rvels of
the city. A few days' more boating brought him to Rajmahal; "on one
side of which," says he, "the country is called Bengal, and on the
other _Poorb_, or the East"--a name from which the independent dynasty
of Moslem kings, who once ruled in Bengal, assumed the appellation of
_Poorby-Shaby_. He was now among the rice-fields, the extent and
luxuriance of which surprised him: "There are a great variety of
sorts, and if a man were to take a grain of each sort he might soon
fill a _lota_ (water-pot) with them--so innumerable are the different
kinds. The cultivators who have measured the largest species, have
declared them to exceed the length of fifty cubits; but I have never
seen any of this length, though others may have." He now entered the
Bhagirutti, or branch of the Ganges leading to Calcutta, and which
bears in the lower part of its course the better known name of the
Hoogly--while the main stream to the left is again subdivided into
innumerable ramifications, the greater part of which lose themselves
among the vast marshes of the Sunderbunds; but he complains, that
"though by this branch large vessels and steamers pass up and down to
and from the Presidency, the route is very bad, from the extensive
jungles on both banks, which are haunted by Thugs and _Decoits_,
(river pirates:)--indeed I have heard and read, that the shores of the
Ganges have been infested by freebooters, pirates, and thieves of all
sorts, from time immemorial." He escaped unharmed, however, through
these manifold perils; and passing Murshidabad, the ancient capital of
Bengal, and other places of less note, his remarks upon which we shall
not stay to quote, reached the ghauts of Calcutta in safety.

[9] Most of the principal cities of India, in addition
to the ancient name by which they are popularly known,
have another imposed by the Moslems:--thus Agra is
Akbarabad, _the residence of Akbar_--Delhi,
Shahjehanabad; and Patna, Azimabad. In some instances,
as Dowlutabad in the Dekkan, the Hindu name of which is
Deogiri, the Mohammedan appellation has superseded the
ancient name; but, generally speaking, the latter is
that in common use.

A place so often described as the "City of Palaces," presents little
that is novel in the narrative of the khan; but he does full justice
to the splendour of the architecture, which he says "exceeds that of
_China or Ispahan_--a superiority which arises from the immense