888 B K N 
tide, at a feafon when the periodica! Hood was within a 
toot and a half of its higheft pitch, the waters are faid to 
have rifen lix feet a'bovc fheir ordinary level. Thus the 
inhabitants of a particular difiribt were fwept away with 
their Vio life's and cattle ; and, to aggravate the dillrcfs, it 
happened in a part of the country where it was fcarcely 
poflible to find a tree for a drowning man to efcape to. 
For feme days before the middle of Auguft the inundation 
is at a ftand, and then begins to abate by a ceflation of 
rains in the mountains, though great quantities dill con¬ 
tinue to fall on the low country. The inundation does 
not, however, in its decreafe, always keep pace with that 
of the river, by reafon of the height of the banks; but, 
after the beginning of October, when the rain has nearly 
ceafed, the remainder goes off quickly by evaporation, 
leaving the ground exceedingly fertilized, and equally rich 
with the banks of the Nile. 
From the time that the monfoon changes in October to 
the middle of March, the rivers are in a date of tranquil¬ 
lity ; when the north-weft winds begin, and may be ex¬ 
pended once in three or four days till the commencement 
of the rainy feafon. Thele are the mod: formidable ene¬ 
mies of the prodigious inland navigation carried on by the 
large rivers. They are fudden and violent fqualis, attend¬ 
ed with rain ; and, though their duration is commonly but 
lhort, they fometimes produce fatal eftefts, whole fleets 
of trading boats having been fwept away by them almod 
indantaneoudy. They are more frequent in the eaftern 
than the weftern part of Bengal, and happen oftener to¬ 
wards the clofe of the day than at any other time; but, 
as they are indicated fome time before they approach by 
the riling and lingular appearance of the clouds, the tra¬ 
veller has commonly time enough to feek for a place of 
fhelter. It is in the great rivers alone that they are fo for¬ 
midable, and that about the end of May or beginning of 
June, when the rivers are much increafed in width. The 
boats tiled In the inland navigation are called huclgerocs, and 
are formed fomewhat like a pleafure-barge. Some iiave 
cabins fourteen feet broad and proportionally long, draw¬ 
ing from four to five feet water. 
Bengal produces the vegetables and animals common to 
other countries in the torrid zone. Its great produce of 
grain is rice, which is commonly exported from thence in¬ 
to other countries. By various accidents, however, the 
crop of rice fometimes fails, and a famine Is produced ; 
and of this, there have been many inftances in Bengal as , 
well as in other parts of Hlndoftan. One of the moll de¬ 
plorable of this-kind happened in 1770. The nabob and 
feveral great men of the country diftributed rice gratis to 
the poor until their flocks began to fail, when thofe do¬ 
nations were of confeqnence withdrawn. Vafi multitudes 
then came down to Calcutta, in hopes of meeting with re¬ 
lief at that place. The granaries of the company, how¬ 
ever, being quite empty, none could be afforded ; fo that, 
when the'famine had prevailed about a fortnight, many 
thoufands languifhed in the ftreets and fields; whole bo¬ 
dies, mangled by the dogs and vultures, corrupting' the 
air, feemed to threaten a plague as the confeqnence of the 
famine. An hundred people were daily eniployed on the 
company’s account, .with doolys, fledges, and bearers, to 
throw them into the river. At this time the fifh could not 
be eaten, the river being lo full of carcafes ; and many of 
thofe who ventured to feed upon them died fuddenly. 
Hogs, ducks, and geefe, alfo fed moftly on carnage; fo 
that the only meat that could be procured was mutton ; 
and this, from the drynefs of the feafon, was uncommonly 
final 1; and fcarcely eatable, 
In Auguft following a molt alarming phenomenon ap¬ 
peared, of a large black cloud at a difiance in the air, 
w hich fometimes obfeured the fun, and feemed to extend 
a great way over and about Calcutta. The hotter the day 
proved, the lower this cloud feemed to defeend, and for 
three days it occafioned great fpeculation. The bramins 
pretended, that this phenomenon, which was a cloud of 
infefts, fhould make its appearance three times; and, if 
O A L. 
ever they descended to the earth, the country would be 
deftroyed by fome untimely misfortune. They faid, that 
about 150'years before there had been fuc.h another bad 
time, when the earth was parched for Want of water ; and 
this cloud of infects made its appearance, though it came 
much lower the fecond time than it had done before. On 
the third day, the weather being very hot.and.cloudy, they 
defeended fo low that they could be plainly feen. They 
feemed to be about the lize of a dragon-fly, with a loiv 
red body, large head and eyes, keeping clofe together like 
a fwarm of bees, and, to appearance, flying quite on a 
line. None, however, were caught, as the people were fo 
much frightened by the prognoftications of the bramins. 
Whilft it rained they continued in one pofition for near a 
quarter of an h'our ; then they rofe five or fix feet at once, 
and in a little time defeended as much, until a ftrong north- 
weft wind blew; for two days fucceflively. During its con¬ 
tinuance they afeended and defeended, but more precipi¬ 
tately than before; and next morning the air was quite 
clear. For fome days before the cloud made its appear- 
ance, the toads, frogs, and infects, which during the rains 
make a continual noife through the night, difappeared, and 
were neither heard nor feen, except in the river. 
This dreadful famine was occafioned by a preternatural 
drought. In this country they have two harvefts, one in 
April, called the little harvejl, which confifts of the fmall- 
er grain; the fecond, called the grand harvejl, is only of 
rice. But by a drought which happened in 1769 the great 
harveft of that year failed, as did alfo the little one of 
1770, which produced the dreadful confequences above- 
mentioned. 
Bengal is the richeft and moft populous province in the 
empire of Hindoftan. Befides its own confumption, which 
is very confiderable, its exports are immenfe. One part 
of its merchandife is carried into the inland country. Thi¬ 
bet takes off a quantity of its cottons, befides fome iron 
and cloths of European manufacture. The inhabitants 
of thofe mountains fetch them from Patau themfelves 
and give mufk and rhubarb in exchange. But the trade 
of Thibet is nothing in comparifon of that which Bengal 
carries on with Agra, Delhi, and the provinces adjacent 
to thofe fup.erb capitals, in fait, fugar, opium, filk, filk- 
ftuffs, calicoes, and an infinite quantity of cottons, and 
particularly muffins. The maritime trade, managed by 
the natives of the country, may be divided into tw o branch¬ 
es, of which Catek is in poflellion of the greater part. 
Catek is a diftrifl of fome extent, a little below the moft 
weftern mouth of the Ganges. Balafore, fituated upon a 
navigable river, ferves it for a poit. The navigation to 
the Maldives, which the Englifb and French have been 
obliged to abandon on account of the climate, is carried 
on entirely from this road. Here they load their veffels 
with rice, coarfe cottons, and fome filk fluffs, for thefe 
I Hands; and receive cowries in exchange, which are ufed 
for money in Bengal, and fold to the Europeans. 
The inhabitants of Catek, and fome other people of the 
Lower Ganges, maintain a confiderable eorrefponden.ee 
with the country of Afham. This kingdom, which is 
thought to have formerly made a part of Bengal, and is 
only divided from it by a river that falls into the Ganges, 
deferves to be better known, if what is affected be true, 
that gun-powder lias been difeovered there, and that it 
was communicated from Afham to Peg'll, and front Pegu 
to China. Its gold, lilver, iron, and lead, mines, would 
have added to its fame, if they had been properly worked. 
In the midft of thefe, riches, which were of very little fer- 
vice to this kingdom, fait was an article of which the in¬ 
habitants were fo much in want, that they were reduced 
to the expedient of procuring it from a decodlion of cer¬ 
tain plants. But in a lhort time fome bramins.of Bengal 
carried their fuperftiti-ons to Afham, where the people were 
guided folely by the dictates of natural religion. The 
priefts perfnaded them, that it would be more agreeable 
to Brama if they fubllituted the poor and wholefome fait 
of the fea to that which they ufed. The fovereign con- 
fented, ✓ 
