DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.644#0191
i68 GANGETIC HINDOOSTAN.
gins to fubfide, the vvater falls almoft as fiiddenly as it arofe,
and that which was of late one entire flieet of water, except
perhaps fome tops of trees, now appears to be a fertile country,
covered with woods, com fields, and other plantations, and the
different arras which the river branches into, form many little
iflands, which in the rainy feafon one has no idea of.
Some of thefe little iflands produce three and four crops
yearly ; rice, which grows only when it is covered with water;
after that com ; then water melons, &x.
Current. In the dry feafon the current is very flow, not above three
miles an hour, in the wet feafon from five to eight; the defcent
is only four inches in a mile. In the time of the inundations,
the veflels fail in all direcüons as over a vaft inland fea: the
dangers of voyaging is very great, either from the fierce eddies
occafioned by other rivers difcharging themfelves into the
Ganges, or, in the low feafon, by the falling in of great frag-
ments of the banks, or by the ftriking on trees funk beneath
the furface of the water, which often occafion moft fatal acci-
dents.
The Indus at one extremity reaches the fea after a courfe of
, a thoufand miles, the Ganges after a courfe of two thoufand
one hundred and fifty, yet their courfe is exceeded by fome of
the Sibirian rivers. The length of the Oby, moft part of which
is navigable, is two thoufand two hundred miles ; that of the
Lena two thoufand five hundred and fifty: thefe are forced
northward into the Icy Sea by the Altak chain, which forms a
right angle near the fouthern end of the Urallian chain, and,
with their various branches, extend to the northern parts, of
the
gins to fubfide, the vvater falls almoft as fiiddenly as it arofe,
and that which was of late one entire flieet of water, except
perhaps fome tops of trees, now appears to be a fertile country,
covered with woods, com fields, and other plantations, and the
different arras which the river branches into, form many little
iflands, which in the rainy feafon one has no idea of.
Some of thefe little iflands produce three and four crops
yearly ; rice, which grows only when it is covered with water;
after that com ; then water melons, &x.
Current. In the dry feafon the current is very flow, not above three
miles an hour, in the wet feafon from five to eight; the defcent
is only four inches in a mile. In the time of the inundations,
the veflels fail in all direcüons as over a vaft inland fea: the
dangers of voyaging is very great, either from the fierce eddies
occafioned by other rivers difcharging themfelves into the
Ganges, or, in the low feafon, by the falling in of great frag-
ments of the banks, or by the ftriking on trees funk beneath
the furface of the water, which often occafion moft fatal acci-
dents.
The Indus at one extremity reaches the fea after a courfe of
, a thoufand miles, the Ganges after a courfe of two thoufand
one hundred and fifty, yet their courfe is exceeded by fome of
the Sibirian rivers. The length of the Oby, moft part of which
is navigable, is two thoufand two hundred miles ; that of the
Lena two thoufand five hundred and fifty: thefe are forced
northward into the Icy Sea by the Altak chain, which forms a
right angle near the fouthern end of the Urallian chain, and,
with their various branches, extend to the northern parts, of
the