﻿24 ON THE COURSE OF THE GANGES 



In- the lafl it appefirs, that the diftance is more than 

 doubled by the %vindings of the ftream ; and I could 

 produce many more inftances to fhew, how much the 

 fmall rivers exceed the larger in this particular. 



As all the rivers which I have mentioned flow over 

 the fame flat country, and fome of them in direftions 

 almoil parallel to each other, it is evident that they 

 muR have nearly the fame declivity in equal fpaces. 

 We may conclude, therefore, that the ftriking dif- 

 ference which is obfervable in the form of their beds, 

 is owing to an invariable law of nature, which obliges 

 the greater bodies of water to feek the moft direft 

 channels; while the fmaller and more fcanty rivulets 

 are made to wander in various meanders, and circuitous 

 fweepS; fpreading fertility, and refrefiiing the plains 

 with their moillure. And in this, as in every other 

 part of the creation, we fee the bounty of Providence 

 moll amply manifefted; for had the great rivers been 

 decreed to wander like the fmaller, they would have 

 encroached too much on the land; while the current 

 being confiderably retarded, . would have, rendered 

 them more liable to overflow their banks, and lefs 

 able to drain the fmaller fl;reams, and iow grounds, of 

 the fuperabundance of water in high floods. Again, 

 if the tributary fl;reams, and fmall branches of rivers, 

 had*been dire8; in . their cc^urfes, they muft have 

 poured oi.?t their contents with fuch rapidity, that, 

 owing to the greater influx of v/ater from the former, 

 the main rivers would have been flill more liable to 

 fudden overflows; v>'hile the branches at their outlets, 

 although, from their ftraightnefs, better able to drain off 

 the fuperfluous water to the fea, would yet have been 

 rendered lefs fit for the purpofes of navigation, and, 

 the convenience of man. 



What I have tp offer on the fubjeft of the fmaller 



rivers, relates more particularly to the Baugrutty and 



2 JJj'amutty, 



