1885.] S. R. Elson — Gurrents and Tides of the Hugli. 1^5 



in and oE the Mutlah than in and off the Hooghly. And if my 

 memory serves me rightly, I remember there were not a few vessels 

 lost in the Mutlah during the short period it was open as a port ; their 

 loss pointing to a stronger current making navigation of the Mutlah 

 at least as dangerous, if not more so, than that of the Hooghly : all which 

 I think may be safely attributed to its proximity to the Swatch of no 

 Ground, the probable birthplace of the ' tide-rips * we experience 

 throughout the Sandheads about September and October. 



In all old directories for the Bay sailors are taught, that the tides 

 at the Sandheads, in fact, all over the littoral, flow regularly round, and 

 with equal force, like the hands of a watch (face upwards) : this is 

 an error which it is desirable should be corrected ; for I find that 

 but very little water runs to the eastward of north and south-south- 

 east, and that for not more than an hour or so, at the turn of the 

 tide from flood to ebb ; all the rest going to the westward over the out- 

 lying reefs and sands, whose characteristics as well-formed sand dunes 

 prove this westward set, if no other proofs were available for the 

 purpose. 



All the water from the Hooghly goes towards Balasore Roads in a 

 S. W. direction from the mouth of the river. This large shallow basin, 

 40 miles in diameter, with an average depth of 7 to 8 fathoms of muddy, 

 warmed water, may, with all propriety, be called the settling tank and 

 evaporating pool for the annual 78,000,000 yards of solid silt deposit 

 said to be brought down by the Hooghly waters. Muddy water is 

 scarcely ever to be seen at the Ridge Light Station, excepting on spring 

 tides, and when the sea is much agitated ; and, as before stated, the mean 

 daily set of the sea at that station is for the six months, March to Sep- 

 tember, only I of a mile in a N. W. ^ W. direction. 



Although, at first sight, the general trend of the outlying reefs 

 and sands to the S. S. E. seems to point to the currents setting in that 

 direction, yet, in reality, they do not so set, and, doubtless, their S. S. E. 

 direction is the result of the combination of three causes : — the proven 

 almost constant westward set of the waters over them : the transporting, 

 upheaving effect of the almost as constant sea swell from the S. and 

 S. S. W. : also the disturbance caused by the warmed and, in the 

 freshets, purer ebb waters meeting the above-mentioned constant 

 westward set of cooler and denser water. Both currents in seeking 

 equilibrium roll over and over each other as the tidal stream runs down 

 the steep western edges of the sands, until the 10 fathom line is reached, 

 where the upheaving wave power suddenly ceases, and the hard sand 

 deposits as suddenly halt. 



Close to the western edges of all the sands of the littoral, the 



