of very ancient date, and must have belonged to a period long anterior to that of the present dynasty.
Agriculture forms the occupation of almost the entire population, rice, grain, and pulse of various kinds being grown for food, and tobacco and jute for exportation. The whole of the land belongs to the Maharajah, the larger farmers being his tenants and sub-letting the land to smaller cultivators, and there are strict laws to prevent their exacting exhorbitant rents. The Maharajah is virtually independent within his own dominions, but he has an English official adviser; and were any very grievous abuses to arise in his administration, the Indian Government would doubtless interfere to put a stop to them, as it has done in so many other cases. Under the rule of the present Prince, however, there is no reason to fear such a complication, for the good effect of his English education is shown in the numerous improvements and reforms which he has introduced in the administration of justice, the development of public works, and the encouragement of education.
The Maharajah himself is an excellent specimen of an educated Hindu gentleman, and exemplifies the ease with which a Bengali assimilates English customs and ideas. On State occasions, when he wears his native dress, adorned with pearls and diamonds of priceless
