Page:McCosh, John - Advice to Officers in India (1856).djvu/113

 three days of continued rain do not happen above four or five times during the monsoon. Withal, the quantity of rain that fails is almost incredible in some provinces amounting to no less than eighteen or nineteen feet.

7. INUNDATION.—The Ganges now rises from forty to fifty feet, overflows its banks and inundates the country,like a sea. Boats pursue their course through the interior of the country, over corn fields and orchards, along the highways, or through lately populous streets, the streams of population being replaced by muddy water. The natives embark their goods and chattels to keep them dry, and tie their boats to the door posts; where the oxen lately trod out the corn, they swim across to higher pasture; the timid deer is driven from its haunts and glad to claim protection in a cow-house; the elephant and the wild hog swim from island to island and are often captured in the transit; and even the sulky tiger, tamed of his ferocity, has on such occasions sneaked into a cottage,and, docile as a dog,laid himself down an unwelcome guest in a corner. Contrary to what might be expected, these inundations carry little devastation and no care nor despondency along with them. In proportion to the inconvenience suffered now is the abundance of the coming harvest; according to the height to which the waters rise, so high rise the hopes of