Page:Twelve men of Bengal in the nineteenth century (1910).djvu/219

Rh none is of greater interest than the estate of Morrelgunj in the Sundarband, that immense tract of river and forest at the head of the Bay of Bengal which so long defied all reclamation. Great efforts had at various times been made to bring it under cultivation. Not only had individuals set forth into the unknown wilds of these immense forest tracks in the hope of reclaiming them and deriving from them wealth and fortune, but Government had itself attempted the Herculean task. Hitherto, however, the difficulties had always proved insuperable. Labour had all to be imported and when at length the labourers had been safely conveyed there at much expense, it had been found difficult to prevail upon them to stay. The land being everywhere lowlying and malarious, fever was prevalent while the loneliness of the life, and the fear of wild animals which constantly carried off the ryots as they cut down the jungle, induced them to escape at the earliest possible moment. So far the Sundarbans had proved nothing but the graves of men and of all their hopes of fortune. None had succeeded in the fight with nature and tamed its rampant luxuriance to any great extent the dull routine of cultivation. But in one corner of the vast area it was reserved for an English family to do, what others had failed to do, and by sheer force of character and energy to clear the splendid estate which was eventually to pass into the hands of Maharaja Durga Charan Law.