1886.] of the Punjah and Us Rivers. 835 



I have quoted this passage as giving a clear statement of the nature of 

 the objection raised, viz., the shallowness of the channel and the differ- 

 ence of its soil from the sandy silt found in the present bed of the Sut- 

 lej, and at the same time describing the manner in which it is even now 

 being filled up with an alluvium precisely similar to the existing soil, 

 and different from the sandy silt of the present bed of the Sutlej, thus 

 destroying the objection just urged so forcibly. There is no evidence 

 of the progressive diminution of rainfall assumed by Mr. Wilson, but 

 the other reason — the extension of irrigation — would certainly absorb aa 

 increasing proportion of the water, and may account for the fact that 

 the waters of the Gaggar appear to have reached further down this 

 channel about the commencement of the present century than they now 

 do. 



Another objection which has been raised is, that the Sutlej flows in 

 a depression below the level of the plain over which the Sotar pursues 

 its course, and that neither it nor any of the dry river channels, to be 

 mentioned further on, which communicate with it have been traced into 

 connexion with the Sutlej. As regards the first, this is a common cha- 

 racteristic of all the rivers of the Indo-Grangetic plain, and it is certain 

 that, as long as the present conditions existed, it would be impossible for 

 any great changes in their courses to take place. But it is equally 

 certain that, when these plains were being formed, the rivers must have 

 wandered over them in channels raised above the general level of the 

 surface, and were consequently liable to constant change of course, and 

 that the present configuration is due to a change of conditions, from 

 one of deposition to one of erosion by the rivers, the exact date or cause 

 of which has not been established. 



With regard to the second objection, it implies an ignorance of the 

 conditions under which rivers flowing over an alluvial plain may change 

 their course. In such cases rivers flow in places in a single well-defined 

 deep channel, but in others they spread out over a shallow ill-defined 

 bed or even split up into several distinct channels ; it is at such places 

 as this that a river is liable to break away into lower ground on either 

 side, the shallow channel becomes obliterated and gradually merges into 

 the general level of the plain, but lower down, where the river flowed 

 in a deeper and better defined channel, the dry bed remains distinguish- 

 able and marks the former presence of the river. 



§ 3. We must now consider the historic evidence in favour of or 

 against the supposition that there have been extensive changes in the 

 course of the Sutlej during the historic period. 



In the Vedas, the Sutlej is several times mentioned under the name 



