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favourite object, circumstances of great importance are overlooked, because their effects are too slow and remote to enter into immediate calculation; but though slow in their progress, they may nevertheless be so sure in their effects, as to bring with them consequences of a very momentous, and even fatal nature. Thus in all the projects to keep open the communication between the Upper Provinces and Calcutta, by means of the rivers flowing from the great Ganges into the Hoogly, it seems altogether to have escaped observation, that by straitening their courses, and employing machinery to free their beds from the accumulated sand, that very sand is hastened down to a part of the river where it is of the greatest consequence to have a free passage, viz. between the metropolis and the sea, where on being stopped by the tide, its deposition must naturally tend to increase the height of the sand-banks, and obstruct the outward passage. Surely this is a subject worthy the most serious consideration. Slow has hitherto been the process, but that it is sure, appears undoubted, from the well-known increase to the sands of the river of late years. Were it possible so much to retard the progress of the sand down the Hoogly (by encouraging the windings of the river, and the formation of sand-banks at its efflux from the Ganges), so that it might be deposited before it reaches Calcutta, the river in that case would become similar to the Issamutty, Cobbaduck, and others of the Sunderbunds, which, at the same distance from the sea as Calcutta, are free from sand, and having become little else than tideways, the sand-banks at their mouths have remained stationary, and without further increase; nor have the beds of these rivers at all filled up in the course of many years, the soundings taken in 1817 agreeing with those made by Rennell at least forty years ago.

Although the country towards the head of the Delta is unfit for canal navigation, from the causes above-mentioned, the same objections do not apply to that portion of Bengal which is situated within the influence of the tide; and which, on the contrary, appears to be peculiarly adapted for such an undertaking. The surface of the ground is nearly on a level with the water at high tide, consequently the expense of excavation will be trifling, and no locks will be required, as the numerous inAsiatic Journ.-No. 99.

lets from the sea will always afford a sufficient supply of water and when once the canal is made, it will be liable to suffer no alteration; the alternate flux and reflux of the tide, far from affecting the banks, operating against their sides in such a manner as to preserve their original form undisturbed. At least during the late survey of the Sunderbunds, the different small nullahs situated near the line of the proposed canals were found to be nearly in the same state as when surveyed by Major Rennell. The reason appears obvious: the water holds little or no sand in suspension, and the deposition of mud is trifling, of which one instance may be noticed; Goodlad's Creek, which was excavated in 1795-6, but has not yet become at all obstructed, nor do I think it has since experienced any change. The cut made by Lieutenant Morrison, of Engineers, having retained its original form, may be mentioned as another instance of the durability of such works in this part of the country.

That this navigation should have been so long disregarded, may perhaps be attributed to the accidental circumstance of the Matabanga and Baugretty having continued open for several years, and to the subsequent partial, though inefficient endeavours, at removing the obstruction by drags, cuts, &c. The total failure, however, of these attempts, in every instance in which they have been resorted to, affords an unequivocal proof of their insuf ficiency.

The Chundna river has never yet been so much obstructed as to impede the progress of the largest boats; and the Gurroy, a branch of the same river, although not navigable throughout the year when Major Rennel wrote, now assumes an appearance equally favourable to permanent navigation (an explanation of the cause of which will be attempted in another place). These are consequently resorted to by the Up-country and eastern trade boats, when all other passages to Calcutta are unavailable. These rivers strike off from the Ganges, the former at Koostee, and the latter at Moddapoor: and they ultimately unite at Mussundurpoor, in the Jessore district, flowing into the Sunberbunds passage at the village of Allipoor, on the Boirub, near Koolna; hence the route lies through the Sunderbunds and Tolly's Nullah to Calcutta.

The navigation as far as the Sunder-
VOL. XVII.

21

bunds is perfectly safe: it then becomes dangerous to boats heavily laden with merchandize, from the great breadth and depth of some of the rivers which form a part of the passage, particularly the point at the head of the spacious inlet called the Roymungal, and the crossing of another, termed the Seepsah, improperly the Murjattah in the maps. Independent of which, the natives are strongly averse to this route, from the dread of tigers, the danger of cooking ashore, the want of fresh water, and the delay attending the passage through Tolly's Nullah.

When Tolly's Nullah was first excavated and brought into use, it was perhaps sufficiently large for the trade which had then to avail itself of the benefit it offered; but that it is quite inadequate to the present navigation, is evident from the fact, that at certain seasons of the year, when a free passage is most required, it is choaked up with boats all the way from its junction with the Hoogly, to a distance of three or four miles on the other side of Gurriahaut. Indeed, many of these boats, finding a further progress hopeless, are compelled to deposit their burthens on the bank of the Nullah, to be afterwards transported to Calcutta, either in smaller boats, or by a land carriage of seven or eight miles. The increased population of the town demanding a larger supply of fuel, the wood boats, which are the principal cause of this obstruction in the Nullah, have increased in proportion; and being now necessitated to load at a greater distance, and in larger rivers than formerly, the size of the boats has also become greater. When two of this description of craft happen to be brought to an opposite bank, it is with dificulty an ordinary budgerow or grain boat can pass between them, even at the height of the tide; and as the tide falls, and the surface of the water decreases, the boats in the Nullah jam together, causing much damage, and totally shutting the passages.

What is proposed, therefore, is to make one grand line of water communication between the Upper Provinces and the eastern side of Bengal and Calcutta, open and secure for every description of boats, by forming a junction between the Gurroy and Hoogly rivers, by means of canals at the head of the Sunderbunds, lessening the expense by taking advantage of such Nullahs as lie in a suitable direction, thus Avoiding the large rivers, and the inconve

Luckily,

niences of the present route. the facilities for the accomplishment of this object are greater than might be expected, on considering that the line extends in a direction which might be supposed to cut perpendicularly the general course of the rivers.

It has been already observed, that the navigation by means of the Gurroy, which, flowing towards the sea, assumes successively the names of Barashee, the Muddoomutty and Hooringotta, and by the Attareebanke Nullah and Boirub, is perfectly safe until reaching Koolna, which may be considered the commencement of the Sunderbund passage, as it is here the pilots station themselves.

Leaving Koolnah, the old route is followed as far down as the mouth of the Bytagotta khaul, at Hutbarree; it is then deserted, and the new route lies through the Bytagotta, Salty, Taily Kally, Bungurria and Mazzerpoor khauls, to the back of the village of Cubulmunee, on the banks of the Cabbaduck, with which a junction is formed, by means of a canal, in the direction laid down in the map.

In order to avoid the very considerable bend of the Cabbaduck, between this canal and Taikah, it would be necessary to cut through the isthmus at Naroolee; by doing which, a tide would be saved. The passage from Koolna to Taikah will be shorttened eighteen hours by the new route. This is, however, but a trifling advantage, in comparison with the greater security of the navigation; as it cuts off one of the most dangerous of the Sunderbund rivers, and runs through a highly cultivated country the whole way.

From Taikah, the new route is traced to the village of Deacol through the Boira Jheel to Husseinabad, across the country by a canal to Busserah, through the Ghaskalee, the Beharee, Koosree, and Bunger Nullah, the letter E. near the village of Gubtullah, from thence through another canal to the Bedadoory nullah, which leads to Tardah, where we again fall in with the present route.*

The Nullah from E. to F. has breadth enough; but it would require to be deep

* It is said to be in contemplation to cut in two additional canals to those originally suggested; one from the Cabbaduck river, at the village of Banka, to Deacool; and the other from Cheltaba. ria to Bamingotta, thereby avoiding the circuitous routes by Taikal and Tardal.

ened seven feet, as it is just dry at low water: it continues winding through low marshy land to Gabtullah, where it ends. Between Gabtullah and the Bedadoory, at Narainpoor, the ground is about three feet above high-water mark. The rise and fall of the tide is seven feet; the depth required in this place would therefore be seventeen feet, for which, and the breadth equal to the Husseinabad canal, the calculations are made. For the length I have taken the whole distance, from E to C, or three and a half miles.

The Bedadoory, from Narainpoor to Purtabnuggur was formerly navigable for large boats, but it has latterly been shut up by bunds thrown across it in two places, and it has, in consequence, extended itself at those places, into jheels. These bunds must therefore be removed, and others formed along the banks of the nullah, to prevent the overflow of the salt water; the old channel contains a sufficient quantity of water.

From Tardah we follow the double dotted line of the proposed route past Bamingotta, across the salt lake up the eastern canal, and round by the bank of the circular road to the Hoogly at Chitpoor.

Among the more prominent benefits that the above line of canal navigation holds out to the trade of the country, may be enumerated the great increase to trade, which experience shews has ever followed an increased facility of transportation. The certainty of the navigation, the lessening the number of wrecks, and the prevention of loss of property, and damage, arising from boats running frequently aground in the present passages; the convenience of the canal in the neighbourhood of Calcutta for loading and unloading, and affording also a safe retreat from the dangers of the Hoogly in stormy weather. The formation of the canals must be attended with advantages to Government, that are too evident to require enumeration in this place: to the city an increased salubrity, from the adoption of a more efficient mode of draining, and a reduction in the price of fuel, and every other article of consumption.

The principal objections that may be urged against the adoption of the scheme, appear to be the following:

1st. The rivers formerly navigable be

tween the Ganges and Hoogly have of late ceased to be so; the same may happen to the Gurroy and Chundnah.

2d. The Issamutty, the Baugretty and even the Jellinghie, once navigable throughout the year, may again become so. In which case the passage by the canals would be little frequented by the up-country or western trade boats.

Sd. In the event of other canals cut in the upper parts of the Baugretty or any of the above-mentioned rivers being rendered navigable by art, the circuitous route by the canals would be abandoned for the shorter one by the river.

In answer to the first objections; it has been before observed, that the Chundnah river has always been navigable, and the Gurroy river of late years, when the Matabanga and Baugretty are closed. In order, if possible, to ascertain the cause of this, and the probability of their continuing open; as also the changes that might be expected to take place at the heads of the other branches of the Ganges, the right bank of the Ganges was examined from Rajemahl to Koostee, and the Gurroy surveyed as low down as the Attaree Banka Nullah, which leads to Koolna. From Rajemahl to the village of Chacula, twelve miles in a direct line below the Matabanga, a sandy soil was found with little or no tenacity; and in consequence the channel of the upper parts of the rivers which branch off in this place, are subject to great changes, as also the danger of being entirely closed by the unfortunate deposition of a sand-bank at the entrance.

At the village of Chacola, on the contrary, the Ganges puts on a different appearance. The soil here assuming a more clayey nature, resists the current which is deflected into the remarkable windings which the map of the river exhibits in this place. The Ganges likewise is here confined within a comparatively narrow channel, with an increased depth of water. At Koostee the depth is upwards of 120 feet; all these circumstances indicate the channel be to of stiff, compact matter. At the entrance into Gurroy a black stratum of mould rises about two feet above the surface of the river in January; and judging from the section taken across the entrance, either this, or a stratum of equal consistency, must descend beyond the bottom of the channel, which is here about

fifty feet deep. This forms a foundation for the looser soil above, which is thus in a great measure kept from being undermined and carried down the stream. Descending the Gurroy, the same black soil is seen at every projection of the bank opposing the efforts of the current, which then acts in keeping the channel clear and free from sand.

From Koostee to Gopaulgunge a single detached sand is not observable, and it is only where the river makes a sudden bend that one is to be found on the eddy bank. It might naturally be expected that a greater quantity of sand would be accumulated from the above causes, at the mouth of this branch of the Ganges, and such is found to be the case: for the Hooringottah, which is a prolongation of the Gurroy and Chundnah united, is nearly choaked with sand-banks, where the tides begin to act with sufficient force to deposit the suspended matter. It may therefore be presumed that this river will not be liable to the same changes which have attended the others, and that we may rely on its remaining navigable for a great number of years.

As to the second objection, experience offers no instance of a river which has once become unnavigable for any great length of course, from the deposition of the matter carried down its stream, whether sand or gravel, ever returning naturally to a navigable state. Many examples, on the contrary, might by adduced to shew (what in deed might be expected) their unabating tendency to fill up their beds. The bed of the Dummooda has risen above the level of the adjacent country. The great, and in some cases total change of course of many of the Indian rivers may be attri buted to the rising of their beds, by which they are forced to enter new channels. The beds of the Italian rivers may also be brought forward as instances in point, particularly that of the Po, which, from successive embankments, has risen in many places to thirty feet above the level of the adjacent country; and the most fearful apprehensions are entertained that, at no very distant period of time, the whole country known by the name of the Polesino, or the Delta of the Po, is destined to become an extensive, and useless marsh. It is the opinion of many, that the obstructed state of the Baugretty arises en

tirely from the accumulation of sand at the head of the river, and that if it were removed, there would be no hindrance to the navigation in the rest of its course. The sections taken at different places, prove, however, the obstructions not to be so partial as is supposed; for instance, between Culna and Nuddea, at Moorshedabad and at Sooty, there was the same depth of four feet. From which it may be inferred that the bed of the Baugretty generally, from Sooty to Koolna, may be taken as being three feet depressed, in ordinary seasons, below the surface of the Ganges; allowing for the slope of the country, and that the degree of practicability of the Baugretty depends not on any change in the sands, but entirely on the height of the Ganges. The Baugretty is seldom navigable for boats of 500 maunds burthen in January, yet it remained so in that month of the year 1821, and the boatmen of the different ferries affirmed that the river was about a foot higher than is usually experienced at the same season; yet, under these circumstances, it was then impracticable for boats exceeding 500 maunds burthen; and it may with safety be admitted, that the Baugretty will seldom be so completely open, but that a very great proportion of the up-country or western trade boats will have to resort to the proposed new route. What has been said in regard to the Baugretty will apply in like manner to the Matabanga and Jellinghie rivers, as these were impassable in January for boats of 200 maunds burthen.

The difficulty, if not the impossibility, of making permanent canals in the upper parts of Bengal, which comprizes generally the answer to the third objection, has already been shewn; it might, therefore, be thought superfluous, to add any thing further in this place, had not a plan been proposed for carrying a canal from Rajmahl to below Sooty; and as the feasibility of this plan, which has many advocates, may be brought forward as an objection to the one proposed, it becomes necessary to point out in a distinct manner what may be conceived the objections to its success. The ground-work of the plan is as follows: That at or near Rajmahl a spot might be found where the Ganges is steady in its course, and where it would not desert the entrance of the canal, by

throwing up sand-banks, as it has done
at the opening into some of its natural
branches. That a canal carried from thence
through a compact stiff soil would be in
no danger of having its banks washed away;
and that the large body of water which
would be conveyed by it into the Bau-
gretty would keep the channel of that river
more free from sand than it is at present.
That a greater body of water brought into
the Baugretty would have the effect of dis-
placing the sands at the bottom of its channel,
appears to be very problematical, on consi-
dering, that even after the floods of the
rainy season, when the column of water
has been increased 32 feet in height, no
effect is produced in deepening the bed;
which may be thus accounted for the
soil through which the river flows is al-
most wholly composed of sandy particles,
which have a considerable degree of gra
vity, with scarcely any of tenacity; the
consequence of which is, that they are
easily detached from the sides, but are
with difficulty removed from the bottom.
Hence a river, flowing through such a soil,
with any increase of water, will enlarge
its section in breadth, and not in depth,
finding less opposition in effecting the
former than the latter. In this way may
be traced the creation and destruction of
the great sand-banks of the Ganges. A
sunken boat or tree, by retarding the cur-
rent, allows the gravity of the sand to act
in precipitating it to the bottom; while the
stream, being too powerless to displace the
incipient collection, it becomes the cause of
a still further accumulation, and finally
give a new direction to the current, which
striking obliquely the sides of any conti-
guous bank, crumbles it down, and carries
away the sand, to undergo a process simi-
lar to that which has been just described.

It will now be shown, that the Ganges is not more steady in its course at Rajmahl than at other places, and that the expense of the canal would of itself be an insuperable bar to the undertaking. With the exception of that small portion of the town of Rajemahl which lies between the bastions of the palace and the burying place of Futteh Jung, which forms the bight in which boats occasionally bring to, there is no other part where the Ganges has

continued a steady course for any length
of time; and even here the encroachments
of the river are visible, although in a less
degree, from the rocky nature of the soil.
About forty years ago, the Ganges flowed
close to the town along its whole length:
it is now 400 yards distant from the wes-
tern extremity: from a late change in the
direction of the current it is again making
its approaches. The branch of the Ganges,
only a few years back, ran close by Ouda-
nullah, which in the dry season is now two
In further
miles from the nearest stream.
proof of the changes in this part of the ri-
ver,
it may be mentioned, that about the
year 1600, the Ganges held its course un-
der the walls of Gour. It had some time
previous to this been shifting gradually its
bed, but it then left the vicinity of that city
and approached the Rajemahl Hills. From
Rajemahl to the Baugretty a line of soil
could no doubt be found of such a consis-
tency, that the banks of the canal therein
excavated would withstand the force of the
current, but the labour and expense of
working on such a soil would be very con-
siderable. It is besides generally elevated
several feet above the common alluvial
land, which may be said to be on a level
with the river at the height of the rains.
In order, therefore, to have a sufficient
depth of water in the dry weather, it would
be necessary to dig seven or eight feet be-
low the surface of the river at that time.
And as the rise of the river is 32 feet, the
depth of digging, on the lowest computa-
tion, would be 42 feet. A mile of canal of
this depth, and 60 feet broad at the surface
of the water, would cost 74,000 rupees;
and as the distance could not be less than
42 miles, the expense of excavating would
to (31,00,000 rupees)
alone amount
thirty-one lakhs of rupees. Independently
however of the very great expense that
would attend the completion of such a
work, no hope could be entertained of an
unimpaired navigation for any length of
time; for in its course, as appears by the
map, it would be intersected by a number
of hill streams, which, in the rainy season,
bringing down quantities of sand and other
matter, would infallibly choak up the canal
at the places where they entered it.

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