Travels in India (Tavernier) 21.3.2

21.3.2

Dacca is a large town, which is only of extent as regards length, each person being anxious to have his house close to the Ganges. This length exceeds 2 coss; and from the last brick bridge, which I have mentioned above, up to Dacca, there is a succession of houses, separated one from the other, and inhabited for the most part by the carpenters who build galleys and other vessels. These houses are, properly speaking, only miserable huts made of bamboo, and mud which is spread over them. Those of Dacca are scarcely better built, and that which is the residence of the Governor is an enclosure of high walls, in the middle of which is a poor house merely built of wood. He ordinarily resides under tents, which he pitches in a large court in this enclosure. The Dutch, finding that their goods were not sufficiently safe in the common houses of Dacca, have built a very fine house, and the English have also got one which is fairly good. The church of the Rev. Augustin Fathers is all of brick, and the workmanship of it is rather beautiful. On the occasion of my last visit to Dacca, the Nawáb Shaistá Khán, who was then Governor of Bengal, was at war with the King of Arakan, whose navy generally consists of 200 galleys together with several other small boats. These galleys traverse the Gulf of Bengal and enter the Ganges, the tide ascending even beyond Dacca.