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A short account of Khyrpoor and the Fortress of BuJciir, in North S'lnd. By 

 Captain G. E. Westmacott, ^7th Regt. Bengal N. I. 



[Concluded from page 1113] 



The Indus generally begins to rise in March and abate in the early part 

 of October, but varies in different seasons. In 1839 it just rose in the end 

 of March, but did not overflow until May. It commenced decreasing on 

 the 21st of August, and had fallen twelve feet at Bukur in the end of 

 September, and about four more the close of the month following. The 

 suddenness with which it rises and falls are only equalled by the snow 

 torrents of the Himalayas and Switzerland. I have known the river 

 increase several feet in a few hours, and people are frequently carried 

 away while bathing by a rush of water, which bears them along without 

 the power to resist it. On these occasions boats are driven against the 

 banks, and if old and crazy, break in pieces, and the passengers are drowned. 



The shores of the river are fertilized by the annual inundations, and 

 artificial channels are cut from it in the "interior of the country to prepare 

 the land for tillage. Some of these useful and munificent works belong to 

 the time of the Mogul emperors of Delhi. A great navigable canal called 

 the " Sind" leaves the river about thirty miles above Bukur, and after pass- 

 ing Shikarpoor pursues a southerly direction to Noushuhra, the boundary 

 of the Purgunnah of Moghulee, and enters that of Chandkoh. Lower 

 down it joins the Nara, which tumbles into lake Munchar after a circuit- 

 ous course of about 120 miles. Another great canal was cut on the east 

 bank by the late Meer Sohrab. It receives its water from the Indus, a few 

 miles below Bukur, and terminates in the desert soon after passing the city 

 of Khyrpoor. In the height of the floods, however, it flows southwards 

 in a continuous stream, diffusing plenty over a wide extent of country, 

 which would be, without it, an unprofitable waste, and a portion of its waters 

 find their way back through different channels to the Indus. The supplies 

 of this canal have failed within the last two years, and unless pains are 

 taken to deepen it, will soon cease to flow. It would be a serious loss to 

 the people of the capital, who depend on it for wholesome water several 

 months of the year, that which they draw from wells being soft and 

 brackish, and hardly drinkable by persons unused to it. The filling up 

 the canal would occasion a diminution of the revenues, which will pro- 

 bably induce Meer Roostum to repair it. Both the Shikarpoor and Khyr- 

 poor canals frequently overflow their banks during the freshes of the 

 Indus, and dry up when the river subsides. The small cuts that irrigate 



