102 Mr. rennell’s Account of the 
•bution of the feveral ftrata of fand and earths, lying above 
one another in the order in which they decreafe in gravity. As 
they can only owe this difpohtion to the agency of the ftream 
that depolited them, it would appear, that thefe fubftances are 
fufpended at different heights in the ftgeam, according to their 
refpedtive gravities. We never find a ffratum of earth under 
one of fand ; for the muddy particles float neareft the furface *. 
I have counted feven diftindt ftrata in a feCtion of one of thefe 
rflands. Indeed, not only the iflands, but moft of the river 
banks wear the fame appearance : for as the river is always 
changing its prefent bed, and verging towards the fite of fome 
former one now obliterated, this muff: neceffarily be the cafe. 
As a ftrong prefumptive proof of the wandering of the 
Ganges from the one fide of the Delta to the other, I muff ob- 
ferve, that there is no appearance of virgin earth between the 
Tiperah Hills on the eaff, and the province of Burdwan on the 
weft ; nor on the north till we arrive at Dacca and Bauleah. 
In all the fJtHons of the numerous creeks and rivers in the 
Delta, nothing appears - but fand and black mould in regular 
ftrata, till we arrive at the clay that forms the lower part of 
their ■ beds. There is not any fubftance fo coarfe as gravel 
either in the Delta or nearer the fea than 400 miles +, where a 
rocky point, a part of the bafe of the neighbouring hills, pro- 
jects into the river : but out of the vicinity of the great rivers 
the foil is either red., yellow, or of a deep brown. 
'* A glafs of water taken out of the Ganges, when at its height, yields about 
one part in four of mud. No wonder then that the fubflding waters fliould 
-quickly form a ftratum of earth ■ or that the Delta fliould encroach upon the 
sfea ! 
f At Oudanulla. 
I come 
