PHYSICAL GEOGRAPHY. 23 



Sehwan, Kohistan, Karachi, Jhirak (Jerruck or Jhirruck), and Shah- 

 bandar; and Hyderabad consists of the sub-divisions of Naushahro (Now- 

 shera), Hala, Tanda or Tando, Muhammad Khan, and the Hyderabad 

 Taluka. 



As already pointed out in the last chapter, the present memoir deals 



Area treated of in this 01 ^J witn Western Sind and some hill tracts in 



the middle of the province. Eastern Sind, and 



especially the Thar and Parkar district, is beyond the limits of the tract 



here described. 



The plain of Sind is part of the immense alluvial flat which is 



T , , . watered by the Indus and Ganges aud their 



Indus plain. . ° 



tributaries, and which divides peninsular India 



from the rest of Asia. This plain is of course far inferior in geological 



importance to the small, hilly tracts of the province. The surface of 



the Indus plain consists of alluvial soil deposited by the Indus, or by 



streams from the mountain ranges ; but large tracts to the eastward 



and smaller areas to the west of the river are covered with blown 



sand. The central portion of the plain in Upper Sind, that traversed by 



the present course of the Indus, is higher than 

 Marshy depressions. 



the country to the westward, and than part of 



the tract to the eastward, and consequently a belt of marsh extends from 



north to south at some distance from each bank of the river; that to 



the eastward being traversed by a stream, the eastern Nara, fed by 



the overflow of the Indus flood- waters in Bahawalpur and the Rohri 



district of Upper Sind, whilst the western belt of marsh lies not far 



from the foot of the Khirthar range, and terminates to the southward 



in a shallow lake, the Manchhar, about 12 miles in 



length from W.N.W. to E.S.E., and 6 to 7 broad 



in the dry season, but much larger when filled by the floods of the Indus. 



West of this marsh, and also along the northern boundary of the province, 



there is a very flat plain, having an imperceptible slope from the hills, 



in parts absolutely destitute of vegetation, but generally bearing scattered 



bushes of lana (Anabasis multiflord) and other plants. This plain is 



( 23 ) 



