obliquely; its banks were on the average five miles
apart, and formed of sand, without clay, and with very
little silt or mu d : the water was clear and brown, like
that of the Jheels, and very different from that of the
Jummul, We thence turned eastwards into the delta
of the Soormah, which we traversed in a north-easterly
direction to the stream itself. We often passed through
very narrow channels, where th e ' grasses towered over
the boats: the boatmen steered in and out of them as
they pleased, and we were utterly at a loss to know how
they guided themsielves, as they had neither compass
nor map, and there were few villages or landmarks;
and on climbing the mast we saw multitudes of other
masts and sails peering over the grassy marshes, doing
ju st the same as we did. All that go up have the south-
west wind in their favour, and this helps them to their
course, but beyond this they have no other guide but
that instinct which habit begets. Often we had to
retreat from channels that promised to prove short
cuts, but which turned out to be blind alleys. Sometimes
we sailed up broader streams of chesnut-brown
water, accompanied by fleets of boats repairing to the
populous districts at the foot of the Khasia, for rice,
timber, lime, coal, bamboos, and long reeds for
thatching, all of which employ an inland navy throughout
the year in their transport to Calcutta.
Leeches and mosquitos were very troublesome, the
latter appearing in clouds at night; during the day
they were rarer, but the species was the same. A large
cray-fish was common, but there were few birds and not
animals to be seen.
To the geologist the Jheels and Sunderbunds are
a most instructive region, as whatever may be the mean
elevation of their waters, a permanent depression of
ten to fifteen feet would submerge an immense tract,
which the Ganges, Burrampooter, and Soormah would
soon cover with beds of silt and sand. There would
be extremely few shells in the beds thus formed, the
southern and northern divisions of which would present
two very different floras and faunas, and would in all
probability be referred by future geologists to widely
different epochs. To the north, beds of peat would be
formed by grasses; and in other parts, temperate and
tropical forms of plants and animals would he preserved
in such equally balanced proportions as to confound
the palaeontologist; with the bones of the long-snouted
alligator, Gangetic porpoise, Indian cow, buffalo,
rhinoceros, elephant, tiger, deer, boar, and a host of
other animals, he would meet with acorns of several
species of oak, pine-cones and magnolia fruits, rose
seeds, and Cycas nuts, with palm nuts, screw-pines,
and other tropical productions. On the other hand,
the Sunderbunds portion, though containing the bones
of the tiger, deer, and buffalo, would have none of the
Indian cow, rhinoceros, or elephant; there would be
different species of porpoise, alligator, and deer, and
none of the above-mentioned plants, which would be
replaced by numerous others, all distinct from those of
the Jheels, and many of them indicative of the influence
of salt water, whose proximity (from the rarity
of sea-shells) might not otherwise be suspected.
On the 1st of June we entered the Soormah, a full