Ganges and Bnrrampooter Rivers. 95 
either undermines them or wafhes them down. In places 
where the current is remarkably rapid, or the foil uncom- 
monly loofe, fuch trails of land are fwept away in the courfe 
of one feafon, as would aftonifh thofe who have not been eyo*> 
witneftes to the magnitude and force of the mighty ftreams 
occafioned by the periodical rains of the tropical regions. This 
neceflarily produces a gradual change in the courfe of the river; 
what is loft on one fide being gained on the other, by the mere 
operation of the ftream : for the fallen pieces of the bank dif- 
folve quickly into muddy fand, which is hurried away by the 
current along the border of the channel to the point from 
whence the river turns off to form the next reach, where the- 
ftream growing weak, it finds a refting place, and helps to form 
a flielving bank, which commences at the point, and extends 
downwards, along the fide of the fucceeding reach. 
To account for the fiacknefs of the current at the point, it 
is neceftary to obferve, that the ftrongeft part of it, inftead of 
turning fhort round the point, preferves for fome time the direc- 
tion given it by the laft fteep bank, and is accordingly thrown 
obliquely acrofs the bed of the river to the bay on the oppofite 
fide, and purfues its courfe along it, till the intervention of 
another point again obliges it to change fides. 
In thofe few parts of the river that are ftraight, the banks 
undergo the leaft alteration ft? as the current runs parallel to 
* In the dry feafon fome of thefe banks are more than 30 feet high, and often 
fall down in pieces of many tons weight, and occafion fo fudden and violent an 
agitation of the water, as fometimes to fink large boats that happen to be near 
the fhore. 
f It is more than probable, that the ftraight parts owe their existence to the 
tenacity of the foil of which their banks are compofed. Whatever the caufe 
may be, the effect very clearly points out fuch htuations as the propereft for 
placing towns in. 
them ; 
