556 Wood's Feport on the River Indus. [No. 115. 



About the middle of May, I examined both when the relative size of 

 the Indus and its Indian feeds stood as follows : — 



Chenauhy or Punjaub, 

 Width 1766 yards, current 1.8 

 knots, 21 2.2.1|lil|. 11 2.1121 1. 



Indus, or Sinde. 

 Width 608 yards, max. current 

 4.8 knots, 1.1.1.1.1.1.1.11 ll.lf. 

 2.2.21.21 21 21 21 2i.2i 2. 21.2. 

 ll.l.|i.i fathoms. Discharge 

 per second 91.719 cubic feet. 



11 11.1 j.2.2.21 2.112.2.1.2.11.2. 

 2i2i.liljiiii fathoms. Dis- 

 charge per second 68.955 cubic 

 feet. 



Here the principal cause of the disproportionate size of the Indus 

 is the early commencement of its freshes. Indebted for its periodical 

 rise principally, if not solely, to snow-clad mountains, an increase is 

 first perceived in its stream when the sun comes into our northern 

 latitudes at the vernal equinox in March ; but the Punjaub rivers de- 

 pending upon theirs upon another and less constant source, namely, the 

 rainy season of Hindostan, have their freshes later. At the time of my 

 examination in May, the Sutlej, the most eastern of the Punjab rivers, 

 was at its lowest level ; while the Jalum, the most western of the five 

 rivers, and the one which has its source nearest to that of the Indus, 

 had already shewn signs of rising ; from which I am inclined to think, 

 that measurements made in July would give, if not an entirely different, 

 a less disproportionate result in the amount of water discharged by the 

 Indus and its Punjaub auxiliaries. 



But that the Indus is a superior river to the Punjaub, seems very 

 clear ; and amongst the collateral proofs of this which may be urged, 

 is the direct nature of its course, compared with those of the Punjaub 

 streams. Also the dread in which the river is viewed by the Mohanas, 

 who, were the choice left to themselves, would prefer dragging their 

 boats twenty coss up the Chenaub, to half that distance upon the Sinde. 



Another circumstance connected with these two rivers is worthy 

 of notice ; in the Doab, or country lying between them, all canals are 

 cut from the Sinde, in the month of July, when both rivers are in the 

 flood, the surplus water of the Sinde pours down into the Chenaub, 

 proving that though their beds for a distance of sixty miles are not 

 more than ten miles asunder, yet that in their relative level, there is a 

 considerable difference. 



