712 Note on the River Goomtee. [Sept. 



Art. V. — Note on the River Goomtee, with a section of its bed. — By 

 V. Thegear, Esq. Jounpore. 



The accompanying section of the River Goomtee was taken about 

 20 miles (in a direct line) from its mouth, abreast of the village of 

 Mye, at a time when the slowness and shallowness of the stream 

 rendered the work one of neither labour nor difficulty. The depths 

 were taken at every three feet, in a horizontal line perpendicular to 

 the direction of the current, which runs here nearly due East. The 

 rate on the 4th March last was one mile and 640 yards per hour — on 

 the 13 th June it was three miles an hour, and this latter I think the 

 average velocity during the rains ; — it is however sometimes much 

 greater, probably nearly five miles, but at others much less, and 

 occasionally when the Ganges rises much and suddenly, there is no 

 current at all. 



I have marked the highest level in ordinary seasons, but it some- 

 times rises considerably higher; — last year it overflowed both banks to 

 some distance, destroying parts of many villages and overthrowing a 

 number of houses in the city of Jounpore ; — there, the road at the north 

 end of the bridge was passable only by means of boats, and a large 

 lake was formed between the city and the cantonments. No one 

 remembers its having ever been so high ; but it is somewhere said, that 

 a fleet of boats once sailed over the bridge ; the natives hereabouts 

 have no tradition of so extraordinary an inundation, which, if it really 

 happened, must have caused much destruction ; — in fact, I think it 

 questionable, whether the bridge could withstand the pressure to which 

 it must have been subjected upwards and sideways, after the arches 

 became insufficient for the passage of the water. 



The water, although in appearance extremely muddy, contains but 

 little silt, the quantity from a large portion being exceeding small in 

 bulk, and not likely to weigh, when dry, more than a few grains.* 



This river is navigable by the largest boats from about the end of 

 June to the end of November, and by those of smaller size to Jounpore, 

 and some distance beyond it ; during the rest of the year also small 

 boats, not too heavily laden, can I believe go up beyond Lukhnow, 

 but the passage is, except in the height of the rains, a most tedious 

 one, the distance by water being about three times that by land, for 

 the river deserves its name of Goomtee, or winding. The traffic upwards 



* Eighteen ounces by measure, gave seven grains only. 



