230 Proceedings of the Asiatic Society. [Oct. 



live action going on ; but owing to the permanent character of the 

 bank, the destruction is very slow, a few feet in a few years. 

 The villages of Manipoor and other adjacent villages in the Kurunda 

 pergunnah of the G-hazeepoor district are situated similarly in the 

 concave curve in the river, but there the bank is non-permanent. 

 The destructive action of the river is, therefore, of the most rapid 

 character. Since 1840, a tract of country containing about 3500 

 acres of rich land has been destroyed, and the river course has at the 

 point of maximum deflection changed two miles, i. e., the present 

 river edge is two miles from where it was in 1840. These facts are 

 proved by comparing the pergunnah map prepared in or about 1840, 

 by the officers of the Revenue Survey with the village boundaries 

 and the river bank as they now exist. 



The destructive action of the river in such places is not merely 

 in the rainy season, but continues throughout the year. Large 

 masses of the bank daily fall into the river, and in the cold 

 season, large masses of earth may be seen lying near the water's 

 edge having on them wheat in ear and flax in flower, which a 

 few days before formed part of a flourishing and beautiful field. 

 The river's bank in the Kurunda pergunnah is entirely of a non- 

 permanent character, and the pergunnah contains no backbone of 

 kunkur or any other resisting material. The rapid changes which 

 are now going on, are likely to continue until the river changes its 

 course, and runs in a straight course from Chochukpoor to Grhazee- 

 poor along the permanent northern banks of the river, which is 

 beyond the boundaries of the pergunnah ; the pergunnah will then 

 lie at the south instead of the north of the Ganges. 



The permanent river banks may be considered the limits of the 

 area, liable to alluvial increment and diluvion, as the destructive 

 influence of the river on the permanent bank is too slow to be of any 

 fiscal importance. 



The immediate effects of a change in the river's course are 

 generally injurious, as the land destroyed is land which, having been 

 formed sonie time, is well raised and productive, while the new land 

 formed on the opposite bank is at a low level, generally sandy, and at 

 first of no value. 



