272 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Dec 



other parts. Portuguese pirates, Mugs, and occasional visitations of 

 cyclones have acted together, to ruin the seacoast of Lower Bengal. 



The change, usually observed near the months of large rivers, must 

 have likewise had a share in the general destruction. 



With reference to the last cause of the desolation of the Delta of 

 the Ganges, I would refer to what Mr. Ferguson says in the 

 Quarterly Journal of the Geographical Society for 1863. But Sir 

 Charles Lyell says, " Mr. J. Ferguson, in his paper on the Delta of 

 the Ganges, differing from all writers of authority who preceeded him, 

 has argued that the sediment is thrown down in consequence of the 

 overflowing river being checked by meeting with the still water of 

 the jheels or lakes. In point of fact, however, the deposition of the 

 coarser matter takes place immediately on the highest part of the 

 banks where the water first begins to overflow, and before they reach 

 those lakes which occur at a lower level in the alluvial plain on each 

 side of the main river. The banks are of equal height and as conti- 

 nuous where no jheels exist." 



Mr. Bainey, referring to the only historical anecdote connected 

 with the Sundarban, mentions Raja Pratapaditya. His authority 

 is a Bengali work published under the superintendence the Verna- 

 cular Literary Society. The work is named " The Life of Pratapadi- 

 tya." The author Pandita Haris Chundra distinctly states that his 

 history is but an abstract, in modern Bengali, of a more ela- 

 borate work published by Bam Bam Bose for the College of 

 Fort William. Bam Bam Bose in his work states that he des- 

 cribes the history of Pratapaditya as he has heard it told by 

 old members of his family. For a more authentic history of the 

 Baja, particularly of his connection with the Emperor of Delhi, we 

 must look to another work. The Muhammadan Historians do not 

 even mention the Baja by name. The Siyar ul-Mutakhkharin, 

 however, mentions one iis Prataparudra, wdiich is evidently a misspell- 

 ing of Pratapaditya. This prince was defeated in a battle by Baja 

 Man Sing. The only written history of Pratapaditya is in the Khitica 

 Charita, a Sanscrit History of the kings of Krislmagar. There the 

 author incidently mentions Pratapaditya as being taken prisoner by Man 

 Sing in the beginning of the reign of Emperor Jehangir, and carried off 

 in an iron cage. On his way to Delhi, the Baja died at Benares. The 





