Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 23.6

23.6

In describing the beauty of Bengale, it should be remarked that throughout a country extending nearly an hundred leagues in length, on both banks of the Ganges, from Raje-Mehale to the sea, is an endless number of channels, cut, in bygone ages, from that river with immense labour, for the conveyance of merchandise and of the water itself, which is reputed by the Indians to be superior to any in the world. These channels are lined on both sides with towns and villages, thickly peopled with Gentiles; and with extensive fields of rice, sugar, corn, three or four sorts of vegetables, mustard, sesame for oil, and small mulberry-trees, two or three feet in height, for the food of silk-worms. But the most striking and peculiar beauty of Bengale is the innumerable islands filling the vast space between the two banks of the Ganges, in some places six or seven days' journey asunder. These islands vary in size, but are all extremely fertile, surrounded with wood, and abounding in fruit-trees, and pine-apples, and covered with verdure; a thousand water-channels run through them, stretching beyond the sight, and resembling long walks arched with trees. Several of the islands, nearest to the sea, are now abandoned by the inhabitants, who were exposed to the attacks and ravages of the Arracan pirates, spoken of in another place.