1841.] Wood's Report on the River Indus. 549 



banks of the river being faced with hard flint hillocks, while in the 

 middle of the stream are some islets of the same material, on one of 

 which is the ford, and contiguous to it, or rather adjoining it, another, 

 containing the tomb of Peer Khaja Khizr. At no other spot below the 

 mountains, does the Indus present similar facilities for bridging. The 

 channel here is as follows : — 



Above the fortress the river widens to 1244 yards. 



In a line with the fort it is less, say 1000 do. 



The channel between the fort and the west 



bank of the river, is by measurement 98 do. 



Ditto ditto on the opposite side of the fortress, 



estimated 400 do. 



Width of fortress and Isle of Khaja Khizr, 502 do. 



1000 do. 

 Depth of the Channels, 



West Channel 98 yards measurement. hj^ ^ -^^^^ Channel 400 yards ; estimated 

 Current 2.9 knots. ^V^^^ Current 3.7 knots. 



6,6,7,9,12,15,9,3 feet. ^ ^7,7,9,9,9,12,12, I3,15,18,30,24,l2ft. 



A spit projects from the north-west end of the fortress, and extends 

 to within fifty yards of the west bank. In this gut the current is four 

 knots an hour, the depths were 6677666655 feet ; at the time these 

 measurements were made, the river had 12 feet more to rise. In fact it 

 was when at its lowest level. 



Last June I had an opportunity of examining this bridge of boats at 



Attock, it contained thirty-six boats, and the river, when they were 



moored, had a width of 540 feet, its depth by measurement taken the 



preceding year was 10 fathoms, and the current about 6 knots an hour. 



By comparing this account of the Attock bridge, with the details 



of the river at Bukkur, it is evident that circumstances are greatly in 



favour of the former ; but surely, if a few untutored boatmen succeed 



so well at one place, we ought not to despair of our success at Bukkur. 



3 z 



