The number of miles which can be run over in the course of a day in a _budjrow_, will necessarily vary according to circumstances, guided by the quantity of water in the river, the direction and force of the wind, and the competency of the crew. I cannot do better, in this place, than offer the words of Major Rennell. At page 360 of his Memoirs, he says, ‘From the beginning of November, to the middle, or latter end of May, the usual rate of going _with_ the stream, is forty miles in a day of twelve hours; and, during the rest of the year, from fifty to seventy miles. The current is strongest while the waters of the inundation are draining off; which happens, in part, in August and September.’
In a former part, I remarked that the rivers generally rise a few inches in May; which is to be attributed to the melting of the snow on those hills where the Ganges and Barampooter have their source. Both those rivers, which have their rise at the base, but on opposite sides, of the same mountain, and, after separating to full twelve hundred miles asunder, unite, and form that immense volume of water called the Megna, receive a supply from the same quarter, and at the same time: we cannot, however, expect the force of their currents to be encreased much before the rains are fairly set in, which may be, generally, about the 10th of June, when their waters do, indeed, roll impetuously; so much, that many a boat has proceeded from Patna to Monghyr, a distance of one hundred measured miles by land, and full one hundred and twenty by water, between day-break and sun-set.
Major Rennell adds, ‘Seventeen to twenty miles a day, according to the ground, and the number of impediments, is the greatest distance that a large _budjrow_ can be towed against the stream, during the fair season; and, to accomplish this, the boat must be drawn through the water, at the rate of four miles and a half per hour, for twelve hours. When the waters are high, a greater progress will be made, notwithstanding the encreased velocity of the current; because, the filling of the river-bed gives many opportunities of cutting off angles and turnings; and, sometimes, even large windings, by going through creeks. As the wind, at this season, blows upwards,’ (_i.e._ against the current,) ‘in most of the rivers, opportunities of using the sail frequently occur.’