CALCUTTA AND EASTERN CANALS 287
from a tax on houses and lands and Rs. q,ooo obtained from the sale-
proceeds of Government securities and the withdrawal of savings bank
deposits. The expenditure in the same year was Rs. 52,000, of which
Rs. 2q,ooo represented the outlay on the introduction of a supply of
filtered water. The principal villages now within the municipality are
Barisā and Behala.
Calcutta and Eastern Canals.-A system of navigable channels
in the Twenty-four Parganas, Khulna, Backergunge, and Faridpur
Districts of Bengal and Eastern Bengal and Assam, extending over
a length of 1,127 miles, of which 47 miles, including Tolly's Nullah,
are artificial canals, and the remainder are natural channels, mainly tidal
creeks in the SUNDARBANS. These stretch eastwards from the Hooghly
across the Ganges delta and afford means of intercommunication
between the mouths of the latter river. The channels are under the
supervision and control of Government, and tolls are charged on vessels
using the artificial canals.
This is one of the most important systems of river canals in the world,
judged by the volume of the traffic, which averages r,ooo,ooo tons
per annum, valued at nearly four millions sterling. The situation of
Calcutta makes it the natural outlet for the Ganges valley ; and this
position has been enormously strengthened by the construction of
railways, but other measures were necessary to enable it to tap the trade
of the Brahmaputra valley and to focus the rich traffic of the eastern
Districts. The intermediate country is a maze of tidal creeks, for the
most part running north and south but connected here and there by
cross-channels, wide near the sea-face but narrow and tortuous farther
inland. These inland channels are constantly shifting as the deposit of
silt raises their beds, while on the other hand the great estuaries near
the sea-face are not navigable by country boats from June to October,
owing to the strong sea-breezes which prevail during the south-west
monsoon. This system of canals was devised, therefore, in order to
allow country boats to pass from the eastern Districts to Calcutta by
a direct inland route, and the problem has been to keep the natural
cross-channels clear of silt, and to connect them with each other and
with Calcutta by a system of artificial canals. The channels have been
in use for many years; and it is along them that the rice, jute, and
oilseeds of East and North Bengal, the tea of Assam and Cāchār, and
the jungle produce of the Sundarbans pour into Calcutta, while they
also carry the exports of salt, piece-goods, and kerosene oil from
Calcutta to those Districts.
Before the opening of TOLLY's NULLAH, boats could approach Cal-
cutta only by a route close to the sea-face which brought them into the
Hooghly by the Barātala creek, 70 miles below Calcutta; and this route
was not only circuitous but was impracticable for country boats during
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