JUNE 1764. 
17 
From the 12th. to y e 17th. employed in surveying the abovementioned Reach ; 
there is little remarkable in y e Country on both sides of it, there are several Villages 
& much cultivated Eand, particularly on y e West side, where there is much Paddy 
sown. 
The Weather during this time was very turbulent, having every day hard Squalls 
from y e SEh & much Rain. 
From the end of the SEBS Reach the River turns quick round to the NNE & 
continues that Course 5 Miles ; another Dam is thrown up on y e blast side of this 
Reach also. 17 
The 17th. came to Oddygya, 1 2 a Village on y e East side of this Reach. Here the 
River divides into two Channells, of which the Northmost only is navigable during 
the dry Season. The Island which separates those Channels is about 3J miles long, 
& is pleasant & well cultivated. 
The 18th. fresh Gales of Wind all Day & continual Rain, which obliged us to 
lie by. 
The 19th. fair Weather. Employed surveying the Southern Channel of the 
River. 
The 20th. fresh Gales all day from y e Southward, but dry Weather. In y e 
Morning finished the survey of the Southern Channell, & came into the main River 
near Habbaspour. From hence the River proceeds with a South Course. There is 
much Padda sown in the neighbourhood of Habbaspour. 
The 21st. a fair Morning, but y e Afternoon Squally & Rainy. At the end of the 
Reach from Habbaspour we perceived the inlet of a large Creek/ & in y e Afternoon 
examined the head of it. It is in general 250 yards over, & nowhere less than 6 18 
Cubits deep. Maudapour, a large Village, is situated a mile down y e Creek, on y e 
Western Bank. The Course of the Creek is to the SEb & we are informed that it is 
navigable all the Year, to Sunderbound. 3 
The 22nd. went into the great River in order to survey it a few more miles 
Eastwards, & lay down a large Island that lies in y e turn of the Reach opposite the 
1 Ajoodeea on more recent maps. The correct spelling is Ajodhya. The name is not an uncommon one ; the 
most important is Ajodhya on the banks of the Gogra in Faizabad district, from which the province of Oudh takes 
its name. 
2 The head of the Chandna R. Fergusson explains (op. cit., p. 335) how it happened that when the Brahmaputra 
changed its course, this creek, which was before that time the main route for boats travelling from the Sunderbans to 
the Upper Ganges, did not become the chief outlet for the Ganges. Its banks had become too much consolidated by 
the silt deposited on them to be readily eroded, and the surplus waters found an easier passage through the Garai 
channel. 
3 Sunderbound. The Sundarbans, the vast tract of forest and swamp extending along the sea face of the Ganges 
delta. The etymology of the name is doubtful. . Rainey (Proc. As. Soc. Beng. 1868 p. 265) thinks that the true name 
is Sundarban, or beautiful forest, as preferable to Sundriban, forest of sundri (Hevitieya littoyalis). Blochinanti, in the 
discussion on Rainey’s paper, proposed the derivation Chandabhanda, from a semi-barbarous tribe formerly living 
in this part of Bengal. He discussed the etymology of the word in a paper on the Geography and History of Bengal, 
(Journ. As. Soc. Beng., Vol. xlii, pt. 1, p. 226), and says that the form * Soonderbund ’ , adopted by Europeans, is 
derived from Chandraband ‘ the embankment of the moon.’ The application of the term to the whole sea-coast of 
Southern Bengal is modern. On the old Portuguese and Dutch maps no name is applied to the whole tract. It will 
be noticed that Rennell always refers to it as ‘ Sunderbound ’ without the article. 
[ 117 ] 
