1870.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society . 51 



quantity of these great rivers will again, having filled in this great 

 depression, tend to the west and will eventually (when, it could not 

 be predicted) find their way to the ocean through the now nearly 

 abandoned courses of the Bhaghirathi and Hughly. 



I feel convinced, therefore, that there is no necessity to resort 

 to any fancied effects of C}^clone-waves, of the inroads of pirates, or 

 the persecution of other peoples, to account for the occurrence at 

 the present time of ruins in the Sundarban. Cyclone waves, and 

 persecution and robbery do not drive men from their abodes near 

 the sea-board now, though they may cause vast destruction of pro- 

 perty, and produce great suffering. Nor would these causes, as 

 I believe, have sufficed in earlier time, to produce the same re- 

 sult. Doubtless they may have diminished the pang with which 

 the settler abandoned the homes in which his family had grown 

 round him, but unless combined with the far more general and 

 more unavoidable compulsion of the want of water I believe that, 

 however they may have affected individuals, they would have been 

 powerless to induce communities to abandon positions favorable for 

 trade, and for the acquirement of wealth. 



The pressure of other duties must, Gentlemen, plead my excuse 

 for not noticing other matters which have come up during the 

 year. I would now only thank you for the confidence you placed 

 in me, by confiding to me the high and respectable post of your 

 President for the year just passed. I would thank you heartily 

 for the kindness with which my efforts to improve and advance the 

 interests of the Society have been received, and for the friendly 

 support I have invariably met with. To your officers for the past 

 year, I feel greatly and sincerely indebted for their earnest and 

 hearty cooperation in everything tending to its benefit. If there 

 have been failures, they have not arisen from the absence of a 

 desire to succeed : if there have been successes, they have been 

 the result of the united and helpful exertions of all. I am glad to 

 be able to resign the chair to my successor, leaving him the 

 Society free from debt, and with income properly invested, suf- 

 ficient to render your Association effective and useful. I am glad 

 also that your choice has fallen on one so much more competent, 



