The Amnia or Jamoona river of Northern Bengal in Rennell's time joined the Brahmaputra, whereas it now joins the main stream of the Ganges near the railway station of Goalundo. On the Jamuna is situated the important mart of Sirajganj, perhaps the richest of all the centres of trade in the interior of Bengal. Till about 1840 this capital of the trade in jute stood on the banks of the river. In 1848 the floods carried the town clean away, whereupon the traders formed a new bazar on the new bank, five miles frora the original spot. When the stream, in another sudden caprice, went back to its old bed, the traders, warned by experience, preferred remaining where they were. Huge boats are now moored in the mid-stream miles from the bank, and business is done by merchants and brokers, who move about in small boats, or traverse what, in the hot season, is a blinding waste of sand some miles in extent. The real Sirajganj has been happily described as a town without houses. But it has a population of 18,000, and an aggregate trade, imports and exports, of 3.1 The Tista rises in Independent Sikkim or in Tibet, or in both countries. Its upper reaches display rocky pools, huge boulders, wooded banks, and picturesque scenery. \When it descends to the plains, these peculiarities are exchanged for a fine channel often 800 yards wide, which, even where the volume is least, will float boats of three and four tons burden. The history of the freaks of this. stream is very suggestive. In the survey by Rennell, the Tista flowed due south, joined another river in Dinajpur, and finally emptied itself into the main stream of the Ganges. In 1787 the Tista was choked by excess of silt, and burst its banks, when the accumulated waters forced their way into a small branch, which, after flooding the country and causing immense damage, they gradually so enlarged as to form a junction with the 13rahmaputra,, which still exists.
The Mahanadi, in the province of Cuttack, rises in a mountainous and wooded region, and, after a tortuous course between ridges of hills and over ledges of rocks, divides into two or more main channels, ancl. has often threatened to sweep away the town of Cuttack. But the volutne of waters has been confined and utilized by engineer ing skill. A series of canals, at a considerable outlay, will guarantee the province against a, recurrence of the terrible famine of 186G.
Except the Nerbadda and Godavery, unless great engineering skill be applied, there are none of the rivers of the Peninsula of India likely to prove navigable. The waterfalls on the Nerbadda river are those of Kapila-dhara and Dudh-dhara near its source,—the former of 78 feet. The next is at Umaria in the Narsinghpur district, of about 10 feet. At Mandhar, 90 miles below Hoshang abad, and about 25 below Handia, there is a fall of 40 feet ; at Dadri, near Punasa, 25 miles below Mandhar, there is another fall of 40 feet.
The British Indian Government tried to make the Godavery navigable. The rivers embraced
under the Godavery navigation project are the Godavery, Wardha, Pranhita, Wain - Ganga, Indrawati, Sabari, and Pain - Ganga. The three first, however, are the principal streams. The Wardha takes its rise in the Baitul district, west of Nagpur, and, after flowing for some distance in a south-east direction, is joined by the Wunna, which, passing under Hingingliat, falls to the south, and forms its junction with the Wardha, at a place called Sweet, 18 miles south of the latter place. At this confluence are the falls of Zoourate, and under them is the village of Chuhmunder, which was supposed to be the limit of the contemplated engineering operations. The Wardha flows on to the south-east, until, a little before reaching Chaucla, it is joined by the Pain - Gauge, when, losing the names of Wardha and Pain - Ganga, the united stream continues under the name of Pranhita to its junction with the Godavery, a few miles below the station of Sironcha. Midway between these confluences is situated the third or Dewalamurry barrier, extending round in a curve for about 50 miles, and midway down this barrier the Wain Ganga discharges itself into the Pranhita. From the confluence of the Godavery and Pranhita below Sironeha to the sea, the river e,arries the former name, although joined at intervals by the Indrawati and other tributaries above specified. Thirty miles below Sironcha is the second or Enchampally barrier, and eighty miles below this again is the first or Sinteral barrier.
The Tsan-pu, or Bralimaputra, like the Sutlej, rises near to the sacred lake of Manasarowar. Indeed, the Indus, the Sutlej, and the Brahmaputra may be said to start from the same water-parting. After receiving several tributaries from the con fines of the Chinese empire, the river (Brab maputra) bends round a lofty eastern range of the Himalayas, and enters British territory under the name of the Dihang, near Saddiya in Assam. A few days' journey from Saddiya, the frontier town of Assam, there is a station called Bonga, where Roman Catholic missionaries have their solitary home. Hero is the meeting-place of the frontiers of India, Bunna, China, and Tibet, Taking our stand at this spot, and looking south, we have five great rivers, all destined to play a great part in the future trade of Europe, and in the regeneration of the people who swarm on their banks. To the west is the Brahmaputra, which bears the tea of Assam to its destina tion ; to the extreme east is the Yang - tse, the great river of China ; and flowing directly south and almost parallel at distanc,es of about 200 miles from each other are, in order from the Yang - tse, the great Mei - kong or Cambodia river, tho Salwin, and tho Trawadi. On the delta of the first the French have planted them selves, and already their steamers have sailed up towards China aud Burma, till stopped by the rapids.