vary in different parts of India, necessitating the main tenance of expensive and cumbrous customs lines. This year (1874) an attempt has been made towards the abolition of the Orissa customs line, by means of a graduated scale of salt duty within Orissa, rising by degrees from the Madras duty of 4s. lOd. a cwt. in the extreme south of the province, to the Bengal duty of 8s. 8d. a cwt. in the extreme north. At the present day the greater quantity of salt consumed in Bengal is imported by Liverpool ships from the Cheshire mines. In 1872 the Bengal salt duty yielded a net revenue of 2,610,286.
Trade.—No complete statistics of the internal trade of Bengal exist. The Ganges, the Brahmaputra, and on a much smaller scale, the Mahanadi in Orissa, with the Eastern Bengal Railway and the great East Indian Line, form the main arteries of commerce. From these main channels a network of minor streams, and a fairly adequate although not yet complete system of raised roads, radiate to the remotest districts. The chief articles of internal traffic are the vegetable and mineral productions enumerated above. The larger transactions of commerce are conducted in the great cities, such as Calcutta and Patna, and in a number of purely market centres, such as Nawabganj and Sirajganj, which have recently grown up under British rule. The smaller operations of trade are effected by means of village markets and countless hats or open air weekly bazars in every district. The external trade of Bengal is practi cally confined to Calcutta. There are about ten other ports on the Bay of Bengal, the most important of which is the rice port of Chittagong. But for general purposes the foreign and interportal commerce of Calcutta may be taken to re present that of the province. In 1871-72 it stood thus : exports from Calcutta, 32,771, 152; imports,21, 365,677; total, 54,136,829. The chief articles of export are rice, opium, indigo, jute, tea, oil-seeds, silk, cotton, and fibres. Chief imports, Manchester goods, woollens, salt, coal, iron, metals, liquors, and oilmen s stores.
History.—The history of so large a province as Bengal forms an integral part of the general history of India. (See India.) The northern part, Behar, formed a powerful kingdom in Sanskrit times, and its chief town, Patna, is identified as the Palibothra of the Greeks. The Delta or southern part of Bengal lay beyond the ancient Sanskrit polity, and was governed by a number of local kings belonging to a pre- Aryan stock The Chinese travellers, Fa Hiang in the 5th century, and Hiouen Thsang in the 7th century, found the Buddhist religion prevailing through out Bengal, but already in a fierce struggle with Hinduism a struggle which ended about the 9th or 10th century in the general establishment of the latter faith. Until the end of the 12th century Hindu princes governed in a number of petty principalities, till, in 1199, Muhammad Bakhtiyar Khilji was appointed to lead the first Musalman invasion into Bengal. The Muhammadan conquest of Behar dates from 1200 A.D., and the new power speedily spread south wards into the Delta. From about this date until 1340 Bengal was ruled by governors appointed by the Muham madan emperors in the north. From 1340 to 1539 its governors asserted a precarious independence, and arrogated the position of sovereigns on their own account. From 1540 to 1576 Bengal passed under the rule of the Pathan or Afghan dynasty, which commonly bears the name of Sher Shah. On the overthrow of this house by the power ful arms of Akbar, Bengal was incorporated into the Mughul empire, and administered by governors appointed by the Dehli emperor, until the treaties of 1765, which placed Bengal, Behar, and Orissa under the administration of the East India Company. Until 1854 Bengal remained under the Governor-General of India as governor, his place beiug supplied, during his absence in other parts of India, by a deputy-governor from among the members of his council. By the statute 16 and 17 Viet. cap. 95, these two great offices were separated, and Bengal erected into a Lieutenant-Governorship. The first lieutenant-governor was appointed in 1854, and the constitution of the Government of Bengal still continues on this basis, except that the lieu tenant-governor is now appointed subject to the approval of Her Majesty. In a brief sketch like the present it is impossible to attempt further historical details beyond a bare list of the successive rulers, and the dates of their accession.
First Period.
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A.D. A.H. Governors of Bengal. Emperors of Hindustan. Kings of England 1204 600 Bakhttyar Khilji Kutab John 1206 602 Muhammad Sheran Do. Do. 1208 605 Ali Mardan Do. Do. 1212 609 Ghyas Uddin Altamsh Do. 1227 624 Nasir Uddin Do. Henry III. 1230 627 Ala Uddin Do. Do. 1237 634 Tughan Khan Sultana Rizia Do. 1244 642 Taimur Khan Bahram II. Do. 1246 644 Saif Uddin ( Nasir Uddin ) / Muhammad Do. 1253 651 Mulk Uzbek Do. Do. 1257 656 Jalal Uddin Do. Do. 1258 657 Irsilan Khan Do. Do. 1200 659JTatar Khan Do. Do. 1277 676;Tughral Khan Balin Edward I. 1282 681 Nasir Uddin Do. Do. 1325| 725 Kadr Khan Muhammad III. Edward II.
Second Period.
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1340 741 Fakir Uddin Muhammad III. Edward III. 1343 743llyas Shah Do. Do. 1358 760 Sikandar Shah Firuz III. Do. 1367 769 Ghiyas Uddin II. Do. Do. 1373 775 Sultan Asalatin Do. Do. 1383 785 Sams Uddin Do. Richard II. 1385 787 Raja Ganes Do. Do. 1392 794 Jalal Uddin Muhammad IV. Do. 1409 812 Ahmad Shah Mahmud III. Henry IV. 1426 830 Nasir Shah Mubarik II. Henry VI. 1457 862 ! Barbek Shah Beloli Ladi Do. 1474 879jYusaf Shah Do. Edward IV. 1482 887jFathi Shah Do. Do. 1491 896 Sultan Shahzadeh Sikandar Henry VII. 1492 897 Firuz Shah Do. Do. 1494 899 Mahmud Shah Do. Do. 1495 900! Muzaffar Shah Do. Do. 1499 905 Husain Shah Do. Do. 1520 927 Nasirat Shah Ibrahim Henry VIII. 1533 940 Mahmud Shah Humayun Do.
Third Period.
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1539 946 Khizir Khan Sher Shah Henry VIII. 1545 952 Muhammad Sur Salim Shah Do. 1555 962 Bahadur Shah Muhammad Adil Mary 1560 968 Jalal Uddin Do. Elizabeth 1564 971 Sulaiman Kerdni Do. Do. 1573 981,Daud Khan Akbar Do.
Fourth Period.
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1576 984 Khan Jahan Akbar Eli abeth 1579 987 Muzaffar Khan Do. Do.
- 1580 988 Raja Todarmal
Do. Do. 1582 990, Khan Azim Do. Do. 1584 992Shahbaz Khan Do. Do. 1589 997 Raja Mansinh Do. Do. 1606 1015 Kutal Uddin Kokaltash Jahangir James I. 1607|1016,Jahangir Kuli Do.
Do.