1841.] Wood's Report on the River Indus. 555 



have been the great carriers and traffickers of these countries, still 

 frequent Dera Ismail Khan. The transit trade of India and AfF- 

 ghanistan is already fixed here, and if the routes radiating from the 

 town are considered merely in reference to Cabool, then is Dera 

 Ismail Khan better situated for a commercial mart than towns lower 

 down the river. 



These are all the places that present themselves as eligible spots 

 for the establishment of commercial depots west of the Indus ; but 

 should it ever become an object to Government to have the mart 

 within their own frontier, then Leia, upon the Indian bank of the 

 river, lying between the two Deras, is its proper site. 



But to give full effect to these fairs, it is desirable that two be 

 established, one for the lower Indus and one for the upper ; the latter 

 will supply, besides the markets of AfFghanistan, those of Central Asia 

 beyond the Parapamisan chain. The other, by the roads of Kandahar* 

 and Kelat,* will draw from Beloochistan, the districts around Herat, 

 and the southern provinces of Persia, their staples of wool, assafoetida, 

 and madder ; while in return, it can supply the whole of this extensive 

 region with the growth of India and manufactures of the British Isles, 

 at a cheaper rate than can be done by any other route. Thus, should a 

 general war in Europe exclude England from the Black Sea, an outlet 

 equally good for the staples of her trade is offered by the Indus, with 

 an entrepot at Bukkur and another in the Derajat. 



XII. — Indus and Punjauh Rivers. 



Travelling over the Punjab, in a westerly direction, when its rivers 

 are in flood a little above the parallel of Kalabagh, no less than five 

 streams are crossed, each occupying a larger bed, and seeming to the 

 eye, a more important river than the Indus. 



The Punjab rivers, as are well known, fall into the Indus in one 

 stream, and if we call our attention to the confluence of the united 

 volume with the latter, the result is strikingly at variance with ap- 

 pearances and pre-formed opinions. 



* The port of Sommeeanee seems by recent accounts to be most favoured by impor- 

 ters, and I understand th?tmerchants are only awaiting the pacification of the country, 

 to commence carrying thence, via Biela and Kelat. Qj 



