The Democratic advocate. [volume] (Westminster, Md.) 1865-1972, 1889-08-03

1 the Hlmalaya Mountains there Is a Wild
strip of vast plains, through which tn,
( mighty Ganges runs, and the bulk of whicl
has been made by the rich, fertilizing eartl
which she has brought down from tn,
mountains.
There is no doubt that in the far-distan
past the greater part of India was an island
and if you could sink these Ganges plain,
500 feet downward the sea would rush in
and the Himalayas would be divided from
the plateau of South and Central India
These plains are the richest part of India
They are the most thiekly populated, and
it is from them that the great bulk Of tn,
rice and wheat of tadia comes The wheat
area of India Is increasing year by year
1t Is now about equal to the wheat area of
the United States, and its product competes
with the American wheat in the markets OF
London. For this reason these plains are
doubly interesting to Americans. aud the
influence Of the Ganges is felt more and
more every year in the Stock Exchange OF
Chicago
The Ganges not only made, but she
nourishes these plants. She IS well called
by the Hindoos Mother Ganga" From
her source in the Himalayas to her mouth
in the Bay Of Bengal she has fall of more
than two and half miles, and as fcrtil-
ixeT bearer she surpasses any river on the
face Of the globe Egypt Is the gift Of the
Nile, You could loss Egypt in these
plains, which are the gift Of the Ganges.
The mighty Nile with its unknown source
does no, carry down as much water as this
holy river Of the HiudoOs, aud her maxi
mum discharge at distance of 400 miles
from che sea, with many of her tributaries
yet 60 hear from, Is one-third greater than
that Of the Mississippi. Where the Gauges
rises, bursting forth from Himslsyan gla-
Cior, il is tweutyseyen feet wide Il falls
;, 500 feet in the first ten miles of its course,
and il has an average depth Of thirty Eve
foet 500 miles trotn i,s mouth. lts delta
Is as vide as the distance from New York
to Washington. and hundreds Of mouths
run from this width back ia sort Of a
parg,lclogram for 200 miles mort, where
they unite The water Of the Bay Of Ben
gal IS diScolorcd Cor miles by the mud
brought down BIZ the Ganges. aud the whole
country Is fcrtilized by IT,
The watcr Is the color aud thickness of
pea soup, and the silt OF mud is 50 rich
that these vast plains use 10 other fertili-
Eer, The crops are harvested by pulling
the stalks cut Of the ground. No COWS or
horses are allowed to pasture in the fields,
aud their droppings are mixed with straw
and mud aud then dried and used as fuel.
In this Ganges Valley nature Is always
giving but never getting Every atom Of
natural fertilizer, save this Ganges silt, is
taken from the sold. Still the land l. as
rich As gusno, and j, produces from two TO
four crops every year. About Calcutta the
allayial deposit Is 800 feet deep, and an cx-
pertinent was lately made TO ger to the end
of H. 4 wcll was sunk, but at the distance
Of 4Si feet the anger broke At this point
the end of this rich soil had not been
reached
PRICELESS LAB0Rs oF TaE MIGHTY RIVER.
The amount Of fertilizing material
brought down by the Ganges has been
lately estimated, and scientific investigation
shows that some distance above the point
where it unites with the BrahmapootrA its
yearly burden is the enormous amount Of
355 ,Oa0 600 tons. \ thousand ton ship
is by no means small, and fee, Of 35O,-
GOO such ships could not carry this burden.
The average freight ear is 81 feet long, and
it takes a strong car 10 carry fifty tons
Suppose our freight ears TO be each IL feet
longer than they are. Load upon each car
80 tons Of this fertiliEing mud aud it
would take train Of more than 1000, 600
such ears To carry the yearly fertiliEing
output Of this great river. If these cars
were on Il single track the track would
have 10 be 67, 400 miles long. IL would
reach twice around the earth and leave
enough ears over TO run two continuous
trains through the centre The most Of
this silt comes down during four moths Of
the year, and if there were daily fleets Of
1000 ships, each containing 400 tons Of
mud, during these four months, they would
just carry it.
But this is the work of the Ganges alone,
1t is five times as much as is carried by the
Mississippi to the Gulf, and further down
the river where the great Brahmapootra
joins it, and flows cut isto its hundred
mouths, the silt output is still greater.
During the rainy season alone the river
here carries out enough silt to load $4,000
ships with 400 tons every day for four
months During this rainy season this
whole delta of the Ganges is covered with
water to the extent of about thirty feet.
You see only the tops of trees and villages
which are built upon the hills, and the
river further up the country is diverted by
canals from its course TO every part of these
vast plains. The best of the wheat is irri-
gated, aud the water being allowed to lie
upon the land, drops this fertilizer and en-
riches it.
SHOCKING PoY ERTY OF THE PEOPLE
| had always looked upon India as a rice
eating country. find that great mum
Der of the people here eat wheat aud grain.
In Northwestern India only about 10 per
cent of the people eat rice, and in the
prison at Agra found that the prisoners
were fed upon grain. Everywhere the
mass of the people seem to be underfed,
and the leanest, scraggiest specimens ol
humanity | have ever seen find in this
rich valley of the Ganges. Where nature
has done everything the people are starv-
ing, and you can have no idea of the skin
and-bone men aud boys whom | see daily
by the thousands The costume of the
people is often such that the arms and legs
and often the breasts and waists-are
bare. There seems to be nothing but skin
bones and sinew, and the average thigh is
not bigger than muscular American
biceps, There are no calves whatever, and
the joints at the knees and the ankles art
extraordinarily large. Nearly every man
you meet, if he be poor, has wrinkles in his