544 Journal of the Asiatic Society of Bengal. [November, 1910 



but its working is very difficult ; while showing the actual facts 

 of change, it is seldom that it even hints at the cause. 



(c) Actual Observation of the Locality. — This method sounds 

 simple, and indeed it does not require much practice for the 

 eye to distinguish between old land and new : but the path 

 has its thorns. If one could merely behold and say: "Here 

 is a low-lying hollow; it is clearly the old bed of a river," the 

 work would be easy. In the area under observation, south 

 and east of the Garai and Chandina rivers, conditions are very 

 different. The passenger from Calcutta to Goalundo may 

 observe the banks of the latter river, well-set and high, with 

 no trace of cutting at all; were the river to dry up even by 

 raising its bed, he would have little difficulty in tracing its 

 course. He may behold the Garai, its eastern bank high and 

 consolidated, its western bank lowlying new land — all that 

 remains of the river's attempt to open out its course as noted 

 by Mr. Fergusson and Sir William Hunter: but the eastern 

 bank will still be sufficient to locate the old course of the stream 

 when the present railway bridge can give place to an embank- 

 ment. Let the observer travel further east, along the Padma, 

 the Kirtinassa and the eastern series of rivers in Faridpur. In 

 most cases he will find a high bank and a low; but the high 

 bank is cutting fast ; as it recedes the low bank throws out its 

 tentacles, and as this low bank advances, its elevation in- 

 creases, leaving no trace, beyond the newness of the land 

 that a river ever flowed over the spot. The result is that in an 

 area like the Sibchar thana of Faridpur, where practically 

 the whole of the land is char land, mere observation will only 

 lead one to the general conclusion that the whole of the area 

 has formed the course of some river at some time or other. 

 In the most favourable circumstances where a small stream 

 remains, hight Mara Padma (Dead Padma), one is merely 

 brought to the negative conclusion that this was certainly not 

 the actual original course of the river but that it is the actual 

 position to which the dying river ultimately cut its course. In 

 fact in many parts of the area, the old river courses (i.e., the 

 present char land) are considerably higher than the old * ' asli 

 land. Further difficulties arise where a river (as is frequently 

 the case) opens out its course by cutting both banks. It will 

 thus be understood that in this area we have not to deal with the 

 deserted beds of rivers, nor again with the self-raised beds of rivers 

 which have spilled over into the adjoining lower lands to find a 

 new course ; in our area the process is a continual state of 

 cutting supplemented by a corresponding process of accretion 

 which effectually hides the actual workings of the river ; 

 and to discover the real course of the changes, our local 

 observation must be tempered by the use of old maps and 

 documents, supplemented by the core of truth to be found in 

 local traditions. 



