1841.] On the recent Cataclysm of the Indus. 617 



trophe are emphatically told in the fate of Sham Sing's followers ! The 

 drifting of artillery guns is quite a novel fact in geological operations 

 of this sort : one would fancy, that it would require a good stiff current 

 to walk away with a 24-pounder. 



As to the cause, there can be little doubt but that it was occasioned 

 by some unusual barrier temporarily established in the bed of the river 

 somewhere high up its course, darning up its waters till they attained 

 a volume too great for the strength of the obstruction. This may be 

 fairly concluded, from what is said of the previous state of the ferry at 

 Attock, which was in a great measure dried up. It is, you will observe, 

 inferred that the stoppage occurred near the plains of Ghilgeet; I suspect 

 however, that it must have taken place much higher up, either on the 

 *' R-gem-tsoh," or united body of the Indus above Iskardoh ; or what 

 is still more probable, on the " Noobra-tsoh" river, or Shayook above 

 its junction with the Ludakh or great branch. During my stay in 

 little Thibet, I, as well as Vigne, was able to settle the disputed geogra- 

 phical point, regarding which the statements and opinions of Elphinstone, 

 Moorcroft, and Burnes, about the existence and point of confluence of 

 two great branches of the Indus, are so conflicting. There are two 

 great branches, the Southern or Ludakh river, along which Moorcroft 

 descended ; and the Northern or " Noobra-tsoh" branch (Shayook of 

 Burnes, &c.) the confluence of which, (seen by Vigne and myself,) 

 takes place at Chundon, close to the castle of Kirrus, about a day's 

 journey above Iskardoh, and a long way below " Duroz." During my 

 stay at Iskardoh, I learnt from the Rajah Ahmed Shah, that great 

 floods occasionally take place at irregular intervals, in consequence of 

 the Noobra-tsoh river, (so called from the purgunna of Noobra through 

 which it flows,) getting blocked up by avalanches and masses of ice. 

 This river has one of its principal origins in a great lake, as yet unvi- 

 sited by Europeans, in the Kara Korum mountains. After winter 

 seasons of unusual severity the lake gets sheeted oyer with an enor- 

 mous mass of ice, and the valley of the river below the lake is 

 liable to be filled up with great avalanches of ice and snow. When 

 events of this kind go together, the disrupted masses of ice from the 

 lake, added to the avalanches, go on accumulating till a huge barrier 

 is formed, which dams up the river, leading to tremendous floods when 

 the water bursts through the obstacle. A case of this kind was des- 



