1840.] Journal of a trip through Kunaivur, fyc. 491 



season, and then only in those parts within its influence. Did these 

 rivers owe their origin to the rains, the remark would have been 

 correct enough, but as they derive their source from lakes, and are fed 

 by snow waters till they have passed through the outer barriers of the 

 snowy range, it must be apparent that the shallowness of their streams 

 in winter is owing solely to the severity of the frosts above. 



The volume of such rivers during winter, even many hundreds of 

 miles from their sources, will always furnish a sure, and never-failing 

 index to the rigour or mildness of the seasons in the mountain tracts 

 from which they take their rise ; for if the winter be mild above, the 

 rivers will possess a more abundant supply than when the contrary 

 is the case, and the changes too, which take place above, such as frosts 

 and thaws, will always be marked by corresponding changes in the 

 volume of the rivers. 



An instance of this kind fell under my own observation during 

 the passage of the Indus, in January 1839, near Shikarpore, by His 

 Majesty Shah Shooja. During the few days occupied in crossing his 

 troops, the river fell amazingly, so as to lay bare some sand banks 

 which had the day previous been deeply covered with water. This 

 was of course occasioned by severe frosts in the regions of the Himalaya 

 through which the Indus and its various tributaries flow, and shortly 

 after, I received letters from the hills, which stated that the winter in 

 the higher tracts had been severe, and that much snow had fallen. The 

 subsequent melting of this snow a little later in the spring, again 

 caused such a rapid rise in the waters of the river, as to add greatly 

 to the labours and anxiety of the engineers who were constructing a 

 bridge of boats at Bukkur for the passage of the army of the Indus, 

 for the swell of the waters was so great as to threaten the destruction 

 of the bridge, by sweeping away the boats. 



In the stream we had just waded through, a man and his pony last 

 year in attempting to ford it at midday, were swept down by the force 

 of the current, and hurried into the Spiti, where they were both lost 

 in the rush of waters. 



Our path from this treacherous torrent continued tolerably level, 

 along the side of the river ; one while broad and good, as it led us 

 across the alluvial flats, and again affording scarcely room for the 

 foot of any living creature, save the sheep and goats which had form- 

 ed it. 



