ART. VII.-Eastern Bengal and its Railways.

ASTERN BENGAL extends from the slopes of the Himalaya mountains below Darjeeling in the North, to the head of the Bay of Bengal in the South, or roughly is enclosed within the 22nd and 27th parallels of North latitude.

The Eastern boundary, commencing at Chittagong, becomes interlaced with the hills which limit the empire of Burmah, and stretches out through the extensive valleys of Upper and Lower Assam, as far as the gorge in the Himalaya mountains, through which the great river Burhampooter descends from Thibet.

The Western limit follows the course of the rivers Hooghly and Bhagiruttee, and passes through Calcutta, Moorshedabad, Dinagepore up to Darjeeling.

Its length from North to South is about 350 miles; its breadth 300 miles. The total area of this country is about 100,000 square miles. Comparing this extent of country with the British Isles, which contain 120,000 square miles, it will be seen that Eastern Bengal is a country of no mean proportions.

The population, estimated at fifteen millions, may be looked upon as a simple, rural population, covering the cultivated area of the country very evenly, and but moderately condensed in towns, save in the metropolis of the Bengal Presidency. Per square mile, it is perhaps the most densely populated country of equal extent on the face of the globe.

'Eastern Bengal' is certainly a most fertile and prolific tract of land, and is suited to the most economical modes of cultivation. Watered by the two great rivers, Burhampooter and Ganges, and supplied with innumerable tributary rivers traversing the country like net work, there are abundant means at all points for irrigation, and a most extensive system of water carriage at all seasons of the year for the usual country boats. The products of the country are not surpassed either in quantity or quality by any District under the Tropics, and their importance is shewn by the large revenue returns.

The dwellings of the rural population consist chiefly of bamboo and mud huts, covered with a thick thatch of leaves or rice straw, and are usually to be found deeply ensconced in the jungle, and ordinarily not visible to travellers. This privacy is looked upon as of great importance, as it often shields a family from obnoxious intrusion. The Bengalees are an effeminate and indolent people; they are ingenious and handy workers, and though

slow in movement, they are nevertheless apt at learning. Their moral habits are however degraded. Cunning, deceit, and sensuality, are amongst their characteristics, and, as a natural consequence, where immorality predominates, courage is at a low ebb. Yet it is impossible to imagine the whole mass of the nation to be utterly void of some particle of that honesty of purpose, that conscientiousness of thought and feeling, which may be found even among those who do not rank in the highest position, either morally or intellectually, and education and example, combined with great firmness, may, in generations to come, yet present us with a community recognising the authority of moral principles; while, among the more cultivated intellects, there is even now no want of a certain shrewdness and quickness of thought, which offer materials for still better things. To facilitate description, Eastern Bengal' may be arranged into three great territorial tracts.

The District lying to the south and west of the Ganges, including the District to the east of Calcutta and the great Soonderbunds circuit, comprises the first tract.

The Soonderbunds stretch across the head of the Bay of Bengal, a distance of 260 miles, and present, at the Sandheads, a low swampy country and a dense forest for 50 miles inland. Beyond this, cultivation first makes its appearance. There are nine principal streams and several tidal estuaries to the sea front. The portion of the country which has been cleared is cultivated chiefly with rice, and is densely populated, but in the forests and on the extensive swamps there are but few inhabitants on account of the numbers of wild beasts and venomous reptiles, and the malaria which at the end of the rainy season is very deadly. The Soonderbunds is a tract of much interest, and offers many subjects for contemplation. The water channels afford an excellent, though circuitous, line for the navigation of country boats, which ascend and descend from the open and more cultivated parts of Eastern Bengal; but they are full of danger for the navigation of steamers or other large craft. The country is mostly covered with crops of rice and oil seeds, and open pastures, studded with beautiful groves of trees, which shelter and nourish the cattle belonging to the many villages that stud this interesting locality.

The Second Tract consists of the Districts lying between the Ganges and the Burhampooter, extending Northwards to the foot of the Himalayas. The character of the country is similar to the cleared portion adjoining the Soonderbunds; it is however a slightly higher tract of country, and is specially suited for the growth of fibrous plants, for which the neighbourhood of MARCH, 1861.

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Rungpore is greatly celebrated. The population inhabiting this tract of territory is scarcely less dense than in the first tract, whilst the general appearance of the country, always flat, is much the same as in the other parts of Eastern Bengal.'

The Districts lying East of the Burhampooter, including Dacca and Sylhet constitute the Third Tract. This tract presents greater resources than either the first or second tract. The greater portion of its surface is occupied by the rich plains of Mymensing and Sylhet through which the river Soornia meanders. The old channel of the Burhampooter, now nearly dry, together with other old beds of alluvion, wind along by Dacca from the Eastward. This Tract affords a great variety of produce, such as cotton, sugar-cane, rice and other grains, together with potatoes, plantains and oranges. These last are supplied to Calcutta in greater quantities from here than from any other quarter. The Eastern hills offer a large assortment of agricultural produce and mineral wealth. In the high lands are obtained lime and coals, besides valuable timber, and the district produces tea of the best quality. In the pastures and jungles are elephants and buffaloes, valuable to India as beasts of burden, and, to commerce the latter are also valuable for their hides. This tract is therefore one of vast importance to the general resources of India. Excluding for the moment, any description of the great valley of Assam, the occupied portions of the three tracts contain together about 35,000 square miles, and it has been estimated that no less than 425 human beings are located on every square mile, giving nearly fifteen millions of inhabitants for working the internal resources of the country.

Viewing the three great tracts together, they certainly offer the finest field in India for the investment of capital and skilful enterprise. On the east and north limits of Eastern Bengal' are two Hill stations,' Cherapoonjee and Darjeeling. Each of these stations is a Sanatarium useful in alleviating the effects of the fierce and trying climate of Bengal. To all invalids, and especially to European constitutions, these stations are most valuable, and although at present hard to reach, they will be made accessible to the metropolis within a very few years.

In contemplating the picture of the country that has been described, it is painful to reflect how backward in civilisation is this important province of our Indian possessions. Although in its present undeveloped state it produces a greater proportion of revenue than any other tract of country in India of equal extent, it may be said to be enveloped in the accumulated darkness of past ages. There are no roads of importance, no appliances of modern civilisation, and the transit of produce is

effected by the most primitive expedients. Through its length and breadth it is limited to a tedious water communication in boats of unsafe and cumbersome construction. The staple of the export trade consists in the raw produce of the country, and the manufactures of Indigo and Silk. The imports are comparatively trifling, when such a vast population is taken into account, and much judicious management will be required before the consumption of English manufactures attains its due proportions.

It has been previously observed that the population of 'Eastern Bengal' was not condensed or concentrated in large towns, with the one great exception of the Metropolis, nor is there any reason why it should be. The elements of its commerce are solely agricultural, and differ therefore materially from trade in England. The produce of the country is collected in certain Bazars for further distribution, and the towns of Dacca, Rungpore, Mymensing, together with the marts of Serajgunge, Jessore, Naraingunge, Sylhet, Assam, &c., constitute the chief resorts of traders and emporia of the resources of the country; but they are simply warehouses for exchange with Calcutta, and not centres of industry such as we possess at Manchester, Leeds, and innumerable other towns in England. Some few wealthy European and native traders however have established houses of their own, and transmit their own produce direct to Calcutta. The working people are ill directed by the zemindars or native landlords. The native mahajuns or merchants, together with the smaller traders and boatmen, have all endeavoured more or less to oppress or cheat them.

The great valley of Assam, which lies to the extreme east of Bengal, extends a length of four hundred miles, with a breadth varying from forty to seventy miles, and comprising an area of about 22,000 square miles, through which the Burhampooter River flows. Mr. Barry, of Serajgunge, has fully described* the great value of this district as a field for mercantile speculation, on account of its great resources. Coal, lime, and iron have been discovered in several places, also gold and precious stones, and several amber and salt mines. Timber is found in the forests that line the Burhampooter. There are several extensive tracts of tea and other cultivated land, though the country is generally swampy. The people however are idle, and being abstemious are without any sufficient incentive to labor: the consequence is, there are immense tracts of excellent land lying waste, that

Memorandum on the Province of Assam, published by C. B. Lewis, Baptist Mission Press, Calcutta, 1858.

might be most profitably cultivated. Wild elephants, tigers leopards, bears, buffaloes, hogs, and game of all sorts abound, and the greater part of the country is in a truly primeval state. It has been already mentioned that Eastern Bengal' possesses, in her many rivers, a complete system of water communication. These rivers are at present the only channels of communication that serve for the transport of merchandise; they are very circuitous and dangerous, and the tediousness of a journey up and down can be fully understood by those only who have had the fortune to endure it. Roads there are none, save near Calcutta and around some of the Civil Stations. There are a few miles of half-made roads, formed in a desultory unsystematic way, connected with the Indigo Factories, but no road that can be depended upon for a journey of twenty miles without interruption. Wheeled carriages, other than bullock hackeries, are therefore not to be met with at any distance from Calcutta, save at the Civil Stations, and the consequent loss of time in the transit of goods and in travelling generally, brings with it a corresponding loss of money. Roads therefore are the great want-good and substantial roads-and for the complete development of the country, railroads, as well as the common roads, must be provided. A well defined system of roads is the key to the prosperity of the country.

It has been estimated that about one half of the produce traffic, between the interior of this side of India and Calcutta, is obtained from within the districts of 'Eastern Bengal,' and that the largest portion of it is for British or foreign consumption. The present Eastern Bengal Railway was projected in 1856, and the computations concerning the amount of tonnage it was likely would be carried, were based on the returns of the Eastern Canals, from which it was fully demonstrated that upwards of one million tons weight of produce were transmitted annually to the port of Calcutta from the districts of Eastern Bengal,' and that at least forty thousand tons of imports were distributed over the same territory as return cargoes. From a further calculation it was presumed that the railway would obtain the transmission of 419,560 tons per annum. The promoters of the railway speculated on taking £379,210 per annum as gross receipts, from goods and passengers, when the line was completed to Dacca and Narraingunge which would produce a dividend of 8 per cent upon a capital of £3,000,000 the estimated cost, including the rolling stock, management, &c.

It may be observed that in so complex a river system as the Gangetic Delta, it was a question of no small importance to decide carefully in the first instance, the route of the trunk