1 APPENDIX — WATER-COURSES. 205
2 vators into distant and countless parterres. Those who
3 hold land at a distance, and lower down the river, in the
4 more arid districts, are querulous, that the streams do
5 not flow unobstructed in their natural course, which
6 would give them the unabsorbed portion to irrigate their
7 wheat and barley crops.
8 It seems to be a question how far a Chief may be justi-
9 fied in entirely obstructing the course of a natural stream,
10 and in appropriating the waters to his own exclusive
11 advantage, to the serious detriment and loss of his neigh-
12 bours, whose rights he may seem bound to respect, so far
13 as they have relation to property. On the whole, it ap-
14 pears most just, that all should partake, as far as circum-
15 stances will admit, of a share in the water of a natural
16 stream or rivulet, and that when the absolute wants of
17 those on the upper part of the stream have been supplied,
18 the surplus should be again turned into, and permitted to
19 flow in its bed, to satisfy others lower down, whether for
20 irrigation, or the consumption of the people, and cattle,
21 in the arid districts. The lesser currents do not swell in
22 the hot mouths, as is the case with the larger rivers,
23 which debouche from the Himala, and are fed in warm
24 weather by the liquefaction of the snow : the supplv of
25 water in them is hence often so scanty, as scarcely
26 to administer to the necessities of those near their
27 heads, whilst the distress of others, farther down the
28 stream, induces them to become more clamourous
29 as the quantity decreases, and ultimately stops short
30 of them.
31 Bunds, or dams, are always constructed, after the
32 ains have ceased, to raise the water to a level with the