A Statistical Account of Bengal : FISHERIES AND BOTANY OF BENGAL

The Statistical Account of Bengal was published in 20 volumes. Each volume proceeds on a uniform pattern. Starting with a description of geography, general aspects and physical features, etc. of each district, it proceeds to a description of its people, their occupations, ethnical divisions and creeds, their material condition and distribution into town and country. Agriculture follows with very revealing information on land tenures, prices and wages, rates of rent and size of land-holdings, and the natural calamities to which the district is subject, Commerce, means of communication, manufactures, capital and interest, and other industrial aspects from the next item. The working of District Administration is then discussed in great detail-its revenue and expenditure; the statistics of protection to person and property, the police, the jails, and the criminal classes; the statistics of education and of the post office, with notices of any local institution, and the statistics of the Administrative Subdivisions. Each account concludes with information on topics like the sanitary aspects of the District, its medical topography, endemic and epidemic diseases, indigenous drugs, medical charities meteorological data, etc. The volumes have immense wealth of knowledge and are of special interest to research scholars, geographers, historians, sociologists, educationists and administrators.