they are sometimes allowed to mitigate and even to avert the infliction of punishment, and they uniformly oblige us to respect while we condemn. ART. VI. Remarks on the Husbandry and internal Commerce of Bengal. 8vo. pp. 206. 5s. 6d. Boards. Blacks and Parry. OUR UR empire in the East is now so vast and important, that it is most devoutly to be wished that Science should concur with Policy in promoting its stability and advancement. It is to us a circumstance of pleasing contemplation, that, though Commerce is the first object of our connection with the Eastern world, literature is not neglected, and that the number of students of Asiatic learning is continually increasing. We have shewn our rivals, who have affected to regard us as a nation of shop-keepers, that we look into other books besides the Ledger; and that. with our own interest we connect the melioration and comfort of those with whom we maintain intercourse. The climate and localities of Asia are indeed so different from those of our own country, that the British farmer can obtain no hints for practice from remarks on the Husbandry of Bengal: but the volume before us will be interesting to the philosopher, both as conveying information to him, and as suggesting an agreeable reflection on the agricultural improvement of a large district of Asia, by the diffusion of European knowlege and skill among its cultivators. It is, we believe, admitted that we surpass all nations in the construction of implements of husbandry; and if we can prevail on the Bengal farmer to adopt an English pleugh, we shall enable him to perform his work with more facility as well as more perfectly, thus increasing to him the produce of the soil. Sufficient evidence is given in this work, to prove that Agriculture in Bengal, though it furnishes a great variety of crops, is scarcely intitled to the appellation of a science, and that it admits of amendments which our enlightened farmers could easily specify. Perhaps the state of society, and the habits of the country, where the cultivator and manufacturer are constantly united, (to say nothing of tenure and occupancy,) must prevent any very extensive alterations for the better: but a considerable effect would be ensured by the single circumstance of substituting a plough that will turn over the soil, for one that only scratches it. In a commercial view, the state of our Eastern possessions is capable of great amelioration. They would furnish, by proper management, at a low price, various objects of exportation We have with which we are supplied from other countries. The author, indeed, calls this an unfinished treatise: yet we are disposed to regard it with indulgence; and, while merit is due to him for the report which he has given, we trust that the magnitude of the object will induce others of our countrymen to follow him in the same track. The present remarks formed part of a work written by several gentlemen, and printed for private circulation several years ago at Calcutta ; and they are now published by themselves, in consequence of the death of the gentlemen by whom the chief part of the remainder was written, which had never received the corrections of the author.-The volume contains accounts of the aspect, climate, soil, and inhabitants of Bengal; of its population, husbandry, and tenures; of the profits of husbandry, and of its internal commerce; and of the several objects of exportation. A tolerable idea is given of the climate and soil of Bengal, in the subsequent extract: The seasons of Bengal conform with the changes of the prevailing winds. They are commonly distinguished by the terms of cold, hot and rainy; but the natives, on the result of closer ob servation, subdivide them, and reckon six seasons, each containing two months. The spring and the dry season occupy four months, during which the heat progressively increases until it becomes almost intolerable even to the natives themselves. In the middle parts of Bengal, however, the extreme sultriness of the weather is moderated by occasional thunder-storms, accompanied by rain or hail, and driven by sudden gusts of north west wind. In the eastern districts, milder showers of rain are still more frequent and refresh the heated atmosphere. But, in Bihar, and in districts contiguous to it, a parching wind from the westward prevails during a large portion of the hot It blows with great strength during the day, but is com monly succeeded at night by a cool breeze in the contrary direction; and it sometimes ceases for days or weeks, giving way to easterly gales, Beyond the limits of Bihar, the parching winds are still more prevalent; refreshing breezes, or cooling showers of rain and hail, more season. rarc. • At length the scorched inhabitants are relieved by the rainy season; which, in general, commences nearly at the same time throughout the whole province. During the two first months, according to the usual course of seasons, the rain is heavy and continual; in this period an intermission of many successive days is rare, and the rain' pours pours with such force and continuance, that three, four, and even five, inches of water have fallen in a single day. In the two subsequent months, the intermissions are more frequent and of longer duration; and the heat and closeness of the weather has entitled this season to the name of sultry. The rivers and the Ganges especially, which had begun to rise even before the commencement of the rainy season, continue to increase during the two first months of it, and the Ganges reaches its greatest height in the third. By this time all the rivers of Bengal are swoln, and the Delta of the Ganges is overflowed; other portions of Bengal are indeed exempted from annual inundation; but they sometimes experience it as a calamity, in years when a sudden and uncommon fall of rain swells the rivers beyond the level which they usually attain. This temporary variation in the quantity of water does not much affect the general average of the year: for, the annual fall of rain, in the lower parts of Bengal, is seldom short of seventy inches and as seldom exceeds eighty. At the approach of winter, the rivers begin to decrease, showers cease to fall, and the inundation gradually drains off or evaporates. Fogs, the natural consequences of such evaporation in cold weather, are frequent in most parts of Bengal proper. Dew, at this season, is every where abundant and penetrating; and, in the higher latitudes of India, as well as in the mountainous tracts of it, frost and extreme cold are experienced. Even in the flat country, ice is obtained by the simple artifice of assisting evaporation in porous vessels, although the atmosphere be much warmer than the freezing temperature; and a blighting frost is sometimes deplored in Bihar and Benares. The natives do therefore not improperly distinguish the winter into two seasons, the frosty and the dewy. It must, however, be remarked, that dews are copious in Bengal throughout the whole winter, and greatly assist vegetation, affording nearly as much moisture as corn requires in a soil so loose, though retentive, as that which is most prevalent throughout the province. The general soil of Bengal is clay, with a considerable proportion of siliceous sand, fertilised by various salts, and by decayed substances, animal and vegetable. In the flat country, sand is every where the basis of this stratum of productive earth; it indicates an accession of soil on land which has been gained by the dereliction of water. The progress of this operation of nature presents itself to the view in the deviations of the great rivers of Bengal, where changes are often sudden and their dates remembered. A period of thirty years scarcely covers the barren sand with soil sufficient to fit it for rewarding the labours of the husbandman; the lapse of a century does not remove it half a span from the surface. In tracts, which are annually inundated, the progress is more rapid; and that, for obvious reasons, which equally explain why such tracts exhibit a greater depth of productive soil and a larger proportion of clay than other regions. A compound of calcareous and siliceous earth assumes, in many places, a firm texture and forms a stone named Kunkur. In some parts, iron ore enters into the composition and gives it a still firmer texture. A similar accretion of sand and clay bears the same appellatiou. ceous stones of various kinds, which have fallen from the hills, che-. Sili quer quer the contiguous plains, and form one more exception to general uniformity. If the variable proportions of clay and sand, and the circumstances of frequent alterations in the channels of rivers, be con. sidered, great inequality of soil may be expected, though it be composed of few substances. In his progress through Bengal, the traveller will not confine himself to remark the natural diversity in the aspect of the country, but will compare the neat habitations of the peasants, who reside in hilly regions, with the wretched huts of those who inhabit the plain; and the contrast may suggest a reflection, how little the richest productions and most thriving manufactures contribute to the general comfort of the people at large.' Calculations are made to ascertain the amount of the popu lation, the whole of which, including the province of Benares, the author estimates at not less than 27,000,000, and he states the number of acres in tillage at 31,335,570. The line of the poet "Man wants but little here below" applies with singular justice to the inhabitants of Bengal, who live chiefly on rice and salt, and for whose annual consump tion the produce of one acre of tilled ground nearly suffices. Among the articles of Asiatic husbandry, are enumerated, rice, corn, pulse of different kinds, mustard, linseed, sesamum, palmachristi for the purpose of obtaining vegetable oils, tobacco, sugar, indigo, cotton, poppy, and the mulberry for silk-worms. The mode of culture in all cases is very simple: The plough is drawn by a single yoke of oxen, guided by the ploughman himself. Two or three pairs of oxen, assigned to each plough, relieve each other, until the daily task be completed. Several ploughs in succession deepen the same furrows, or rather scratch the surface; for the implement, which is used throughout India, wants a contrivance for turning the earth, and the share has neither width nor depth to stir a new soil. A second ploughing crosses the first, and a third is sometimes given diagonally to the preceding, These frequently repeated, and followed by the substitute for the har Tow, pulverise the surface, and prepare it for the reception of seed. The field must be watched for several days, after it has been sown, to defend it from the depredations of numerous flocks of birds. This is commonly the occupation of children, stationed to scare the birds from the new sown ground. It is also necessary to prolong the defence of the field in those districts which are much infested by wild boars, buffaloes, and deer. For this purpose a stage is crected, and a watchman is stationed on it at night to scare wild animals, should they approach. In all districts, mays and some sorts of millet, when nearly arrived at maturity, generally need defence from the depredations of birds by day and of large bats by night. For this purpose, also, a watchman is placed on an elevated stage; and other expediente, These expedients common in all countries, are likewise resorted to. add neither to the expense nor to the toils of husbandry; but the employment of watchmen must be counted as some addition to the labour of agriculture.' A long chapter details the tenures of occupants, the property of the soil, rents and duties, &c., but we shall pass this over, as not very intelligible to the European reader. It does not appear that the profits of farming are considerable in Bengal, though the price of labour is less than 2d. sterling per day. We are informed that, of all rural objects, the Bengal peasant is most attached to his native soil by his Orchard: • He feels a superstitious predilection for the trees planted by his ancestor, and derives comfort and even profit from their fruit. Orchards of mango-trees diversify the plains in every part of Bengal. The delicious fruit, exuberantly borne by them, is a wholsome variety in the diet of the Indian, and affords him gratification and even nou rishment. The palmyra abounds in Bihar: the juice extracted, by wounding its summit, becomes, when fermented, an intoxicating beverage, which is eagerly sought by numerous natives, who violate the precepts of both the Hindu and Mahomedan religions by the use of inebriating liquors. The coco nut thrives in those parts of Bengal which are not remote from the tropic: this nut contains a milky juice grateful to the palate, and is so much sought by the Indian, that it even becomes an object of exportation to distant provinces. The date-tree grows every where, but especially in Bihar; the wounded trunk of this tree yields a juice which is similar to that of the palmyra, and from which sugar is not unfrequently extracted. Plantations of areca are common in the centrical parts of Bengal: its nut, which is universally consumed throughout India, affords considerable profit to the planters. The bassia thrives even on the poorest soils, and abounds in the hilly districts; its inflated corols are esculent and nutritious, and yield by distillation an intoxicating spirit; and the oil, which is expressed from its seed, is in mountainous countries a common substitute for butter.' On the preparation of Opium, the commerce of which is monopolized by the English Company, this brief notice is subjoined: The preparation of the raw opium is under the immediate superintendence of the agent or of the contractor. It consists in evaporating, by exposure to the sun, the watery particles, which are replaced by oil of poppy seed, to prevent the drying of the resin. The opium is then formed into cakes, and covered with the petals of the poppy; and, when sufficiently dried, it is packed in chests, with frag. ments of the capsules from which poppy-seeds have been thrashed out. This preparation, though simple, requires expert workmen able to detect the many adulterations which are practised on the raw juice. The adulteration of prepared opium is yet more difficult to discover. It has been supposed to be commonly vitiated with an extract |