B ramnec
R iv e r .
refembled the former, having been formerly the joint tenements
of the lord and his family, fervants, and every domeftic
animal.
C a p e P a lm ir a s . C a p e Palmiras, the antient Pmmontorium Calingon, projects
into the fea, in Lat. 20° 43', fome leagues beyond the eaftern
mouth of the Cattack. It is an iiland diftinguiihed by its palm-
trees, and was a place on which our Eaft India Company did
deiign to ereft a light-houfe for the direction of ihips round
that point, and into Bali/ore road. The land from Palmiras
bends inward, and forms a large femilunar bay, ending at the
entrance into Hoogly river, the moft weftern branch of the
Ganges.
I m m e d i a t e l y within the bay the river Bramnec falls into
the fea by the town of Kannaka, and is, I fufpect, miftaken by
M. d'Anville for the Cambyfum OJlium o f Ptolemy. The river
there is capable of receiving a ihip o f two hundred tons : This
is the Adamas fluvius o f Ptolemy, fo named from the gems found
in its neighborhood. A diamond mine is at this time worked on
one of its branches, called the Soank, remote from the mouth.
The inhabitants o f this diftriit are induftrious, and are engaged
in huibandry, fpinning, and weaving, and make a great deal of
butter. The country from hence to Balafore is extremely fertile
; it alfo produces iron in great plenty, which, inftead of
being hammered, is caft in molds for anchors, which are inferior
in goodnefs to thofe of Europe. All the ihore (which is the
whole way fandy) during the laying feafon is fwarming with
tortoifes, I fuppofe the green, which refort here to difcharge
their eggs : this I give on the authority of Hamilton. On that
of
of* my friend Docftor Patrick Rujfel I may add, that one nearly
related to my Coriaceous tortoife, Br. Zool. iii. N° 1, has been
taken of the weight of a thoufand pounds; from him I alfo
learned that the long-tailed fpecies, the Tejludo ferpentina, was
alfo a native o f this country.
Of land fpecies the Tejludo fcabra, de la Cepede, tab. x. La
Chagrinée, tab. xi. La RouJJatre, tab. xii. T. Lutaria, tab. iv.
T. Grdca, tab. viii.
Balafore is the firft place on this fide which lies in the great B a lasore.
province of Bengal ; it ftands in Lat. 21° 32', on a fmall river,
and is by land only four, by water twenty miles from the fea.
Its diftrift is amazingly fruitful in pulfe, and moft fpecies of
edible vegetables, fuch as Dol, Gram, Callivancoes, rice, and even
wheat, a grain which providentially will grow in both the
torrid and ar£tic regions. The manufacftures are very con-
fiderable in all branches of the cotton.'
This city has alfo a confiderable trade with the Maldive ifles, T r ad e.
which it fupplies with rice and other grain, and receives in
return Cowries| and Kaiar, or coco-nut cables. Pilots are here
always ready to carry the fhipping into the Hoogly river during
the feafon ; this coaft is extremely dangerous, as is evident by
the number of wrecks that cover the ihore. About Balafore,
the tides begin to fhew marks of confinement ; the fpring tide
rifes ten feet, the neap feven.
A Squirrel is found here in fome refpects refembling the S q u ir r e l .
Bombay, ^ 336, nofe pink-colored ; face, fore part of the. neck,
fore legs, belly and infide of the thighs yellow; ears much
VoL. IT. U . tufted,