HATTIA ISLE, an island in the province of Bengal, situated at the mouth of the Ganges, between the latitudes of 22 and 23 degrees north; and supposed to have been formed by the mud washed down that river and the Brahmaputra. It is estimated to be fourteen miles in length by ten in breadth; it is low in the surface, and great part of it is covered by the spring tides. There is here a manufacture of salt by the Company, which is of a very good quality, and brings a high price at the Company's sales. In 1607 the island was taken possession of by the Portuguese pirates, who retained it for several years; but it was recovered from them by the troops of the rajah of Arracan, and was retained for fifty years, till it was taken in 1664 by the nabob Shaista Khan. The climate is very unhealthy; and it is surrounded by sand-banks, and consequently difficult of approach from the sea.