Page:A Statistical Account of Bengal Vol 1 GoogleBooksID 9WEOAAAAQAAJ.pdf/52

Rh wood, such as sundrí and pasur, used for planks and house posts; kirpá, used as rafters for thatched roofs; báin, used for house beams; hentál, used for the walls of houses and granaries, being afterwards plastered over with mud; garán, used for fences, rafters, etc., and the bark for tanning and dyeing; keorá, for planks, etc.; gango and khálsí, for firewood; and báblá, for firewood, the bark being also used in tanning and dyeing. (2) Different kinds of shells. (3) Honey and bees-wax. (4) Golpátá leaves, used for thatching purposes. (5) Gáb fruit, the extract of which forms a thick glue, and is extensively used in coating native boats, to preserve them from the action of the water. (6) Anantamúl, golancha, nátá, and other vegetable drugs grow indigenously, and are used for medicinal purposes. The people who principally trade in jungle products are, the low-caste Maules, Bágdís, Kaibarttas, Pods, Chandáls, Káorás, Karangás, and the poorer class of Musalmáns.

.—In the north-east corner of the District is the large village of Deárá, enclosed on three sides by the Kabadak River, and inhabited by upwards of three hundred families of milkmen and cowkeepers (goálás). No cultivation is carried on in this village; and the neighbouring fields, about two miles in extent, are used solely for pasturing cattle. A similar tract of land, of about the same area, lies a little to the east of the Police Station of Kalároá, in the Sátkhirá Subdivision, which is also used by people of the Goálá caste for grazing purposes. The annual value of these pasturages may be estimated in round figures at £400. With the above two exceptions, there are no separate pasture-grounds in the District, and the cattle graze in the rice fields after the crop has been cut.

.—The large sorts of game found in the District are, the tiger, leopard, rhinoceros, buffalo, spotted deer, hog deer, barking deer, bara singhí or large deer. Tigers, deer, and wild buffaloes abound in the Sundarban jungles, whence they occasionally make incursions into the settled parts of the District. The rhinoceros visits the swampy tracts and creeks in the vicinity of Dhuliápur Fiscal Division. The small game comprise hares, jungle fowl, wild geese, wild ducks, teal, pigeons, doves, snipe, and quail. The superior sorts of fish are the bhetki, hilsá, tapsi or mango fish, rui, kátlá, mirgal, chital, etc. Turtles, crabs, and shrimps are common. Major Smyth, in his Report on the District