“ But an insidious change in its once healthy climate had begun to work its decay; the area of cultivated land round it had shrunk to vanishing point, jungle haunted by wild beasts taking its place; and in 1813 its ruin was completed by a sudden change in the course of the Bhagirathi, which formed a new channel 3 m. from the old town, leaving an evil-smelling swamp around the ancient wharves. Of its splendid buildings the fine palace of the maharaja of Cossimbazar alone remains, the rest being in ruins or represented only by great mounds of earth. ”