MIDNAPOEli, OEISSA, &C. 251 



On looking at a map of the shores of the Buy of Beugalj it will be 



seen that the general line of the western shore 

 Form of Coast, 



from the Chilka Lake southward, for nearly four 



hundred miles, runs almost due south-west, and is remarkably continuous 

 and straight. ' A littte to the north of the Chilka Lake, Orissa is seen to 

 project some miles beyond this general run of the coast line, while 

 southward also another great projection of the coast line occurs near the 

 mouths of the Godavery and the Kristna ; these projections being appa- 

 rently due entirely to the fluviatile deposits brought down by these large 

 rivers gradually gaining on the sea. 



The more northern portion of the flats of Orissa Province, that is, the 

 part extending from the Soobunreekha river to the BoorahbuUung, belongs 

 geographically, to the Midnapoor and Hidgellee country, (Bengal) and 

 from Balasore for about twenty miles to the south-west is a district of 

 older alluvium noticed below, similar to much of that which occurs on 

 the skirts of the delta of Lower Bengal. Throughout the northern parts 

 of the Province of Orissa there is much similar older alluvium, but to 

 the South of the Brahminee river this is not seen. 



In the extreme south of the province there is a large indentation in 



the hills, which has formerly been a bay in the 

 Chilka Lake. _ •' 



sea. The advance of the river deltas has, how- 

 ever, hemmed in this area on the north-east, and a spit of sand from the 

 liills near Ganjam has joined to these delta deposits across the moutii, 

 leaving inside a large expanse of salt water known as the Chilka Lake. 

 This lake, which is about 40 miles long, by about 12 miles in widtli 

 at the widest parts, has only a narrow passage uniting it with the sea, 

 and is being gradually filled up by the detrital matter brought into 

 it by the few hill streams, and by the small portion of the water of the 

 river Mahanuddi, w'hich it receives through the channels called the 

 Dyah, the Min, and one or two other small streams. It is now in 

 few, if in any places, more than twenty feet in depth, and if an engineer- 



