In the upper country, the Ganges receives various inferior streams, such as the Doojoorah, the Cally-Nuddy, the Goombeerah, the Gunduck, the Mahanuddy, the Rooee, the Jumma, the Goomty, the Carimnassa, the Gogra, (or Dewah,) the Soane, the Coosah, and various other streams not vying in extent with the Ganges, but generally equal to the Thames at London. The Gogra, the Soane, and the Coosah, are, indeed, rivers of the second class; as wide as the Thames at Gravesend.
From Sooty, which is in the Jungleterry district, the Ganges throws off a considerable branch: this widening in a curious manner, under the name of the Baug-Retty, passes Moorshadabad, formerly the seat of the government of Bengal, under Sooraja Dowlah, Meer Jaffiers, and their ancestors; at length, after a course of about 150 miles, it meets at Nuddeah, with the Jellinghy, also detached from the Ganges, whence the two form a large river under the name of the Hoogly, which, flowing under Hoogly, Bandel, Chinsurah, Chandernagore, Serampore, Calcutta, and many inferior places, empties itself into the western end of the Bay of Bengal, having previously received the Roopnariam, and the Dummoodah.
In its course from Bagwangolah, which stands near to Sooty, the Ganges sends a great variety of small streams through the Jessore, and Mahomedpore districts, which, meeting with large inlets from the sea, form an immense labyrinth of deep waters, intersecting that wild country called the Sunderbunds, in such various mazes as to require a pilot for their navigation.
Having thus detailed the courses of the rivers, I shall account for their rise and fall; as thereon many physical points of the utmost importance will be found to depend: the various soils through which they pass will be described, and enable us to judge more correctly, of the causes of that variety of character attached to the waters in various parts.
The Thibet Mountains, which form the north-east boundary of a long valley, stretching from Napaul to Sirinaghur, are covered with snow all the year. Their height must be very great; for, on a clear day, they may be seen from the Golah at Patna, though distant little less than 300 miles. From the north-west part of this Alpine range, the Ganges and Barampooter derive their sources, as before described, back to back from the same mountains. To the dissolution of a part of the snow which cloaths their summits, we may, perhaps, safely attribute a slight encrease that takes place about the middle of May in those rivers: fluctuating, more or less, at intervals, until the periodical rains set in; generally about the middle of June. Some have ascribed their rise to heavy rains in the countries through which the streams pass; but such cannot be considered as the true cause, for various reasons. Firstly, those rains must be extremely heavy if they tended to swell the rivers; the ground being parched, and requiring great moisture to saturate it. Secondly, the encrease is not attendant with any turbid appearance; as would indisputably result from such heavy rains, as, after saturating the thirsty soil, could raise such large rivers, often a foot, or more. Thirdly, there are other rivers which derive their sources from the Kammow Hills, and from the Morungs, not so distant from the Thibet Hills but that they might be expected to receive their share of the rains, and to shew some encrease, which they do not; the rise being confined to the Ganges and Barampooter, whose sources lie among the snow-clad mountains. Fourthly, the encrease happens at the hottest time of the year, and the water loses the genial warmth imparted by the solar ray, becomes harder, and, in the upper country, near Annopshier, about sixty miles below the Cow’s Mouth, is found, at that particular season, to cause acute bowel complaints, which is not the case at other seasons. Add to this, that, among the natives of the countries above Hurdwar, the goiture, or wen in the throat, in some measure prevails: a strong symptom of the dissolution of snow.
The following may, generally, be considered the soils peculiar to the several provinces through which the Ganges has its course, after leaving Hurdwar. The west bank is generally high all the way to Benares, and consists, with little exception, of lime, concreted into irregular masses, much like roots of ginger, or Jerusalem artichokes, of various sizes, some weighing perhaps five or six pounds, others scarcely an ounce. These are of a ginger, or ash color; though some, being more mixed with the gravelly part of the soil, are of a yellowish red. This kind of concretion is known throughout India by the name of kunkur, and, when burnt, yields a very inferior kind of cement, friable, and not very tenacious in regard to the body whereto it is applied, nor hardening so as to resist moisture effectually.
All the rivers, therefore, which issue from the western bank, are, more or less, impregnated with this kind of lime; while, on the opposite bank, the waters partake of a strong solution of nitre, with which most of the plains of Oude, Fyzabad, Gazypore, &c., abound. Such is the abundance, that the Company are induced to prohibit the salt-petre manufactured in the Nabob Vizier of Oude’s dominions, from being imported within their own provinces; otherwise, the cheapness of the former, which is usually sold at Furruckabad for about two shillings and sixpence per cwt., would destroy the manufactories at Patna, where it ordinarily sells for double that price.
The country lying between the Ganges and the Goomty, (on the eastern bank,) from Currah to Benares, is replete with alkali in a fossile state, known by the name of sudjy. This is usually found on the surface, at the close of the rainy season especially, when it begins to shew itself very obviously, and is pared off with mattocks; rising in large cellular strata from one to three inches in thickness, and much resembling thin free-stone, though far more porous. In this state it is carried to market, where it is purchased by the manufacturers of soap at Allahabad, Patna, and other places; it is generally combined with oil, and, when ready, sells at about ten shillings the maund of 80lb. At Calcutta it is ordinarily sold at about 50 per cent. profit. It is made in baskets, is of a dark color, and very moist.
It is curious that the inhabitants of these countries have never turned their thoughts to the effects produced by these substances. On the western bank the people are subject to nephritic complaints, which they generally express under the vague term of kummer-ka-dook (or pains in the back); while, on the eastern bank, they are troubled with the moormoory, (or gripes,) with which those living inland, especially, are severely afflicted, owing to their use of tank-water.
During the rainy season, these powerful agents combine, and give birth to most alarming and excruciating maladies, which, however, readily yield to a few gentle cathartics, aided by congee, (or rice-water,) by which the intestines are sheathed. The natives generally have recourse to opiates; whereby they often fix the disease. In the dry season, that is, from the end of October to the middle of June, the river water, having deposited the noxious particles, is remarkably clear and wholesome; except when the rise takes place, about the middle or end of May, as before related. The bed of the river being invariably a coarse sand, occasionally blended with immense sheets of kunkur, whereof the banks are formed for miles in some parts, easily receives the lime and alkali, leaving the running waters clear, and free from those substances.