1 ¢ 56)
2 between the two cities. It is believed that from this source alone a
3 Railway might, even on its first opening, realize
4 £10,000 per annum on a section only 35 miles
5 long. A similar ‘passenger traffic would doubtless spring up between
6 Lahore and Mooltan, and it may be added that the route wid Kurrachee
7 would be frequented by pilfrims to Mecca.
8 89. Again, if the advantages, present and prospective, of this line
9 when constructed are great, so also are the facilities for its construction
10 remarkable. Though the country situated above its Northern terminus
11 is rich and highly cultivated, yet the particular tract through which it
12 - will run is for the most part poor. Between Mooltan and Lahore, a
13 distance of 240 miles, the country is a dead level, hard and waste. In
14 the first place then, there will be no cultivated or inhabited ground to
15 be bought up. The price for the land will be almost nominal. There
16 are no engineering difficulties whatever to be met with any where
17 between Lahore and Mooltan. The Doab, or country lying between the
18 two rivers Sutlej and Ravee, is elevated in the centre, and the sides slope
19 gently off towards the rivers. From the centre or back bone of the tract,
20 there naturally run drainage channels to the rivers; consequently, while
21 a road traversing the Doab near the banks of either river must cross or be
22 i intersected by numerous little streams, a line
23 Facility for construct- aN
24 ing Umritsur and Mool- constructed in the centre would meet none of
25 enteows them. But the Railroad would run near the central,
26 or dorsal ridge, parallel to the course of the new Baree Doab Canal, and
27 consequently the line will perhaps not meet with any stream whatever.
28 There being no streams, nor depressions, nor elevations, there will conse-
29 quently be no bridges, cuttings, or embankments, on at least four-fifths
30 of the distance. As it approaches Mooltan, the line would have to be
31 carried across a few small irrigation canals and to be partially raised.
32 Tn short jt would be difficult to select, or even imagine, a champaign
33 more suited for the cheap. and easy construction of a Railway than the
34 country between Lahore and Mooltan. Between Lahore and Umritsur
35 the country is fairly cultivated, and generally level. It offers no engi-
36 neering obstacles. But there would be three or four small streams, and
37 one canal to be bridged. As regards materials, the iron would come from
38 England ; timber and wood of the best kind is obtainable from the Hills
39 by water carriage; fire-wood exists in the utmost abundance ; kunkur
40 Passenger traffic.