Report on the revised settlement of the Shahpoor district in the Rawalpindi division

· 1866 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

18 REVISED SETTLEMENT

2Descriptive, Statistical and Historical. { Part I

3In the Midh and Moosa Chooha Talooquas especially,

4thousands of fine Sheeshum trees have been produced by

5these means.

68. Inow pass on to the northern half, by far the most The tract

7interesting portion of the district, containing as it does such 7orth of the

8ae i. ' A relum,

9varieties of scenery and climate, such contrasts of soil, vege-

10tation, and natural capabilities.

119. ‘The low lands along the right bank of the Jhelum, General as.

12have little to distinguish them from the corresponding tract Pect

13on the opposite bank of the river, but on leaving these, and

14moving inland, all resemblance to the country south of the

15river ceases. Looking to the north, a hard level plain, in

16places impregnated with salt, and throughout almost devoid

17of vegetation, occupies the foreground, beyond it, extends a

18zone of afew miles of cultivation; and the view is slut in

19by a barrier of rugged and apparently barren, hills ;—while

20on turning tothe east and south,is seen an interminable

21plain, the soil of which, changing from the hard clay of the

22“ Mohar” to the sand of the “hull,” gradually loses itself

23in the horizon. The area included withm this general des-

24cription, is made up of three strongly marked natural

25divisions—I, The Salt Range; LL. The cultivated plains along

26the base of these hills, subdivided popularly into the “Mohar”

27and “Dunda;” and III. The “ Thull.”” Each of these deserves

28separate notice.

2910. The portion of the chain of hills called the Salt- The Salt.

30Range, included within the limits of this district, commences Range.

31at the village of Bhudrar on the east, and ends on the west

32at the Sukeysur hill, the highest peak in the range, a total

33length of about forty miles. At its narrowest part, opposite

34Kutha, the range does not exceed eight miles in width, but

35from this point it rapidly increases, till at Jubbee, the inter-

36val between the plains on both sides cannot be less than

37twenty miles ; thence it narrows again, rapidly, and the exter-

38nal ridges, on both sides of the range, closing round the

39Soon valley, unite and form the Sukeysur hill. The area

40between these limits, is made up of a number of rock-bound

41alluvial basins, of which the largest, the Soon, and the

42Khubbukkee valleys, ovcupy the northern half of the range,

43while the lower portion 1s cut up into a number of very

44diminutive valleys and glens, by a succession of limestone

45ridges and their connecting spurs; of these, the Patifl and

46Sukeysur mountains with the intermediate chain of lower

47hills, form the central watershed, issuing from which the

48surplus drainage passes off, to the south, into the plains

49below, but to the north, finding no outlet, it collects in the