Canning, South 24 Parganas

The Matla
The bazaars ended in causeway that led away from the town towards the Matla River. Although the causeway was a long one it fell short of the river…He remembered the Matla as a vast waterway, one of the most formidable rivers he had ever seen. But it was low tide now and the river in the distance was no wider than a narrow ditch flowing along the centre of a kilometre-wide bed. The freshly-laid silt that bordered the water glistened in the sun like dunes of melted chocolate. From time to time, bubbles of air rose from the depths and burst through to the top, leaving rings on the burnished surface… Although the vessel could not have been more than nine metres in length, it was carrying at least a hundred passengers, and possibly more: it was so heavily loaded that the water was within fifteen centimetres of its gunwales. It came to a halt and the crew proceeded to extrude a long gang plank that led directly into the mudbank.