266 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Dec. 



Koyale, shewed him a Portuguese Map of India more than two 

 centuries old in which the Sundarban was marked off as cultivated 

 land with five cities therein. This was confirmed by a Map in De 

 Barros' Da Asia, a standard Portuguese history of India. The 

 libraries of Portugal would be worth searching for further informa- 

 tion. 



He had twenty years ago examined Tarda, a town not far from Port 

 Canning, which was the port of the Portuguese before Calcutta was 

 founded ; it was once an emporium of trade, and ships must have 

 sailed up by the Mutla, but no ruins now remain. He had seen, 

 40 miles south of Port Canning, a fine Hindu temple two centuries old. 



At the request of the Hon'ble J. Colvin, late Lieutenant-Governor of 

 the North West Provinces, he had published, 16 years ago, in Bengali 

 the life of Rajah Pratapaditya, called in the original " the last king of 

 Saugor Island ;" he lived in the days of Akbar, and built a city in the 

 Sundarban, the remains of which are to be found at Ishwaripur. 



The Portuguese slave-dealers and Mugs led hj their devastations to 

 the depopulation of the Sundarban. Cyclones also did their work ; one 

 swept over Saugor Island, in 1680, which carried away more than 

 60,000 people. The Mugs, as late as 1824, were objects of terror even 

 to Calcutta, and in 1760, the Government had a band thrown across 

 the river, near the site of the Botanical Gardens, to prevent them and 

 the Portuguese Pirates coming up. 



The Asiatic Society ought to petition Government to send an ex- 

 ploring expedition to the Sundarban. — 



Mr. Blochmann said — 



" I think the deserted state of the Sundarban is due to the incursions 

 of the Portuguese and the Mugs rather than to cyclones. 



The first cyclone known to me is mentioned by Abulfazl in the third 

 book of the Ain, where he says — l The Sarkar, or district, of Bagla, 

 extends along the seacoast. The fort of the Sarkar is surrounded by a 

 forest. From new moon to full moon, the waves of the sea rise higher 

 and higher ; from the fifteenth to the last day of the moon, they gradu- 

 ally decrease. In the 29th year of the present era (A. D. 1585), 

 one afternoon, an immense wave set the whole district under water. 

 The chief of the place was at a feast ; he managed to get hold of a 

 boat, whilst his son Paramanand, with a few others, climbed up a 



