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.
