38 
Analysis of Books. 
[Jan. 
amounting to 9,50,000 Rupees; while the annual income, lie supposes, will amount 
to 1,65,000 Rupees, being upwards of 18 per cent, on the capital. 
A feature of the plan finally adopted by Major Schalch, was the formation of a har- 
bour for boats in the canal, immediately above its communication with the Hfigli. 
7'his harbour it is calculated, as affording shelter from the dangers of the Hfigli 
during storms, and facilities in loading and unloading, would be a great public con- 
venience. Supposing a toll of one anna per 100 maunds per diem to be levied, the 
yearly amount on 3,30000 maunds, which it is calculated to hold, will be 75281 Ru- 
pees : a further toll on boats passing through the canal in either direction, of 1 Rupee 
for every 100 maunds, it is calculated, on the present tonnage engaged in the trade 
of Calcutta, would yield annually 80,000 Rupees ; but as the trade is likely to in- 
crease bv these facilities, the above estimate is probably much within the income it 
will eventually yield. 
Besides the increase to the internal trade of Calcutta, this plan, Major Schalch 
considered, would hold out a prospect of the following advantages : the certainty of 
the navigation, the lessening the number of wrecks, the prevention of loss of pro- 
perty and damage arising from boats running frequently aground in the present 
passages, the convenience of the harbour for loading and unloading, and affording a 
safe retreat from the dangers of the Hfigli in stormy weather. 
The advantages to Government he considered obvious, and requiring no enumera- 
tion. To the city, the improvement in value of the ground near the Circular Road 
from the head of the eastern canal to near Chitpur, and an increased salubrity, owing 
to a system of effectual drainage to be connected with the proposed canals. This 
latter subject, which is one of vital concern, particularly to the inhabitants of a 
city like Calcutta, he has discussed at greater length in an Appendix, which we shall 
republish in a future number at full length. The very great deficiencies under which 
our city labours, as far as regards the public health, make it desirable to use every 
means of drawing the attention of our fellow citizens to the subject of a medical 
police, in the hope, however slender, of seeing some of the many very obvious im- 
provements that are called for, adopted. 
To return to the subject of our analysis : Major Schalch, after a fair, and by no 
means exaggerated statement of the advantages of his plan, proceeds to consider also 
the objections. The first of these has a reference to* the possibility of the same 
state of things occumng in the Garai and Chandna rivers, on which it may he seen 
the above navigation depends, as have occurred in the Bhagirettee and Matabhanga. 
But the answer to this is easy : the former rivers have never been shut, and the 
reason is obviously the greater tenacity of the soil through which they take their 
course, whmh is a black mould instead of a loose sand, as“ in the case of the l itter 
rivers. This having sufficient power to resist the action of the current, the latter is 
effective in keeping the channels clear of sand or mud banks. The narrow channel 
m which the Ganges is confined below Cliocula, and its great depth of water suffi- 
ciently prove the fact of an entire change in the nature of the alluvia it traverses - 
and this is further confirmed by the fact, which might have been inferred, avriori of 
the mouth of these rivers within the influence of the tides being choked by sands 
i J.r? vei 7 safely be taken for granted, that no change of the kind contem- 
plated is likely to occur. 
a second objection is of even less force. It may be said that the Bh^irettee 
and other rivers of the upper navigation may again become navigable in the process 
of time j but independent of the absurdity of waiting for such a problematical event 
i may be safely said that the whole course of human experience -oes to sunnort 
the opposite proposition. That the tendency of a river bed is to ra°se not lowef 
itseh, is a fact familiar to all wlio Have studied this branch of plivsical geography • and 
iWde top S n tl aCt i ?rny ?* bliShe ? by Ma 3° r ScU;ilch > the obstructions which 
h negation of these rivers are not confined to their heads, where they 
leave the great one, but extend pretty uniformly the greater part of their len-tlf 
As to any canals that could he made to assist the navigation of these rivers W 
nature of the soil through which they flow, as has already been shown is fatal to 
such a scheme. It has indeed been proposed to carry a can d from w • \ i 
through a tract of stiffer soil into the Bhlgirettee below Suti. But e” n ‘'if ‘the 
expense of such an undertaking were not in itself a sufficient objection which it 
most certainly is, there are others which appear insuperable y,,, . lC 
question is intersected by many mountain streams tW won 1,1 wnV',* lme m 
the canal and fill its bed up with the dotting C “' ” P 
Add to which, that the sands and shallows hd™,, th* y ' 
i j, o — . a.114 v .season. 
rather increased than diminished "“llm n £&£ f 
and may be at once dismissed, Y ’ Ihe P roj ^ ct 1S) m fact chimerical. 
