Page:A history of the military transactions of the British nation in Indostan.djvu/9

 Book VI a tract of country within them extending 20 miles along the sea-coasts from Ballasore to the river of Pipley, which disembogues opposite to the Island of Sagore. On the eastern side of the Ganges, the territory of Bengal extends to the north as far as the latitude of 26. 30. where it is bounded by the foot of the first range of mountains approaching Thibet. By the acquisition of a country, called Purnea, the territory on this side the river extends 20 miles more to the west than Tacriagully on the other; and a line nearly north and south, from the northern mountains to the Ganges, marks the boundary between Purnea and the province of Behar. From this line the territory of Bengal extends 180 miles to the eastward as far as Rangamatty, a town belonging to the king pf Assam, situated in the latitude of 26. 10. on the river Baramputrah. The course of this river from Rangamatty to the sea seems the natural boundary of Bengal to the east; but considerable districts have been acquired on the other side of it, which will be described as occasion requires; and at the upper part of the sea-coast which bounds the bay of Bengal to the east, the province of Chittigan has been wrested from the kingdom of Aracan. The sea-coast between the mouths of the river Hughley and the Great Ganges, extends 180 miles, and the whole tract is a dreary unhospitable shore, which sands and whirlpools render inaccessible from the sea to ships of burden; and for several miles inward, the land is intersected by numerous channels, which derive from both rivers, and disembogue by many mouths into the sea. The islands formed by these channels are covered with thickets, and occupied by deer and tygers.

The triangle included by the Cossimbuzar and Hughley rivers to the west, by the Great Ganges to the east, and by the sea-coast to the south, as well as a large tract on either hand and to the north of this Delta, is as level as the sandy deserts of Africa, or Arabia; and, like some of the countries on the banks of the river of Amazons, no where produces a single stone. The soil is a stratum of the richest mould lying on a deep sand, which being interspersed with shells, indicates the land to have been overflowed. Such parts of this