526 THE INDUS DEBOUCHING INTO THE PLAIN. 



feet at its source, with an average fall of something 

 over 1 6 feet per mile, during a course of some 870 

 miles consisting of an almost constantly rugged channel, 

 full of rocks and rapids. Thus the very name of 

 " Attock " is said to be derived from a Sanskrit word, 

 signifying "a prohibition" or "a hindrance," and an 

 ancient law of the Hindu religion forbade the faithful 

 to cross the Indus, * though in modern times the rule 

 has become more honoured in the breach than the 

 observance, and has for many years past been in 

 abeyance. 



The tremendous nature of the floods on the Indus 

 may be well illustrated by an instance of one which 

 occurred at Attock on the loth of August 1838. When 

 the water in the evening stood 90 feet higher than 

 in the morning" f 



This gives a good idea of the difficulty of maintain- 

 ing communications across such a river, which for a 

 further distance of 105 miles, as far as Kalabagh, 

 still preserves the same dangerous character, and 

 continues enclosed for a great part of the way between 

 high perpendicular cliffs. It is at Kalabagh, in Lat. 320 

 57' N., Long. 710 36' E., situated in a gorge of 

 the great salt range, where the river at length rushes 

 forth into the plain, and debouches into a level country ; 

 and from this point to the sea, a distance about 872 

 miles, it is navigable for flat-bottomed steamers. ** 



* See A Year in the Panjab, by Major Herbert B. Edwardes, 1851, 

 Vol. i, p. 92. 



y The Imperial Gazetteer of India, by Sir W. "W. Hunter, Vol. 

 vii., p. 15. (Article "The Indus River"). 



Cvclopcedia of India, by Surgeon-General Edward Balfour, Vol. 

 ii., p. 341. 



** The Land of the Five Rivers dr 5 Sindh, by David Ross, C.I.E., 

 4883., p. 37. 



