1 654
2 THE BIVEE «IMD dU INDUa
3 the maia chiinnel here was cousiderahly reduoeil by several large biancbest
4 wiiicli had ac|>argtwl fi*om it, and nn panlkl to it, ooa ftwa iti H^budc
5 ^MMfor^UUe cnLjinafbw.placei^ hnaaglNMCi at naany of tha Ok«bi» and
6 lis fcyeatfth «raa two hmldsed yard*} we fibrdod at a ptece thratf ftet and a
7 half daqpk «id five hundred yards broad du^twaUyi amrtfaar oooaiderafala
8 branch, fifty yards broad and three feet deep, was crossed before we came to
9 die lefl bank of the main channel, besides two other int* i m i branches. The
10 banks of the Indus are very low, thai i&, tlie luuci- baukii seldom exceed six
11 feet, and generally four and five, but in the rainy aeason it q)reads in many
12 pkoeifiom ten to twelve COM. It eiqpcan evident^ thatdMnaiachaiiiMl
13 fbfnerly nmiiirtherto the eastward hf aeveu miles, and the Lya Nullah at
14 present occupies its former bed ; for the high banks at Mahom^ragin, and
15 Kuror or Laleesan, and all along the loft of this Nullah at sooie distanec^
16 has every appearance of it.
17 The flat country and iiJands, which are overflowed ai the h<>\ season, are
18 excessively rich black clay, well cultivatt^d lu many piaceii, aud otiiers ai-e
19 ovnpigraini with high grass jungle. Xbe labouran iuwe Umptontj hnii
20 ereetedp atid cuHinite the kad. The bed of the Indus is sand, with a
21 small quantity of mud, and its wnter appears to resemble that of the Ganges*
22 There are many quick sands, and the islands are for the most part oovMed
23 witli long jhow jungle. For fifty coss above Mittendakot, where it receives
24 the rivers of the Punjab, it run* nfarly parallel to them, and at Ooch,
25 which is ibrty coss up, the distance across is not above ten milc^ Thu> space
26 is one complete sheet of water in the months of July and August, and the
27 villages are only temporary, with a &m exceptiattk The wlMiln coontry to
28 Hjdsiahad throogh Sind appeoia to be Ae sauc^ but thens a|i|Nan to be a
29 qilantity of ridt land uncultivated, and over-grown with jhow and grass
30 jungle. It appears by the routes along its left bank to Hyderabad, that
31 there are many considerable tovs-ns and numerous villages, and in many
32 places canals carried to them from the river. It is rather (ulii that there
33 should be scarcely any trade cairied on between the aorthero countries nud
34 flhidii' Ihem is a fitlle between Modftsii, Bnhawdpocv and Sbid. Idnll
35 now endeavour to give an aocount «f the rivers whidi fill into the Luha.
36 The.greii bnachM to the notthwaid of riithmnrr have been meotioBeiiL
37 and I shall pass on to the Abba Seen.
38 Digitized by Google