The coast of Bengal commences at the town of Pifley on the Subunreeka river, about 22 miles N. E. from Balasore, in latitude 21° 42'. This was formerly a port of consider able trade, but it is now little frequented, in consequence of the flood having formed a dangerous bar across the mouth of the river, as well as washed away a great part of the town itself. The course of the Ganges to the sea has been already described. Across the entrance of the Hooghly, or western branch of it, there are several sounds, which render the navigation difficult and dangerous, par ticularly two, called the eastern and western sea reefs. The whole of the coast from the western to the eastern mouth of the Ganges consists of low islands, divided from one another by inferior branches of the river, and inter sected in almost every direction by creeks. The coast of Chittagong, a district lying at the south-eastern extremity of the province of Bengal, is divided from that province by the eastern mouth of the Ganges; and from Aracan, a province in the Birman Empire, by the river Naup. On this coast there is one good port, Islemabad, about two leagues and a half off the river of Chittagong. Ships of considerable tonnage are built here. To the south of the river on which Islemabad stands there is an island called Kuttubdea, separated from the continent by a strait in no place more than two miles broad. This island is about four leagues long, and one league broad: it is divided into two by a creek. To the south of Kuttubdea is Mascale Island, larger and of greater elevation. The coast which we have described, from Cape ,Comorin to Chittagong, forms the western side, and the bottom of the Bay of Ben gal. The western side stretches from Cape Comorin to Balasore; that is, from latitude 7° 57' to latitude 21° 31', and the bottom of the bay from Balasore to Chittagong, or 4° 53' difference of longitude. The depth of water on the western side is very great, at a comparatively short distance from the shore, there being no soundings about 30 miles off. At the bottom of the bay, however, the sea is shallow. The British and their allies are in possession of all the sea coast of Hindostan, except that part of it which stretches from the small islands to the south of Bombay, To discuss fully the natural history of India, and parti cularly those branches of it which relate to botany and zoology, would require much more ample space than can possibly he allotted to this article. It will be necessary to be both select and minute in the description of the botany and zoology of India. The mineralogy, not presenting either such ample or such characteristic materials, will be treated of with comparatively less brevity. With regard to its botany, we shall select for notices and description those plants chiefly which are used for the purposes of medicine, food, the arts, or domestic purposes, or which are distinguished by the beauty and elegance of their form or flowers.
Acacia Catechu, Catechu, called in the province of Ba bar Cocra, grows in abundance in most of thc mountain ous districts of Hindostan. The extract from it, which is called cult by the natives of Ilindostan, catch by the Eng lish, and by different authors khaath, rate, catcchu, Etc. is brought to England both from Bengal and Bombay. Ac cording to the analysis of Sir Humphry Davy, the variety which comes from Bombay contains 109 of tannin, 63 of extractive matter, 13 of mucilage, and 10 of earths, and other impurities in 100 parts; and the variety from Ben gal, 97 of tannin, 73 of extract, 16 of mucilage, and 14 of impurities. The name catechu, under which it is now more generally known, is derived from two oriental words, rate a tree, and chu juice. This species of acacia seldom
exceeds 12 feet in height. The catechu is extracted from the inner wood. Acacia Arabica, the Babul tree of the Ilindoos, grows in great abundance all over the Deean. Its flower is rather beautiful, consisting of a bright yellow ball, which is very sweet scented. The wood is hard and tough, and is considered to make the best wheels and axle trees of any in India. Its bark is used for tanning. The gum drawn from it resembles in its qualities gum arable so nearly, that it is used instead of it for all purposes in Ilindostan. In Guzerat, especially in the wastes, the Ba bul tree is very common. The poor inhabitants of this province used its gum as food. It is planted in some places to protect the villages and farm yards. It was formerly supposed that catechu was extracted From the nut of the areca ; but this does not appear to be correct. The areea, however, which is'a species of palm, is cultivated nearly over the whole of India for its nuts, which are used by the natives, mixed with the leaves of the betel, pepper, and a little quicklime or chunum, in the same manner as to bacco is used by Europeans. This tree is seldom met with in a wild state. It however grows spontaneously on all the hills in South Concar, and in North Carrara. None of it grows above the Ghauts. In Malabar there grows, or is prepared, a sort of red areca, which is used in Besides the areca;there are a great variety of other trees of the palm kind in India. The cocoa nut tree is found every where, - especially On the coasts of Malabar and Coromandel, as it requires a low sandy soil. On the higher grounds, the cocoa-nut tree begins to yield its fruit when seven or eight years old. How long it lives cannot be ascertained; but it undoubtedly attains a very great age. If the trees are of good quality and young, they m ill supply 1CO nuts annually, which are ripe at all seasons of thc year. But the benefits which the natives derive from the tree are by no means confined to its nuts. It supplies oil for the lamp; coir cables are made from the fibrous covering of the nut; toddy or arrack is supplied by the juice of this and several other species of palm trees; and though the British confound all the kinds of arraek, the natives have distinct names for each kind of juice. What is drawn off in the night is the sweetest. It is curious to see the bandaris, or toddy gatherers, the short stems of the palms; having tied their ancles close together, they pass a band round the ti cc and round their waist, and, placing their feet to the root of the tree, they lean upon the band, and with their hands and feet climb nimbly up a tree without branches 50 feet high, carrying with them a bill or hatchet to make fresh incisions, or to renew the old ones, and a jar to bring down the toddy, which is received in a pot tied to the tree, and emptied every 12 hours." Graham's Residence in India, p. 26. Propel ly speaking, the arrack is the juice or toddy prepared by ; and the apparatus em ployed for this purpose is very simple. Besides the toddy, a fermented juice, jaghery, or an inspissated juice, is made from the palmyra, and other species of palm. In Bengal, the toddy and jaghery produced from the wild date are the most esteemed; but in the Jaghire district of the Carnage, where the palmyra thrives extremely well, and requites little care or attention, the toddy and jaghery from it arc considered the best. The leaves of the cocoa nut tree are used to cover the houses, and out of two of them plaited together, the peasants form a kind of cloak, which defends them from the rain while working in the fields.