HAPPY INDIA 165 



taries the rivers Swat and Panjkora are entirely, and 

 Chitral river partly, in the North- West Frontier 

 Province. 



It is highly probable that when there is rain on 

 the Sulaiman mountains and other mountain ranges 

 LAjr <&& of the Indus and running parallel to it the torrents 

 are not controlled, and it would be a great advantage 

 to the country if great reservoirs were made tout> 

 these torrents near their source. Of course the size 

 of the reservoirs would bear some proportion to 

 the rainfall, which is not great, and therefore the cost 

 would be proportionately small. With this water 

 storage small power stations could be erected as re- 

 quired. Meantime the chief use of the reservoirs 

 would be for irrigation, which would enable the 

 inhabitants to grow crops, but one of the objects 

 would be to help the planting of trees as part of a 

 general plan of afforestation. 



The great province of Sind lies beside the river 

 Indus, both east and west of it. It occupies about 

 34,000,000 acres. The native State of Khaipur, 

 adjoining, is another 4,000,000 acres. Out of the 

 34,000,000 acres of British-governed territory more 

 than 14,000,000 acres are said to be not available for 

 cultivation (being a dried-up desert), about 6,000,000 

 are said to be culturable waste, another -5,000,000 

 to 6,000,000 are " current fallows,' 1 the net area 

 cropped is about 3,000,000 to 4,000,000 acres, and 

 when there is an unusually large rainfall it amounts 

 to about 4,500,000. Of the area cropped nearly 

 all is irrigated, chiefly by Government canals. The 



