been a continual source of annoyance, not only
to the English Government, but also to the
people of the country. It was not until twenty
years ago that they were effectually put down
by our troops, and forced into acquiescence in
the laws that were introduced among them.
Even now their territory is but little visited,
and the Sothalees, as they call themselves,
are mightily astonished at the intrusion into
their wild fastnesses of a white-faced Englishman.
In some parts this highland juts out upon
the river, looking down upon it from a dizzy
height, and forming posts easy to be defended.
Among these natural strongholds, the fortress
of Chunar must be mentioned as the most
remarkable. Of all the fortified places that
command the navigation of the Ganges, it may
justly be said to be second in point of strength
only to Allahabad and the modern fortification
of Fort William. It stands in the neighbourhood
of Benares, on the summit of a large
rock, which rises for several hundred feet
almost perpendicularly out of the stream. The
renowned Warren Hastings once found shelter
within its walls, having been obliged to flee from
Benares, in fear of the fanaticism and hostility
of the natives. Buxar, a little lower down the
stream, is another natural fortification, standing
on the brow of a hill overlooking the river.
Monghir, too, another hill fort, on the other
side of Patna, is a place which by the natural
eligibility of its position tempted Meer Cossim
to choose it as his rallying point in 1763.

Passing the large civil station of Bhaugulpore,
and stealing round the base of the Vindhya
Mountains, the Ganges, now swollen by
the waters of four large rivers — the Goomtee,
the Gogra, the Soane, and the Gunduck — turns
once more to the south-east, and at the end
of another hundred and fifty miles reaches
Moorshedabad. This city was once the capital
of Hindostan, and remained the seat of the
nabob when the English town of Calcutta
had usurped its imperial pre-eminence. It is
a place of no great magnificence, its site having
been chosen rather for the command it
possessed over the traffic on the river, than for
its beauty or natural healthiness. The palace
is an insignificant building, a mere mud hut in
comparison with the gorgeous creations of the
Mogul emperors in the cities of Upper India.
Its walls, however, have witnessed many an
exciting scene, momentous in the history of
the country. Here it was that the boy-tyrant,
Suraj-u-Dowlah, the perpetrator of the tragedy
of the black hole, was murdered by the hand
or by the immediate order of Meeran, the son
of Meer Jaffier, whom Clive had set upon the
throne after the battle of Plassey; and here
the tragic end of the deception of the wealthy
Hindu, Omichund, took place.

At this point the Ganges divides itself into
two branches, which form; between themselves
and the sea, that part of Bengal which, from its
shape, is denominated the Delta. Another
branch, narrow and of no great length, but yet
important, leaves the main river a little to the
north of Moorshedabad, and joins the western-most
of these two branches below that town.
This branch is called the Bhagirathi, and is held
in much veneration by the natives. On its banks
stand several small but important towns, the
most considerable of which is Berhampoor, a
large civil station situated on the island of
Moorshedabad, and adjoining the town of that name.
Cossimbazar, a famous mart and emporium for
the silk produced in this neighbourhood, often
lends its name to distinguish this portion of the
river. Close by was fought the battle of Plassey,
where Clive determined the destiny of the
country. On the night before the battle he
obtained a large quantity of rice, sufficient to
supply his whole native army, from the
neighbouring town of Cutwa, that, with another of
the name of Culna, a little lower down the
stream, forms the great river port of the fertile
district of Burdwan.

Of the two branches that remain to be
described, the eastern branch, which retains the
general designation of the river, passes by no
place that calls for any notice. But, on one of
the streams which, jutting out from it, join the
sea still further to the east, stands the town of
Dacca, celebrated both in ancient and modern
times. The stream on which it is built goes
under the denomination of Booree Gunga—
that is to say, old Ganges — and centuries ago,
before certain changes took place in its course
—for the Ganges, with its shifting banks of
sand, is continually forming for itself new channels
and filling up old ones —was doubtless the
principal and main outlet of the river. At the
latter end of the seventeenth, and perhaps even
so late as the beginning of the last century,
Dacca was a place of great splendour and
importance. The ruins which surround the
modern town testify to its former extent and
magnificence, and prove that it must have vied
in appearance and in riches with most other
Indian cities. The mighty Brahmapootra, rivalling
in all but its length the greatness of its
sister and close neighbour the Ganges, enters
the sea also at this point; and there is thus
great reason to suppose that a spot which
commanded, as Dacca would have done, the
mouths of such sources of inland trade and
communication, should have been the site of a
great and flourishing town. At the present
day Dacca is noted for the excellence of its
cotton fabrics, the beauty of its muslins
surpassing that of those manufactured in any
other part of the world.

The western branch, or Hooghly, after passing
its point of junction with the Bhagirathi,
and until it reaches the southern extremity of
Calcutta, presents an animated and lively
picture, full of all the action and the thousand
sights and sounds that surround the seat of
government. Its banks are lined with thriving
towns, busy with trade or luxurious with
wealthy inhabitants; its overshadowing woods
are interspersed with country seats of rich
merchants, whose offices are in Calcutta. The
towns of Hooghly, Chinsurah, Chandernagore,
Serampoor, and Barrackpoor, are quickly passed,
one after another, on opposite sides of the