26 BBfIGALBUR DI~TPICT
hill streams on the south, which become in the rains large rivers, but
for the rest of the year are sandy watercourses ; of the latter the only
stream worthy. of mention is the Chandan. The northern rivers, of
which the most important are the Tiljaga, Bati, Dimra, Talaba, Parwan,
Kosi, Dhusan, Chalauni, Loran Katna, Daus, and Ghugri, run mostly
from north to south with a slightly eastward tendency. The larger of
them rise in Nepal at the foot of the Himalayas and fall into the
Ghugri, which in its turn joins the Kosi 6 miles from the confluence
of that river with the Ganges at Colgong. The two most important
rivers, the Kosi and the Ganges, have changed their courses in the past
and are liable to change them again in future. The channel of the
Kosi has been steadily advancing westward; and the large trading
village of Nathpur, which in x850 lay some mile:; west of the river, has
been swept away and its site now lies many miles east of it. There
are no lakes in Bhagalpur, but shallow marshes are numerous. Large
tracts of land are flooded every year in the rains, and, as they dry up,
are cultivated and are very fertile.
The geological formations represented are the Archaean, the Gond-
wana, and the Gangetic alluvium. Throughout the greater part of the
District the older rocks are almost entirely concealed by alluvium. In
the south the Archaean rocks rise above the level of the alluvial plain,
and consist partly of crystalline rocks of varied constitution, belonging
to the division designated Bengal gneiss, partly of a very ancient series
of altered stratified rocks, not unlike the Dharwar schists of Southern
India. Along the southern banks of the Ganges various rocks are
exposed in detached spurs and outlying prolongations of the Ràjmahal
hills. Some small islands of an exceptionally granitoid gneiss occur in
the Ganges at Colgong. The remaining exposures belong to the Gond
wana series. The hills at Pirpainti consist of basic volcanic rocks of
the Rajmahal group, which belongs to the Upper Gondwana ; those at
Patharghata, north-east of Colgong, of Damodar rocks - belonging to
the lower coal-bearing series. The latter contain siliceous white clays
suitable for the manufacture of many articles of hard pottery, and have
been unsuccessfully explored for coal'.
The north of the District is covered in places by deposits of sand
left by the Kosi, on which nothing grows except high jungle grass; but
the greater part consists of fertile land. South of the Ganges the soil
is rich and covered with crops, and mango and palm groves abound.
The latter, however, practically cease in the rising ground 20 miles
south of Bhagalpur town, and mangoes grow only in scattered groups;
the mahuâ-tree (Bassia latifolia) here becomes common, the red cotton-
tree (Bombax malabaricum) attains a great size, and patches of dhdk
' This account was contributed by Mr. 1:. Vredenburg, Deputy Superintendent,
Geological Survey of India.
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