1863.] FERGUSSON DELTA OP THE GANGES. 337 



out some eighty miles of tolerably settled watercourses; and this 

 would occupy some twenty years, even if it succeeded eventually. 

 Our knowledge of the country is still too imperfect to enable us to 

 predict the result with certainty. Whether it can accomplish this or 

 not depends more on the success of the Goraie and the Jessore rivers 

 in finding an outlet for the waters of the Ganges, than on the resist- 

 ance of the eastern country. I may, however, be allowed to remark, 

 in passing, that it will be a great advantage to the delta if the 

 Brahmapootra does maintain its present course, and continues to act 

 as a barrage to the waters of the Ganges. There is a great deal of 

 land to the westward that would be improved by being raised, while 

 it would be an immense benefit to the internal navigation if the 

 Kishnaghur rivers could again be opened, and these objects can only 

 be attained by the persistence of the eastern rivers in their endea- 

 vour to confine the western to their own territory. 



If the Brahmapootra is able to maintain its present position at 

 Jaffiergunge, another effect will be, that by continually damming 

 back the waters of the Oorasagur, it will force the Natore rivers to 

 deposit their silt, and to fill up the very low country through which 

 they run. A good deal has already been done in this direction since 

 Bunnell's survey; and if the action continues much longer, they 

 must abandon the struggle with the Brahmapootra, and seek an 

 outlet somewhere between Bauleah and Surdah, some eighty miles 

 further up the stream of the Ganges. 



It follows from all this that, if the Brahmapootra continues in its 

 present bed, it will almost certainly close the eastern outlet of the 

 Ganges. At present it is kept open by a rather curious process, 

 which it may be worth while to describe. 



As before mentioned, the principal means by which the Megna 

 defeated the Brahmapootra was by being first in the battle-field ; and 

 though the Brahmapootra is slower than the Megna, it is quicker 

 than the Ganges, owing to the length of course of the latter river, 

 and its depending more on the melting of snow than on rain. 



The consequence of this is that, for the first month of the 

 inundation, the water in the Ganges above Jaffiergunge almost flows 

 backwards, and the Echamuttee at Pubna flows into the Ganges 

 instead of out of it ; and, during this season, the deposit in its bed is 

 very considerable. But, during the last month of the rains, when the 

 waters of the Brahmapootra have nearly run off, the immense body of 

 water spread over the vast plains of Hindostan rushes into the par- 

 tially deserted bed of the Brahmapootra, which then acts as a waste- 

 water reservoir, and with a force that, to a great extent, clears out 

 the deposit of the earlier months, and so restores the equilibrium. 



This has been so entirely the case of late years that the Ganges 

 has straightened its course very considerably below the head of the 

 Jellinghy. The first result of this was to cut off a great six-mile 

 bend on the left bank just above Pubna. This took place some 

 thirty years ago. Within the last two years it has cut off the next 

 bend on the right bank, leaving the Koostee Station of the Eastern 

 Bengal Railway some two or three miles below the head of the 



