242 
GAN 
vered with wattfi*; after that corn; then water-melons, 
&c. In the dry feafon the currcl'.t runs very (low, not 
above tliree miles an hour ; in the wet leafon from five 
to eight; the defeent is only four incites in a mile.- In 
the time of the inundations, the veflels fail in all direc¬ 
tions as over a vaft inland fea : the dangers in navigating 
it are very great, either from the fierce eddies occafioned 
by other rivers difeharging themfelves into the Ganges, 
or, in the dry feafon, by the falling in of great fragments 
of the banks, or by the ftriking on trees funk beneath 
the furface of the water, which often occalion very fa¬ 
tal accidents. 
Of the mutability of the courfe and bed of this pre¬ 
eminent river, in its paflage through the extenlive re¬ 
gions of Bengal, major Colebrooke,.in the Afiatic Tranf- 
adfiens, vol. vi. and vii. has given a very interefting ac- 
count. “ By rapidly impelling its valt body of waters 
through a plain compofed of a light fandy foil to a con- 
fiderable depth, it is there continually changing its bed, 
and producing alterations which excite the aftonidiment 
of all men. Wands and fand-banks are in a fhoi't time 
formed in places which were once the deepeft parts of 
the river, fome towns and villages which were once 
near its banks are defected by it, others are undermined, 
and the vail body of earth on which they Hood is entirely 
fwept away. In thofe parts where the velocity of the 
fiream is greateft, and the foil extremely loofe, the 
banks of them become as perpendicular as a wall, and 
crumble in fo frequently and fuddenly, that it is dange¬ 
rous to approach them. I'h.e Ihifting of the current, 
and the effedts of inundations, produce alluvions, and 
illands of an iinufual extent. The reader may form 
fome idea of thefe operations from the following in- 
ftance : The alteration of the river at Colgong, may be 
reckoned among the mofi: extraordinary which have ever 
been obferved in modern times, and of this I can fpeak 
with great confidence, having been an eye witnefs of 
the (late of the river at this place at four fevei’al periods, 
in three of which I obferved a confiderable diti'erence, 
viz., in the dry feafons of 1779, 1788, and 1796-7. At 
the former-of thefe periods, the river was abroad open 
fiream, and free from dial lows; at the fame time, the 
three rocks near Colgong were i'urrounded by dry land, 
and appeared to be at fome little diitance from the Ihore. 
But in January 1788 ,1 found thefe three l ocks completely 
infulated, and the current rufhing between them with 
great rapidity ; the river having undermined and borne 
away the whole of the foil which had for many years 
adhered to them, and having formed a bed for itfelf, 
with a confiderable depth of water, which continued for 
feveral years to be the principal, and indeed the only 
navigable channel of the river in the dry feafon. Here 
boats are frequently in imminent danger of (Iriking againft 
the rocks, as during the period of the river’s encroach¬ 
ment, and particularly in the rains, it was difficult to 
avoid them when coming down with the fiream. While 
the river continued thus to expand itfelf, an ifiand was 
growing up in the middle of its bed, which, when I ffift 
faw if iii January 1797, extended from near Pattergotta, 
five miles below Colgong, to a confiderable difiance 
above the latter place, being altogether eight miles in 
length, and two in breadth; and filling nearly the whole 
fpace which had been occupied by the principal fiream 
in the year 1779. The quantity of fund, and foil, 
which the river mufi have depofited to etfedl this, will 
appear prodigious, if it be confidered, that the depth 
of water in the navigable part of the Ganges is frequent¬ 
ly upwards of feventy feet; and the new iilands had ri- 
len to more than twenty feet above the level of the 
fiream. Again, the quantity of earth which it had ex¬ 
cavated in forming a new channel for itfelf, will appear 
no lefs afionifiiing .' fome idea of this may, however, be 
conceived, from the foundings which I caufed to be 
taken near the rocks, which varied from feventy to nine- 
GAN 
ty feet. If we add twenty-four feet for the height of 
the foil that had formerly adhered to thefe rocks, as in¬ 
dicated by the marks it had left, it will appear that a 
column of one hundred and fourteen feet of earth had 
here been removed by the fiream.” 
From the furvey here taken, the author confiders the 
Ganges as having under its dominion a confiderable pore 
tion of the flat country, and thinks that its bed cannot 
be fiated as permanent in any part of its courfe through 
Bengal. Of the nature and extent of the iflands thus 
thrown up, the reader may judge from the following 
delineation : “ The appearance of fome of thefe illands 
is fingularly rural and pleafing, if not altogether roman¬ 
tic ; for, although an extenlive flat can hardly come un¬ 
der the latter denomination, yet it may partake of a de¬ 
gree of wildnefs, that will pleafe the lovers of iiarure ; 
at the fame time, that the peaceful appearance of the 
flocks, fields, and liabitations, will give delight to the 
philantliropift. If we prefent to our imagmations a 
wide extended plain, with pens for cattle, and a few 
humble huts, whole tops are crowned with gourds, and 
the intervening fpace higuly cultivated; with wheat, 
barley, and pulfc of all forts, growing in abundance, 
the flowers of the latter prefenting to the eye a variety 
of rich tints ; numerous herds of cattle grazing, and a 
few" fcattered villages at a difiauce ; the horizon bound¬ 
ing tl'.e view, w'itit no other remote objects than a long 
line of grafs jungle, and a few trees, which, from their 
great difiance on the main land, are barely difcernible; 
we (hall liavea tolerable picture of thefe ifianuS in the 
Ganges. If we fancy, at the fame time, that the lark 
is foaring, tlie air cool, and the Iky perfectly unclouded, 
we Ihallhave a ftill more lively idea of the fiate of thefe 
illands during at lead fix months of the year.” 
GAN'GES ISLANDS, or North Natunas, two 
fmall illands betw een the illand of Borneo and the Gulf 
of Siam. Lat. 4. 55. N. Ion. 106. 45. E. Greenwicii. 
GAN'GIATORS, J, in the Scots hnv ; officers, 
whole bufinefs it is to examine meafuresand weights. 
GAN'GITIS,yi in botany. See Nardus. 
GAN'GLION, y. lya'jyXiov, Gr.] In anatomy, it im¬ 
ports a knot frequently tound in the courfe of the ner¬ 
vous fyfiem, and which is not morbid ; from wherever 
any nerve fends out a branch, or receives one fro’u an¬ 
other, or where two nerves join together, there is gene¬ 
rally a or as may be feen at the begin¬ 
ning of all the nerves of the medulla fpinalis, and in ma¬ 
ny other places of the body. See Ple.xus. 
Infurgery, it denotes a moveable tumor formed any 
where about the tendons of mufcles, and the ligaments ; 
the mofi frequent fituation is about the carpus ; but in 
whatever part of the body it happens, it is near the 
Ikin, and is not attended with any confiderable uneafinefs 
to the patient. Ganglions are formed of lymph, wiiich 
is fecreted within the vaginae of tendons ; they are diffe¬ 
rent in their form, confifience, and other appearances, 
but they never fuppurate. See the article Anatomy, 
vol. i. p. 633-536. 
G ANGO'TRI, a town of Alia, in the country of Thi¬ 
bet, on the Ganges : 138 miles north of Delhi. • Lat. 
33. 8. N. Ion. 76. 35. E. Greenwich. 
GANGOU'TRA, a ftupendous rock ofmount Himma- 
leh, in Hindoofian, through which the Ganges precipi¬ 
tates its waters with awful impetuolity, into a vafi and 
deep chafra below. The word imports a cafeade of tha 
Ganga, or Ganges. 
GaNGPOU'R, a town of Hindoofian, in the country 
of Orilfa : 244 miles wefi of Calcutta, and 226 fouth of 
Patna. 
To GAN'GRENATE, v. a. To produce a gangrene ; 
to mortify.—Parts cauterized, gangrenated, (iderated, 
and mortified, become black, me radical moifiuie or vi¬ 
tal fiilphur fufferingan extinction. Brown. 
' GAN'GRENE.^/. igangreae, Fr. gangr^na, Lat-J 
I A mo) - 
