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Report on the River Indus, (Sections 1 to 5 J By Lieut. 

 Wood, Bombay Marine. 



I. — A General View of the Indus 



This report is confined to the navigable Indus, or that portion 

 of the river lying between the Sea and Attock. 



Throughout the whole of this distance, the river is known as the 

 Sinde, sometimes indeed it is called the Attock, but this latter desig- 

 nation is local in its application. I have retained both, and apportioned 

 them as follows : — 



The Lower Sinde, or Indus, extends from the Sea to Bukkur. 



Upper Sinde, or Indus, extends from Bukkur to Kalabagh. 



Attock from Kalabagh to Attock. 



By dividing the river into these sections, each is made to mark 

 certain important alterations in the navigable character of the stream. 



It may here be premised, that of the course of the river North 

 of Attock, our knowledge is confessedly superficial. A few miles 

 above that fortress the Indus ceases to be navigable ; but not be- 

 fore it has received in the Cabool river a tributary, that further 

 extends the advantage of water carriage to the West, — the most im- 

 portant of all directions. 



Source — To what Lieutenants Burns and Macartney have written 

 on the subject I have nothing to add, unless Moorcroft's travels settle 

 the question. The source of the Indus is still a problem to be solved. 



In the plain above Attock, the Indus is divided into many branch- 

 es, but abreast of that fort they all unite. One deep, narrow, clear, 

 blue stream, shoots rapidly past, and at once entering the hills, disap- 

 pears from sight. Among hilly groups it winds to Kalabagh. At 

 Mukkud the channel widens, and the expanded river flows quietly 

 forwards with a lessened velocity, and a reduced depth. On escaping 

 from its rocky bed the river enters a level country, through which it 

 winds onward to the sea. Its boundaries are now those of the valley ; 

 the Soliman mountains are on one side, and the Indian desert on the 

 other. 



Length of Course. — From the Sea to Attock, the distance in a 

 straight line is 648 miles. 



By the River it is increased to 942 miles. 



