taining the names of all the officers and men, is all that now remains. Dum-dum appears first to have been used as a practice-ground for artillery in 1775: the Cantonment was marked out by Colonel Duff in 1783. . . . At Dum-dum, on the 6th February 1757, was concluded the treaty by which the Nawáb of Bengal ratified all privileges previously enjoyed by the English, made restitution of Calcutta, Kásimbázár, and Dacca, permitted Calcutta to be fortified, and granted freedom of trade and liberty to establish a mint.’ The barracks are brick-built and very commodious. The bázár is situated some distance from the lines. The strength of the force stationed there on the 31st March 1873 was as follows:—Headquarters of 62d Foot, consisting of 12 officers and 626 non-commissioned officers and rank and file; and a detachment of the 27th Native Infantry, consisting of 2 native officers and 108 non-commissioned officers and rank and file. Total strength of troops, English and Native, 12 European and 2 Native officers, and 734 non-commissioned officers and men; total of all ranks, 748.
The foregoing are the towns in the District containing a population of five thousand souls and upwards. There are, however, several other towns and villages, which, although containing a smaller population, and not shown in the Census Report, are deserving of notice here.
Port Canning.—Of these, the most important is the Port and Town of Canning, situated on the Matlá River, in lat. 22° 19' 15" N., long. 88° 43' 20" E. It occupies a tongue of land round which sweep the collected waters of the Bidyádharí, Karatoyá, and Athárabánká Rivers, forming the Matlá, which then takes a fairly straight course southwards to the sea. The history of this hitherto unsuccessful effort to create an auxiliary harbour to Calcutta dates from the year 1853. It is now (1873) practically abandoned as an attempted seat of maritime trade; but before entering into its history, I may mention its capabilities when I visited it in 1869-70, in case it should ever be resuscitated. The junction of the rivers formed a fine sheet of water, with twenty-one feet at dead low tide at the jetties which the Port Canning Company had constructed. Ships drawing twenty-three feet could discharge their cargo without grounding, as they would lie six feet from the jetty side. Seven moorings were laid down, one off each jetty, the maximum length of the moorings being from 320 to 420 feet. Five jetties were formed on the Matlá River, opposite Canning Strand, and two
