RAJEMAL, or RAJEMAHAL, an extensive but unproductive district of Bengal, situated about the twenty-fifth degree of north latitude. It has on the north Purneah and Dinagepoor, on the south the large zemindary of Raueshy, on the east Dinagepoor and Raueshy, and on the west Monghir and Purneah. It is situated on the western bank of the Ganges, and comprises a great extent of waste and mountainous territory, inhabited in many parts by the aborigines of the country, who speak a distinct language, and differ entirely from the Hindus of Bengal in their manners, as they eat without scruple all kinds of animals. They are mostly low in stature, but strong and well proportioned. There are many of them under five feet ten inches, and more under five feet than above it. They have generally flattened noses, and lips thicker than the inhabitants of the plains. The country is for the most part barren and sandy. The soil in the vicinity of Rajemahal is said to be composed of a mixture of granite rock, which is not to be found lower down the river. The plains produce wheat and barley, and the villages abound with mango-trees of excellent quality. Indian corn and other grains form part of the crops, as well as rice, the mulberry tree, and the indigo plant. The castor-oil plant is raised in great quantities in the field; and in the jungles, which occupy large tracts of the country, the grass grows to the height of eight or ten feet, and is adorned at the top with a beautiful white down, resembling swans' feathers. These jungles afford shelter to numerous tigers, bears, and other wild beasts. It was in this district that the experiment was first tried of
granting lands to the native invalid officers and soldiers, on condition of their residing upon them and cultivating them. In this manner was formed in the wilds the village of Sicligully; and this measure has been attended with the best effects, so that the traveller now passes with as much safety from human foes, in this district, as in any other part of the country. The territory is separated from Bahar by a range of hills, the Rajemahal Hills, compared by Bishop Heber to the hills of Cheshire, and consisting of a coarse granite. Through these hills are several passes, the chief of which is Terragully, up a narrow winding road, where there is a ruined gateway and fort, which formerly commanded the high road leading from Moorsshedabad to Patna, and was considered as the key of Bengal. The roads are generally indifferent, owing to the force of the torrents during the rains, which bar up the bridges, and carry devastation throughout the country. The principal articles of traffic are common Hindustanee bedsteads, wood, planks, charcoal, cotton, honey, plantains, and sweet potatoes, which are exchanged for salt, tobacco, rice, cloth, iron heads for arrows, hatchets, crooks, and iron instruments. Their domestic animals are hogs, goats, and fowls, besides cats and dogs. The people of these mountains, observes Bishop Heber, and of all the hilly country between Sicligully and Burdwan, are a distinct race from those of the plain, in features, language, civilization, and religion. They have neither castes nor Hindu deities, and are even said to have no idols. They are still more naked than even the Hindu peasants, and live chiefly by the chase, pursuing their game with bows and arrows. Some few of them have fire-arms. Until within the last fifty years, a deadly feud existed between them and the cultivators of the neighbouring lands, upon which they were continually making forays; and being both thieves and murderers, they were shot without mercy by the zemindars, in the same manner as tigers or other wild beasts. But by the wise and benevolent management of an excellent young man, judge and magistrate of Boglipoor, these rude tribes were reclaimed from their barbarous habits by just and merciful treatment, all violence on the part of the zemindars being forbidden, and promptly punished. He took other methods of conciliating their favour, and engaged several of them to enter his service; he established bazaars at the villages nearest them, and encouraged them to bring for sale game, millet, wax, hides, and honey, which are produced abundantly in their hills; he gave them wheat and barley for seed; and, finally, he raised amongst them a corps of Sepoys, who were established at Sicligully, and gave the command of them to a native chief, named Jowrah, who, Bishop Heber remarks, was the Rob Roy, or more properly the Roderick Dhu, of the Rajemahals, but who fully justified the judgment and discrimination of Mr Cleveland's choice. "This good and wise man," adds Bishop Heber, a pattern himself of the same qualities, "died in 1784, at the early age of twenty-nine. In honour of his memory, a monument, in the form of a pagoda, was erected by the zemindars and others, at the expense of government." The principal towns are Rajemal and Maulda, and the chief river the Ganges, but it is intersected by a variety of smaller streams in all directions.