MAY, JUNE 1764. 
15 
The 29th. drizling Rain in y e Forenoon ; the Afternoon several heavy Squalls 
from different Quarters of the Compass & much Rain, so that we could perform but 
little Business this Day. Much Rain this Night. 
The 30th. tolerable Weather. Five Miles up the NE reach begins a large Island 
which extends to the Eastw d . & SE five Miles, making the River in some Places 3! 
miles broad. The Southmost Channell is not navigable all the Year 1 ; the Villages 
of Serampour & Gurgoree are situated at the extremities of it. The Country here 
pretty well cultivated, & mostly sown with Padda. This Day wrote to the Governor, 
informing him of my Proceedings &c. 
The 31st. very fresh Gales of Wind all day from y e Southward. From the SE 
Point of the large Island the River proceeds with a South Course near 8 miles. The 
Western Bank is mostly covered with Jungle, but the Eastern one well cultivated & 
has 10 or 11 Villages on it. Custee Village ’ lies at y e end of this Reach. 
June the 1st. & 2nd. fair Weather, the Wind fresh from the SSE. * These 2 days 
employed surveying the Western Bank of the South Reach, & in y e Evening of the 13 
2nd. came to Custee, a large Village situated on the Western Bank opposite the turn 
of the Reach. 
The 3rd. a fair Morning. Came to the Head of Custee Creek 3 which runs out of 
the great River three quarters of a mile below the Village. We are informed that 
this Creek is navigable all y e year & that it communicates with that of Rangafulla 4 : 
if so, it seems likely to put a successful end to y e Expedition. The Creek is from 
130 to 200 yards broad, & a J of a mile up from 40 to 10 Cubits deep. 
In y e Afternoon put over to y e East Side, in order to survey it from hence back 
to y e head of the Reach ; in order should the Creek prove navigable it may be more 
readily found by Boats coming down the River. 
1 From recent maps it appears that the main stream of the Ganges now flows to the south of this island. 
5 Kushtia, an important seat of river trade, especially jute, on the southern bank of the river. It was the 
terminus of the Eastern Bengal .State Railway until 1870, when the line was extended to Goalundo. 
3 Custee Creek, now known as the Garai river. The development of this river is a striking example of the changes 
that have taken place in the course of the rivers of the delta within the last century. In 1764 Rennell found it so 
shallow within two miles of the head that only the smallest boats could pass du ing the dry season, whereas at the 
present time and for many years past it has been the main route for steamers plying between Calcutta and the upper 
Ganges. In 1828 it was only 600 feet broad at Kushtia, but in 1863 it had increased to 1908 feet. The change 
appears to have been a direct consequence of the alteration in the course of the Brahmaputra in the early years of the 
nineteenth century. This river, ponding back the waters of the Ganges, compelled it to deposit its silt in the reaches 
above the new confluence at Goalundo, and to seek another route to the sea for its waters, and for a time it seemed as 
if the Garai must become the main channel of the Ganges. So neirly did this happen, that in 1838 the Ganges itself 
was fordable at several places above the junction with the Brahmaputra. The causes that have prevented the com- 
plete desertion of the old channel were explained in 1863 by Fergusson. It happens that the Brahmaputra begins to 
fall at an earlier period than the Ganges, and that the silt deposited by the latter river when it is ponded back is thus 
swept out again every year. Otherwise Fergusson anticipated that the lower Ganges would become entirely silted 
up (Fergusson, Delta of the Gauges, Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., Vol. xix, pp. 335 - 337 ). A position of equilibrium 
seems now to have been reached and the Garai is gradually silting up again. Lower down the Garai becomes the 
Madhumati, and discharges into the Bay of Bengal by the Haringhata estuary. The increase in the volume of water 
carried by the river was the cause of a succession of severe floods in the J essor district in the early part of the last 
century. 
+ See note, p. 9. 
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