Eastern Branch of the River Indus and Runn. 5538 
at a distance of five miles northward, a mound of earth or sand in a place 
where previously the soil was low and level. It extended nearly east and 
west about sixteen miles, and passed completely over this channel of the 
Indus, separating, as it were for ever, the P’harrdn river from the sea; 
and in fact, from this period till 1826, there was no communication between 
the band which GuotAm SuAu had thrown up at Mora, and this natural 
mound which had been raised as I have described. The natives called this 
** Allah-band,” or the band of God, in allusion to its not being, like the 
other dams in the Indus, the work of man. 
The year 1762 had proved such a calamitous one for Cutch, and the 
CAtoras had then inflicted so deep an injury on the country, that as its 
inhabitants could never hope to regain those irrigated lands which they had 
before enjoyed, these wonderful events passed unheeded, for it had become 
a matter of indifference to Cutch whether the tract which had been a desert 
since the battle of Jharra continued so, or became an inland lake, as in 
either state it had ceased to yield those advantages to the people which 
they had once enjoyed. A feeble and unsuccessful attempt was made to 
establish the custom-house office of Cutch on the natural and newly-raised 
band, but to this the Amirs of Sinde objected, and Sindri being no longer 
tenable, the Rdéo withdrew his officers to Cutch. 
Matters continued in this state till the month of November 1826, when 
information was received at Biz that the Indus had overflowed its banks 
higher up than Sinde, and that the immense column of water had spread 
over the desert, and bursting at the same time every band in the river, was 
forcing itself to the sea by the Runn of Cutch. In the month of March 
following I proceeded to investigate the truth of what I have now stated ; 
to examine the natural mound which the earthquake had thrown up, and to 
trace, if possible, the causes of these constant alterations, on which it will 
be observed I have hazarded not a few opinions. 
The distance from Lacpat bander to Allah-band is about fifty miles by 
water, though much less in a straight line. Opposite Lacpat, the river is 
about three hundred yards wide and two or three fathoms deep, and for 
twelve miles up retains all the appearance of a river, varying in breadth 
from a hundred to two hundred and fifty yards. At Sando, which is about 
four leagues from Lacpat, the waters expand into a vast inland lake, that 
bounds the horizon on all sides. Yet as this sheet of water is not more than 
four or five feet deep, it is easy to distinguish the course of the river through 
