Floods in India in 1849. 57 



fall occurred in the mountains in Cashmere, from which theJheelum 

 derives its waters. The inundation which followed deluged the 

 plains below the Salt Range. At Pind Dadun Khan the govern- 

 ment salt-stores were washed away — at Shahpore, a little further 

 down, the cantonments were more swept away, and the troops com- 

 pelled to remove to a distance of five miles. The flood gathered 

 force as it advanced by a heavy fall of rain, about four inches hav- 

 ing been measured in the night betwixt the 15th and 16th, at the 

 usually dry station of Mooltan. About eighty miles above this the 

 river burst all its embankments, and laid the whole country under 

 water. The batteries, outworks, and other works of Mooltan, which 

 a year before had for four months defeated all the efforts of our ar- 

 tillery, melted into the flood. On the 16th the magnificent domes 

 fell, and at seven o'clock on the morning of the 17th the enormous 

 cupola of the Bahawul Huk came thundering to the ground with a 

 noise like the explosion of a stupendous mine. The whole struc- 

 tures were built of unburnt brick, — no such flood had ever been 

 known to occur. The effects of the deluge were felt at Sukkur, and 

 all down the course of the Indus. 



The first burst of rain during the first two weeks of September 

 occasioned a second series of floods further to the south. The town 

 of Cambay was completely inundated by the flooding of the Myhee 

 on the 19th, in conjunction with a tide of almost unprecedented 

 height : sixty houses fell — hundreds of others sustained most seri- 

 ous damage. To the south of Surat no river of any size finds its 

 way to the Western Ocean, though the vast streams which discharge 

 themselves in the Bay of Bengal have their sources in the Ghauts 

 close by, and are of course affected by the western rains. On the 

 10th the Godanery rose on the Nizam's dominions to an unusual 

 height — the river Mtjssa, which takes its rise to the westward of 

 Hyderabad, swollen by the rains which had prevailed for a fortnight 

 all over the country burst through all its banks. On the 12th it 

 burst into the city, washing down the walls, levelling the houses, 

 and deluging the neighbouring cantonments. A rise of a ^QVi feet 

 more would have choked up the bunds and most likely have carried 

 them away. The torrent was awful — it was an immense, resistless 

 mass of turbulent waters, threatening to engulph everything within 

 its reach. It was a beautiful sight to see so slender a fabric as the 

 bridge built by Major Oliphant spanning the flood, the waves looked 

 like huge giants rushing forward to lash its sides. The water 

 reached to within six feet of the quay, but did no harm. The 

 freshes visited Coringa at the debouchure of the river, and nearly 

 itmndated the town. The house of the collector, the highest in the 

 place, was three feet under water, and all the rest were submerged : 

 the loss of property was immense. 



