those travelling along the line, so that our successors will have a more pleasant mode of locomotion than those who went before them, who have often had to cut their way through dense jungle.

In short, the remarks on this greatest of works in British India may be summed up in the words of Colonel B. Smith, the present Director. "The Ganges Canal, with its branches, is navigable throughout for a distance of 890 miles, along which are distributed 17 dams or escapes, with waterways varying from 800 to 18 feet; 202 bridges, from 200 to 20 feet waterway; 297 inlets for minor drainage; 16 falls, for regulating the slope of the canal bed; 31 locks and navigable channels; 282' Raj-baha heads,' for irrigation channels; an aggregate length of not less than 10 miles of bathing ghats, for the use of the community; 49 first-class and 122 second-class chokies, or houses for the shelter of the establishments; six workshops; two superpassages, for passing torrents over the canal, of 200 and 300 feet water-way; and last, the great aqueduct over the Solani river, unequalled in its dimensions by any work of its kind throughout the world." This canal is calculated to discharge 6750 cubic feet every second, or a volume of water equal to the discharge of the Tay, the Forth, and the Clyde, all put together. The nominal water-power of each of the falls is 6825 horse-power, or an effective force equal to say half that quantity. If, therefore, all the falls were applied for driving machinery, little short of 50,000 horse-power could be obtained without much difficulty.

The diagrams will give an idea of the breadth for nearly the first 100 miles; so broad, in fact, that it is a long shot to kill a duck on the water at the opposite side.

The following is a rough estimate of the excavation, which is considerably below the work done :

Rough Estimate of the Ganges Canal Excavation.

If all this earth were formed into a cube, each of its sides would be 13653 feet in length, which would form a hill of a respectable size alongside Arthur's Seat; or taking Edinburgh, which is about 21 square miles in area, if all this earth were spread over it uniformly, the whole city would be covered with a stratum 36-722 feet thick; and if to this be added the cuts and embankments for the rivers, along with the thousands of miles of water-courses, which would be called canals in this country, there would be a heap of earth sufficient to bury all Edinburgh 50 feet below the soil, and the bricks would go a long way to rebuild the city.

The remaining subject to be considered is, What are the benefits expected to be derived from such a great undertaking, on which upwards of one million and a-half sterling has been expended, and which will cost two millions ere it is in full operation? This subject should be viewed in three lights; viz., financially, politically, and as to the effect it will have on Hinduism.

1st, As a financial measure. The calculated discharge of the Ganges Canal is 6750 cubic feet per second, and, by the experience gained on the Jumna canals, this would furnish abundant irrigation for 4,500,000 acres. This will yield a water-rent to Government of L.128,250 per annum. The transit-duties are calculated at L.10,000, and, with other miscellaneous items, the revenue will ultimately amount to L.145,000 as direct returns; but the maintenance of the canal will at least equal L.40,000 a-year, which will leave a return of 7 per cent. on the outlay when the works are in full operation.

The indirect return to Government is the increase of revenue consequent on the extension of irrigation; and this alone is estimated at double the direct revenue, or 14 per cent. on the total outlay.

If, however, one-half only of this amount is realized for many years to come, the construction of the canal is a wise step in a financial point of view, particularly as it provides against the recurrence of such famines as that of 1837-38.

2d, Politically, this work is of the greatest importance, as it shows to the natives of India that the Government is desirous to add to the wellbeing of its subjects; and there is not a pil

grim who visits Hurdwar who does not carry back with him to every corner of India accounts of the great blessings the "Sircar Company" has conferred. One requires to visit India before he can form a correct conception of the estimation in which any one is held who even sinks a well, for his name is handed down from generation to generation as a public benefactor. Even the Mohammedan emperors, who dug some canals, chiefly to beautify their palaces with fountains, and to water their hunting-grounds, have their names immortalized.

Lastly, the Ganges Canal should be considered as to the effect it is having on the Hindu religion. As I before said, Hurdwar is one of the most sacred places of Hindu worship, and the holy water is visited by the gods when the planet Jupiter is in a certain point in the heavens.

This is usually about the 11th or 13th of April, when vast bodies of pilgrims come to bathe in the sacred waters; and it has been estimated that as many as two millions have collected there at one time. Now, all along the Brahmins held out that the Ganges, sooner than allow its waters to flow down the canal, would rather return to Gamgootrie, one of the highest peaks of the Himalayas; and the missionaries consider the opening of the canal as one of the first steps towards the overthrow of Hinduism.

India is chiefly indebted to three distinguished individuals for this great work. To Sir P. T. Cautley; Mr Thomason, the late Lieutenant-Governor of the North-west Presidency, and to Lord Dalhousie. Though the work had been commenced prior to his Lordship's administration, yet he gave the project his powerful support, which enabled Sir P. T. Cautley to carry out any improvement that he might deem necessary; and even during the second Punjaub war, which cost Government L.10,000 every day our army was in the field, though every other public work for a time was discontinued, his Lordship made an exception of the Ganges Canal, which he ordered to be proceeded with as if there was no unusual drain on the resources of the Government. Out of the L.1,400,000 expended on the canal up to the day of its being officially opened on 8th April 1854, L.1,230,000 were sanctioned by Lord Dalhousie, as Governor-General.

To Mr Thomason, who, as Lieutenant-Governor, had the local control, and who exhausted all the means at his command in furtherance of the undertaking. It was the constant object of his thoughts and solicitude; and on every subject relating to it he was in the closest communication with the Directors.

Of Sir P. T. Cautley I need only say, that he was the first to conceive the idea of turning a mighty river from its course to fertilize the country,-that he designed every work, and saw almost all the works carried out to completion.

To give an idea of the changes that have taken place, I shall mention two incidents connected with the history of canals in India. Mr Daw, then the oldest canal officer, told me that when, some fifty years ago, our Government gave orders to reopen the Western Jumna canal, a neighbouring chief sent some horsemen to the spot where the first embankment was to be thrown up, with orders to cut off the hand of the first man who attempted to work. A detachment from Lord Lake's army was despatched from Meerut, who not only brought this unruly chief to his senses, but made him pay dearly for his temerity!

The other incident happened to myself, On 1st April 1854, I went to admit the Ganges into the upper portion of the canal, preparatory to the official opening. By a bank of river stone no water was allowed to flow from the Ganges past the sacred ghats at Hurdwar, so that 50,000 pilgrims, who had come to bathe, had nothing but stagnant water with which to perform their devotions. Yet though there was no guard to protect the embankment, no one thought of destroying it. At the time of my passing through Hurdwar, Mr Woodside, the missionary, was holding a long argument with one of the pilgrims, whether the water would flow down the canal or back to its source at Gamgootrie! The argument was cut short by a noise among the crowd, who were calling out for victory to the holy Ganges, and a blessing on me for letting in the water.

This paper has become much longer than I had anticipated, but I trust it has not been without some interest. If it assists in drawing attention to this richest province of the British

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realm, it will have accomplished its main object. India is a country more fertile, perhaps, than any other in the world; and I may almost say that it could be made to produce sufficient to feed and clothe every subject of Queen Victoria. At the same time its hundred millions of inhabitants would in return receive our manufactures, and thus England and India would both reap mutual advantages. To bring this about, canals are required for irrigation, and roads and railways to convey away the produce. We have too long looked on India as a country from which we may withdraw wealth, without giving anything in return; but I hope the day is not far distant when this drain on its resources will cease.

As the dry and parched plains require water to invigorate their soil, so does India require capital to develop its resources, when, like its fertile plains, it will return an hundredfold. The wealth in this country, again, like your fields, requires draining; either it is lying stagnant in banks, or creating rank vegetation, such as Russian railways, the sure forerunners of wars and oppression. I hope, therefore, that our capitalists will invest their wealth in projects for the improvement of India, that are so sure of yielding an ample return, and at the same time prevent its being ever again said, that if the English were now to quit India, they would not leave behind them one monument, like the Mohammedan rulers, that would show it had been governed by a civilized and paternal government. Granted there are few palaces, though the Thomason College at Roorki might be passed off for one, yet I trust when the day arrives we shall leave behind us many more Ditches like the Ganges canal.

EDINBURGH, 24th March 1857.