CHAPTER XVI.

Monghyr--Wells of Seetacoond--The Fort of Monghyr--Storms on the Ganges--Cossim Ali Khan--Monghyr the Birmingham of India--Employment of Women--The Gaol--A Sacred Bathing-place--Bhaugulpore--Its Population--Hill Rangers--The Bheels--Mr. Cleveland--Lieut.-Colonel Tod--Colonel Francklin--Colgong--The Jungheera Rocks--The Fakeers--The Rajmahal Hills--Sickreegullee--Boatmen of the Ganges--Rajmahal--Ruins of Gour--The Bhauguretty--Soottee--The Sunderbunds--Bogwangola--Jungepore.

AFTER a very stormy night, we reached Monghyr, and at eight on the morning of the 31st of May, cast anchor before this once celebrated fortress. It is about fifty-seven miles from Bar, and 436 from Calcutta. Monghyr is a town in the Province of Bahar, beautifully situated on the south bank of the Ganges. It was formerly a place of great importance, and is still celebrated for the cultivation of grain, and the manufacture of opium. A large portion of the district around, is hilly and unproductive, but the cultivated lands are extremely fertile, and yield rich returns. Some fifty years ago, the government tried the plan of granting certain waste lands, to the invalid officers and native Sepoys, and the experiment has succeeded beyond all expectation, some of the reclaimed lands being the best in the place. In the immediate vicinity, and about a mile from the fort, are some famous wells; they are called by the natives, "Seetacoond," and are highly venerated by the Hindoos. Seetacoond is a common appellation for hot springs among them: Koond in Sanscrit means a spring, hence the meaning would be the "spring of Seeta," which Seeta was the wife of Ram. Only one of these wells, however, is really a hot spring, for in the second well, the water is cold, and in the third chalybeate. They are all situated about half-a-mile from the Ganges, twenty paces apart from each other, in a plain backed by hills, and in the midst of rocks. The hot spring is considerable, and the air-bubbles rise in great quantities, the temperature varying from 90° to 140°. The water is much used on voyages to Europe, or on the sea, on account of its extreme purity; indeed it is asserted that it keeps for ever without becoming putrid. The renowned goddess Seeta pledges herself for its eternal purity. It certainly is very good, and people going to England, viâ the Cape, would do well to provide themselves with a few dozen large bottles, and fill them at this spring, for the water on board a ship is often extremely bad.

The Fort of Monghyr is very large and situated on a rising ground. The fortifications were formerly quite in the Indian style, encompassed with a lofty wall flanked with towers and surrounded by a dry ditch, except on the river side. But the government found it too expensive to keep these fortifications in repair, and have suffered them to fall almost into complete decay; and at present, the fort alone would be able to stand a siege. The view from the fort is one of the finest in India. The river, in the rainy season, forms quite a large expanse of water, and the Ganges becomes a rapid stream. Sometimes the violence of the torrent is so impetuous, that it undermines the banks of the river and uproots the largest trees. During the hurricanes, which are frequent here at certain seasons, the Ganges assumes the appearance of the sea; and the water dashes over the boats with such violence, that the men are frequently washed overboard; numerous boats are capsized in an instant, and men and goods swept down the engulphing stream. These storms are always accompanied by thunder, lightning, and fierce winds, against which it is impossible to make head. There is a protruding rock here, which juts out boldly into the stream, and withstands the whole force of the water. This morning the river presented a melancholy spectacle, from the numerous wrecks of vessels which had perished during last night's storm.

From a brass plate that was discovered in the immediate vicinity of the fort, in 1781, it would seem to have been a place of importance before the Christian era, and to have been subject to the Hindoo kings of Bengal, who resided at Gour. There is, however, no mention made of Monghyr by the Mahomedan historians, till the beginning of the sixteenth century, when the kings of Bahar disputed its possession with the kings of Bengal. Cossim Ali Khan, whom the British raised to the throne of Moorshedabad, in supercession of Mir Jaffier, having previously created him Nawab, on dethroning Suraj-ud-Dowlah (ludicrously called Sir Roger Dowler), in 1757, after throwing off all allegiance to the British government, repaired to Monghyr to take up his residence there. He added considerably to the strength of the fortifications, and endeavoured to discipline the natives for its defence. But the English took it after a siege of nine days, and made it a military station. At the time that the government of Bengal raised Cossim Ali Khan to the throne, it recommended him to keep troops like the British Sepoys; to drill and arm them after the English fashion, and to make them wear red coats, in fact, entirely to doff the Oriental costume and training. Cossim took this advice, but turned the weapons against those who had placed them in his hands; and for several years he fought many battles against his quondam counsellors. Had Cossim Ali Khan's plan, to lay siege to Kathmandoo (Kath, _wood_, the wooden city), succeeded, the British would have been spared the trouble of the Nepaul war of 1814-16; but at that time, there was no shadow of coming events in that direction.

In 1766, a strong brigade of six battalions, and some artillery, used to be in quarters at Monghyr; in short, one-third of the Bengal army was stationed here, while at Patna and Allahabad there were other brigades. It is now a station only for invalids, being a very healthy spot. The Commandant occupies the old palace, the former residence of the Sultan Soojah. It is extremely handsome; and is surrounded by fine gardens, tanks and plantations. The houses of the staff-officers are also convenient.

Monghyr is the Birmingham of India, for the natives excel in the manufacture of guns, pistols and rifles; many of them marked with the names of Manton, Egg, and other celebrated gun-makers. I have seen one or two of them fired off, and perhaps safely with light charges. A sporting engineer belonging to our steamer, bought a Manton for £1 4_s._, and fired several times successively. These guns are very cleverly made; and a novice could not possibly detect that they had not been manufactured by those whose names they bear. Forks and knives, cork-screws, hammers, and other articles of hardware of very good descriptions, are also made here. Fans, table-mats, straw hats and bonnets, necklaces and bracelets, made of a wood resembling jet, etc.; everything in fact may be purchased, very good, and at reasonable cost. In our visit to the bazaars, indeed all over the place, we were beset by beggars, who are excessively numerous, and in the most piteous and abject condition. All the hard work, it seems, is done by the women. I am told that they work much better than the men, and get but badly paid. About twenty brought the fuel required for our steamer, and put it on board, while the men were looking idly on.

The consumption of coals daily, on board our steamer, averages 400 maunds; but when the current is strong, 500 maunds are expended. Three maunds of wood are only equal to one maund of coals.

I really felt quite mortified at seeing the gentler sex engaged in such masculine work; one of them especially looked quite incapable of undergoing the toil. It is the custom for the men to sit lounging at home, or roaming about begging alms of strangers, while the women work in the open air--a strange perversity of our nature, and one which tends to shew the barbarous state of these people; wherever heathenism or infidelity prevails, woman is degraded. Christianity alone, restores her to her proper sphere.

I visited the gaol, which is a large building, and contains, as one of the chained men informed me, "a hundred as good as himself." I likewise went to the burying-ground, which is crowded with monuments, but they cannot last long--a few more monsoons will assuredly destroy them. There is a chaplain at Monghyr and two missionaries, besides several civilians.

Monghyr is considered a sacred bathing-place; and during the season the throng is immense. There the pilgrims, men, women and children, meet to unite in the worship of the Ganges, by bathing in its hallowed stream, and by pouring out water as libations to the sun and moon, or to the spirits of their departed friends. Sir J. Chardin observed a similar custom in Mingrelia and Georgia, as also in other Eastern countries. He says: "The people, before sitting down to a feast, go out abroad, and with eyes turned up to heaven, pour out a cup of wine on the ground as a libation." This idolatrous practice we likewise find prevalent among the Jews, who, when reproved by Jeremiah, persisted in continuing, not only to burn incense to the queen of heaven, but to pour out their drink-offerings unto her.[103]

We had a fine view of the Kurruckpore hills; and at six o'clock the same day anchored off Bhaugulpore, having passed Sooltangunge, on the right bank of the river. There is an indigo factory and house at Sooltangunge, very prettily situated; the lofty rocks of Jehangeera, crowned with a Mahomedan tomb, are in a most singular position.

Bhaugulpore is a town in the Province of Bahar, situated about two miles from the main branch of the Ganges. A nullah runs past Bhaugulpore; it separates a strip of land from the Ganges, into which it afterwards flows. The Ganges is extremely broad here; and in the rainy season, when the waters are much swollen, is full eight miles across. It is pleasantly situated; and commands a distant view of Mount Mandar, an insulated conical hill, and noted place of Hindoo pilgrimage. There are two very peculiar round towers about a mile north-west of the town, which the Rajah of Jeynugur considers so holy, that he has erected a building to shelter his subjects who frequent them from the burning rays of the sun.

At the entrance of the town is a noble banyan tree, which Lord Valentia also mentions in his travels. This tree is found in most parts of India; but perhaps the largest are to be met with towards the South. Humboldt, in his Cosmos,[104] speaking of the banyan, or Indian fig-tree, says, "The Indian fig-tree, that takes root by its branches, and whose stem has a diameter of twenty-eight feet; and which, as Onesicritus remarked with much truth to nature, forms 'a leafy canopy, similar to a tent supported by numerous pillars.'"

The population of Bhaugulpore is a mixture of Mahomedans and Hindoos. The majority are Mahomedans, who had a college, which existed in 1815, though in a state of great decay.

I must remark that many cities in India, such as Delhi, Benares, Allahabad, and Bhaugulpore, exhibit a mixture of Hindoo and Mahomedan buildings. The former, as having been the seat of the Hindoo and Mahomedan governments, is easily accounted for. At Benares, as I stated, the Mussulman emperor erected the mosque, to insult its inhabitants, who were Hindoos. In the cases of Allahabad, Bhaugulpore, and other cities, we must refer the fact to different circumstances.

At Bhaugulpore there is a corps called the "Hill-rangers": it was raised in 1792, and is composed of men who reside in the hills near the District, and sends detachments to Monghyr, Purneah, Bootan frontier, and to Titalyah. Mr. Cleveland, of the Bengal Civil Service, who died in 1784, early recognised the fact, that the wild hill tribes could only be kept in subjection by a system of strict justice and moderation. He went among them, and brought over their chiefs to a sense of the necessity of promoting peace among their people. In order to create a feeling of unanimity, and to put a stop to the quarrels in which they were continually embroiled with the Lowlanders, he disciplined a party of these men, who were subsequently formed into a corps, denominated the Paharees, or "Hill-rangers." In their mountain homes, these men are not far removed from the savage; they live by the chase, and never go unarmed. They are extremely hospitable and honest, and are remarkable for their probity, as servants. With this naturally good foundation, it will readily be conceived that they make good soldiers. They are kept in a state of admirable discipline; and in place of devastating the country, and plundering their neighbours, they now protect the district from the marauders, and both person and property are secure. The character of these tribes bears a close resemblance to that of the Bheels and Nairs, the latter being peculiar to the Madras Presidency.

The Bheels are considered to be the Aborigines of central India; a bold, daring set of banditti, possessing nevertheless, many virtues. Truth, honesty, and fidelity are their distinguishing features. They are born warriors and despise the tillers of the soil. In 1817, Lieut.-Colonel James Tod offered some of these Bheels four rupees, or eight shillings, a month, if they would cultivate the soil; but they indignantly refused, "because their forefathers had never done so before them." In 1840, two Bheel corps were formed; one at Malwa, and the other at Mewar. The Bheels are a decidedly distinct race, and are divided into numerous tribes: they are Hindoos by religion, but some few of them have become followers of the prophet. They have been deprived of the fairest portions of their land by the Rajahs, and are now confined to the uncultivated tracts of their mountains.

Thus Mr. Cleveland's laudable efforts have been more successful than might have been expected, and the people in the neighbourhood of Bhaugulpore, instead of being in a state of continual strife, are now living very peaceably. Mr. Cleveland's former residence, a large handsome building, is situated immediately on the banks of the Ganges, and a monument to his memory has been erected in the burial-ground. There are several other very good houses, this being a civil station. A Branch of the Agricultural and Horticultural Society has been flourishing for the last ten years, and the Botanical Gardens are worth visiting. There is a resident chaplain who divides his duties between this place and Monghyr. I may remark, by the way, that all the chaplains are military; and, as in the Navy, are entitled to prize money in war time.

The late Colonel Francklin endeavoured to make Bhaugulpore the site of the ancient Palibothra, because he supposed the Chundun to be the Erannoboas of the Greeks. This subject has, however, been so fully discussed, that it is to be hoped that the mind of the reader has been duly impressed with the conviction that Allahabad is the veritable site, as being the spot where the junction of those two mighty rivers, the Ganges and the Jumna, occurs.

Bhaugulpore is noted for its silk manufacture, particularly for a very light material much used in dishabille, as well as for screens, punkahs, etc. The trade has latterly been much promoted by the facility of exportation by the Calcutta steamers, for this is one of the Company's stations.

On the 1st of June, we started at daybreak, and arrived at Colgong at half-past-seven A.M., having passed three singular and romantic looking rocks, rising to a height of about sixty feet from the bed of the river, and covered with verdure, among which some fanatics have built a few sheds.

We left Colgong at eight, A.M. on the same day. Seven miles below Colgong, the river takes a singular turn, round a hill covered with wood, and where some rocks, with carvings of Hindoo deities, jut out boldly into the stream. These rocks are very dangerous, because in descending the river, you must hug the right bank, so as to keep them on your left hand, for just below the rocks, which rise in the middle of the river, there is a strong back-water. The captain's object is to prevent his boat from getting into this back-water, and thus being carried and lost upon, these rocks. There is moreover a kind of whirlpool near the spot, so that we may call it the "Scylla and Charybdis" of the Ganges. Boats ascending the river keep to the left, where the stream is not rapid; but in descending, the boatmen, in order to meet and overcome this back-water, must pull very hard, and for a sixteen-oared boat at least twelve or fourteen of the crew must row. The back-water is probably caused by the tendency of the water to run to the rocks, in consequence of the turn in the river to the right, the rocks being on the left.

The Jungheera rocks, lower down the river, are very picturesque. A Fakeer resides in a small dwelling, on one of these rocks. The natives furnish him with food; but he sometimes makes an excursion on shore, and supplies himself. The Fakeer pleasantly sleeps in the midst of the howling storm, none the worse for the wind and rain; neither has he any fear of being blown out of his cabin, or of his house being washed down the stream; a few monkeys keep him company, and possibly some fairy queen may visit this presiding deity of the stream, and soothe, what to a stranger, would appear a wretched existence.

Just before passing Peerpointee, on the right bank, the river Koosee flows into the Ganges, and above Sickreegullee, or the dangerous pass, so called from the difficulty I have named, which the steamers and boats have in rounding it, we reached the place where the Teryagullee hills end, and those of Rajmahal commence. They are crowded with fine forest trees, shrubs, and other verdure, most pleasing for the eye to rest upon, after the tameness of the first part of our voyage. The hills abound in game; and the sportsman would be rewarded with a variety not frequently met with.

The Rajmahal hills, are intersected by a line which runs as far south as Balasore, traversing the districts of Nagore and Bishunpore, and the mountain chain between Kimore and the Ganges. Extensive coal-beds have recently been discovered along this line of demarcation, and have greatly enhanced the value and importance of the whole district. This mountain-chain is broken by numerous valleys, defiles, and wide-spreading plains, many of which are very fertile, and well cultivated, especially those which lie at the base of the mountains. The highest part of these ridges may be estimated at 4,000 feet, and some of the plains run along at an elevation of more than 2,000 feet above the level of the Ganges.

This chain is for the most part covered with lofty timber trees, and various kinds of woods, which are much used by the natives in building and in cabinet manufactures. These hills are clothed from the base to the summit, and the trees grow in tiers or terraces, down into the plain of the Ganges. In the northern rear of this chain, run the Rajmahal hills, which are divided from the Kimore range by the narrow valley of the Sone. The mountain-chain runs so close to the Ganges, between Bhaugulpore and the Rajmahal hills, as scarcely to admit of a causeway along the banks of the river. The government has wisely met this difficulty, by constructing a good road between Rajmahal and Colgong, which crosses the narrow defile of Sickreegullee.

We anchored off Rajmahal at a quarter to six in the evening of the 1st of June; and having to take in coal, we waited for the night. As usual, whenever an opportunity occurred, I hastened on shore for a stroll. Rajmahal is in the Province of Bengal, and about seventy miles from Berhampore. The Province of Bengal terminates a little below Sickreegullee, a village cultivated by invalided Sepoys, who have redeemed the land from the wilderness of former times. At Teryagullee, on the borders of the district, is the pass of Sickreegullee, which, during the Hindoo and Mahomedan dynasties, was the commanding entrance from Bahar into Bengal, and was strongly fortified. It runs up a narrow winding road, where the traveller will see a ruined gateway and fort, to tell of days gone by. He will also find a great deal of waste land, and mountainous tracts of country. The people are a wild race, quite distinct from those of the plains. They are low in stature, but stout and well proportioned, many being under four feet ten inches high, and many more under five feet three inches, than above that standard. The women are small indeed. They have flat noses, and lips thicker than those of the Lowlanders. They do not venerate the cow like the Hindoos, and have no knowledge of letters, or of any kind of written characters. They subsist principally on maize--the Indian corn. Nearly all the laborious work is done by the women; and a man is rich in proportion to the number of his wives, and who are indeed so many labourers, or, I may say, domestic slaves. These mountaineers have a great regard for the truth, and an utter abhorrence of lying, which ranks them far above their brothers of the plains, where lying is joined to the other vices.

Their traffic is in bedsteads, wood, planks, charcoal, cotton, honey, plantains, and sweet potatoes, which they barter for tobacco, rice, salt, cloth, iron arrow-heads, hatchets, crooks, and iron implements. Their weapons are the bow and arrow; but some few among them possess swords and matchlocks. Their domestic animals are hogs, goats, fowls, dogs, and cats.

It was among these wild races that Mr. Augustus Cleveland, the judge and magistrate of the district, made a permanent settlement about the year 1780. Unfortunately he died at the early age of twenty-nine, in the year 1784, as I have before observed. A monument, in the form of a pagoda, was erected by the Zumindars, or landholders of the neighbourhood, to commemorate his exemplary conduct, and another was put up at the expense of the Government, in honour of a man, who, though young, had done so much to benefit his fellow-creatures.

The Ganges flows close under the ruins of an old palace, on the brink of its right bank. Previous to the year 1638, it was the residence of Sultan Soojah, the brother of Aurungzebe, but scarcely any vestiges of the building now remain. The Ganges, about 1639, wholly quitted the vicinity of Gour, and approached the rocky bank of Rajmahal, where it still holds its course. The force of the current, on the right or Rajmahal side, is so great in the rainy season, that I am told an officer, who was sailing in a twelve-oared budgerow against the stream, which came rushing down like a torrent, actually had the sides of his boat split. The Dandees (not fops, but the boatmen of the Ganges), in sailing up the river used to call out, "Allah! Allah!" _i.e._ "God! God!" on entering that strong water, just as the native boatmen are wont to do in crossing the surf at Madras. On the left bank the river is smooth and always safe. The ruins of the palace still extend over a large space of ground. Close to the margin of the river are three arches supported by pillars of the colour of black marble. No doubt the Ganges has washed away much; and, probably, many slabs of beautiful marble, like that with which the ball-room of Government House, in Calcutta, is paved, now lie submerged under the stream. It is supposed that the Ganges, in rushing over these ruins, causes the sound of water running over rocks, which is the effect produced in this place.

The ruins of the palace are quite overspread with low jungle, abounding, as I was informed, with snakes and other reptiles. Broken gateways of beautiful architecture, mosques, and a large hall of audience--as it is reported to have been--still indicate the former importance and grandeur of this place.

In the absence of Hindoo historical dates, we must content ourselves with traditions, till we come to the Mahomedan writers. We are told that Rajmahal was anciently the seat of the Hindoo sovereigns, in whose time it bore the name of Raj Ghur. Its first mention by Mussulman historians, is in 1576; and again in 1592, when, in the reign of the Emperor Akbar, Rajah Maun Singh, governor of Bengal and Bahar, made it his capital, gave it the name of Rajmahal, and fortified it with walls and bulwarks. In 1608, Islam Khan, the Mogul governor, transferred the seat of government to Dacca, in consequence of the invasion of the Portuguese. In 1639, Sultan Soojah, the brother of Aurungzebe, again made it the royal residence, and lavished vast treasures in restoring the fortifications, and erecting the palace, of which I have just spoken.

On the expulsion of this sovereign from his dominions, the Mogul governor again moved the seat of government to Dacca. Since this period the ancient capital of Bengal has rapidly declined, not only from the withdrawal of the government; but in consequence, also, of the frequent ravages committed by those two irresistible elements, fire and water.

In recent times, Rajmahal was sought as a place of refuge by the unhappy Suraj-ud-Dowlah, who concealed himself in an out-building in a lone garden; but he was discovered, and betrayed to his enemies by a wretched Fakeer, whom he had treated with great barbarity on a former occasion, having ordered his ears and nose to be cut off. Suraj-ud-Dowlah was seized, and carried to Moorshedabad, where he was murdered with wanton cruelty.

Not many years ago, Rajmahal was a military station; but now no European resides here. There is a small Christian burial-ground, which has been walled in by some liberal and kind-hearted persons. In it is the last resting-place of many an unfortunate European, who has died near the town in his way up or down the river.

On the 2nd of June, we again proceeded at daybreak, and about noon cast anchor nearly opposite to the ancient city of Gour, and close to a village called Lall Dobree. Gour was built about 2,000 years ago, and is the ancient name of the capital of Bengal Proper: it is a few miles to the south of the town of Malda. The name of Gour is said to be derived from Gur or Goor, which, in the Sanscrit and modern languages of India, signifies raw sugar; and, from the Sanscrit term for manufactured sugar (sarcara) are derived the Persian, Greek, Latin, and many of the European names for the same article.

The ruins of Gour extend fifteen miles along the old banks of the Ganges, and are from two to three miles in breadth, which would give a circuit of thirty-four or thirty-five miles. Several villages now occupy part of the ground on which the ancient Gour stood; the remainder is either covered with thick forests, the resort of tigers and beasts of prey, or else has been converted into arable land, the soil of which contains much brick-dust. The city of Gour is nearly central to the populous parts of Bengal and Bahar, and not far from the junction of the principal rivers which form the excellent inland navigation. It is now about four miles from the Ganges; and this river, with a slip of land of a few miles in width, separates it from Rajmahal. The freak of the Ganges, in 1639, in parting from its old bed and rushing over to Rajmahal, proves that very strong shields, or river-bank defences, will be required to protect the banks of the Ganges.

The ruins of this city of former days have supplied the materials for building the more recent towns of Rajmahal, Moorshedabad, Dacca, and Malda. Enough, however, still remains to prove its former magnificence--broken palaces, mosques, mausolea, and temples, testify to its ancient splendour. Major Rennel says, that Gour is supposed to be the Gangia Regia of Ptolemy.

On re-visiting Gour, in September, 1849, I called at one of Lord Glenelg's indigo factories, the superintendent of which, Mr. R.B. M'Intosh, showed me some old coins, which had been found by his workmen at different periods; some slabs of marble, too, taken from a large Mahomedan temple, had been converted by the same gentleman into a handsome outer doorway to his house.

At a little before sunset, we changed the Ganges for the Bhauguretty river.

On the 3rd of June we were early off Sootee, on the right bank, and 210 miles from Calcutta. In 1757, when Suraj-ud-Dowlah, the Subahdar of Bengal, apprehended an attack from the English, and believed that their ships of war could proceed up the eastern branch of the Ganges to the northern point of the Cossimbazar island, and thence down the Bhauguretty to Moorshedabad, he commanded immense piles to be driven into the river at Sootee. By this act, the river has been rendered unnavigable for any vessels beyond boats, and even for these it is navigable only during the rainy season. The Subahdar remembered that Chandernagore, a French settlement, had been attacked on the 14th of March of the same year, and captured, by Admiral Watson and Colonel Clive, with line of battle ships, which cast anchor before it.

The river at times is not less than six miles broad at Sootee; during the rains, the steamers proceed down the Hoogly to Calcutta. At other seasons they go _viâ_ the Bhauguretty and the Sunderbunds, or "the beautiful wilderness," where sportsmen may enjoy themselves by killing "a royal Bengal tiger," ten or twelve feet in length, from the head to the tip of the tail. The Sunderbunds consist of that part of the Delta of the Ganges, which is near the sea, and are in extent equal to the Principality of Wales. Salt is made here; and here also is found a boundless stock of timber, for boat building and other purposes.

About forty miles to the south of Mohungunge, at the head of the Bhauguretty, stands Bogwangola, a large inland trading town, eight miles N.E. of Moorshedabad. It is a great mart for grain. The town has a very poor appearance, being constructed entirely of bamboos, mats, and thatch; it has often been removed on account of the encroachment of the Ganges. It has more resemblance to a temporary fair, or an encampment, than to a town. The designation of town in Hindoostan, does not so much depend upon the nature of the buildings (for villages contain brick houses), as upon the rank of the public officer who superintends the general duties of the place, his rank depending on the extent of his charge. Bogwangola is a very stirring town; and the landing-place is always crowded with country boats of all sizes, and even with budgerows.

At about ten o'clock in the morning, we passed Jungepore, the site of one of the Company's principal silk factories, a portion of which is now conducted by private individuals; for since the loss of the Company's trading charter, their factories here and at other places, have been dismantled. Up to 1833, the East India Company, as is well known, held the monopoly of the trade in India and China; but the Government at home considering such a constitution of affairs incompatible with the position of a supreme legislative body, as well as injurious to the commercial and manufacturing interests, passed an act for the abolition of this monopoly, on the removal of what is commonly termed "the last charter of the East India Company, on the 25th of August, 1833." This act, as was expected, has already produced a vast change in the commercial relations of India. By throwing open the trade to private merchants, a greater stimulus has been given to individual enterprise and energy; and the market prices have been considerably lowered.

FOOTNOTES:

[Footnote 103: Jer. xliv. 17.]

[Footnote 104: Vol. ii. p. 524.]