256 JHEELS OF BENGAL. Chat\ XXVITI. 



west of the meridian of 87°; it is confined to the upper 

 Gangetic delta, and inhabits a climate in which it would 

 least of all be looked for. 



I made the elevation of Dacca by barometer only 

 seventy-two feet above the sea; and the banks of 

 the Dallisary being high, the level of its waters at this 

 season is scarcely above that of the Bay of Bengal. 

 The mean temperature of the air was 86f during our 

 stay, or half a degree lower than Calcutta at the same 

 period. 



We pursued our voyage on the 30th of May, to the old 

 bed of the Burrampooter, an immense shallow sheet of 

 water, of which the eastern bank is for eighty miles occupied 

 by the delta of the Soormah. This river rises on the 

 Munnipore frontier, and flows through Cachar, Silhet, and 

 the Jheels of east Bengal, receiving the waters of the 

 Cachar, Jyntea, Khasia, and Garrow mountains (which 

 bound the Assam valley to the south), and of the Tipperah 

 hills, which stretch parallel to them, and divide the Soormah 

 valley from the Bay of Bengal. The immense area thus 

 drained by the Soormah is hardly raised above the level of 

 the sea, and covers about 10,000 square miles. The anasto- 

 mosing rivers that traverse it, flow very gently, and do not 

 materially alter their course ; hence their banks gradually 

 rise above the mean level of the surrounding country, and 

 on them the small villages are built, surrounded by exten- 

 sive rice-fields that need no artificial irrigation. At this 

 season the general surface of the Jheels is marshy ; but 

 during the rains, which are excessive on the neighbouring 

 mountains, they resemble an inland sea, the water rising 

 gradually to within a few inches of the floor of the huts ; 

 as, however, it subsides as slowly in autumn, it commits 

 no devastation. The communication is at all seasons by 



