1888.] Lt.-Col. J. Waterliouse — On the Barisdl Guns. 103 



Monsoon, the swell rises to an unusual height before breaking and then 

 breaks simultaneously for perhaps a length of 3 miles of coast, the 

 succession of reports being caused by the breaking of successive waves 

 along the beach. 



Mr. Beveridge has referred very fully to this phenomenon in his 

 '* Account of the District of Bakarganj," He says the sounds are heard 

 like the discharge of cannon in Bakarganj, and part of Dacca, Farid- 

 pur, and Jessore at the beginning of the rains, i. e., in May and June. 

 At Barisal the sound comes from the S. and S. W., and is generally 

 heard in a south wind and before rain. It is sometimes heard only for 

 a minute or two ; sometimes it continues for one or two hours, at inter- 

 vals of two or three minutes between each discharge. It seems to be 

 heard usually in the evening or at night, but perhaps this is only because 

 the attention is more drawn to it in the absence of other noises. It has 

 been supposed by some that the sounds are merely those of guns fired at 

 marriages ; by others that they are caused by the falling in of the river 

 banks. But they are heard away to the south, among the Sundarbans 

 vy^here there are no marriages, and where there are no high river banks 

 to fall in. They are heard down at Kukri Miikri, the most southerly 

 island in the district, and the Maghs there say that they are distinct 

 from the noise of breakers or of the tide coming in. The natives say 

 it is the sound of the opening and shutting of Ravan's gates in the Island 

 of Lanka (Ceylon), which fiction, as Mr. Beveridge remarks, is valuable 

 because it shews that the sound comes from the south. And he con- 

 cludes by saying that it is not altogether impossible that it originates 

 in that curious submarine depression in front of Jessore and Bakarganj 

 which is known by the name of the *' Swash of no ground." 



In another part of the same work Mr. Beveridge records that he 

 was told by a native of Kiikri Miikri that the sounds were sometimes 

 heard from the north, — south, and south-west. The statement as 

 regards their coming from the north is important because they are 

 nearly always reported as coming from the south. 



Captain W. J. Stewart, of the Revenue Survey, describes the sound 

 as similar to the noise caused by the explosion of torpedoes under water, 

 but at a great distance. 



Mr. H. J. Rainey says the sounds resemble the report of cannons 

 or loud explosions heard at a distance. Occasionally the reports are 

 heard 3 or 4 times in rapid succession, while at others a minute or two 

 intervenes between them. 



Mr. Westland heard them at Jessore during the night, exactly like 

 the distant firing of cannon occurring in single detonations and at 

 irregular intervals. 



