the number of attendants is prodigiously increased. When General Harris advanced against Seringapatam, in 1799, his army consisted of 35,000 soldiers, and 120,000 attendants; and when the Marquis of Hastings, in 1817, commenced the Mahratta war, his fighting force amounted to 110,000 men, his camp followers to half a million. The navy of the British Indian Empire was at one time very considerable, but is now much diminished; it consists only of a few vessels of war of the smaller classes, several armed steamers, and some surveying vessels. The navy is attached to the Bombay presidency; and measures are now in progress to convert it into an armed steam flotilla. At Calcutta, there is a marine establishment, which, though not of a warlike character, is nevertheless of the utmost importance. It is the pilot service which consists of 12 strong, well fitted, and quick-sailing vessels, of 200 tons burden, several of which are always stationed off the mouths of the Ganges and the Hoogly, on the look-out for vessels coming up the bay, into each of which they place a European pilot, and a leadsman to steer the course to Calcutta. There are 120 Europeans employed in this service; the first rank being of a branch pilot, who are 12 in number, and receive each £70 a month. The cost of the pilot service, including pilots, men, vessels, light-houses, buoys, and other necessary adjuncts, exceeds £150,000 a year. Agriculture throughout India is in the lowest condition; the implements used are of the rudest kind, and the cultivator follows the routine of his forefathers, without ever dreaming of improvement. The great fertility of the soil generally insures a sufficient supply of food; but so dependent is vegetation, in this hot climate, upon the supply of moisture, that an unusual continuance of dry weather sometimes occasions dreadful famines. Tanks or artificial ponds, and wells, are spread in countless numbers over every tract of cultivated country; and the former, being often of great extent, and maintained by strong dams, present an interesting proof of the power of human skill and industry in averting an evil so incident to the climate, and supplying to the thirsty soil that moisture of which it is deprived by the long droughts of a tropical region. Without these innumerable wells and reservoirs, which have been created by the labor of successive generations, a great part of India would speedily become an uncultivated desert. European skill and capital are now, to a large extent, applied to the production of indigo and opium, principally in Bahar and Malwah; and tea is cultivated in Upper Assam, where it is already grown of good quality, and may be raised almost to any extent which the market may require. The cultivation of the indigo plant occupies above a million of acres, yielding an annual produce of the value of two or three millions sterling. Silk is the next important article. There are in India three species of mulberry-tree, and two kinds of silk worm; the silk districts, which are in Bengal, are all situated between the parallels of 220 and 26° N. and longitude 86° and 90° E. Opium is produced in Malwah and Bahar; and in 1836 was exported, for the purpose of being smuggled into China, to the enormous extent of 26,018 chests, valued at 17,106,903 dollars. The working of mines is scarcely worth mentioning; diamonds are procured near Punnah, in Bundelcund; coal is wrought in the district of Burdwan, in Bengal, and in other places; and iron in the Carnatic, where excellent steel is manufactured at Porto-Novo. For many ages India was famous for the weaving of silk, cotton, and goats-wool, particularly for muslins and calicoes; but since the opening of the trade in 1813, the introduction of British manufactured goods has almost entirely ruined the Hindoo manufacturers, without supplying a substitute for their employment. In woollen textures, iron work, and earthenware, there are few nations more rude or less successful. Notwithstanding the vast demand in Europe for the staple productions of India, and the unlimited capability of the country to furnish them, the native products have hitherto been exported only to a comparatively small extent. The commerce, however, both in exports and imports, has increased immensely since the trade was opened. According to the published parliamentary returns, the value of the imports into the presidency of Bengal in the year 1836-7, amounted to 40,429,076 Company's rupees; into Madras, 15,125,857; into Bombay, 47,245,571; total, 102,800,504 rupees. or $54,000,000. The value of the exports for the same year amounted, in Bengal, to 67,847,147; Madras, 27,854,757; Bombay, 59,905,978; total, 155,607,882 rupees, or $89,320,000. The maritime trade centres in Calcutta, Bombay, and Madras; but the people of Mandivee, in Cutch, likewise carry on a great trade; and from Curachee, in Sinde, caravans of camels convey large quantities of goods towards Cabul, Candahar, and other places to the north-west of India; bringing back in return the produce of these countries for exportation. Upwards of 1,000 Arabian ships also arrive annually in India between the monsoons; by which an extensive commerce is maintained in a quiet imperceptible manner, through the means of obscure native agents, who freight the Arab boats; and thus many thousand tons of British manufactured goods are bought from the merchants, and find their way into the heart of the most remote and most barbarous countries. But besides the commerce of Europe, a considerable trade is carried on with the Persian Gulf and Arabia; and with China and the Asiatic Islands the trade is also great. A large quantity of wool is now exported from Bombay, the produce of the sheep pastured along the Indus and other districts beyond the British frontier. The increased safety of communication which now exists throughout all India is fast producing its natural results, in a rapidly increasing internal commerce. Inland customs are also now abolished, and traders may carry their goods from one extremity of the country to the other, without being pillaged at every step, as formerly, by custom-house officers. For the encouragement of this trade, two banks have been established in Calcutta; one at Agra, and one at Bombay. The available capital of these banks is less than £2,000,000 sterling; they have little or no intercourse with England; and their business is chiefly confined to the limited population of the presidencies. The great mass of the people are dependent on the shroffs or money-lenders for pecuniary assistance, at the rate of two per cent. a-month, or on the government for small advances to carry on their agricultural operations from seed time till harvest. The monetary circulation consists of the rupee, a silver coin of no more than two shillings value, with copper and shells. To remedy these inconveniences, a great establishment, called the Bank of Asia, with branches in India, has been established in London. India is divided politically into a number of states, which may be arranged into five classes-1. Territories under the immediate government of the East India Company; 2. Subject States, left to the rule of the native princes, but under the protection and complete control of the Company; 3. States under British protection, or alliance, but without interference of their internal governments, 4. Independent States; and 5. Colonies of other nations except the British. The names of all these, with their dimensions and population, are stated in the following table : I. BRITISH TERRITORIES. Presidency of Fort William, Bengal. 1. Government of Bengal, Bahar, Orissa, including Assam, 2. Government of Agra or Northwest Provinces. Presidency of Fort St. George, Madras.... Presidency of Bombay....... Total....... Rajpoot and other Princes in Rajpootana and Malwah... 7,300 350,000 Rajahs of Patiala, Keytal, Naba, Jeend, &c, between the Jumnah aud the Sutlej.. } 16,600 500,000 Bhawul-Khan, Chief of the Daoudpûtras These do not in reality differ much, and we have, therefore, united them under the same head. The British have recently conquered and annexed pome portions of these states to Agra or the north west Provinces. We shall now proceed to describe the different provinces of India in the order above marked out: THE PRESIDENCY OF BENGAL. THIS Presidency is the original territory granted in stewardship by the Emperor of Delhi to the East India Company, in 1765. It is now divided into two governments :-1. The Government of Bengal, Bahar, and Orissa; and, 2. The Government of Agra, or the North-west Provinces. 1. The GOVERNMENT OF BENGAL, &c., includes a large territory at the head of the gulf of the same name, and is divided into four provinces and thirty districts, or zillahs, viz.: Provinces. CALCUTTA... PATNA...... Zillahs or Districts. .City of Calcutta and suburbs, Hoogly, Nuddea, Jessore, Cuttack, Ramghur, Behar, Tirhoot, Sarun, Shahabad, and Patna. MOORSHEDABAD...... Bhaugulpore, Purneah, Dinagepore, Rungpoor, Rajeshahys, Birb DACCA....... hoom, and Moorshedabad. Mymensing, Sylhet, Tipperahe, Chittagong, Backergung, Dacca, and Dacca-gelalpore. The principal towns in Bengal, &c., are Calcutta, Patna, Rakliain, or Arracan, &c., besides which there are about 16,000 villages, containing by a late return 7,781,240 houses. CALCUTTA, the capital of all British India, is situated on the left bank of the Hoogly river, one hundred miles from the sea. The city and suburbs extend along the river more than six miles. The European residences are built in the Grecian style, generally detached, and are situated at the southern part of the city, which is called Chowringhee, or in the suburbs. The natives reside in the Black Town, a congeries of narrow and dirty streets, most of which are lined with mud hovels, but contain also some large houses of the rich Baboos. Fort William stands on the river side, separated from the city by a wide esplanade. It cost £2,000,000, and takes 12,000 or 15,000 to man the works; and the barracks are large enough for 20,000 men. The only other building deserving special notice is the Palace of the Governer-General, which is built in the Ionic style, on the north side of the esplanade. A fine quay, called the Strand, extends between two and three miles along the banks of the river northward from the fort, and a fine drive called the Circular Road. is carried round the whole city, marking the limits of the English law. The river is almost a mile wide, and ships of 600 tons can lay alongside the quay, and at Kidderpore, there are docks in which ships of any size can be built or repaired. There are eleven Christian places of worship, several small mosques and pagodas, and a number of colleges and schools. The popu lation amounts to about 230,000, of which 3,200 are English; 4,800 Eurasians (half-breeds); 3,200 Portuguese; 160 French; 670 Armenians; 360 Chinamen; 300 Jews; 54,000 Mahomedans; 570 Moguls; 40 Parsees; 350 Arabs; 600 Mugs; 55 Mudrasses; and the remainder chiefly Hindoos. Males 145,000-females 85,000. But besides this population there is a daily influx and efflux of from 100,000 to 150,000 from the suburbs and surrounding country. The total population of Calcutta and its suburbs is stated at 665,000. On the west side of the Hoogly there is a splendid Botanic Garden, of 300 acres, and near it, opposite Fort William, is Bishop's College, a large Gothic building, forming three sides of a square. Colonies of other nations except the British. The names of their dimensions and population, are stated in the following I.-BRITISH TERRITORIES. Presidency of Fort William, Bengal. 1. Government of Bengal, Bahar, Orissa, including Assam, 2. Government of Agra or Northwest Provinces. Presidency of Fort St. George, Madras.. Presidency of Bombay.. |