90 
BANKEPORE. 
nothing singularly beautiful. I dined with Mrs. EUerker, widow 
of the late Major-General who commanded here, and afterwards 
proceeded on my journey, being well provided with food from the 
hospitality of my hostess. 
March 1. — After a very comfortable night's rest, I arose at six in 
the morning. At Pananea I met Mr. Robert Graham's hircarrah 
with cold provisions. He proceeded with me till six o'clock, when 
we dined. The day was tolerably pleasant, owing to a north- 
wester, * which had cooled the air. My bearers took shelter under a 
tree. I requested them to leave me at a small distance, as I had no 
wish to be struck by the lightning. The country through the 
whole day was singularly unsightly. The villages were numerous ; 
the Ganges, with its sandy islands, and its opposite shore, hardly 
visible, was close at our right. I went early to sleep, and at five in 
the morning found myself at Mr. Robert Graham's at Bankepore, six 
miles beyond Patna. 
March 2- — Bankepore is the English residence belonging to Patna, 
and the seat of the manufactory. It is situated on the high bank of the 
Ganges, which is here five miles wide in the rainy season, but at 
present the major part of its bed is a sand island, on which Clive 
encamped, when he attended Meer Cossim to Patna. The view is 
sufficiently dreary. I drove out to view one of the depots, erected 
by the Company to contain rice. It was intended to build a suffi- 
cient number to preclude all danger of famine. It is a building of 
stone in the shape of a bee-hive, with two winding staircases on 
the outside, by which the ascent is made to pour in the grain from 
the top. At the bottom is a door to take it out. Although twenty, 
* A gale of wind accompanied by violent thunder, lightning, and rain : it is so called 
in India, because it always comes from that point of the compass. 
