It Is Proper That We Should Give Some Account Of The Rich And Fertile
Kingdom Of Bengal On The Bay Of That Name, Which Receives The Waters Of
The Famous River Ganges By Two Principal Mouths And Many Subordinate
Creeks.
This river has its source in the mountains of Great Tartary,
whence it runs southwards near 600 leagues, dividing India into two
parts infra et extra Gangem, or on this side and the other side of the
Ganges.
On the great eastern mouth of the Ganges stands the city of
Chatigam or Chittagong, and on the western mouth the city of
Satigam[208]. On the east of the Ganges, which runs through the middle
of Bengal, Caor, Camatii, Sirote, Codovascam, Cou, and Tipora were
subject to that kingdom, but the two last uniting together had thrown
off the yoke. On the west of the river, the country of Cospetir, whose
plain is overflowed annually by the Ganges as the land of Egypt by the
Nile, had been conquered by the Patans. According to the Pagans, God
hath granted to the kingdom of Bengal an infinite multitude of infantry,
to Orixa abundance of elephants, to Bisnagar a people well skilled in
using the sword and buckler, to Delhi a prodigious number of towns, and
to Cou innumerable horses. The kingdom of Bengal, reaching between the
latitudes of 22 deg. and 26 deg. 30' N. is well watered and exceedingly fertile,
producing abundance of fruit, with sugar and long pepper, great
quantities of cotton, which the inhabitants manufacture with much skill,
and has great abundance of cattle and poultry.
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