sugar. This part of the country is of a similar character to the ‘sugar tract’ in Jessor; and a description of its physical features, and of the whole process of sugar-refining, will be found in my Statistical Account of that District. Excepting a tract of jungle on the right bank of the Piálí River, south-east of Calcutta, another tract near the Salt-Water Lake, and a third on the left bank of the Káindí River, called the Telekhálí Jungle, there is but little waste land in the 24 Parganás north of the Sundarbans. Where such land exists, it is utilized for thatching-grass. The general shape of the District is an irregular parallelogram.
River System.—The whole water supply of the 24 Parganás is derived from the Ganges and its deltaic distributaries. Any attempt to give a list of the streams and channels must fail either in completeness or intelligibility. They constantly change their names at different parts of their course, re-enter their parent channels, and then again break away from them, or temporarily combine to form new ones. The following pages endeavour to give an adequate account of them, without altogether sacrificing clearness of narration. The principal rivers in the 24 Parganás to the north of the Sundarbans are—(1) the Húglí, (2) the Bidyádharí (called also in different parts of its course the Haruá Gáng and Noná Khál), (3) the Piálí, (4) the Kálindí, (5) the Jamuná or Ichhámatí, (6) the Kholpetuá, and (7) the Kabadak, all of which are navigable by native trading boats of the largest size throughout the year. The secondary rivers are—(8) Kalyán Khál, (9) the Galghasiá or Bánstálá, (10) the Guntiá Khálí, (11) the Sobnáli (called also Kundriá or Bengdaha), (12) the Betná or Budhátá, and (13) the Sonái. The following is a brief account of each of the above rivers, their courses and most important tributaries north of the Sundarbans, where they split up into a network of channels, and finally combine into estuaries.
The Hugli enters the District from Nadiyá at Bágher-Khál, whence it flows in a southerly direction to Calcutta, below which it turns off first nearly due west, and then south-west as far as Achipur, from which point its course runs generally southwards till it falls into the Bay of Bengal. The towns situated on its east bank within the District are—Barrackpur, a Military Station; and about sixteen miles lower down, Calcutta. On the opposite bank of the river, but not within the limits of the 24 Parganás, the principal places, travelling from north to south, are—Bandel, formerly a
