406 
“Ganges. seven or eiglit miles. An instance is mentioned ‘by 
<=" Rennell, in which a boat was carried, against a strong 
wind, 56 miles im eight hours. Considering thatthe 
velocity of the stream is three miles in one season, and 
’ five or more in the other, or the same descent of four 
inches per mile, and ‘that the motion of ‘the’ inunda- 
tion is only ¥ mile per hour, on a much greaterdescent; 
no further proof is required, how small the proportion 
of velocity is, which is communicated Se es 
It is then to the impetus originatin rinating at spring ; 
‘or at the place where adventitious Putie are poured in, 
and successively communicated to “every part of ‘the 
stream, that we are to attribute ‘the ‘velocity, which is 
governed by the greater or less accession of water. — 
Annual The annual swelling and overflowing of the Ganges, 
overflowing, ‘is attributable as'much to the rain water that falls in the 
‘mountains conti s to its source, and to ‘the sources 
of the great songern rivers that fall into it, as to that 
which falls in the plains. The dissolution of mountain 
snow adds but little to its increase ; for it rises but 153 
feet out of 32 (the sum total of its rise) by the latter 
end of June, and it is well known ‘that the rainy sea- 
son does not ‘commence in most of the low ‘countries 
till about that time. 
In the mountains, the rains begin early in April, and 
by the latter end of that month, when the rain water 
has reached Bengal, the river begins to rise, but by 
“very slow degrees, the increase being only about an 
inch a day for the first fortnight. It then gradually 
augments to two or three inches, before any quantity 
of rain falls in the low countries. ‘On the rain becom- 
ing general, the increase on a medium is five inches per 
ay. 
The following Table shews the gradual increase of 
Increase 
anddes the Ganges, and its branches, according to observations 
— made at Jellinghy and Dacca. 
At Jellinghy. Ft, In. At Dacca. Ft. In, 
In Mayitrose . ... . 6.0 2) 4 
June 237 O40 4.6 
SONY Rearied ri sactace tel afeee 5 ib 
In the first half of August. 4 .0 4 Ad 
32.0 
14. 8 
Its daily increase is nearly in the followin T= 
tion. Done the latter halt of August, aad a Sep. 
tember, from three to four inches ; from September to 
the end of November, it diminishes gradually from 
three inches to 14 inch; and at a medium } inch 
day, from November to the latter end of April. ‘These 
proportions relate’to such parts of the river as are not 
affected by the tides. By the latter end of July, all the 
lower parts of Bengal are overflowed contiguous ‘to the 
Ganges and Brahmapootra, forming an inundation of 
more than 100 miles in width, nothing appearing but 
villages and trees, and here and there the site of an 
abandoned village, resembling an island. Owing’ to 
the quantity of rain that falls in Bengal, the lands are 
enerally overflowed toa considerable height long be- 
ore the bed of the river is filled, the ground adjacent 
to the bank, to the extent of some miles, being more 
elevated than the rest of the ¢ountry, ‘Dikes, ‘kept up 
at an enormous experice, guard ‘particular ‘tracks ‘from 
inundation, yet these are liable to be’ dam » owing 
to the want of tenacity in the soil of which they ‘are 
composed. It is calculated that the length of ‘these 
dikes, collectively, exceeds 1000 miles.’ The inunda- 
tion is nearly at a stand in Bengal, for some days ‘pre- 
ceding the 15th of August, when it begins to run off, 
GANGES. 
though ities of rain stilt Contiriue to fall du- 
ring August and September ; ‘but by this time a de- 
crease 0 ei ee ee lace “i the orcacmir 8 
con: ent supply to r » the inunda- 
fdin ete, OF thy inerence “of the Witte, Rennelt 
remarks that there is a difference in the quantity of this 
increase at: more or less remote from the sea, the 
height of the periodical increase diminishing gradually 
from where the tide reaches to the sea, until it totally : 
disappears at the of confluence. The ocean pre- 
serving the same level at all seasons, (under similar cir- 
cumstances of tide) necessarily influences the level of 
all waters that communicate with it, unless precipitated 
in the form ofa cataract. At Luckipoor, there is a dif- 
ference of dbout six feet in the height at different sea- i 
sons ; ‘at Dacca, and places adjacent, 14; and at Custee : 
of 81 feet. The last place is about 240 miles fromthe 
sea, by the course of the river ; and the surface of the 
river there is, in the dry season, 80 feet above the level * 
fy at high water, ~~ VA gene ithe 
_ The quantity of water discharged by the Ganges, in Quan’ 
one second Of be a the di = aie SS 80,000 cubic water 
feet ; but the river, when full, having twice the volume 
of water in it, and its motion being accelerated in the 
proportion of 5to3, the quantity then discharged is 
405,000 cubic feet. Taking the medium of the whole 
year, it will be nearly 180,000 cubic feet per second of © _ 
‘time. 
Europeans view with wonder the remarkable altera~ Devi 
tions in the course of the Ganges, and the other rivers "4 de- 
of , although the natives of the country, who Pri 
have long witnessed the encroachments and deviations , 
of their streams, behold these changes without surprise. 
The greatest injury is sustained during the periodical 
‘floods, and while the waters are draining off ; and when 
it is considered that at this season, at the distance of 
‘200 miles from the sea, there is an increase of more 
than 25 feet in the perpendicular pat of the water, 
“some idea may be formed of the velocity with which it 
“will ran off, and of the havoc which it will make on the 
banks. Accordingly it is not unusual to find, when the 
rainy season is over, large portions of the banks preci- 
pitated into the charmel, and the devastation extended 
“over fields and plantations ; even trees which, with the 
‘maturity of a century, have acquired ‘to resist 
the most violent storms, have been suddenly undermi- 
ned, ands away by the stream, But the encroach- 
ments are as often carried on gradually, and in the dry 
season ; in this case the natives have time to remove 
their effects, and change their places of abode, if too 
near the banks. e villages are thus seen deserted, 
whose inhabitants had retired to safer situations. Along 
the banks of the Ganges, where the depredations of the 
flood are most to be apprehended, the le ate so ac- 
‘customed to removal, that they make use of Tight mate- 
rials only in huts, and such as, on an emergency, can 
be easily tr: rted. These effects are attributable, in 
a great measure, to the looseness of the soil; but this 
destructive operation of mature is in some degree cont. 
pensated by the formation of new lands, either by allu- 
vions on the opposite shore, or by islands which emerge 
in the” of ‘the stream, and ultimately become 
connectéd with the main land, by the Clocthg sp of one 
r. 
of the channels. The Ganges gives bi 
rous islands, which are of an extent proportiona 
the bulk of its waters. The bee with which these its 
islands have been thrown up, and the ‘size to which 
‘they have  swoln,-appear objects of astonishment ‘fo 
those who have opportunity of observation. "When the 
4 
