96 GANGES VALLEY. Chap. IV. 



spits of mud betray the proximity of some very restless and 

 resistless power. During the rains, the scene must indeed 

 be extraordinary, when the Cosi lays many miles of land 

 under water, and pours so vast a quantity of detritus into 

 the bed of the Ganges that long islets are heaped up and 

 swept away in a few hours ; and the latter river becomes 

 all but unnavigable. Boats are caught in whirlpools, 

 formed without a moment's warning, and sunk ere they 

 have spun round thrice in the eddies ; and no part of the 

 inland navigation of India is so dreaded or dangerous, as 

 the Ganges at its junction with the Cosi. 



Rain generally falls in partial showers at this season, and 

 they are essential to the well-being of the spring crops of 

 indigo. The stormy appearance of the sky, though it 

 proved fallacious, was hailed by my hosts as predicting a 

 fall, which was much wanted. The wind however seemed 

 but to aggravate the drought, by the great body of sand it 

 lifted and swept up the valleys, obscuring the near horizon, 

 and especially concealing the whole delta of the Cosi, where 

 the clouds were so vast and dense, and ascended so high as 

 to resemble another element. 



All night the gale blew on, accompanied with much 

 thunder and lightning, and it was not till noon of the 

 9th that I descried my palkee-boat toiling down the 

 stream. Then I again embarked, taking the lagging boat 

 in tow of my own. Passing the mouths of the Cosi, the 

 gale and currents were so adverse that we had to bring up 

 on the sand, when the quantity which drifted into the boat 

 rendered the delay as disagreeable as it was tedious. The 

 particles penetrated everywhere, up my nose and down my 

 back, drying my eyelids, and gritting between my teeth. 

 The craft kept bumping on the banks, and being both 

 crazy and leaky, the little comfortless cabin became the 



