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INDUS

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Originally appearing in Volume V14, Page 507 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
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INDUS , one of the three greatest See also:

rivers of See also:northern See also:India. A considerable See also:accession of exact See also:geographical knowledge has been gained of the upper reaches of the See also:river Indus and its tributaries during those military and See also:political move- ments which have been so See also:constant on the northern fn the See also:Himalaya. frontiers of India of See also:recent years. The See also:sources of the Indus are to be traced to the glaciers of the See also:great See also:Kailas See also:group of peaks in 32° 20' N. and 81° E., which overlook the Mansarowar See also:lake and the sources of the See also:Brahmaputra, the See also:Sutlej and the See also:Gogra to the See also:south-See also:east. Three great affluents, flowing See also:north-See also:west, unite in about So° E. to See also:form the See also:main stream, all of them, so far as we know at See also:present, derived from the Kailas glaciers. Of these the northern tributary points the road from Ladakh to the Jhalung goldfields, and the See also:southern, or Gar, forms a See also:link in the great Janglam—the Tibetan See also:trade route—which connects Ladakh with See also:Lhasa and Lhasa with See also:China. See also:Gartok (about 50 M. from the source of this southern See also:head of the Indus) is an important point on this trade route, and is now made accessible to See also:Indian traders by treaty with See also:Tibet and China. At See also:Leh, the Ladakh See also:capital, the river has already pursued an almost even north-See also:westerly course for 300 m., except for a remarkable divergence to the south-west which carries it across, or through, the Ladakh range to follow the same course on the southern See also:side that had been maintained on the north. This very remarkable instance of transverse drainage across a main See also:mountain See also:axis occurs in 79° E., about too m. above Leh. For another 230 m., in a north-westerly direction, the Indus pursues a comparatively See also:gentle and placid course over its sandy See also:bed between the See also:giant chains of Ladakh to the north and Zaskar (the main " snowy range " of the Himalaya) to the south, amidst an See also:array of mountain scenery which, for the See also:majesty of sheer See also:altitude, is unmatched by any in the See also:world. Then the river takes up the See also:waters of the Shyok from the north (a tributary nearly as great as itself), having already captured the Zasvar from the south, together with innumerable See also:minor See also:glacier-fed streams. The Shyok is an important feature in Trans-Himalayan See also:hydrography.

Rising near the southern See also:

foot of the well-known Karakoram pass on The Shyok affluent. the high road between Ladakh and See also:Kashgar, it first drains the southern slopes of the Karakoram range, and then breaks across the axis of the Murtagh See also:chain (of which the Karakoram is now recognized as a subsidiary See also:extension northwards) ere bending north-westwards to run a parallel course to the Indus for 15o m. before its junction with that river. The combined streams still hold on their north-westerly trend for another too m., deep hidden under the See also:shadow of a vast array of See also:snow-crowned summits, until they arrive within sight of the Rakapushi See also:peak which pierces the north-western See also:sky midway between See also:Gilgit and See also:Hunza. Here the great See also:change of direction to the south-west occurs, which is thereafter maintained till the Indus reaches the ocean. At this point it receives the Gilgit river from the north-west, having dropped from 15,000 to 4000 ft. (at the junction of the rivers) The allgtt after about 500 M. of mountain descent through the aft/me+t. See also:independent provinces of northern See also:Kashmir.

End of Article: INDUS

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