the eastern extremity is a large wood of palms and fruit-trees; the gardens belong to a summer-palace built and planted by the Nawab Jaffier Ali Khan. They are renowned for their beauty and extent, being two or three miles in circuit." There is a large and dilapidated palace, the residence of the late Nawab of Patna. The houses of the rich natives resemble pretty much those of Calcutta, but with the advantage of immediately abutting on the river. One which attracted the Bishop's attention had, "beneath its Corinthian superstructure, a range of solid buildings of the Eastern Gothic, with pointed arches and small windows, containing a suite of apartments almost on a level with the water, which must be coolness itself during the hot winds. The continued mass of buildings extends about four miles along the river, when it changes into scattered cottages and bungalows, interspersed with trees, till some larger and more handsome buildings appear about three miles further. This is Bankipoor, where are the Company's opium-warehouses, courts of justice, &c., and where most of their civil servants live."

Lord Valentia visited Patna from Bankipoor, but he has dismissed it with a very brief notice. "It is one continued street the whole way, and the population appears to be very great. The houses, in general, are of mud; and there are few remains that indicate the capital of Bahar. In a gateway, I observed some very black stone most beautifully carved, which had probably been taken from an ancient pagoda. There are the remains of a fort, and of the British factory where the massacre of 200 prisoners was perpetrated by the adventurer Sommers, called by the natives Soomeroo, then in the service of Meer Cossim, who thus revenged himself for the capture of

Monghyr. A monument, but without an inscription, is erected to their memory in the European buryingground."

In point of populousness, Patna now ranks before either Delhi or Agra; the number of its stationary inhabitants being estimated, in 1811, at 312,000, of whom 97,000 were Moslems, and 214,500 Hindoos. Besides which, there is a considerable fluctuating population. The Seiks have here a place of worship, held in great repute, and several families of Armenians have long been resident at Patna. The Romish Christians consist of about twenty Portuguese families, who have a church, the handsomest in the place. The Patna merchants carry on a large portion of the Nepaul trade, exporting broad-cloth, muslins, silks, and spices, and receiving in exchange, bees-wax, golddust, bull-tails, musk, Woollen cloth named tush, and some medicinal herbs. A number of native Nepaul merchants reside here; and, in 1811, there were twenty-four bankers, who discounted all bills payable either at Patna or at Calcutta, Benares, and Moorshedabad. Some of them had also agents at Lucknow and Dacca; one had an agent in Nepaul; and the house of Juggeth Seth had agents at Bombay and Madras. There are also manufactures at Patna, of chintzes, dimities, and cloths resembling diaper and damask. Yet, "it was remarked by the magistrates,

Valentia, vol. i. p. 65. See page 84 of our second volume. Bernoulli is not less concise in his account of Patna.

† According to Dr. F. Buchanan, in 1811, it was estimated to contain 52,000 houses, of which 7117 were of brick, 11,639 of two stories with mud walls and tiled roofs, 22,188 mud-walled huts, tiled, and the remainder thatched huts. In the returns made to the Governor General's inquiries in 1801, 2, the population of the whole Patna district was stated at only 250,000, the Mohammedans being as one to ten.

in 1801, that no new religious buildings of any sect were constructing, while the old ones were going rapidly to decay.' The aggregate population of the Patna city and district, comprehending a territory of 403 square miles, was estimated, in 1811, at 199,745 Mohammedans and 409,525 Hindoos; total 609,270.+

Near Bankipoor, which may be considered as a suburb of Patna, there is a curious high building in the shape of a bee-hive or glass-house, with a stair winding round its outside up to the top, "like the old prints of the Tower of Babel," which may be ascended on horseback. It was built as a granary for the district, after a great famine about five-and-thirty years ago, but was never applied to this use. The idea was, to pour the corn in at the top, and take it out through a small door at the bottom; but, "by a refinement in absurdity, the door at the bottom is made to open inwards; and consequently, when the granary was full, could never have been opened at all.” It is now occasionally used as a powder-magazine, but Bishop Heber found it quite empty. It is only visited sometimes for the sake of its echo, which is very favourable to performances on the flute or bugle.‡ The Ganges at Bankipoor, is five miles wide in the rainy season, but recedes to two miles distance in the dry

* Hamilton, vol. i. p. 262.

† Ib. p. 262. If this be correct, the returns of 1801, 2, must be grossly erroneous, the population being stated at less than half the number, and the Mohammedans as one to ten.

Heber, vol. i. p. 317. "The walls at the bottom, although twenty-one feet thick, have given way; a circumstance of very little consequence, as, were it filled, (which it never was,) it would not contain one day's consumption for the inhabitants of the province. It originally cost 20,000 rupees."-Hamilton's Gazatteer. Valentia, vol. i. p. 64.

season, and is then scarcely visible, there being only some small nullahs in the intervening space, which is then cultivated with rice and oats. This is by no

means, however, a rice country, the chief produce being opium. The cotton plant (gossypium), the castoroil-plant (ricinus communis), and indigo are also cultivated.

Seven miles from Bankipoor is the great military station of Dinapoor. The whole way lies between scattered bungalows, bazars, and other buildings, interspersed with gardens and mango-groves. "As we approached Dinapoor," says Bishop Heber, 66 symptoms began to appear of a great English military station; and it was whimsical to see peeping out from beneath the palms and plantains, large blue boards with gilt letters- Digah Farm, Havell, victualler,' &c.; Morris, tailor;' Davis, Europe warehouse,' &c. The cantonment itself is the largest and handsomest which I have seen, with a very fine quay, looking like a battery, and three extensive squares of barracks, uniformly built, of one lofty ground-story, well raised, stuccoed, and ornamented with arcaded windows and pillars between each. There are also extensive barracks for the native troops, which I did not see; those which I have described being for Europeans, of whom there are generally here, one King's regiment, one Company's, and a numerous corps of artillery." Beyond Dinapoor is a handsome house, built by Saadut Ali, while residing under the Company's protection, before his elevation to the musnud.

About thirty-two miles W.N.W. of Patna, is

Heber, vol. i. p. 321.

"Every thing, in fact," adds the Bishop, "is on a liberal scale, except what belongs to the church and the spiritual interests of the inhabitants and the neighbour. hood,

Chuprah, the chief town of the Sarun district, situated on the northern bank of the Ganges; 66 or rather on an arm of the river, divided from the main stream by some marshy islands." It contains "a good many large, handsome native houses, and a very pretty pagoda and ghaut." In the course of the day's voyage, the Bishop "overtook a number of vessels, two of them of a curious and characteristic description. One was a budgerow pretty deeply laden, with a large blue board on its side, like that of an academy in England, inscribed, 'Goods for Sale on Commission;' being, in fact, strictly a floating shop, which supplied all the smaller stations with what its owners would probably call 'Europe articles.' The other was a more elegant vessel of the same kind, being one of the prettiest pinnaces I ever saw, with an awning spread over the quarter-deck, under which sat a lady and two gentlemen reading, and looking so comfortable that I could have liked to join their party. I found that it was the floating shop of a wealthy tradesman at Dinapoor, who, towards the middle of the rains, always sets out in this manner with his wife, to make the tour of the Upper Provinces, as high as his boat can carry; ascending, alternate years, or as he finds most custom, to Agra, Meerut, or Lucknow, by their respective rivers, and furnishing glass, cutlery, perfumery, &c., to the mountaineers of Deyra Doon, and the zennanas of Runjeet Singh and Sindeah. We passed, in the course of this day, the mouths of no fewer than three great rivers falling into the Ganges from different quarters; the Soane from the south and the mountains of Gundwana, the Gunduch from Nepaul, and the Dewah from (I believe) the neighbourhood of Almorah. Each of

*The Deva, Goggra, or Sarju river, flowing from Kumaoon.