RAJAMAHAL. 
79 
home has lately, from the embarrassments of the Company, been 
but small; it might be increased to any amount. The last in- 
vestment of spun silk stood the Company in ten rupees four anas, 
per seer, commission and every thing included : there are numer- 
ous other stations where the natives cultivate the silk-worm; and 
even have adopted the Italian method of spinning ; the Company 
purchase none of this silk. During the heat of the day I walked over 
the whole of the manufactory i it is a very large edifice, built in the 
shape of a gallows. On the ground floor are the coppers where the 
coccoons are steeped to loosen the silk, and where it is wound off; 
above are warehouses. The people looked healthy, and I understand 
it is by no means a deleterious employment, and certainly in many 
respects is advantageous, as very young children can be employed, 
and the eight crops of the common coccoon enable them to earn 
sufficient to maintain them the whole year. 
At six in the evening I again proceeded on my journey, wishing 
to cross the river before it should become dark. In this I suc- 
ceeded, although my bearers were remarkably bad, and threw me 
down no less than three times. After I went to rest they were better, 
and I slept well. 
February 26. — Early in the morning whenl awoke, Rajamahal was 
in sight, situated on the bank of the Ganges, which I here beheld for 
the first time ; though at its lowest ebb, it was still a noble river. 
The town is on the elevated bank, and now consists of only a street 
of mud cottages. Previously to 1638 it was the residence of Sultan 
Suja, who governed the province of Bengal ; but a terrible fire 
burnt the palace to the ground ; and the river in the same year 
carried away nearly the whole of the town. No vestiges, even, of its 
