a district in the province of Bengal, a considerable proportion of which, called Boklah, extends along the western bank of the great Ganges, nearly to its mouth, at the island of Ramabad, which forms the south-east angle of the Bengal Delta. About the year 1584 part of this district was laid waste by an inundation of the ocean, from which it has never yet recovered. The other parts, however, are extremely productive, being fertilized by the inundations of the river, and yielding annually two crops of rice. It is very unhealthy, owing to the damp, and is infested with tigers and alligators of an enormous size; and by the still greater plague of river pirates, who have had their abode there from time immemorial, and plunder, and frequently murder, those who fall into their power, or torture them in order to extort from them a disclosure of their hidden wealth. All the efforts of the British government to suppress this banditti have hitherto failed, although a strong establishment of boats and sepoys is maintained at the town of Backergunge, which is the capital of the district, and the residence of the judge and magistrate. It is 120 miles east of Calcutta. Long. 89. 20. E. Lat. 22. 42. N.

BACKING the SAILS, in Navigation, is to arrange them in a situation that will force the ship to move backwards.