1868.] Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. 229 



Memorandum on the Action of the Ganges in the Benares Province, — 

 by Wilton Oldham, Esq., LL. D., Ghazeepore. 



In the Benares Province, the banks of the river are of a two fold 

 character : 



1st. Permanent. 

 2nd. Non-permanent. 



The permanent river banks are raised above the height of the 

 highest floods, and contain a firm substratum of kimkur, or else 

 a considerable proportion of kunkur mixed with clay. The per- 

 manent river banks run in ridges nearly parallel to each other, but 

 varying in distance apart. In some places, e. #., at Beerpoor in the 

 Ghazeepoor district, the permanent banks are only about a mile or 

 two miles apart ; at other places, as for example opposite Chunar, or 

 opposite the Zumaneeah Railway station, the permanent river banks 

 are eight or ten miles apart. 



The river in very few places washes two permanent banks ; more 

 commonly there is a permanent bank on one side and a non-perma- 

 nent bank on the other side, with the permanent bank at some distance 

 further inland ; or else the river washes two non-permanent banks, 

 and the permanent banks are not reached by the water except in an 

 unusually high flood. 



The destructive fluvial action of the Ganges is of a two-fold 

 character : 



1st. Slow. 

 2nd. Rapid. 



The slow destructive action of the river is its action on the perma- 

 nent banks, and the rapid action on the non-permanent banks. 



The destructive action of the river is invariably on the concave 

 bank of the river. Where the river runs straight, neither bank 

 gains or loses ; a convex bank always has a tendency to gain by 

 accretion, and a concave bank invariably loses by diluvion. This 

 is easily accounted for ; the current sets dead against a concave bank, 

 and causes the washing away and hollowing out of the portion of the 

 bank near the river, and consequently the fall and destruction of 

 the bank. The civil station of Mirzapoor is built on the permanent 

 bank of the river on the concave curve. There is a constant destruc- 



