io4 -Mr. rennell’s Account of the 
quantity of rain falls in the flat countries ; and when the rain 
becomes general, the inereafe on a medium is five inches per 
•day. By the latter end of July all the lower parts of Bengal, 
contiguous to the Ganges and Burrampooter, are overflowed, 
and form an inundation of more than a hundred miles in width ; 
nothing appearing but villages and trees, excepting very rarely 
the top of an elevated fpot (the artificial mound of fome de- 
fer ted village) appearing like an iiland. 
The inundations in Bengal differ from thofe in Egypt in this 
particular, that the Nile owes its floods entirely to the rain- 
water that falls in the mountains near its fource ; but the inun- 
dations in Bengal are as much occasioned by the rain that falls 
there, as by the waters of the Ganges ; and as a proof of it, the 
lands in general are overflowed to a considerable height long 
before the bed of the river is filled. It muff be remarked, that 
the ground adjacent to the river bank, to the extent of fome 
■miles, is considerably higher than the reft of the country^,, 
and ferves to Separate the waters of the inundation from thofe 
of the river until it overflows. This high ground is in fome 
feafons covered a foot or more ; but the height of the inunda- 
tion within, varies, of courfe, according to the irregularities of 
the ground, and is in fome places twelve feet. 
Even when the inundation becomes general, the river ftill 
(hews itfelf, as well by the grafs and reeds on its banks, as by 
its rapid and muddy ftream ; for the water of the inundation 
acquires a blackifh hue, by having been fo long Stagnant 
* This property of the bank is well accounted for by Count buffon, who 
imputes it to the precipitation of mud made by the waters of the river, when it 
overflows. The inundation, fays he, purifies itfelf as it flows over the plain ; fo 
that the precipitation muft be greateft on the parts neareft to the margin of the 
river. 
amongfl: 
