JUNE, JULY 1765. 
47 
The 22nd. came to the Village of Ossunpour, 1 2 * at which Place are the Ruins of a 
Portuguese Chapel. This Village is about 50 Miles NBE|F from Dacca. Immediately 
below this Village a navigable Creek runs out of the Baramputrey to y e Eastward, & 
communicates with Silet River. This part of the Country abounds with Betel Trees. 
The Variation of the Magnetic Needle was otyty Westerly at this Place. 
The 23d. saw another Range of Mountains to the NorthwL dish at least 80 Miles. 
These are said to be the Boundary of the Kingdom of Bengali. 4 5 
From y e 22d. June to y e 14th. July employed in surveying from Ossunpour to 
Coustya a small Village on the West side of the River. This Day we were obliged 
to leave off surveying, by reason of the Rivers suddenly overflowing the Banks, & 10 
rendering it impossible either to measure Station Lines, or note the exact bed of 
the River. 
The Course of the Baramputrey between the head of the Luckya River & Coustya 
is about SEBS notwithstanding that the old Maps have made it nearly South. The 
breadth of the River is very unequal, it being from half a Mile to three Miles. The 
Country on both sides is full of Villages, & has a great deal of Padda sown in it, & 
there are many Groves of Betel Trees. There is not a Tree fit for Timber to be met 
with, the trunks being very short & crooked. 
Baganbarry a large Bazar Village is situated on y e West side of the R’ver, & near 
the Place where we left off surveying. From this Village a small Creek leads into the 
Luckya River during the wet Season , & allows a much safer Passage for Boats than 
y e great River. 
It being but a short Passage from Baganbarry to Chilmary, + I imagined that all 
few days would be usefully employed in tracing the River to that Place & making a 
cursory Survey of it, in order to render the general Map more compleat to this Time, 
& to get some Information from y e Countrey People concerning the Situation of 
Gwalpara, & the Course of the Creeks that lead out of the Baramputrey towards 
Muxadavat. 6 
From the 14th. to y e 19th. of July, employed in tracing y e Baramputrey from 
Baganbarry to Chilmary. The Course of the River between these two Places is nearly 
the same as between the Luckya River & Baganbarry (vk) SEBS. The distance by 
1 Hoseinpur. The Portuguese chapel here is not mentioned either by Hunter or in the Fist of Ancient Monuments 
, Ossumpur ’ is mentioned in a letter of Pere Barbier, dated 15th January 1723, included in the Fettres Udifiantes et 
Curieuses (Tome XIII, p. 272), as one of the places where the ‘ gens a chapeau, or Portuguese in the service of the 
Great Mogul, were especially numerous. He visited the place himself in company with Bishop Fsynez in 1714, and 
describes it as ‘ une bourgade toute chretienne, nominee Ossumpur.’ This letter will shortly be published by the Rev. 
W. K. Firminger in Bengal, Past and Present. 
2 See below, p. 130. 
8 Baganbarry - spelt Bygonbarry on Rennell’s map=Maimansingh or Nasirabad, the head-quarters of the Maiman_ 
singh district. Baigunbari is mentioned by Hunter as a village with a large indigo factory near Gobindgauj , about 5 
m. NW of Maimansingh. It is a place of pilgrimage for Hindus (Stat. Acc. Beng., Vol. V. p. 415). 
4 Chilmari, a town on the west bank of the Brahmaputra, a short distance above the point where the present river 
leaves the old channel. 
5 A corruption of Maksudabad. the old name of Murshidabad. Rennell uses both forms, and in the Bengal Atlas 
always Moorshedabad. 
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