"People coming from England or America generally arrive at Calcutta or
Bombay, the larger portion at the former. From the sea the metropolis of
India is reached by the Hoogly River, the most western outlet of the
Ganges," his lordship began. "It is sometimes spelled Hugli. Under this
name, the stream is known sixty-four miles above Calcutta and seventeen
below. Vessels drawing twenty-six feet of water come up to the city; though
the stream, like the Mississippi, is liable to be silted up."
"I see that some of you look at me as though I had used a strange word.
Silt is the deposit of mud, sand, or earth of any kind carried up and down
streams by the tide or other current. But the river engineers here are
constantly removing it; the course is kept open, and the Hoogly pilots are
very skilful. The river has also a bore, though not a great bore, like some
people I know.
"We know the book-agent better than this one," said Scott.
"Some of our rivers in England have bores, though not book-agents; so have
the Seine, the Amazon, and others with broad estuaries. High tides drive a
vast body of water into the wide mouth; and, as the stream is not large
enough to take it in, it piles it up into a ridge, which rolls up the
river. It forms a wall of water in the Hoogly seven feet high, which is
sometimes dangerous to small craft.
Pages:
309
310
311
312
313
314
315
316
317
318
319
320
321
322
323
324
325
326
327
328
329
330
331
332
333