The general aspect of Bengal is that of a Cham paign country, intersected by numerous "rivers, and surrounded by chains of lofty mountains. That part of the Delta through which the Ganges expands his branches as he approaches the sea, is the lowest dis trict in the province, and seems as if newly emerging from the waters. It is called the Sunderbunds or woods; lies between the river Hoogly and Chitta gong; and is equal in extent to any of the three kingdoms of which Great Britain is composed. It is a labyrinth of creeks and rivers, of jungle and stagnated water, a dreary uninhabited waste, infest ed by boars and tygers; but its numerous canals are so disposed, as to form a complete inland navigation throughout the Lower Delta. It abounds in quantities of salt, equal to the whole consumption of Bengal and its dependencies ; and it furnishes an inexhaustible store of timber for firewood, domestic uses; and boat building. Some attempts have been made, and with considerable prospect of success, to clear and culti vate this inhospitable tract ; but, as land in every part of India is yet very imperfectly occupied, there is no sufficient stimulus to make new acquisitions ; and, as it is deemed by some a matter of policy to have such an extensive desart lying between our pos sessions, and the only point of attack from an Euro pean enemy, there is not much encouragement given to the cultivation of the Sunderbunds. Within the boundaries of the province, and particularly in the south-west angle, and on the north of the Ganges, are to be found more elevated tracts of laud, remark able for picturesque scenery, and for the neat habi tations of the peasantry. These upper regions, how-• ever, which are not liable to inundation, and which were formerly called Barendra, are of very inconsi derable extent, and of very inferior estimation in the views of commerce and finance. The principal divi sion of Bengal, and that which is most valuable for its produce and manufactures, is an extensive and un interrupted level, through which the Ganges and Bur rampooter slowly roll their immense volumes of water, and which they annually overflow in the rainy season.
The general* soil of Bengal is a congeries of clay, ' mixed with a considerable portion of sand, fertilized by various salts, and by immense quantities of decay ed vegetable and animal substances. It is a rich, blackish mould, extremely loose in its texture, ex tending to a very great depth, (to six, fourteen, and even to twenty feet,) lying on a bed of sand, inter ' spersed with shells and rotten wood, affording every indication of a country gained from the sea, and formed by deposition from the waters of the rivers, and of the annual inundations. In proof of this supposi tion it may be mentioned, that similar processes are continually affected by the rivers bursting from their beds; and that there are frequently found at the depth of 20 or 30 feet the wrecks of boats, with their anchors and other implements, which seem to have been sunk in some remote period, when the soil was lower, or when this vast plain formed a part of the sea.
These inundations, to which the province of Ben gal in a manner owes its origin, and upon the due proportion of which its prosperity annually depends, form the most interesting object of attention to the natives, and must hold a prominent place in every account of the country. The following description of these periodical floods, the most distinct with which we are acquainted, and the least capable of abridgment, is submitted to our readers in the iden tical words of the eminent geographer, from whose pen it proceeded. The Ganges " appears to owe its increase as much to the rain water, that falls in the mountains contiguous to its source, and to the sources of the great northern rivers, that fall into it, as to that which falls in the plains of Hindostan ; for it rises fifteen feet and a half out of thirty-two (the sum total of its rising) by the latter end of June ; and it is well known, t iat the rainy season does not begin in most of the flat countries till about that time. In the mountains, it begins early in April ; and by the latter end of that month, when the rain water has reached Bengal, the rivers begin to rise, though by very slow degrees; for the increase is only about one inch per day for the first fortnight. It then gradually augments to two and three inches, before any quantity of rain falls in the flat countries ; and, when the rain becomes general, the increase, at a medium, is five inches per day. By the latter end of July, all the lower parts of Bengal, contiguous to the Ganges and Burrampooter, are overflowed; and form an inundation of more than a hundred miles in width, nothing appearing but villages and trees, ex cepting very rarely the top of an elevated spot (the artificial mound of some deserted village) appearing like an island. But the inundations in Bengal are as
much occasioned by the rain that falls there 23 by the waters of the Ganges; and as a proof of it, the lands in general are ov•sflowed to a considerable height, long before the bed of the river is filled. It must be remarked,' that the ground adjacent to the river bank, to the extent of some miles, is consider ably higher than the rest of the country ; and serves to separate the waters of the inundation from those cf the river, until it overflows. This high ground is in some seasons covered a foot or more ; but the height of the inundation within varies, of course, ac cording to the irregularities of the ground; and' is in some places twelve feet. Even when the inundation becomes general, the river still chews itself, as well by the grass and reeds oil its banks, as by its rapid and muddy stream ; for the water of the inundation acquires a blackish hue, by having been so long stag nant, among grass and other vegetables ; nor does it even lose this tinge, which is a proof of the pre dominancy of the rain-water over that of the river; as the slow rate of the motion of the inundation, (which does not exceed half a mile per hour,) is the re markable flatness of the country. There are parti cular tracts of lands, which, from the nature of their culture, and species of productions, require less mois ture than others, and yet, by the lowness of their situa tion, would remain too long inundated, were they not guarded by dikes or dams, from so copious an inunda tion as would otherwise happen, from the great eleva tion of the surface of the river above them. Those dikes are kept up at an enormous expense; and yet do not always succeed from want of tenacity in the soil of which they are composed. It is calculated, that the length of those dikes collectively amounts to more than a thousand English miles. Some of thefn, at the base, are equal to the thickness of an ordinary rampart. One particular branch Of the Ganges (navigable only during the rainy season, hut -then equal to the Thames at Chelsea) is conducted between two of these dikes for about seventy miles ; 'and when full, the passengers in the boats, look down on the adjacent country, as from an eminence. Du the swollen state of the river, the tide totally loses its effect of counteracting the stream ; and, in a great measure, that of ebbing and flowing, excepting near the sea. It is not uncommon for a strong wind, that blows up the river for any continuance, to swell the waters about two feet above the ordinary level at that season, and such accidents have occasioned the loss of whole crops of rice. A very tragical event happened at Luckiponr in 1763, by a strong gale of wind conspiring with a high spring tide, at a season when the periodical flood was within a foot and a half of its highest pitch. It is said, that the rose six feet above the ordinary level. Certain it is, that the inhabitants of a considerable district, with their houses and cattle, were totally swept away; and, to aggravate their distress, it happened in a part of the country, which scarcely produces a single tree, for a drowning man to escape to. Embarkations of every kind traverse the inundation ; those bound up wards, availing themselves of a direct course and still water, at a season when every stream rushes like a torrent. The wind, too, which at this season blows 'regularly from the south-east, favours their progress; insomuch, that a voyage, which takes up nine or ten days by the course of the river, when confined within its banks, is now effected in six. Husbandry and grazing are both suspended ; and the peasant tra verses in his boat those fields, which, in another sea son, he was wont to plow ; happy, that the elevated site of the river banks places the herbage they con tain within his reach ; otherwise his cattle must perish." " The inundation is nearly at a stand for some days preceding the middle of August, when it begins to run off; for although great quantities of rain fall in the flat countries, during August and September ; yet, by a partial cessation of the rains in the mountains, there happens a deficiency in the supplies necessary to keep up the inundation." " The decrease of the inundation does not always keep pace with that of the river, by reason of the height of the banks ; but after the beginning of October, when the rain has nearly ceased, the remainder of the inundation goes off quickly by evaporation, lea ving the lands highly manured, and in a state to re ceive the seed, after the simple operation of plow ing." Kennel's Menzoir, p. 348, &c.