A History of Agriculture in India v2.c83.s3.t2.2

v2.c83.s3.t2.2

‘In describing the beauty of Bengal,’ states Bernier, ‘it should be remarked that throughout a country extending nearly an hundred leagues in length, on both banks of the Ganges, from Raje-Mahale 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 (61 to 91 cm) in height, for the food of silk-worms. But the most striking and peculiar beauty of Bengal 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.