Page:The Imperial Gazetteer of India - Volume 2 (2nd edition).pdf/282

 BENGAL.

272

But near the centre of the Provinces they Their main channels bifurcate,

an ever-increasing volume. enter

upon a new stage

in their career.

and each new stream so created throws off its own set of distributaries The country which they thus enclose and intersect to right and left. Originally conquered by fluvial deposits forms the Delta of Bengal. from the

sea,

find

rivers

now

it

stretches out as a vast

currents ceases to carry along the

The

from Northern India.

their channels

burden in their beds

rise

above the

dead

which the

level, in

The diminished

checked.

velocity

their

force

of their

which they have brought down

silt

streams, accordingly, deposit their alluvial

and upon

their banks, so

level of the

that

by degrees

surrounding country.

In

this

way, the rivers in the Delta slowly build themselves up into highlevel

canals,

margins,

which every autumn break through or overflow

and

of square

leave

miles

their

silt

upon the adjacent

Lower Bengal

in

thus

receive

flats.

their

Thousands

each year a top-

brought free of expense from the Himalayas a system of natural manuring which defies the utmost power of overcropping to exhaust its fertility. As the rivers creep farther down the dressing of virgin

soil,

—

become more and more sluggish, and their bifurcations and more complicated. The last scene of all is a vast amphibious wilderness of swamp and forest, amid whose solitudes the network of channels insensibly merges into the sea. Here the perennial struggle between earth and ocean goes on, and all the ancient secrets of landThe rivers, finally checked by the dead making stand disclosed. Delta, they

interfacings

weight of the sea, deposit their remaining silt, which emerges as banks or blunted promontories, or, after years of battling with the tide, adds a

few

feet or,

The

it

may

be, a few inches to the foreshore.

G.vnges, which enters on the western frontier, and runs diagon-

its peculiar character and aspect. mouth, it spreads out into numerous branches, forming a Delta. The Delta, where it borders on the sea, becomes a labyrinth of creeks and rivers, running through the dense forests of the SUND.A.RBANS, and exhibiting during the annual inundation the appearHigher up, the rice-fields, to the extent of ance of an immense sea. thousands of square miles, are submerged. The scene presents to a

ally across

Bengal, gives to the country

About 220 miles from

its

—

European eye a panorama of singular novelty and interest the crops covered with water; the ears of grain floating on the surface; the stupendous embankments, which restrain, without altogether preventing, the excesses of the inundations



and peasants

going about their daily work in canoes or on streams which

fall

into, or

rafts.

in all quarters

The

navigable

diverge from, the Ganges, intersect the

country in every direction, and afford abundant facilities for internal communication. In many parts, boats can approach, by means of lakes, The rivulets, and watercourses, to the door of almost every cottage.