Page:A Statistical Account of Bengal Vol 1 GoogleBooksID 9WEOAAAAQAAJ.pdf/121

106 The island was surveyed in 1812, and found to contain 143,268 acres of dry land. The Board of Revenue then advertised it for lease. Mr. Beaumont’s application was rejected, on the ground that Government had declined to accept tenders from Europeans for cultivating lands, and the island was accordingly offered to natives only. Many proposals were received from them; but, according to Hamilton, the scheme wholly failed, and the island was subsequently leased to an association composed of Europeans and natives, rent-free for thirty years, and at a quit-rent of 1s. 6d. per acre ever after. The undertaking was commenced with vigour; but so many unforeseen difficulties occurred, that up to September 1820 not more than four square miles had been effectually cleared. In this year, a considerable portion of the island was under-let to a European gentleman rent-free for twenty years, one-fourth of the area to be cleared every five years. Similar leases were granted to other individuals; but the scheme failed, and the island is still covered with dense jungle, and infested with tigers and wild beasts. Salt manufacture was conducted on the island for some time, but has been discontinued. The Ságar Island lighthouse was commenced in 1808. Although now almost uninhabited, Ságar Island is said to have been once well peopled. An article, entitled ‘Calcutta in the Olden Time,’ Calcutta Review, No. xxxvi., states that, ‘two years before the foundation of Calcutta, it contained a population of 200,000 souls, which in one night, in 1688, was swept away by an inundation.’ Such assertions must be received with caution.

.—The principal village of the small Fiscal Division of the same name, within the Diamond Harbour Subdivision. The Revenue Surveyor reported in 1857, that it contained a small Christian Church, connected with the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, and an English school. Many of the villagers are Christian converts. An extensive fair is held in the neighbouring village of Pránkrishnapur every March, and lasts for three days. A small tank called Gangá Chakraghátá is held peculiarly sacred, and multitudes annually resort to its waters. It is supposed to be in the old bed of the Ganges, and it is said that many temples dedicated to Mahádeva formerly existed in the village. In a mud house is a life-sized figure on horseback, habited in the costume of a Muhammadan, which goes by the name of Ghází Phidur, and is accredited with the power of curing all manner of diseases and sickness.

.—I have now mentioned all noteworthy towns and