Chapter I: A General View of the Indus (3)

I have mentioned the districts lying westward of the Indus, and the predatory habits of the inhabitants. The Boordees occupy all the plains north of Shikarpoor, to the borders of the Brahooee country, or Cutch Gundava. They are emigrants from Kej and Mekran, and of the Belooche family of Rind. They are a fair and handsome race of men, more like Afghans than Beloochees: they do not wear the costume of Sinde, but roll a cloth in folds loosely round their brows, and allow their hair in long tresses to hang suspended, which gives them a savage appearance. They took the name of Boordee, from a noted individual in the tribe, according to the Belooche custom, for the various tribes are nothing more than descendants of some person of note. The chief place of the Boordees is Duree, but they have no large towns. The whole “Oolooss,” or tribe, is rated at 10,000 fighting men, and till their chiefs were taken into the service of the Ameers, they were constantly marauding: petty robberies are yet committed. Their language is a corrupted Persian: of the other tribes, the Juttooees, Moozarees, Boogtees, and Kulphurs, with many more, they differ from the Boordees only in name. The Juttooees are to be found in Boordgah: the Moozarees, whose chief town is Rozan, extend as far as Dera Ghazee Khan, but their power is now broken, though they plundered in former times the armies of Cabool. The Kulphurs and Boogtees occupy the hills called Gendaree, which commence below the latitude of Mittun, and run parallel with the Indus.

CHAP. X.

THE INDUS FROM MITTUN TO ATTOK.

~The Indus above Mittun.~

While on our progress to Mooltan, by the Chenab or Acesines, I made various enquiries, and sent different people to acquire precise information, regarding the Indus above Mittun. The Cabool mission in 1809 came upon that river, at Oodoo da Kote, about 100 miles north of the point in question; and I was desirous of connecting my own surveys with that place, and thus complete our knowledge of the Indus from the sea to Attok.

~Description of it.~

The river runs, in this part of its course, nearly due south, and is free from danger and difficulty in navigation. It is here generally known by the name of Sinde or Attok, and traverses a country much the same as I have described near Mittun, being often widely spread from the lowness of its banks. Its breadth is considerably diminished; for at Kaheree, when Mr. Elphinstone crossed it in January, the soundings did not exceed twelve feet, with a breadth of 1000 yards, while the Indus, after it has received the Punjab rivers, rolls past Mittun with a width exactly twofold. On the left bank, too, the soundings were found to be four fathoms deep.

~Province of Dera Ghazee Khan.~

On the right bank of the river the province of Dera Ghazee Khan occupies the country as far as the mountains. It is a fertile territory, and the capital which bears its name is one of the largest towns on the Indus. It is surrounded by gardens and date groves, and stands in a very rich country: it has been long numbered among the conquests of the Seiks, who farmed it, till lately, to the Khan of Bhawulpoor at an annual rent of six lacs of rupees; but as the district originally produced but four, every species of extortion was practised which led to its late resumption. The tract being remote from Runjeet Sing’s dominions, he is anxious to hold it without requiring the services of his troops; and the Maharajah has given Dajil and some portion of the territory to the Brahooees, its former owners, on condition of military service.

~Commerce, in line of route.~

The productions of Demaun, and the countries westward of the Indus, are sometimes brought by Dera Ghazee Khan, and crossed to Ooch; but the more frequented route lies higher up, and passing the ferry at Kaheree leads to Mooltan. The river is not used in the transport of any portion of the trade, for the hire of boats is exorbitant, and it is sent on camels or bullocks. Madder (called munjoot) is an article of export from this part of the Indus, and used to dye the fabrics of Bhawulpoor.

~Expeditions, why they avoided the Indus.~

It is a remarkable fact that the various expeditions that have been conducted from the upper provinces of the Indus, to the countries lower down, have taken the rivers of the Punjab, as far as they went, in preference to the Indus itself; but we are certainly not to infer therefrom that the greater river is shut against navigation. The conquests of Alexander led him beyond the neighbourhood of the Indus, and in the case of the emperors their capital was long fixed at Lahore, and several of their fleets against lower Sinde were fitted out at Mooltan, always a city of great importance in the empire, and on a river as accessible to the boats of the country as the Indus itself.

~Bridge of boats at Attok.~

The Indus has been crossed at Attok, and an account of it, and that fortress, will be found in Mr. Elphinstone’s work; but the means which the ruler of Lahore has used of late years to transport his army to the right bank of the river, and which I heard from his officers, and afterwards had confirmed on the spot, deserve mention. Runjeet Sing retains a fleet of thirty-seven boats, for the construction of a bridge at Attok, where the river is only 260 yards wide. The boats are anchored in the stream, a short distance from one another, and the communication is completed by planks, and covered with mud: immediately below the fortress of Attok, twenty-four boats are only required, but at other places in the neighbourhood, so many as thirty-seven are used. Such a bridge can only be thrown across the Indus from November to April, on account of the velocity of the stream being comparatively diminished at that season, and even then the manner of fixing the boats seems incredible. Skeleton frame-works of wood, filled with stones, to the weight of 250 maunds (25,000 lbs.), and bound strongly by ropes, are let down from each boat, to the number of four or six, though the depth exceeds thirty fathoms, and these are constantly strengthened by others to prevent accident. Such a bridge has been completed in three days, but six is a more usual period. We are struck with the singular coincidence between this manner of throwing up a bridge, and that described by Arrian[26], when Alexander crossed the Indus. He mentions his belief regarding Alexander’s bridge at Attok, and except that the skeleton frame-works are described as “huge wicker-baskets,” the modern and ancient manner of crossing the river appears to have been the same. The Afghans farmed the construction of a bridge at Attok for the sum of 14,000 rupees; but the Seik has put a stop to the ruin of habitations and houses which it invariably caused, and keeps up an efficient supply of materials. An army which does not exceed 5000 men is crossed at Attok by the ferry boats with less labour than by a bridge.

FOOTNOTE:

[26] Vide lib. v. c. 7.

CHAP. XI.

THE CHENAB OR ACESINES JOINED BY THE SUTLEGE OR HESUDRUS.

~Chenab or Acesines.~

The Acesines of the Greeks, or the modern Chenab, is lost in the Indus at Mittun, having previously gathered the waters of the Punjab rivers. The junction is formed without noise or violence, for the banks are depressed on both sides, and the river is expanded: an eddy is cast to the eastern side, which sinks the water below the usual level, but it does not occasion danger. The Euphrates and Tigris, when joined, pass to the ocean under the name of the “river of the Arabs,” and the appellation of Punjnud, or “the five rivers,” has been bestowed on this portion of the Chenab; but it is a designation unknown to the people living on its banks, and adopted, I conclude, for geographical convenience.

~Joined by the Sutlege.~

Under the parallel of 29° 20´ north latitude, and five miles above Ooch, the Chenab receives the Garra, or joint stream of the Beas and Sutlege (Hyphasis and Hesudrus of antiquity). This junction is also formed without violence, and the low banks of both rivers lead to constant alteration in the point of the union, which, but a year ago, was two miles higher up. This circumstance renders it difficult to decide on the relative size of these rivers at their junction; both are about 500 yards wide, but the Chenab is more rapid. Immediately below the confluence, the united stream exceeds 800 yards; but in its course to the Indus, though it expands sometimes to a greater size, the Chenab rarely widens to 600 yards. In this part of its course it is likewise subject to change. The depth is greatest near its confluence with the Indus, exceeding twenty feet, but it decreases in ascending the river to about fifteen. The current is swifter than the Indus, running at the rate of three and a half miles an hour. The Chenab has some sand banks, but they do not interrupt its navigation by the “zohruks,” or flat-bottomed boats, forty of which will be found between Ooch and Mittun, a distance of forty miles, and a five days’ voyage.

~Banks of the Chenab.~

The banks of the Chenab seldom rise three feet above the water’s edge, and they are more open and free from thick tamarisk than the Indus. Near the river there are green reeds, not unlike sugar-cane, and a shrub called “wahun,” with leaves like the beech-tree, but the country is highly cultivated, and intersected by various canals. The soil is slimy, and most productive: the crops are rich, and the cattle large and abundant; the villages are exceedingly numerous, and shaded by lofty trees. Some of these are the temporary habitations of pastoral tribes, who remove from one place to another, but there are many of a permanent description on both banks. Their safety is nowise affected by the inundations of the river or those of the Indus, for the expansion of these has been exaggerated, and it rarely extends two miles from the banks of either river.

~Ooch, its productions, &c.~

The only place of note on the Chenab, below its junction by the Garra, is Ooch. It stands four miles westward of the river, and no doubt owes its site to the junction of two navigable streams in the vicinity. The country around it is highly cultivated: the tobacco plant in particular grows most luxuriantly; and after the season of inundation, the tract is one sheet of green fields and verdure. The productions of the gardens are various; the fig, vine, apple, and mulberry, with the “falsa,” which produces an acid berry, may be seen, also the “bedee mishk” (odoriferous willow). Roses, balsams, and the lily of the valley, excite a pleasing remembrance, and there are many plants foreign to India. A sensitive shrub, called “shurmoo,” or “the modest,” particularly struck me: its leaves, when touched, close and fall down upon the stalk, as if broken. The mango does not attain perfection in this soil or climate, and seems to deteriorate as we advance north. Indigo is reared successfully. Wheat and other grains are cultivated in preference to rice, which does not form here, as in Sinde and the lower provinces of the Indus, the food of the people, though it may be had in great quantities.

CHAP. XII.

ON BHAWUL KHAN’S COUNTRY.

~Its extent.~

The small territory eastward of the Indus, which lies between the confines of the chief of Lahore and the Ameers of Sinde, belongs to Bhawul Khan Daoodpootra. His frontier to the north may be loosely said to be bounded by the Sutlege, or Garra, but at Bhawulpoor it crosses that river, and, running westward to a place called Julalpoor, comprises a portion of the country between the Sutlege and Acesines, the Acesines and the Indus. The Rajpoot principality of Beecaneer bounds it to the east. It has Jaysulmeer to the south, and, on that part where it approaches Sinde, a tract of four miles in either country is left without tillage, to prevent dispute on the marches.

~Its nature.~

The greater part of this country is a barren waste of sand-hills. In the vicinity of the rivers, the tract is rich and fertile, watered, like the other banks of the Indus, by the annual swell. The towns are few in number, and scantily distributed, but there are numerous hamlets on the Acesines. Bhawulpoor, which stands on the left bank of the Sutlege, has a population of about twenty thousand people, and is the mercantile capital; the walled town of Ahmedpoor, further south, and about half the size, is the residence of the chief, as it lies closer to Durawul, an ancient fort in the desert (without a town), and the only place of strength in the country. Durawul is mentioned in the histories of Sinde as a fortress worthy of Alexander: it was taken by Mirza Shah Hoosein, in the year of the Hejira 931; but an account of the siege proves its position to have been more formidable than its strength: it is built of brick.

~Power and importance.~

The influence of the chief of Bhawulpoor is as limited as his territory, his power having been crushed by the Seiks, and only saved from entire overthrow by a treaty, which prevents Runjeet Sing from crossing the Sutlege. The revenues do not exceed ten lacs annually (excluding Dera Ghazee Khan; which, properly, belongs to the Seik), three of which are demanded in tribute by the Lahore chief, for his lands north of the Sutlege; yet Bhawul Khan maintains some state, and has about two thousand regular troops (such as they are), with a train of artillery, to second the efforts of his feudatories in the field; and his forces collected would exceed twenty thousand men. The present chief inherited a large patrimony in treasure.

~Daoodpootras, their descent.~

The Daoodpootras are a tribe of Mahommedans from the district of Shikarpoor, on the right bank of the Indus, which they held in the earlier part of Aurungzebe’s reign. They crossed the river, and achieved, by daring acts of bravery, the conquest of the lands now held by them, from the Duhrs, Muhrs, and other Sindee tribes, and have been settled in Bhawulpoor for five generations. As the name Daoodpootra implies, they are descendants of one Daood or David; but the chiefs claim a lineage from the holy line of Abbas, the uncle of Mahommed. The chiefs of the tribe are named Peerjanee, and the common people Kihranee. The community are not allowed to assert their right to the same holy descent as their masters, which casts some doubt on the lustre of their parentage. The whole tribe does not exceed fifty thousand souls. They are a fair and handsome race of people, but disfigured by long bushy tresses of hair, which they allow to hang over their shoulders.

~The reigning family.~

Bhawulpoor was tributary to Cabool as long as that kingdom lasted; and the chief had the title of Nawab, but was nearly independent. The three last rulers have taken the name of Bhawul Khan, from a saint of great repute in Mooltan; and the designation of Nawab has been changed to that of Khan, by which title he is familiarly known to his subjects. The present Bhawul Khan is about thirty years old, and much beloved by his people: he has a turn for mechanics, and gives great encouragement to trade and agriculture. He succeeded, about five years ago, to the prejudice of his elder brother, who now holds an office under him; his power is firmly fixed, and he has a family of three sons. The form of government is despotic, and there is no chief of any great importance in the country but the Khan himself; and the style and formality of his court keep even these humble, and at a respectful distance.

~Trade of Bhawulpoor.~

The manufactures of Bhawulpoor consist of loongees, which are celebrated for the fineness of their texture. The weavers are Hindoos, a numerous class in this country, and who enjoy more toleration in their trade than their religion. The merchants of Bhawulpoor deal extensively in goods of European manufacture, which they receive from Pallee, in Marwar, by way of Beecaneer and the desert, and send into the Dooranee country by the route of Mooltan and Leia, crossing the Indus at Kaheree. The Hindoos of Bhawulpoor, and, indeed, of all this country, are a most enterprising race of men: they often travel to Balkh and Bokhara, and sometimes to Astracan, for purposes of commerce: they take the route of Peshawur, Cabool, and Bamean, and, crossing the Oxus, exchange at Bokhara the productions of India, for that quarter of Asia and Russia, which are annually brought by the merchants of that country. They spoke highly of the Uzbek King, and praised Dost Mahommed, of Cabool, for the protection he afforded to trade. The Sutlege, or, rather, the joint stream of it and the Beas, called Garra, on which Bhawulpoor stands, is a navigable river, though not used in the transport of its merchandise. It does not lie, however, on any available line of route, except that of Sinde; from which country, as I have before repeated, there is no trade with the upper provinces of the Indus. Of the name of this river, the Beas, I may add, that it is a contraction of Bypasa, in which we have nearly all the letters of Hyphasis, the designation of it found in the ancient authors.

CHAP. XIII.

THE PUNJAB.

~Extent of Runjeet Sing’s territory.~

The territories of Maha Rajah Runjeet Sing stretch from the Sutlege to the Indus, from Cashmere to Mooltan, and comprise the whole of the countries watered by the Punjab, or five tributary rivers, eastward of the Indus. The power of the Maha Rajah over this tract of country is consolidated: he commands the fastnesses of the mountains, and its alluvial plains. So entirely has the Seik nation altered its constitution, under this chief, that, within a period of twenty years, it has passed from a pure republic to an absolute monarchy. The genius of one man has effected this change, though contending with powerful opposition, from a religion, that inculcates, above every other, democracy and the equality of all.

~Changes in the Seik government.~

This change of habits has been general, and the fortunate prince who achieved it, is not more pre-eminent among his nobles, than they are among their followers; from whom they receive a respect bordering on veneration. We have now no convocations at Umritsir, the sacred city of the Seiks, where the affairs of the state were discussed and settled, and none of the liberty which the followers of Gooroo Govind proudly claimed as the feature of distinction in their tribe. It is evident that the change will affect the energies of the Seik nation, for they sprang from a religion which was free from the worn-out dogmas of Hindooism, and the deteriorated Mahommedanism of their neighbours, the Euzoofzyees: their bravery was coeval with that religion, and based upon it; their political greatness sprang from their change of faith, and though that has been changed, the Seiks are yet left with peculiar tenets, and continue to all intents and purposes a distinct people.

~Policy of Runjeet Sing, and state of his army.~

The power which Runjeet Sing acquired has been preserved by his policy: he has a disciplined army of infantry, with a due proportion of cavalry and artillery. The system is unpopular in the country, and the Seik Sirdars view with distrust the innovation, and the innovators. The French officers, when deprived of their patron, would find it necessary to stand aloof, from motives of personal safety; and, if they left the country, the wreck of their labours would soon perish in the general tumult. At present their battalions manœuvre with regularity and precision: they are well accoutred and dressed, but destitute of the most essential quality of a soldier,--discipline. Their payment is irregular: they undergo cheerfully the mechanical duties of the soldier, and have shown their gallantry on service; but there is no tie between the army and the government, and the greater and more glorious victories of the Maha Rajah were achieved before he had regular troops.

~Seik Sirdars, or chiefs.~

The Sirdars of the Seik nation lose their power in their own feuds. Runjeet has not failed to foment these, and turn them to advantage; and, as a mediator of differences, he has always despoiled both parties to aggrandise himself: he considers it justifiable to profit by the vices and bad qualities of human nature, and cares not how much he promises, and how little he fulfils. The Maha Rajah, however, has portioned out, with a liberal hand, the lands and conquests among his Sirdars, and conciliated them by this means; few of them place any reliance on his character: they are aware of his power, and dread to give him offence.

~Revenues of the Punjab.~

The revenues of the Punjab and its dependencies amount to about two and a half crores of rupees annually: the principal item in this sum is derived from Cashmere, which furnishes thirty-six lacs of rupees. I may add, that all the jagheers and revenues of religious persons are included in the net sum I have named. The revenue is collected by arbitrary exactions, at the will of the collector, as in other native governments. They are presumed, at the outset, to be dishonest, and, aware of the fact, rifle the peasant, and are prepared to be rifled in return. The exactions, as regulated by Runjeet himself, are mild, and his late acquisitions about Mooltan are in a most prosperous condition. Cashmere, on the other hand, is described as the very essence of bad government: the people are oppressed, and the Maha Rajah is afraid to trust other but menial servants with that valuable ornament of his crown.

~Revenues might be increased.~

The revenues of the Punjab might be increased by annexing to it the provinces _immediately_ westward of the Indus, some of which have been subdued by Runjeet Sing; but he has shown, in this instance, his usual foresight and discrimination. Across the Indus, he would encounter a most fanatical people, the Euzoofzyees, who would occupy the time of his army; he contents himself, therefore, with an annual tribute of some horses and rice from Peshawur. Lower down the Indus, he farms the province of Dera Ghazee Khan to the Khan of Bhawulpoor.

~Military resources.~

The military resources of the Punjab are great: it yields more grain than is sufficient for the consumption of its inhabitants; but the scarcity of population prevents the full measure of its production. Camels, mules, horses, and cattle abound, and all of them, except the cattle, which are small, are of a superior description. The roads, from one extremity of the country to the other, admit of wheeled carriages, except among the mountains: the Indus, and all the other rivers are navigable, though not navigated. They have ferry-boats in abundance, and there are also materials for their further construction; these rivers are frequently passed on skins, but these are more in use among the mountains than the plains.

The paucity of Seiks, in a country ruled and governed by them, is remarkable. The mother earth of the tribe is the “doab,” between the Ravee and Sutlege; but there are few of them to be found thirty miles below Lahore. There are no Seiks westward of the Hydaspes; and to the eastward of Lahore, where they are said to predominate, they do not certainly compose a third of the population. The Punjab, indeed, is a poorly peopled country, in proportion to its fertility, though it is probable that it has increased in population under the present ruler.[27]

FOOTNOTE:

[27] A more full account of the Punjab has been given in Vol. II., which was drawn up after my last visit to that country.

CHAP. XIV.

THE CHENAB, OR ACESINES, JOINED BY THE RAVEE, OR HYDRAOTES.

~The Chenab described.~

The Acesines is the largest of the Punjab rivers, but its size has been exaggerated. Ptolemy informs us that it is fifteen furlongs wide in the upper part of its course; and Arrian states that it surpasses the Nile when it has received the waters of the Punjab falling into the Indus by a mouth of thirty stadia. Alexander warred in the rainy reason, when these rivers are much swollen, and when the inundation had set in for two months. We have already exposed the latter part of this amplification, in confining the Chenab to a breadth of 600 yards, and a depth of twenty feet. There is no perceptible diminution in the size of this stream, from the Sutlege upwards, for that river increases the depth without adding to the breadth; and the Chenab, south of the Ravee, will be found, as I have before described it, only with the shallow soundings of twelve feet. Its banks are so low, that it is in some places spread as much as 1200 yards, and looks as large as the Indus. At Mooltan ferry it was 1000 yards across, and below its junction with the Ravee, above three quarters of a mile; but these are exceptions to the general feature of the stream.

~Its banks, &c.~

The Chenab receives the Ravee, or Hydraotes, below Fazilpoor, under the parallel of 30° 40´ north latitude, nearly 180 miles from Ooch, by the windings of the river, and upwards of 53 miles from Mooltan; in the neighbourhood of which city it passes on its course to the Indus, by a direction about south-west.[28] The redness of its water has already been mentioned, and that of the Ravee has even a deeper tinge. It runs quicker than the Indus, or any of the Punjab rivers, and its banks on both sides are open and richly irrigated by larger canals of running water, dug with great labour; on the right bank, from Mooltan upwards, there is a desert of low sand-hills, which does not admit of cultivation, and presses in upon the cultivated land at the short distance of two miles from the river. It is a mistake to believe that this desert commences so low as Ooch, and occupies the “doab” of the Indus and Acesines; for that tract has many large villages, and is rich and fertile across from one river bank to the other. The distance between the two rivers is about twenty-five miles, nor does it become desert till it widens beyond that space below Mooltan.

~Boats of the Acesines.~

~Wood, &c.~

At Mooltan the Acesines is navigated by the “zohruk;” but the vessel differs in some degree from that used in the Daoodpootra country: the waist is little more than a foot above water; they are much smaller, and hoist a mat-sail on a small mast. As there is no trade, ferry-boats are only to be had, if we except the few which bring down salt from the Jelum or Hydaspes. We embarked in a fleet of ten boats, while such an additional number are not to be procured on this part of the river. These vessels are built of the dyar, or cedar wood from the mountains in which the Punjab rivers have their source: the supply which the inundation roots up and floats down, is sufficient for all purposes, without any one carrying on a professed trade in it. While the boats here are constructed of this wood, they are repaired with the “talee” tree, which may be found near every village; and, though this country is not well wooded, an army might soon procure a supply by cutting trees from the villages near the river, and floating them down to any place of rendezvous.

~Crossing the river.~

The natives of this country cross the rivers without boats, on skins or bundles of reeds; and whole families may be seen passing in this apparently insecure mode. I have observed a man, with his wife and three children, in the middle of the stream, the father on a skin dragging his wife and children, who were seated on reeds, and one of them an infant at the breast: goods, clothes and chattels form a bundle for the head; and though alligators do certainly exist, they are not numerous, or such as to deter the people from repeating an experiment, to say the least of it, not free from danger.

~District of Mooltan.~

The greater part of the country bordering on this part of the Acesines is included in the district of Mooltan, which, besides the city of that name, contains the modern town of Shoojurabad. The government, when tributary to Cabool, has been described in the worst terms; but Runjeet Sing has recruited its population, repaired the canals, and added to their number, raising it to a state of opulence and prosperity to which it had been long a stranger. The soil amply repays the labour, for such is its strength, that a crop of wheat, before yielding its grain, is twice mowed down as fodder for cattle, and then ears, and produces an abundant harvest. The indigo and sugar crops are likewise rich, and one small strip of land five miles long, which we passed, afforded a revenue of 75,000 rupees. The total revenue amounts to about ten lacs of rupees a year, or double the sum it produced in 1809. The tobacco of Mooltan is celebrated; but, for an Indian province, the date-tree is its most singular production. It yields a great abundance of fruit, which is hardly inferior to that of Arabia; for the trees are not weakened by extracting a liquor from them, as in Lower India. I imagine that they owe their maturity to the great heat of Mooltan; for dates seldom ripen in India. The mangoes of Mooltan are the best of Upper India, and their good qualities seem also to arise from the same cause, as the mango is usually but an indifferent fruit beyond the tropics.

FOOTNOTE:

[28] We performed the voyage from one junction to the other, in six days, against the stream.

CHAP. XV.

THE RAVEE, OR HYDRAOTES, BELOW LAHORE.

~The Ravee.~

The Ravee is the smallest of the five Punjab rivers, but, in connection with them and the Indus, forms a navigable channel from the sea to Lahore. It joins the Chenab in the latitude of 30° 40´ north, near the small village of Fazil Shah, by three different mouths, all of which have eight feet of water. From Lahore downwards, the Ravee preserves a breadth of about 150 yards, and, as its banks are high and firm, there are but few places where it is more expanded. This river is so winding, that sails cannot be hoisted, and a day’s voyage often gives but a direct progress of three or four miles, when the turnings of the river have been sixfold. Lahore is only 175 miles from the mouth of the Ravee, but, by the river, the distance exceeds 380 British miles.

~Its navigation.~

The Ravee is fordable in many places during eight months in the year, but its general depth is about twelve feet, and I am satisfied that a vessel drawing four or five feet of water could navigate this river. The boats of the country do not draw more than two or three, but they are the common flat-bottomed craft already described. There is no obstruction to these vessels in any season of the year, yet the Ravee is not used by the merchants, and the boats are only built for purposes of ferrying. Below Lahore there are fifty-two of them, we ascended in these vessels, none others being procurable. The voyage occupied twenty-one days, and was exceedingly tedious. I am disposed to think that it is the extreme crookedness of the river which prevents its being navigated.

~Peculiarities of the Ravee.~

The Ravee is a foul river, much studded with sand banks, many of which are dangerous quicksands. The zigzag course it pursues, bespeaks the flat nature of the country it traverses; its banks are more firm and decided than those of the Indus, or any other of the Punjab rivers. Near Lahore, they rise sometimes to a perpendicular height of forty feet; in many places they attain half that elevation, and give to the river much the appearance of a canal. The country bordering on the Ravee is little liable to be flooded; and it is worthy of remark, that there are no cuts from this river, for the purposes of agriculture, below Lahore. Its current is something less than three miles an hour. The water is of a reddish colour, like the Chenab; but it is liable to change, as we remarked in our voyage, from the fall of rain in the mountains. This river is sometimes called Iräoty, in which we recognise the Hydraotes of the Greeks.

~Towns, and their inhabitants.~

The banks of the Ravee are open, and peopled from its mouth upwards; but the villages, for half the distance to the capital, are of a temporary description, the moveable hamlets of the pastoral tribe before mentioned, called Jun or Kattia. From Futtipoor they are numerous, and the country is cultivated; but the space below that town is uncultivated. The tract between the Ravee and Sutlege is of the same sterile and unproductive description as on the northern side of the river towards the Hydaspes. Saltpetre is manufactured in considerable quantities on both sides of the Ravee.

~Lahore.~

Lahore is the only town of note on the banks of the Ravee, but the river has lately forsaken its immediate vicinity, and this ancient capital now stands on a small branch. The position of Lahore is good, in a military and commercial point of view. It is equidistant from Mooltan, Peshawur, Cashmeer, and I may also add Delhi. It stands in a most fertile country; and an army of 80,000 men has been supported on the resources of its neighbourhood, while the people assert that provisions have not increased with the increased demand. The city now contains about 80,000 inhabitants. It is surrounded by a strong brick wall and ditch, that may be flooded from the river. There are twelve gates, and as many semicircular outworks. It could not withstand a siege, from the density of its population; but might afford security against irregular troops. Umritsir is superior in size and strength to Lahore: it is a mud fortification of great thickness, and about seven miles in circumference, and also protected by the strong citadel of Govindghur. It has a population of about 100,000 souls. Tolumba is a small town near the estuary of the Ravee, with a population of about 1500 people. It has a weak brick fort of a circular shape, and stands in a thick grove of date trees two miles south of the river.

Drawn by W. Purser. Engraved by E. Finden.

_Sindree on the Eastern branch of the Indus._

SINCE SUBMERGED BY THE EARTHQUAKE OF 1819.

_From a sketch taken on the spot by Capt. Grindlay in 1808._]

CHAP. XVI.

A MEMOIR ON THE EASTERN BRANCH OF THE INDUS, AND THE RUN OF CUTCH, CONTAINING AN ACCOUNT OF THE ALTERATIONS PRODUCED ON THEM BY AN EARTHQUAKE IN 1819, ALSO A DESCRIPTION OF THE RUN.

[I cannot introduce more appropriately than on the present occasion, the following paper, which was drawn up some time since. It is necessary to mention this circumstance, as a few of the facts communicated are already before the public, and have been noticed by Professor Lyell.[29] Of the Run of Cutch I am not aware of any other account having been published, though it is a tract without parallel on the globe.]

~Cutch, its position.~

In the north-western extremity of our Indian possessions, and under the tropic, is situated the small and sterile territory of Cutch, important to the British from its advanced position, but of more attraction to the student of history, from its western shore being washed by the waters of the classic Indus. Cutch is a country peculiarly situated.--To the west, it has the inconstant and ever-varying Indus; to the north and east, the tract called Run, which is alternately a dry sandy desert and a muddy inland lake; to the south, it has the Gulf of Cutch and the Indian Ocean, with waters receding yearly from its shores.

~Alterations in its western coast by an earthquake.~

~Former fertility.~

The physical geography of such a province is full of interest; for, besides the alteration in its fluctuating boundaries, it is subject to earthquakes, one of which has lately produced some unlooked for changes in the eastern branch of the Indus. To particularly detail and explain these, is the object of the present memoir. Cutch at present labours under disadvantages inflicted on it by the vindictive hatred of a jealous and cruel neighbouring Government. Previous to the battle of Jarra, in the year 1762[30], the eastern branch of the Indus, commonly called the Phurraun, emptied itself into the sea by passing the western shores of Cutch; and the country on its banks participated in the advantages which this river bestows throughout its course. Its annual inundations watered the soil, and afforded a plentiful supply of rice; the country on its banks being then known by the name of “Sayra.”

~Sindians destroy it, by damming the eastern branch of the Indus.~

These blessings, which nature had bestowed on this otherwise barren region, perished with the battle of Jarra; for the Sindian chief, irritated at the unsuccessful result of his expedition, returned to his country full of vengeance, and inflicted the deepest injury on the country which he had failed to humble. At the village of Mora he threw up a mound of earth, or, as it is called, a “bund,” across that branch of the Indus which fertilised Cutch, and by thus turning the stream, which so much benefited its inhabitants, to flow into other branches of the river, and by leading it through canals to desert portions of his own dominions, he at once destroyed a large and rich tract of irrigated land, and converted a productive rice country, which had belonged to Cutch, into a sandy desert.

~Injury of the “bund” or dam, on the tract near.~

The mound which had been raised, did not entirely exclude the water of the Indus from Cutch; but so impeded the progress of the main stream, that all agriculture depending on irrigation ceased. In process of time this trivial remnant of prosperity disappeared, and the Talpoors, who succeeded the Kaloras in the government of Sinde, threw up other mounds; and about the year 1802, the erection of one at Ali Bunder excluded the waters of the Indus, even at the period of inundation, from the channel which had once conveyed them past Cutch to the sea. Since then, the stripe of land which once formed the fertile district of Sayra ceased to yield a blade of vegetation, and became a part of the Run of Cutch, on which it had formerly bordered. The channel of the river at the town of Lucput shallowed[31]; and, above Sindree, filled with mud, and dried up. Lower down it changed into an arm of the sea, and was flooded at every tide.

The Raos, or Princes of Cutch, possessed at one time military stations in three different places of Sinde,--Budeenu, Ballyaree, and Raomaka-bazar,--yet they submissively bore these indignities, as well to their own detriment as that of their subjects. They used no exertion to recover that which nature had bestowed on their country, or to wipe off those injuries which had been offered, at variance, as they no doubt were, with the law of nations, which requires “that different nations ought, in time of peace, to do one another all the good they can, and in time of war, as little harm as possible, without prejudice to their own real interests.”[32]

~Earthquake of 1819 overwhelms Sindree: forms a lake.~

In this state of indifference, there occurred, in June, 1819, a severe shock of an earthquake, by which some hundreds of the inhabitants of Cutch perished, and every fortified stronghold in the country was shaken to its foundations. Wells and rivulets without number changed from fresh to salt water; but these were trifling alterations, compared with those which took place in the eastern branch of the Indus, and the adjacent country. At sunset, the shock was felt at Sindree, the station at which the Cutch Government levied their customs, situated on the high road from Cutch to Sinde, and on the banks of what had been once the eastern branch of the Indus. The little brick fort of 150 feet square, which had been built there for the protection of merchandise, was overwhelmed by an inundating torrent of water from the ocean, which spread on every side, and, in the course of a few hours, converted the tract, which had before been hard and dry, into an inland lake, which extended for sixteen miles on either side of Sindree. The houses within the walls filled with water, and eight years afterwards I found fish in the pools among them. The only dry spot was the place on which the bricks had fallen upon one another. One of four towers only remained, and the custom-house officers had saved their lives by ascending it, and were eventually transported to dry land by boats on the following day.[33]

~Raises up a mound called “Ullah bund.”~

But it was soon discovered that this was not the only alteration in this memorable convulsion of nature; as the inhabitants of Sindree observed, at a distance of five miles northward, a mound of earth or sand, in a place where the soil was previously low and level. It extended east and west for a considerable distance, and passed immediately across the channel of the Indus, separating as it were for ever the Phurraun river from the sea. The natives called this mound by the name of “Ullah bund,” or the mound of God, in allusion to its not being, like the other dams of the Indus, a work of man, but a dam thrown up by nature.

These wonderful events passed unheeded by the inhabitants; for the deep injury which had been inflicted on Cutch in 1762 had so thoroughly ruined that part of the country, that it was a matter of indifference whether it continued a desert, or became an inland lake. A feeble and unsuccessful attempt was made by Cutch to establish a Custom-house on the newly raised dam of “Ullah bund,” but to this the Ameers of Sinde objected, and Sindree being no longer tenable, the officers were withdrawn to the mainland of Cutch.

~An overflow of the Indus destroys it in 1826.~

~Actual state of the river.~

Matters continued in this state till the month of November, 1826, when information was received that the Indus had burst its banks in Upper Sinde, and that an immense volume of water had spread over the desert which bounds that country to the eastward, had likewise burst every artificial dam in the river, as well as the “Ullah bund,” and forced for itself a passage to the Run of Cutch. In March, 1827, I proceeded to investigate the truth of what I have stated, to examine the natural mound, and to endeavour to account for these constant alterations in physical geography. I journeyed from Bhooj, the capital of Cutch, to Lucput, a town on the north-western extremity of the province, situated on the Koree, or eastern branch of the Indus. Here I embarked in a small flat-bottomed boat, and sailed up the river. At Lucput, and for twelve miles up, it was about 300 yards wide, and from two to three fathoms deep, retaining all the appearance of a river. At Sundo, a sand bank so called, which is about four leagues distant from that town, the channel shallowed to four or five feet, for two miles; but then regaining its depth, I entered on a vast inland lake that bounded the horizon on all sides, amid which the remaining tower of Sindree stood, like a rock in the ocean. At Sundo the water was brackish, at Sindree it was quite fresh. Hence I proceeded to “Ullah bund,” which I found to be composed of soft clay and shells, elevated about ten feet from the surface of the water, and cut through like a canal, with perpendicular banks on either side. The channel was about _thirty-five yards_ broad, and _three fathoms_ deep; and a body of fresh water, a portion of the real Indus, rolled down it into the lake which I had traversed, below “Ullah bund.” Here the stream took on once more the appearance of a river, and I found several boats laden with “ghee” (clarified butter), which had descended it from Wunga, and thus corroborated all which I had heard, that the bunds of the Indus had been burst, and that the communication between the great river and its eastern and long-forsaken branch was once more restored. I learned likewise that the far-famed fortress of Omercote had been partially overwhelmed in this inundation; for instead of _being an öasis in the desert_, as had long been supposed, this birthplace of the great Acbar is a small brick fort only three or four miles distant from the Indus, and between which and Lucput, so late as May, 1829, there was a communication by water.

~Ullah bund described.~

The “Ullah bund,” which I now examined with attention, was, however, the most singular consequence of this great earthquake. To the eye it did not appear more elevated in one place than another, and could be traced both east and west as far as it could reach; the natives assigned to it a total length of fifty miles. It must not, however, be supposed to be a narrow stripe like an artificial dam, as it extends inland to Raomaka-bazar, perhaps to a breadth of sixteen miles, and appeared to be a great upheaving of nature. Its surface was covered with saline soil, and I have already stated that it consisted of clay, shells, and sand. The people universally attributed this bund to the influence of the earthquake, and also assigned the shallowness of the river at Sundo to the same cause.

~Opinions regarding the effects of the earthquake.~

The inland lake which had been thus formed, extended for about 2000 square miles, and its limits were well defined, since the roads from Cutch to Sinde passed on either side of it. The one led from Nurra to Loonee and Raomaka-bazar, and the other from Lucput to Kotree Garee and the Jattee. I am disposed to believe that this sheet of water has collected from a depression of the country round Sindree; for the earthquake had an immediate influence on the channel of the river below “Ullah bund,” which became deep enough to be navigable for boats of 100 tons from the sea to Lucput, which had never been the case since 1762. While the basin of Sindree, as I may call it, was depressed, it is evident that the mound of “Ullah bund” was raised at the same time, as the description already given will have satisfactorily shown.

~Subsequent alterations in the Indus.~

In the month of August, in the year 1827, I proceeded a second time to the eastern branch of the Indus, to make further investigations regarding a subject on which many individuals, as well as myself, had taken an interest. Great alterations had taken place in this changeable country; the river and lake were deeper in all places by two feet, the channel through “Ullah bund” was much widened, and the sheet of water was now entirely and every where salt. The stream which passed “Ullah bund” was fresh, but greatly diminished in size: in the time that had intervened between my visits, the south-westerly winds had prevailed, and blown the sea water in upon the fresh, which, appeared to account for the change that had taken place.

Besides the facts which have been recorded, it appears clear that a portion of the waters of the Indus have a tendency to escape by Lucput and Cutch. We find an inundation of the river seeking an old channel which had been deserted by them for sixty-five years.[34]

THE RUN.

~Run of Cutch.~

In the course of my observations on the Indus, I found myself drawn into many inquiries regarding the Run of Cutch, to which that river adjoins; for if the alterations in the river afforded room for remark, there was also much to be said on the Run, which is a tract, I believe, without a counterpart in the globe. In length, the Run extends from the Indus to the western confines of Guzerat, a distance of about 200 British miles. In breadth, it is about thirty-five miles; but there are, besides, various belts and ramifications, which give it an extent of about 7000 square miles. It is accurately delineated in the map. The whole tract may truly be said to be a “terra hospitibus ferox;” fresh water is never to be had any where but on islands, and there it is scarce; it has no herbage, and vegetable life is only discernible in the shape of a stunted tamarisk bush, which thrives by its suction of the rain water that falls near it. It differs as widely from what is termed the sandy desert, as it differs from the cultivated plain; neither does it resemble the Steppes of Russia; but may be justly considered of a nature peculiar to itself. It has been denominated a marsh by geographers, which has given rise to many erroneous impressions regarding it. It has none of the characteristics of one: it is not covered or saturated with water, but at certain periods; it has neither weeds nor grass in its bed, which, instead of being slimy, is hard, dry, and sandy, of such a consistency as never to become clayey, unless from a long continuance of water on an individual spot; nor is it otherwise fenny or swampy. It is a vast expanse of flat, hardened, sand, encrusted with salt sometimes an inch deep (the water having been evaporated by the sun), and at others, beautifully crystallized in large lumps. So much is the whole surrounding country corrupted by this exuberance of salt, that all the wells dug on a level with the Run become salt. The depression of the Run below the level of the surrounding country at once suggests the probability of its being a dried up lake or sea.

~Mirage of the Run.~

Nowhere is that singular phenomenon, the _mirage or surab_ of the desert, seen with greater advantage than in the Run. The natives aptly term it smoke[35]; the smallest shrubs at a distance assume the appearance of forests; and on a nearer approach, sometimes that of ships in full sail, at others that of breakers on a rock. In one instance I observed a cluster of bushes, which looked like a pier, with tall-masted vessels lying close to it; and on approaching, not a bank was near the shrubs to account for the deception. From the Run, the hills of Cutch appear more lofty, and to have merged into the clouds, their bases being obscured by vapour. The wild ass[36] is the only inhabitant of this desolate region; they roam about in flocks, “scorning the multitude of the city, and make the wilderness and barren lands their dwelling.” Their size does not much exceed that of the common ass, but, at a short distance, they sometimes appear as large as elephants. While the sun shines, the whole surrounding space of Run resembles a vast expanse of water--the appearance it commonly assumes--and which is only to be distinguished from real water by those who are long habituated to such visionary illusions. When the sun is not shining, the Run appears higher at a distance; but this has been remarked of the sea, and other extensive sheets of water, and is also to be accounted for in the deception of vision.

~Traditions regarding the Run.~