Gazetteer Of The Sialkot District

· 1895 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1Sialkot District- ]

2CHAP. I.— THE DISTRICT. 5

3attendant consequences, have been anything but favourable to

4the development of the belt of villages on its banks, which

5have never recovered the fertility they possessed before the

6opening of the Bari Doab Canal.

7The stream forms no permanent islands in the river bedj

8but patches of sand, left dry by the retiring floods, form tem-

9porary and shifting islands, upon which not unfrequently a

10thick growth of reeds springs up. The river is fordable in

11places during the cold weather, but the passage is not without

12danger on account of quicksands. There are eleven ferries, at

13one of which, that of Miani, on the road from Sialkot to

14Amritsar, a bridge of boats is maintained during the cold

15weather months. The Ravi is nowhere navigable, but small

16country boats come up fi'Om Lahore for the kdua grass from the

17belas, and timber is floated down from Charaba.

18The Degh — The Degh is formed by the union of twopetty

19streams north of Jasrotaiu Jammu territory, and enters the nortli-

20east corner of the Zafarwal tahsil near the village of Lehri.

21Shortly afterwards it splits into two branches which traverse the

22whole length of Zafarwal, and re-unite on the Pasrur border.

23After only twomiles two branches are again formed. One of these

24flows due south into the Raya tahsil, where it again joins the

25main branch. The other runs towards the south-west, and when

26half way through Pasrur deflects to the south, and finally joins

27the Gujriinwala district at the village of Chakian. From

28both these branches there are several smaller offshoots. The

29supply of water, being drawn from the lower hills and depend-

30ent solely upon the local rainfall, is somewhat uncertain and

31intermittent. There is water, however, in the channel at

32all seasons of the year ; and here and there springs of water

33occur iu the bed. When heavy rain has fallen in the hills

34the discharge of water is sudden and abundant, causing floods,

35which are frequently destructive. From the plain country,

36too, considerable accessions of volume are received during heavy

37rain ; for the river valley, lying low, forms the main drainage

38artery of the eastern portion of the district. The nature of

39the banks varies much. Abrupt in some places, they become

40in others so gradually sloped as to be almost uudistinguishable.

41The bed of the river is of course sand, forming in places

42quicksands of considerable depth. The current during the

43rainy season is very rapid, being scarcely fordable even when

44only knee-deep. When waist-high the stream is quite unford-

45able. The course of the main current shifts constantly from

46side to side of the river bed, but there have been no instances

47of late years of any violent change. The action of the Degh

48varies with its distance from the hills. It rushes through the

49whole of Zafarwal and the north of Pasriir, doing little but harm

50owing to the rapid slope of the country. To the south of

51Pasrur and in Raya, however, its value as a fertilising agent is

52great, as it rarely carries away land ; the alluvial deposits are

53rich and widely spread, and the gentle flow allows the water

54Chapter I-

55Descriptive.

56The Ravi.

57Hill atreams.