﻿THROUGH BENGAL. 11 



At Rajemahl^ the proje^ling point on ^vllicb the 

 ruins of the ancient palace and buildings are fecn, has 

 for many years reliiled the force of the current j and 

 the mafTy piles of mafonry, fomc of which have fub- 

 fided into the channel, have- co-operated with the na- 

 tural ftrength of the bank, in repelling the eiTorts of 

 the ftream. 



The Rajemahl Hills, from which fevcral rocky 

 points project into the Ganges, as at SicTygulIy, Pointy, 

 and Pattergotta, have for ages oppofed the encroach- 

 ments of the river; notwithllanding which, it has more 

 than once excavated all the loofe foil which lay be- 

 tween the proje6ting points. This, however, has been 

 as often rellored by the alluvions, and iflands, which 

 have grown up, and ultimately formed a junction with ^\,^ 

 the bank. 



The alteration of the river at Colgong, may be rec- 

 koned among the moil extraordinary which have ever 

 been obferved in the Ganges; and of this I can fpeak 

 with greater confidence, if poffible, than of thofe above- 

 mentioned, having been an eye witnefs of the ftate of 

 the river at this place at four feveral periods, in three 

 of which I obferved a confiderable difference, viz. in 

 the dry feafons of 1779, 1788, and 1796-7. I have a 

 drawing of Colgong, taken by myfelf at the former of 

 thefe periods, which reprcfents the river to be a broad 

 and open ftream, and free from fnallows ; at the fame 

 time, although the three rocks near Colgong do not 

 come into the view, yet I can remember that they were 

 furrounded by dry land, and appeared to be at fome 

 little diftance from the Ihore. This is confirmed by the 

 old map, only that the Boglepore Nulla is reprefented 

 as pafling between the rocks and the town. • In Janua- 

 ry, 1788, I found the three rocks completely in filiated, 

 and the current rufhing between them v;ith great rapi- 

 dity ; the river having undermined and borne away 

 the whole of the foil which had for many years adhered 

 to them, and having formed a bed for itl'clf, with a 

 confiderable depth of water, which continued for fe- 

 vcral 



