Vol. VI, No. 10.] The Rivers of the Delia. 555 



[N.S.] 



massive chars shown in Rennell's maps. It will suffice to say 

 that they have become consolidated into the immense island of 

 Bhola, a subdivision of the Bakarganj district ; the changes 

 afford a valuable object lesson of the method by which this 

 backward part of the delta is being developed, and its land 

 face being brought into line with the more westerly consolidated 

 portions. 



Conclusion. 



These notes deal with a small aspect of the geography of 

 the delta, but it is none the less an aspect of some importance 

 which has not suffered in the past from an exuberance of 

 investigation. I have attempted to describe the influences 

 which have led to the most important changes and to show that 

 what may appear to be a mere arbitrary change is in reality 

 one of a series of direct, perhaps natural, effects of a single 

 cause. The absence of a really modern map will doubtless 

 render the task of following these changes somewhat difficult ; 

 the maps at present available are the result of a survey some 

 50 years old, and until the maps of the present survey are pub- 

 lished those maps can only show the changes in progress and 

 not the result achieved ; I attempt to supply the deficiency 

 in some degree by rough sketch maps. 



The object of this paper is not merely academic ; it 

 attempts to show that a certain definite order obtains in an area, 

 the nature of which appears at first sight to be one of chaotic 

 change; that a definite tendency has been operative for a period 

 of over 120 years, that this tendency has been accompanied by 

 a systematic, if complicated, method of change. Granted (and 

 I admit that it is a big hypothesis) that no such convulsion 

 occurs again among the hill rivers as the change in the course 

 of the river Teesta, I see no reason to suppose that the system 

 and tendencies above described will suffer any material altera- 

 tion. Considering the interest that is at present being shown in 

 the waterways of this area and the attempts that are being made 

 to open out channel* as a means of communication, I feel that 

 this paper may possess some practical value. An appreciation 

 of these principles might at least have prevented the ineffectual 

 attempt to open out what is known as the Naria channel 

 between Rajabari and Madaripur and would have shown the 

 greater possibilities of the Maynakata ■ Khal and Kristanagar 



1 The Maynakata Khal (vid Panchar) iB roughly the bed of the 

 Ganges as surveyed by Rennell, and through which the Kirtinas.^a came 

 again when it first broke south. The Kristanagar channel is (he 

 remnant of the second attempt to break south. The Naria channel 

 (which is now almost dry) is the place where the Kirtinas*a after 

 breaking S. was driven back by the Meghna; it has enjoyed a continuous 

 process of silting up ever since its formation— obviously owing to the 

 damming influence of the Meghna. 



