20 
F. A. Shillingford —On the Kusi River. 
[No. 1, 
silt along tlie Megna outlets ; but a time must surely come when it will 
be the turn of the Hugli and Harinaghatta to work on their own 
portions of the Delta already advanced so far into the sea, and now 
enjoying a period of rest, and what combination of physical events may 
bring this about, it is our province to enquire into. 
Now, referring to my allusion in the introduction, to remoter dangers 
of a serious nature, we have Dr. Buchanan 
^Ea_stward Hamilton’s opinion that when, in its westward 
open out the Bhagi- advance, the Kusi came across and joined the 
rathi below Sonti. Bhagirathi, “ the united mass of water opened 
up the passage now called the Padma and the old channel of the Bha- 
girathi from Sonti to Nadiya was then left comparatively dry.” This 
seems likely enough, but the converse appears still more probable, that 
is, upon the Kusi breaking away eastward again and deserting the 
Bhagirathi, the latter river will return to and resume its old course and 
flow into the sea through Diamond Harbour. To quote Fergusson 
again, he says, 1 “The first result of the invasion of the Gangetie 
territory by the Brahmaputra was that it should seek to re-enact the 
part which had just been performed on the other side of the Madhoopur 
jungles, and should threaten to shut up the Ganges and send it back 
through its own distributaries. It was so nearly successful that in 1838 
the great Ganges was fordable at several places above the junction. ” 
Now, if the detritus brought down by the new channel of the Brahma¬ 
putra nearly closed up the bed of the Ganges in .1838, it appears more 
than probable that that event may actually occur upon the Kusi joining 
it through, probably, the Urasagar River after over half a century of 
silting up and raising of the country round the junction of the three 
rivers. 
With the main stream of the Ganges turned into the narrow 
Danger to Calcutta ehannel of the Hu g K it appears tolerably 
from Hugli becoming certain that Calcutta, and many of the towns 
Main Ganges. along the banks of the Bhagirathi would be 
rendered untenable. 2 Further, the vast increase in its waters would 
cause its banks to overflow and sand and clay deposits would take 
place over a wide area, and the silting up and devastation caused by a 
shift westward of the Kusi, above described, would be re-enacted on a 
1 Quar. Jour. Geo. Soc., Pago 336. 
2 [The reader is again referred to the Proceedings for February, 1895, in which 
this opinion is discussed. It is hardly necessary to point out that the author is 
dealing with results which may occur if engineering science does not interfere. 
The discussion above referred to shows that engineering science has interfered. 
Ed.] 
