings are 

 fast disappearing, owing to the bricks being carried away 

 to be used elsewhere. 



Below Maldah the river gets broader, and willow becomes 

 common. We found specimens of a Planorbis in the mud 

 of the stream, and saw apparently a boring shell in the 

 alluvium, but could not land to examine it. Chalky 

 masses of alligators' droppings, like coprolites, are very 

 common, buried in the banks, which become twenty feet 

 high at the junction with the Ganges, where we arrived on 

 the 14th. The waters of this great river were nearly two 

 degrees cooler than those of the Mahanuddy. 



Rampore-Bauleah is a large station on the north 

 bank of the Ganges, whose stream is at this season fully a 

 mile wide, with a very slow current ; its banks are thirty 

 feet above the water. We were most kindly received by 

 Mr. Bell, the collector of the district, to whom we were 



