10 
F. A. Shillingford —On the Kusi River. 
[No. 1, 
and maintained these iron-works, which, there is evidence to show, were 
carried on, on an extensive scale. 
As far as I can follow Dr. Hunter, tlie original course of the River 
as suggested by him, agrees in the main with that indicated by Dr, 
Hamilton as far as Tajpur Pargana, but from this point the former 
takes it along a more northerly course into the Kiaratoya, whilst the 
latter takes it farther south into the marshes north and east of Maldak 
Station (the District did not exist in those days), and thence away to 
the Brahmaputra. Dr. Hunter’s theory seems the more likely of the two, 
as being based on some evidence and it will be shown lower that these 
“ great lakes, north and east of Maldah,” were probably formed by a 
subsequent movement of the Kush 
Mr. Fergusson, as we have seen, considers the ancient Eastern Kus! 
„ , to have discharged its waters through the 
Mr. Ferguson’s . & ° 
Eastern Kusi. rivers Atrai and Urasagar, into the Brahma¬ 
putra. 
The next bed of the Kusi, and probably there were other channels 
. __ . occupied between this and the hypothetical 
Dr. Hunter’s Kusi . , , ., , ^ 
of about A- D. 1600. course just described, suggested by Dr. Hunter, 
is supported by the evidence of the distinctive 
Bengali and Bihar! eras, whose line of division at the time of introduction 
would most probably be carried along a natural boundary such as a 
large river. There are numerous large and deep Jhils , or extensive 
pools along this tract of country which seem the work of a large river. 
This hypothetical course of the Kus! would also throw light on a point 
on which there has been much speculation and controversy, viz., the 
causes of the abandonment of Gaur to which here I can only casually 
refer. This Kusi would pass through the Kalindri, a deep and wide 
channel still known as the Mara Kusi, and would strike direct against 
the northern suburbs of Gaur, and we see numerous embankments to 
the north and east of this ancient city meant to keep oif the floods. 
Abu-1-Fazl, in his Ain-i-Akbari, alluding to the vast swamp to the East 
of the city says, “Were the dam that confines it to break, the city 
would be under water.” The flourishing capital of a large kingdom could 
not originally have been built in a swamp. As a matter of fact it is 
built on a ridge of yellow clays, with Karjkar here and there, which 
probably forms the outcrop of some of the infra-trappean beds of the 
Rajmahal hills, and can be traced from Maniharl, through Gaur, and 
thence through the Borine of Raj shah! towards Maimansingh. With 
^ ~ XT, • the Kus! flowing to the north and east, 
probable cause of in- and the Ganges washing its western walls, 
salubrity of Guay. it is easy to understand how the city became 
