It has been proposed to increase the maritime facilities of India and Ceylon by cutting a canal through the island of Ramisseram, which at the present time excludes the possibility of ships drawing more than 12 feet of water from passing northward to the Bay of Bengal. For this reason ships proceeding to Madras or Calcutta have to steer to the east of Ceylon, which entails a voyage of 300 or 400 miles longer than would be required if the route by the Gulf of Manaar and the Palk Straits were open to them.
For some years previous to 1887 negotiations had been carried on between the parties promoting this canal and the Government of India, with a view of obtaining such concessions as were deemed necessary to the realisation of the scheme. Authority has been given to obtain land and cut the canal, and the aid of the Government has been promised towards obtaining from the railway companies in the south of India an extension of their system to the new port which it is proposed to establish at the Indian end of the canal.
The inland navigation of India is, however, chiefly carried on upon the great rivers—the Indus, the Ganges, the Brahmaputra. Taking the limit of the Ganges, and Jumna to the west and south, the Brahmaputra and Megna to the east, the country intersected by navigable rivers, &c., may be computed as covering an area exceeding 180,000 square miles.
There is an uninterrupted navigation of 1000 miles up the Indus from the sea to Lahore, which is situated on the Ravee, or Hydrastes, one of the most meandering of the five Punjab rivers or branches composing the Chenab. But, owing to the numerous shallows and sandbanks in some parts of the Indus, this extensive navigation can only be said to be open to the flat-bottomed boats of the country, which draw about four feet of water. There are, however, few rivers on which steam could be used with better effect than on the Indus, which is said to discharge four or five times as much water as the Ganges. It has no rocks nor rapids, and, unless when swollen, the current does not exceed 2½ miles an hour. The swell commences about the end of April, increases till July, and disappears altogether in September.
There are many canals connected with the Indus, but they are principally for the purpose of irrigation, and the greater part of them, being mostly natural creeks, have no water except during the swollen state of the river. Such canals intersect the Delta, and are likewise pretty numerous between the latitudes of 26° 20´ and 28°, particularly on the west side of the river; but the most ancient artificial canals connected with this river seem to belong to the Punjab district.
By means of the Ganges and its subsidiary streams all sorts of articles can be conveyed between the sea and the north-west portions of Hindustan over a distance of more than 1000 miles. The commercial capital, Calcutta, upon the Hoogly branch of the Ganges, is favourably situated for internal navigation. It is about 100 miles from the sea, and 130 from the Sandheads; but it has a very intricate and tedious navigation through the banks of sand and mud, which occasionally shift their beds in the Hoogly River, as well as in the other branches of the Ganges. The Nuddeah rivers, which connect the Ganges with the Hoogly, are likewise, for eight months in the year, so extremely shallow, that the water communication between Calcutta and the upper country is, during that time, maintained by the Sunderbund passages at a great expense of time and labour. To obviate this inconvenience, it has been proposed to construct a canal which, branching off from the Ganges at Rajamahl, shall join the Hoogly at Mirzapore near Kulna; for, owing to the difference of level at the extremities, amounting to 60 feet, and the height of the Ganges itself, varying 30 feet at different seasons, an open cut without locks would not suffice. The intended route, besides being 300 miles shorter than the present route, would traverse a country rich in iron ore and limestone, and would pass near to extensive coalfields.
Among other works of the kind carried out in India during the present century may be named a canal to unite the Damrah and Churamunee; the re-opening of Feroze Shah’s canal in Delhi; the restoration of Zabita Kahn’s canal in the Upper Dooab; the course of Ali Murdher’s canal drawn into Delhi; a new cut from the Votary Nullah; a canal at Chumnapore. A canal of 70 miles has been executed in the King of Oude’s dominions, between the Ganges and its tributary the Goomty. There are several canals in Agra, but they are chiefly used for irrigation, some of them being of considerable antiquity.
South Malabar, and nearly all Travancore, are naturally provided near their coasts with a system of inland navigation called the Backwater, which extends from Chowghaut in Malabar on the north, to Trivanderam, the capital of Travancore, within 50 miles of Cape Comorin, on the south, a distance of 170 or 180 miles. A continuation of it is navigable 90 miles farther for small boats during the rains, from Chowghaut to Cotah, 16 miles south of Tellicherry. The Backwater runs nearly parallel to the sea-shore, sometimes at a distance of a few hundred yards, and at other times of three or four miles. Its breadth varies from 200 yards to 12 or 14 miles; its depth from many fathoms to a few feet. Into this Backwater all the numerous rivers flowing from the Western Ghauts are discharged and retained. The Backwater empties itself into the sea by six mouths; of which the only one navigable for ships is the mouth on the south bank of which is situated Cochin. There is a bar at this mouth, but on it there are 17 or 18 feet of water at spring tides.
In May 1871 an influential deputation waited on the Duke of Argyll, when that nobleman was Secretary for India, to urge the making of a new ship canal through the narrow neck of land projecting from the continent of India, which separates the Gulf of Manaar from the Palk Straits. At the close of the discussion, his Grace frankly admitted that if the statements made by the several members of the deputation were correct, which he did not doubt, and if the work could be executed at the cost estimated, or anything near it, it would doubtless be worthy of adoption, and he, therefore, would address the Indian Government with the view of obtaining an official estimate, and then give his best consideration to the subject. The project has not yet, however, been carried out.
FOOTNOTES
CHAPTER XIX