170 Journal of a voyage from [March, 



under the left banks gave from fourteen to fifteen feet water, which 

 decreased to seven and six feet within twenty yards of the shore, 

 beyond which it was extremely shallow. 



From Ropur, where the Satlaj enters the plains to where it is joined 

 by the Lodiana nala, it may be said to have run a course of near fifty 

 miles. At Ropur its bed consists of large smooth pebbles mixed with 

 a slimy mud ; after leaving that place it runs over a loose sandy soil 

 through a flat country, and during this part of its course the present 

 left bank is generally low. There is a high bank passing close under 

 Chamkuur, Balolpur, Mdchiwdra kum, and Lodiana, which points out 

 the old channel. This is now pretty nearly the course of the small 

 nala, which rises in the marshy ground between Ropur and Chamkaur, 

 and enters the Satlaj a little above Wallipura. The slip of land between 

 it and the present channel of the Satlaj varies in breadth from eight 

 to two miles and less : it is low and much intersected with naias, 

 most of which are without water during the greater part of the year ; 

 but their beds and banks retain a degree of moisture when the rest 

 of the country is parched and dried up, and afford an abundant 

 supply of grass of a good quality within a convenient distance from 

 the cantonment of the troops. 



The right bank from Ropur downwards is generally high and the 

 face of the country elevated, sloping gradually from the hills, which 

 recede northwards, towards the river, near which it is much broken 

 and cut up by ravines. On both sides the country is tolerably open and 

 free from heavy jungle, but on the right sparingly cultivated. Water 

 is found much nearer the surface on the left than on the right bank, 

 and cultivation is more uniform. There is a tract of grass jungle on 

 both sides of the river near Chamkaur : it forms excellent pasture for 

 buffaloes which are numerous and particularly large. Wild hogs are 

 sometimes found in this vicinity : they come from the hills on the 

 opposite side, and swim the river at night to feed on the sugar-c;>ne. 



The tamarisk jungle is seen in small quantities near the river at 

 Talore, and even higher up, but never grows to any considerable 

 height, and is thin and straggling : the soil left by the overflowing of 

 the river in which it chiefly grows, does not appear to have acquired 

 that richness which it is said to possess at a greater distance from the 

 river's source. 



During the cold weather when at its lowest, the Satlaj is fordable 

 in many places between Ropur and Lodiana, and even to its junction 

 with the Beas ; but it can no where be forded in a direct line ; it is 

 necessary to follow the shoals or sand banks, which make the passage 



