-and which would have turned the saloon of the Government House into a splendid hog-stye, and its Council Room into a dove-cot.

Cynthia is finely situated in a charming region, watered by the Mourukhee. But Eastern Beerbhoom has a different physical conformation from that of Western Beerbhoom, and has gradually assumed the flat level character of the valley, partaking as much in the nature of its soil as its climate. This is the Raur Proper, the inhabitants of which boast of a purer descent, and look down with scorn upon the people on the other side of the Bhagiruttee. Nothing afforded us so great a pleasure as to pass through a country of one wide and uninterrupted cultivation, in which paddy fields, that have justly made our country to be called the granary of the world, extended for miles in every direction. No such prospect greeted the eyes of a traveller in 1758. Then the annual inroads of the Mahrattas, the troubles following the overthrow of the Mahomedan dynasty, frequent and severe famines, and virulent pestilences, had thinned the population, and reduced fertile districts to wastes and jungles. It is on record, that previous to 1793-the year of the Permanent Settlement-one third of Lower Bengal lay waste and uncultivated. These lands yielded no rent, and the State made over its interest in them in perpetuity to its subjects. Never, perhaps, has Bengal enjoyed such a long period of peace without interruption as under British rule. From the day of the battle of Plassey no enemy has left a foot-print upon her soil, no peasant

Beerbhoom,-Paddy and the Mulberry.

65

has lost a sheaf of grain, and no man a single drop of blood. Under security against an enemy from abroad, population has increased, cultivation has been extended, the country has become a great garden, and landed property has risen in value 'more than forty-fold in one province, nineteen-fold in another, and more than ten-fold throughout all Lower Bengal.'

Paddy is the great cultivation in Beerbhoom, and next to it the mulberry, of which the gardens are innunumerable—dotting the country in patches of a dark green colour. The black soil of these tracts is the best adapted for mulberry. It cannot be ascertained now whether this plant is indigenous, or was introduced like tea at a remote period from China. Bengal grows silk, but Benares makes the richest brocades. It was under the Empress Noor Jehan, who first lived in Burdwan, that silk fabrics became the fashion at the Mogul Court. The late East India Company introduced the Italian mode of winding silk, and the natives at once dropped their own method. In 1757, they sent out some Italians, and a Mr Wilder, who was well acquainted with the silk manufacture, to introduce the improvements. 'Napoleon's Berlin decrees, prohibiting the exportation of silk from Italy to England, gave a great stimulus to the cultivation of the silk trade in Bengal: a meeting was immediately held in London, and a request was made to the East India Company to supply England with silk direct from India.’

Reached Jammo-Kundee, the native village of Gunga Govind Sing-the Dewan of Warren Hastings, and the

great-grandfather of the Paikparah Rajahs. He retired with an immense fortune, and devoted a great part of it to the erection of shrines and images of Krishna. His name has acquired a traditional celebrity for the most magnificent shrad ever performed in Bengal. The tanks of oil and ghee dug on the occasion are yet existing. There were the Rajahs and Zemindars of half Bengal, and the guests being presided over by the Brahmin Rajah Siva Chunder of Krishnugger, the pomp of the shrad was magnified to be greater than that of Dakhya's Yugiya, in which there was no Siva. In that shrad, the Brahmins are said to have been fed with the fresh pershaud (food) of Juggernauth, brought by relays of posts laid from Pooree to Kundee.

Of all the shrines, the one at Kundee is maintained with the greatest liberality. The god here seems to live in the style of the Great Mogul. His musnud and pillows are of the best velvet and damask richly em.broidered. Before him are placed gold and silver salvers, cups, tumblers, pawn-dans, and jugs all of various size and pattern. He is fed every morning with fifty kinds of curries, and ten kinds of pudding. His breakfast over, gold hookas are brought to him to smoke the most aromatic tobacco. He then retires to his noonday siesta. In the afternoon he tiffs and lunches, and at night sups upon the choicest and richest viands with new names in the vocabulary of Hindoo confectionery. The daily expense at this shrine is said to be 500 rupees, inclusive of alms and charity to the poor.

Kundee.-Berhampore.

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In Kundee the Ras-jatra was at its height, and illuminations, fire-works, nautches, songs, and frolics were the order of the day, and followed upon each other's kibe. The Ras-Mandala was a miniature of the Hindoo Pantheon. It was interesting to see there the representations of the principal characters of the Ramayana and Mahabarat, in well-executed life-sized figures. There was Rama breaking the bow in the court of Janaka. There was Arjoona trying his archery to carry off Dropodee. The Rishis and Pundits of Judishthira's subha had very expressive features. The greatest attraction of all was possessed by the fine figures and faces of the Gopinees. More than twentyfive thousand people were gathered at the mela, and the sum of ten thousand rupees was expended by the Rajahs to celebrate the festival.

From Kundee to Berhampore-a distance of sixteen miles, through a flat, level country that did not appear to be thickly populated, and had a bad repute for robberies and murders.

Berhampore has risen under the auspices of the English. Many stately edifices adorn the town, and the military quarters, with an excellent parade-ground, form the most striking features of the place. In 1763, Berhampore was the utmost northern station. Golam Hussein, the author of the Seir Mutakherin, writing in 1786, states, 'the barracks of Berhampore are the finest and healthiest any nation can boast of; there are two regiments of Europeans, seven or eight of Sepahis, and fifteen or sixteen cannons placed there, and yet I heard

men say that the Mussulmans were so numerous at Moorshedabad, that with brick-bats in their hands they could knock the English down.'

The extent and crowded state of the burial-ground at Berhampore furnish the best comment upon its unhealthy situation. In that ground lies George Thomas, a son of Erin, who stepped into the shoes of Sumroo, and, from a pro tempore husband to his Begum, rose to be the Irish Rajah of Hurrianah. By one set of adventures he had attained sovereignty-by another his musnud was turned topsy-turvy. Collecting the wreck of his fortune, the ex-Rajah was proceeding down to Calcutta in 1802 with a view to retire to his native Tipperary, when he died on the way at Berhampore— solemnly bequeathing his conquests and territories to his liege lord, George the Third! It is said, that the adventures of this curious man gave the basis to Sir Walter Scott upon which to build his East Indian story of the 'Surgeon's Daughter.'

'Mrs. Sherwood lived to the east of the burialground, and “Little Henry," the subject of her beautiful tale, “Little Henry and his bearer," is also buried here.' In the beginning of the present century, Berhampore was the residence of General Stewart. He used to offer poojah to idols and worship the Ganges. He lived to an advanced age, and was well acquainted with the manners of the natives. His Museum in Chowringhee was opened to the public; during the last years of his life he fed a hundred destitute beggars daily he was called "Hindoo Stewart." Like Job