BEN 



foTgy, but about ? «r 9 o'clock, when tlie fun begins to h: 

 powerful, the thick mill is diffipated. For the remainder of 

 the day the (Ivy is pcrfeAly clear, fo that no clouds appear in 

 the air for fereraldays together. In the montlis of Septem- 

 ber and Oclober difeafes rage, and chiefly attack thofe tiiat 

 are lately arrived ; but here, as in all other places, ficknefs is 

 more frequent and fatal in fome years than in others. The 

 moft prevalent diilempers are fevers, of the remitting or inter- 

 mitting kind ; for though fometimes they may continue for 

 feveral days witliout any perceptible reniiiTion, yet they have 

 in general a great tendency to it, and are commonly accom- 

 panied with violent paroxyfms of rigours or Ihiveiing'., and 

 with difcharges of bile upwards and downwards. If the 

 feafon be very fickly, fome arc feized with a malignant fever, 

 of which they foon die. The body is covered vith blotches 

 of a livid colour, and the corpfe in a few hours becomes quite 

 black and corrupted. At this time flaxes prevail, which 

 may be called bilious, or putrid, the better to diilinguifti them 

 from others, which are accompanied with an inflammation of 

 the bowels. In all thefe difeafes at Bengal, the lancet is 

 cautiondy to be ufed. The mode of treating fevers and bi- 

 lious complaints being now well underftood, they are lefs 

 alarming and fatal. Dr. Lind fays it is a common obfer- 

 vation, both at Bengal and Bencoolen, that the moon or tides 

 have a remarkable influence on intermitting fevers ; and he 

 informs us, on the teflimony of a gentleman of undoubted 

 veracity, and of great knowledge in medicine, that at Bengal 

 he could foretel the precife time when the patient would ex- 

 pire ; it being generally about the hour of low water. From 

 thefe, and other obfervations, the doftor deduces an ufeful 

 hint, which is, to take dofes of bark at the full and change 

 of the moon, as being the feafons moll liable to an attack or 

 relapfe in thefe intermitting fevers. 



Although the rainy feafon does not commence in the flat 

 countries of Bengal till the latter end of the month of June, 

 the Ganges and other rivers begin to fwcU in the mountains 

 of Thibet early in April, and by the latter end of that month, 

 ■when the rain-water has reached Bengal, the rivers rife here. 

 This circumfl;ance is accounted for partly by the melting of 

 the fnow on the mountains, but principally, as Mr. Rennell 

 obferves, by the vaft coUeftion of vapours wafted from the 

 fea by the foutherly or fouth-well monfoon, and fuddenly 

 flopped by the lofty ridge of mountains that runs from eail 

 to weft through Thibet. Hence it appears, that the rainy 

 feafon muft commence fooner in places that lie near the 

 mountains than in thofe that are more remote. In Bengal 

 the rivers rife by flow degrees ; the increafe being only about 

 an inch per day for the firll fortnight. It then gradually 

 augments to two and three inches, before any quantity of 

 ram falls in the flat countries ; and when the rain becomes 

 general, the mean increafe is about five inches per day. By 

 the latter end of July, all the lower parts of Bengal, con- 

 tiguous to the Ganges and Burrampooter, are overflowed, 

 and form an inundation more than 100 miles wide ; nothing 

 appearing but villages and trees, excepting, very rarely, the 

 top of an elevated fpot, the artificial mound of fomedefertcd 

 village, appearing like an ifland. The inundations in Bengal 

 are as much occafioned by the rain that falls there, as by the 

 waters of the Ganges ; in proof of which it is alleged, that 

 the lands in general are overflowed to a confiderable height 

 long before the bed of the river is filled. It ought to be 

 obferved, that the ground adjacent to the bank of the river, 

 to the extent of fome miles, is higher than that which is at 

 a greater diilance ; and thus it ferves to feparate the waters 

 ofthe inundation from thofe of the river, until it overflows. 

 This high ground is, in fome feafons, covered a foot or more ; 

 but the height of the inundation within varies, of courfe, ac- 



Vol, IV. 



BEN 



cording to the irregularities of the ground ; and is in fom? 

 places 12 feet. When the inundation becomes general, the 

 river appears, as well by the grafs and reeds on its batiks, at 

 by its rapid and muddy ftream ; for the water of the inunda- 

 tion acquires a blackiih hue, by remaining long ilagnant 

 among grafs and (jther vegetables ; nor does it ever lofe this 

 tinge, which fliews the predominancy of the rain water over 

 that of the river ; and the flow rate of the motion of the 

 inundation, which does not exceed half a mile per hour, indi- 

 cates the remarkable fiatnefs of the country. 



In order to guard thofe tracls of land, which, by the na- 

 ture of their culture and produftions, and by the lovenefs of 

 their Ctuation, would be injured by too long an inundation, 

 dikes or dams are raifed at an enormous expence, extending 

 in the whole of their length to more than a thoufand Englifh 

 miles. Some of thefe are at the bafe equal to the thicknef* 

 of an ordinai-y rampart, and yet, on account of the want of 

 tenacity in the foil of which they are compofed, they are 

 often found incff^eclual, a«d need frequent repairs. One par- 

 ticular branch of the Ganges, navigable only during the 

 rainy feafon, and then equal to tlie Thames at Chelfca, is 

 conducled between two of thefe dykes, through an interval 

 of 70 miles ; and when it is full, the paffengers in the boati . 

 look down, as from an eminence, on the adjacent counti-y. 

 During the fwoln ftate of the river, the tide becomes inca- 

 pable of counteracting the ftream, and in a great mcafure of 

 ebbing and flowing, except near the fea. At fuch a feafou, 

 a ftrong wind, that blows up the river for any continuance, 

 fwells the waters two feet above their ordinary level ; and fuck 

 accidents have occafioned the lofs of whole crops of rice. 

 This rice is of a particular kind, for the growth of its ftalk 

 keeps pace with the increafe of the flood at ordinary times, 

 but is deftroyed by too fudden a rife of the water. The 

 harveft is often reaped in boats. There is alfo a kind of 

 grafs which overtops the flood in the fame manner, and at 3 

 fmall diftance has the appearance of a field of the richeft ver- 

 dure. Mr. Rennell informs us, that in the year 1763, a 

 tragical event happened at Luckipour, about 50 miles from 

 the fea, by a ftrong gale of wind, confpiring with a high 

 fpring-tide, at a feafon when the periodical flood was within 

 1 5 foot of its higheft pitch. The waters then rofe 6 feet 

 above the ordinary level. On this occafion the inhabitant* 

 of a confiderable dillrift, with their houies and cattle, were 

 totally fwept away ; and the calamity was aggravated by 

 its happening in a part of the country which fcafcely pro- 

 duces a fingle tree, to which a drowning man might efcape. 

 Thefe inundations are traverfed by every kind of embarka- 

 tion ; fuch as are bound upwards taking advantage of a 

 direil courfe and llill water, at a feafon when every ftream 

 ruihes like a torrent. The wind too, which at this feafon 

 blows regularly from the fouth-eaft, although in the gulf or 

 bay of Bengal the monfoon blows from the S. S. W. and 

 S.W., favours their progrefs in the eaftem and northern 

 parts of Bengal, where it blows from the S.E. or E.S.E. ; 

 fo that a voyage which would take up nine or ten days by 

 the courfe ofthe river, when confined within its banks, may 

 be performed in fix days. Hufljandiy find grazing are at 

 this time both fufpended ; and the peafant traverfcs in hi« 

 boat thofe fields which, in another feafou, he was ufed to. 

 plough ; happy, however, that the elevated fite of the river- 

 banks places within his reach the herbage which they afford ; 

 without which his cattle muft periOi. Towards the middle 

 of Auguft, the inundation begins to fubfide ; for though 

 great quantities of rain fall in the flat countries in Auguft 

 and September, yet, by a partial ceflation of the rains in the 

 mountains, the fupplies fail that aret'ceflary to keep up the 

 inundation. However, the decreafe 0^ the ioundaticw doet 

 > S b Rot 



