Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume II.djvu/544

 BENGAL water is salt, but it is fresh in the Hoogly, the main outlet of the Ganges, on which Calcutta is situated. This channel, the Ilauringotta arm, and that which bears the name of the river itself are all navigable. The annual inunda- tions in Bengal cover an immense region, and not unfrequently attain the dimensions of dis- astrous floods, occasioning great loss of life and destruction of property. Enormous dikes are constructed to restrain the rising waters. It is said that every year, from the 15th of June to the 15th of September, the plains of upper Assam are completely overspread by the floods. Among the most destructive of the inundations are those which sometimes occur when a high spring tide in the bay of Bengal combines with a heavy gale of wind to check the descending outflow of the rivers. There are but few lakes in Bengal, the most impor- tant being the Chilka lake in Orissa, a very curious body of water which forms the southern boundary of that subdivision of the present province, formerly a province itself. It is a shallow inland sea from 3 to 5 ft. in depth, 44 m. long, and varying in width from 5 to 20 m., separated from the ocean only by a narrow strip of sand scarcely exceeding 200 yards in breadth, through which the sea forces its way, at a single point, in a channel a few hundred yards wide. This peculiar lacustrine formation is at- tributed to the never-ceasing adverse action going on between the rivers and the sea. The water of the lake is salt or brackish except in the rainy season, when it becomes temporarily fresh. The extreme heat of the climate of Bengal renders it very unhealthy to Europeans. There are three seasons : the cold season, from November to February, with an average tem- perature of about 68 F., and prevailing north- erly winds ; the hot season, beginning in March and lasting till the end of May, during which the terrific heat, sometimes 100 and 110 F. in the shade, is occasionally mitigated by tremen- dous thunder storms of rain and hail ; and the rainy season, which sets in with the commence- ment of the S. W. monsoon, early in June, and lasts till October. The average annual fall of rain at Calcutta is 64 inches, and at Cuttack, on the N. W. coast of the bay of Bengal, only 50 inches; while it rises to 80 inches at Go- wahatty in Assam, and 600 inches among the Cossyah hills. During the cold season the climate is comparatively pleasant ; but the continual rain and constantly recurring fogs which prevail during the latter half of the wet season make it very disagreeable. The nights are the only comfortable portion of the warmer months. The higher officials, and such other residents of Calcutta as are able to do so, annually resort during this period to the attractive sanatoriums which the government has established among the hill regions of the northern provinces. The soil of the country is alluvial, and consists of a rich black mould resting upon a sandy clay. There is no sub- stance so coarse as gravel to be found in the great delta, or indeed within 400 m. of the coast. Geological borings at Calcutta have afforded strong evidence that what was once a forest-covered land occupying the present del- taic area has in process of time subsided to a depth of 300 ft.; terrestrial organic remains, animal and vegetable, having been found at even a greater distance below the surface. The valley of the Ganges is famed for its fer- tility, and the productive power of its lands is renewed without expense to the cultivator by the annual river deposits. Rice is the lead- ing cereal production and an important article of export. Wheat and barley are raised, but only in the higher districts, where millet and maize are also raised for the food of the poorer classes. Peas and beans are extensively culti- vated, and much attention is paid to the growth of grains which yield oil, as mustard, sesamum, and linseed. The principal vegetable produc- tions, commercially speaking, in addition to rice, are cotton, indigo, opium, sugar, and to- bacco. The civil war in America gave a great impetus to the cultivation of cotton in Bengal, and the quantity exported in 1863-'4 was val- ued at 3,074,403, against an export value of 76,536 in 1860-'61. The indigo furnished by Bengal alone amounts to five sixths of the en- tire quantity which the world produces. The best quality is grown between lat. 23 and 27 N. and Ion. 84 and 90 E., the crop elsewhere be- ing inferior. About 1,250,000 acres are devoted to indigo cultivation, yielding about 60,000,000 Ibs., at a gross profit of 40 per cent. The cul- tivation of the poppy is carried on principally in Behar, the opium being manufactured at Patna, and known in commerce as Patna opium. No one is permitted to engage in it except on account of the government, which makes ad- vances to the cultivators and purchases the whole crop from them at an established pries (in 1869 about 3s. M. per lb.), and sells it, for exportation from Calcutta to China, at an enor- mous profit! The growth of coffee has been successfully introduced, and large tracts in As- sam are devoted to the cultivation of the tea plant. Fruits are numerous, and comprise the orange, pomegranate, pineapple, banana, lime, and cocoanut. The gigantic banian is the most remarkable tree of the dense forests which cover a very considerable proportion of the country. The methods of agriculture are ex- ceedingly primitive, the implements being of the simplest and rudest sort, and the na- tives knowing almost nothing about econom- ical husbandry. Each ryot, or native culti- vator of the soil, usually occupies about 6 acres of land, and seldom more than 24 acres. There are two harvests : one, of rice only, known as the great harvest ; and the little harvest, when the less important grains are garnered. Fences are entirely wanting, and the crops are therefore grown without enclo- sures. Among the wild animals, the Bengal tiger is the most formidable, and the largest specimens are believed to attain a stature con-