Travels in the Mogul Empire (Bernier) 24.10

24.10

The observations made by me on the periodical rains of the Indies, which fall during the time that the Nile is increasing in Egypt, throw considerable light upon this subject, and will lead you to imagine that the Indus, the Ganges, and all the other rivers in this part of the globe are so many rivers Nile, and the countries contiguous to their mouths so many lands of Egypt, Such were the ideas which suggested themselves to my mind when in Bengale, and the following is, word for word, what I then wrote concerning this matter. The numerous islands in the gulf of Bengale, at the mouth of the Ganges, which the course of ages has united together, and at length has joined to the continent, recall to my mind the mouths of the river Nile. When in Egypt I remarked the same process of nature ; and as it is often said, in the language of Aristotle, that Egypt is the workmanship of the Nile, so may it be observed that Bengale is the production of the Ganges. There is only this difference between the two rivers, that the Ganges being incomparably larger than the Nile, it carries toward the sea a much greater quantity of earth ; and thus forms a number of islands more numerous and larger than those of the Nile. The islands of the Nile too are destitute of trees ; but those of the Ganges are all covered with them, owing to the four months of regular and excessive rains that fall in the midst of summer.