Gazetteer Of The Shahpur District 1883-84

· 1883 · Public domain (published pre-1930) · archive.org ↗

1Chapter I.

2Descriptive.

3The Jhelum.

4The Chen4b.

5Canals.

6[Punjab Gazetteer,

78 CHAP. I1.—THE DISTRICT.

8dred gnd fifty miles, of which about two hundred have lain

9in British territory. In the plains the Jhelum is a muddy river,

10with a current of about four miles an hour. The average width of

11the stream in this district, at flood, is about 800 yards, dyindling

12down in the winter months to less than half this size. WHickle as

13all Indian rivers are, from the circumstance that they flow through a

14flat clayey soil unableto resist the action of water, perhaps none can sur-

15pass the Jhelum in this respect, nor in the damage which itjannually

16causes by its vagaries. This fact, combined with the B slpalaade?

17tiv® narrowness of its channel, has probably led to the existence of

18a custom, which will be fully described in its proper place, by which

19the integrity of states on both banks of the river is preserved. A

20remarkable feature of this river is the sudden freshets to which it is

21subject. These occur after very heavy rain in the hiks, when the

22swollen stream, overleaping its banks, inundates the coantry for

23miles on either side, and then gradually subsides within its normal

24bounds. These freshets, or tangs as they aré called by the people,

25arevery different in their character to the floods caused by the melt-

26ing of the snows, as they seldom last more than one or two days.

27In favourable seasons several of these inundations take plate, and it

28is not easy to exaggerate the beneficial effects produced on the large

29area thus submerged. The soil becomes thoroughly saturated, and

30its productive powers often greatly enhanced by the deposits of

31alluvium left by the receding waters.

32For twenty-five miles the Chenab forms the boundary between

33this district and Gujranwala. Draining as it does a larger arca, the

34volume of its waters is greater than that of the Jhelum ; but then its

35stream being broader, the current is more sluggish, and it is not liable

36to shift its channel so frequently or so rapidly as that river. Its

37width during the rains, at the ferry opposite Pindi Bhattian, is con-

38siderably over a mile. Impetuous while in flood, its average velocit

39does not exceed two and a half miles an hour. As an agent for add-

40ing to the productive powers of the soil, the Chenab is decidedly

41inferior to the Jhelum, the deposits left by its floods being inferior

42both in quality and quantity.

43Inundation canals may now be counted as a distinct feature in

44the agricultural system ofthe district, and will find appropriate

45mention here. Although by no means new to the district, as evi-

46denced by the many remains of such works to be met with along the

47edge of the bdr on the Jhelum side, all that ever existed had been

48allowed to fall into disuse, and had long ago become silted up. At

49length in 1860, one of these was experimentally cleared out by

50Mr. McNabb, then Deputy Commissioner of the district. The

51partial success of the trial, combined with judicious encouragement,

52led Sahib Khan, Tiwana, a wealthy and enterprizing native

53gentleman, to excavate an entirely new canal to water

54agrant of waste land of which he had obtained a long lease.

55Fortunately for the future of the district, the work was completely

56successful, and the malik’s gains large; and from that time it has

57been the duty of the District Officer rather to control within

58reasonable bounds than to foster the spirit of enterprise which has

59arisen in consequence,