544 
of the rivers, and deviations, of their 
Rreams, are productive of little fur- 
prize. 
It is fuehly during the periodical floods, 
or while the waters are draining off, that 
the greateft mifchief is done, which is 
not furprizing when it is confidered that © 
in the difiance of 20c miles there is a de- 
fcent of more than twenty-five feet. Ac- 
cordingly, itis not unufual to finds when 
the rainy leafon is over, Jarge portions of 
the bank funk into the PREM and even 
_whole fields and plantations have Been 
fometimes deftroyed, and trees, which with 
the growth of a century, had acquired 
2 firength to refit the moft violent forms, 
have been fuddenly undermined, and hurled 
into the flream. | Hence whole villages 
are fuddenly deferted, and the inhabitants 
obliged to rebuild their huts on fafer and 
more inland fpots. 
long thebanks of the Ganges, where 
fhe depredations of the ftream are greateft 
the people are fo accuftomed to fuch re- 
mnovals, that they build their huts with 
fuch materials only, as they can, upon 
emergency, carry off with eafe. 
' The unfettled ftate of the rivers in 
Bengal may be attributed alfo to the 
Joofenefs of the foil through which they 
flow, but the deftrudtive operation which 
- Mature continually carries on in this way, 
is'in fome degree compenfated by her 
bounty in forming new lands, either by 
alluvions on the oppofite fhore, orby iflands, 
which rife up in the middle of the ftream, 
and ultimately become conne&ed with the - 
main land. As every current of water 
will quickly depofit the particles of earth, 
which in its courfe is detached from the 
fides, fo we find fhoals and fand-barks in 
moft rivers; and the Ganges gives birth to 
numerous iflands, which are moftly of an 
ex'ent proportioned to its vaft bulk. And 
to thofé who have had opportunity of ob- 
ferving thefe iflands, it is aitonifhing with 
“what ‘rapidity they are fometimes thrown 
up, and the magnitude to which they 
haye ultimately {welled. If fit for the 
purpofe, they are immediately cultivated ; 
waieremelons, cucumbers, end ler ay 
become the produce of the firt year, and 
it is not uncommon to fee rice growing 
in thofe parts where a quantity of mud 
has been depofited near tne waters edge. 
Some of thefe iflands, before they have 
acquired a degree of itability to refift the 
force of the ftream, are entirely {wept 
away: but when they appear to be fufh- 
ciently firm, the natives tmmediately take 
pofleifion of them, and the rew lands be- 
come fubjeQs of altercation and difpute. 
Proceedings of Learned Societies. 
-.. Along the 
[Nov. 1j 
The new fettlers bri ae over their families 
and effects, and erect dwellings there with 
as much confidence, as they would on the 
main land. 
When an ifland- becomes fo eee that 
it is not found pra€ticable to cultivate 
the whole, it is {con over-run with reeds, 
long grafs, &c. which form extenfive, 
and almoft impenetrable thickets, affording 
fhelter to tygers, buffaloes, deer and other 
wild animals. The reft of the lands, in 
general, produce gocd*pafturage, and many 
thoufands of oxen are bred and nourithed 
upon them. 
The iffands of the Ganges are diftin- 
guifhable’ from the main land, by their 
having few or no trees, even long after a 
communication has been formed by thé 
clofing up of .one of the channels, which, 
indeed generally happens in a te) years. 
The appearance of tome of them is fin- 
ularly rural, pleafing, and romantic; while 
at the fame time, the peaceful appearance of 
the flocks, fields, and habitations, give 
delight to the philanthropift. If we pre- 
fent to our imagination a wide.extended 
plain, with pens for cattle, and a few 
humble huts, whofe tops are crowned with 
gourds, and the intervening fpace, highly  _ 
cultivated, or richly covered with nume- 
rous herds of cattle, and a few feattered — 
villages at a diftance, and we fhall have a 
tolerable pi€ture of an ifland in the Ganges. 
If we fancy at the fame time, that the 
lark is foaring, the air cool, and the fky 
_perfeStly unclonded, we fhall havea fill 
more lively idea of the fate of thefe iflands 
during at leat fix months of the year. 
The banks of the Ganges exhibit a 
Variety of appearances, according to the 
nature of the foil, or the degree of force 
with which the current firikes againft » 
them. In fome cafes they become as a 
perpendicular wal] ;—in others the bank ~ 
is excavated into a number of deep-bays 
with projecting points between them, 
round which the current rufhes with great 
rapidity. Some of thefe afford conve- 
nient landing- places or gautg, where the 
“natives perform their ablutions, water 
their cattle, and faiten their boats to the 
fhore. 
fouth- mee) bank of the 
Ganges for a very.confderable diftance 
not a place occurs that can be faid to be 
permanently fixed. Bogwangola, which 
is a confiderable mart fer grain, and from 
which the city of Moorfhedabad is prin- 
pally fupplied, exhibits more the appear-. 
ance of a temporary fair, or encampment, 
than that of a town. It has more than 
once been removed, in confequence of the 
side . 
