Ganges and Burrampooter Rivers. toy 
Thefe obfervations were made in a feafon, when the waters 
rofe rather higher than ufual ; fo that we may take 3 1 feet for 
the medium of the increafe. 
The inundation is nearly at a ftand for lb me days preceding 
the middle of Auguft, when it begins to run off; for although 
great quantities of rain fall in the flat countries, during Auguft 
and September, yet, by a partial ceflation of the rains in the 
mountains, there happens a deficiency in the fupplies neceflary 
to keep up the inundation The quantity of the daily de- 
creafe of the river is nearly in the following proportion : 
during the latter half of Auguft, and all September, from 
three to four inches ; from September to the end of November* 
it gradually leffens from three inches to an inch and a half; 
and from November to the latter end of April, it is only half 
an inch per day at a medium. Thefe proportions muft be un- 
derftood to relate to fuch parts of the river as are removed 
from the influence of the tides ; of which more will be faid 
by and by. The decreafe of the inundation does not always 
keep pace with that of the river, by reafbn of the height of 
the banks ; but after the beginning of October, when the rain 
has nearly ceafed, the remainder of the inundation goes oft 
quickly by evaporation, leaving the lands highly manured, and 
in a ftate fit to receive the feed, after the Ample operation of 
plowing. 
There is a circumftance attending the increafe of the Ganges, 
and which, I believe, is little known of attended to ; becaufe 
few people have made experiments on the heights to which the 
* I have ftated the middle of Auguft for the period when the waters begin to 
run off; and in general it happens with more regularity than the viciflitudes of the 
ieafons do. But there are exceptions to it ; for in the year 1774 the rivers kept 
*ip for near a month after the ufual time. 
P Z 
periodical 
