1 ( 58 )
2 be. classed as, ‘firstly, Inundation Canals, and secondly, Permanent
3 Canals.
4 93. The Inundation Canals consist of channels, which are full of
5 water during the latter part of spring, the summer
6 and autumn, and are empty during the winter.
7 These Canals are generally all situated in the South-Western portions
8 of the Punjab. In that latitude the levels of the country would to a
9 great degree preclude the construction of permanent Canals to flow all
10 the year round,-unless the original heads were situated in somewhat more
11 elevated localities towards the North. “But instead of permanent Canals,
12 @these jnundation channels are excavated. During the winter the water
13 of the rivers is not sufficiently high to enter them. But as the water
14 rises in the spring from the melting of the snow of the Himalayas
15 (whence the ‘rivers take their source), it gradually enters the channel, *
16 which become quite full as the floods attain their maximum volume in
17 the height of summer. From_heing thus inundated, the channels are
18 called Inundation Canals. At this season the blessing of the water is
19 beyond description. The land is scorched by even more than ordinary
20 heat of an Indian summer, -The rains which, in most places, afford some
21 relief, rarely fall here; so that at the season when the water is most
22 needed, when the sky is brass and the earth is
23 iron, the Inundation Canals flooding the adjacent
24 lands from April till October produce luxuriant-crops, especially for the
25 autumn harvest. In fact the fertility of the South-Western Panjab in
26 a great degree depends on these Canals; as the only other mode of
27 irrigation, namely, that by wells, is difficult and unsatisfactory. Ina
28 former age, it appears that they were conducted from all the rivers, the
29 Sutlej, Ravee, Chenab, Jhelum, Indus. Many traces of them are
30 perceptible, together with the ruins, not only of villages, but’ also of
31 cities and public buildings, the only remaining indications of a wealth
32 and a civilization that have passed away. As explained in previous
33 Reports, the British Government at Annexation found many such Ca
34 nals in working order round Mooltan, in the Baree Doab, between the
35 rivers Sutlej and Ravee. These it has improved, enlarged, regulated,
36 maintained. For their supervision a Commissioned Officer ‘and three-
37 Assistants, with a suitable subordinate establishment, are permanently
38 appointed, at a cost of Rupees 25,700 or £2,570 per annum. The
39 -Government derive no extra water rent from these Canals (though the
40 Tnundation Canals.
41 Their localities.