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daring the flood seasons, there daily passes down 

 this river, a mass of matter equal to seventy-four 

 times the weight of the Great Pyramid of Egypt. 

 It is the alluvial soil thus transported by the great 

 rivers of the world, gradually deposited and silently 

 accumulated through ages, that has formed those 

 deltas, the productive resources of which surpass 

 those of all other lands. Arid the most remarkable 

 perhaps of these, is the delta formed by the 

 Gauges and Brahmaputra, the entire of which will 

 one day, probably, be reclaimed, and form the richest 

 tract of country in India. 



We are thus taught an instructive lesson by 

 nature, who, if she takes a portion of the water 

 which the Earth sends forth, returns it to her in the 

 form of rain, giving back to succeeding generations 

 of man, rich and fertile plains in lieu of the sediment 

 received with the waters. Consequent, in a great 

 measure, on causes of this nature, the revenues of 

 the province of Bengal are nearly equal to a third of 

 the revenues of the whole peninsula of India ; and, 

 setting aside the questions of humanity, and profit, and 

 taking into consideration, only, the immense loss of 

 productive labor and wealth to the country by the 

 distructive ravages of famines, if future experience 

 establishes, even problematically, that a judicious 

 system of roads and water-works, would relieve it 

 irom these visitations,* there would clearly be room 



* See Col. Baird Smith's remarks, regarding- the Ganges 

 Canal, in his report on the Famine of 1861. 



