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GILGIT .) A few See also:miles below the junction it passes Bunji, and from that point to a point beyond See also:Chilas (5o M. below Bunji) it runs within the See also:sphere of See also:British interests. Then once again it resumes its " See also:independent " course through the See also:wild mountains of See also:Kohistan and See also:Hazara, receiving See also:tribute from both sides (the See also:Buner contribution being the most noteworthy) till it emerges into the plains of the See also:Punjab below Darband, in 34° Io' N. All this See also:part of the See also:river has been mapped in more or less detail of See also:late years. The hidden strongholds of those See also:Hindostani fanatics who had found a See also:refuge on its See also:banks since See also:Mutiny days have been swept clean, and many See also:ancient mysteries have been solved in the course of its See also:surveying. From its entrance into the plains of See also:India to its disappearance in the See also:Indian Ocean, the See also:Indus of to-See also:day is the Indus of the 'fifties —modified only in some interesting particulars. It Indus of has been bridged at several important points. There the plains. are See also:bridges even in its upper See also:mountain courses. There is a wooden See also:pier See also:bridge at See also:Leh of two spans, and there are native suspension bridges of See also:cane or twig-made rope swaying uneasily across the stream at many points intervening between Leh and Bunji; but the first See also:English-made See also:iron See also:sus-See also:pension bridge is a little above Bunji, linking up the highroad between See also:Kashmir and Gilgit. Next occurs the iron girder railway bridge at See also:Attock, connecting See also:Rawalpindi with See also:Peshawar, at which point the river narrows almost to a See also:gorge, only 900 ft. above See also:sea-level. Twenty miles below Attock the river has carved out a central trough which is believed to be 18o ft. deep. See also:Forty miles below Attock another See also:great bridge has been constructed at See also:Kushalgarh, which carries the railway to See also:Kohat and the See also:Kurram valley. At Mari, beyond the See also:series of See also:gorges which continue from Kushalgarh to the See also:borders of the Kohat See also:district, on the See also:Sind-See also:Sagar See also:line, a See also:boat-bridge leads to See also:Kalabagh (the See also:Salt See also:city) and northwards to Kohat. Another boat-bridge opposite Dera See also:Ismail See also:Khan connects that See also:place with the railway; but there is nothing new in these See also:southern sections of the Indus valley railway See also:system except the extraordinary development of cultivation in their immediate neighbourhood. The See also:Lansdowne bridge at See also:Sukkur, whose huge cantilevers stand up as a See also:monument of British enterprise visible over the See also:flat plains for many miles around, is one of the greatest triumphs of Indian bridge-making., See also:Kotri has recently been connected with See also:Hyderabad in Sind, and the Indus is now one of the best-bridged See also:rivers in India. The intermittent See also:navigation which was maintained by the survivals of the Indus flotilla as far See also:north as Dera Ismail Khan See also:long after the See also:establishment of the railway system has ceased to exist with the See also:dissolution of the See also:fleet, and the high-sterned flat Indus boats once again have the channels and sandbanks of the river all to themselves. Within the limits of Sind the vagaries of the Indus channels have necessitated a fresh survey of the entire riverain. The results, however, indicate not so much a marked departure in the See also:general course of the river as a great variation in the channel beds within what may be termed its outside banks. Collaterally much new See also:information has been obtained about the ancient beds of the river, the sites of ancient cities and the extraordinary developments of the Indus See also:delta. The changing channels of the See also:main stream since those prehistoric days when a See also:branch of it found its way to the Runn of See also:Cutch, through successive stages of its See also:gradual shift westwards—a See also:process of displacement which marked the disappearance of many populous places which were more or less dependent on the river for their See also:water See also:supply—to the last and greatest See also:change of all, when the stream burst its way through the See also:limestone ridges of Sukkur and assumed a course which has been fairly See also:constant for 150 years, have all been traced out with systematic care by See also:modern surveyors till the See also:medieval See also:history of the great river has been fully gathered from the characters written on the delta See also:surface. That such changes of river See also:bed and channel should have occurred within a comparatively limited See also:period of See also:time is the less astonishing if we remember that the Indus, like many of the greatest rivers of the See also:world, carries down sufficient detritus to raise its own bed above the general level of the surrounding plains in an appreciable and measurable degree. At the See also:present time the bed of the Indus is stated to be 70 ft. above the plains of the Sind frontier, some 5o m. to the See also:west of it. The See also:total length of the Indus, measured directly, is about 1500 m. With its many curves and windings it stretches to about 2000 m., the See also:statistics. See also:area of its See also:basin being computed at 372,000 sq. m. Even at its lowest in See also:winter it is 500 ft. wide at Iskardo (near the Gilgit junction) and 9 or to ft. deep. The temperature of the surface water during the See also:cold See also:season in the plains is found to be 5° below that of the See also:air (64° and 69° F.). At the beginning of the hot season, when the river is bringing down See also:snow water, the difference is 14° (87° and tor° See also:June). At greater depths the difference is still greater. At Attock, where the river narrows between rocky banks, a height of 50 ft. in the See also:Hood season above lowest level is See also:common, with a velocity of 13 m. per See also:hour. The See also:record rise (since British occupation of the Punjab) is 8o ft. At its junction with the Panjnad (the combined rivers of the Punjab See also:east of the Indus) the Panjnad is twice the width of the Indus, but its mean See also:depth is less, and its velocity little more than one-third. This See also:discharge of the Panjnad at See also:low season is 69,000 cubic ft. per second, that of the Indus 92,000. Below the junction the See also:united discharge in See also:flood season is 380,000 cubic ft., rising to 460,000 (the record in See also:August). The Indus after receiving the other rivers carries down into Sind, in the high flood season, turbid water containing silt to the amount of q10 part by See also:weight, or 4 }o by See also:volume—equal to 648o millions of cubic ft. in the three months of flood. This is rather less than the See also:Ganges carries. The silt is very See also:fine See also:sand and See also:clay. Unusual floods, owing to landslips or other exceptional causes, are not infrequent. The most disastrous flood of this nature occurred in 1858. It was then that the river See also:rose 8o ft. at Attock. The most striking result of the rise was the reversal of the current of the See also:Kabul river, which flowed backwards at the See also:rate of lo m. per hour, flooding See also:Nowshera and causing immense damage to See also:property. The prosperity of the See also:province of Sind depends almost entirely on the See also:waters of the Indus, as its various systems of canals command over nine million acres out of a cultivable area of twelve and a See also:half million acres. See. Maclagan, Proceedings R.G.S., vol. iii.; Haig, The Indus' Della See also:Country (See also:London, 1894); See also:Godwin-See also:Austen, Proceedings R.G.S.. vol. vi. (T. H. Additional information and CommentsThere are no comments yet for this article.
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