28 OLDHAM ; THE ALLAH-BUND 



Captain Baker's original map, referred to by Mr. Wynne, 1 Was 

 discovered ; and as this survey is most distinctly at variance with Mr, 

 Wynne's view, which the classic authority of Professor Suess* work is 

 likely to make universally accepted, it has been thought worth being 

 published, that the evidence may be appreciated at its true value. 



The accounts of the various examinations of the Allah Bund need 

 not be repeated here, as full references will be found in Mr. Wynne's 

 memoir, but a brief abstract will enable what follows to be better 

 appreciated. On the 16th June 1819, the great earthquake occurred, 

 by which a large portion of the Rann north of Lakpat was depressed 

 and immediately flooded by the inrush of the sea. At the same time 

 the inhabitants of the fort of Sindri, on the margin of the Rann, 

 saw a long elevated mound, where the surface had once been a plain, 

 extending east and west for a considerable distance, and separating, 

 as it were, the waters of the Puran from the sea. 



So far there is no difficulty ; of the depression of the Rann and 

 of the appearance of what looked like an elevation, there can be no 

 doubt; but the question to be decided is whether this apparent eleva- 

 tion was in reality a barrier, as implied by the name Allah Bund, 

 or Dam of God, or whether the appearance was deceptive. 



Owing to feuds between the Governments of Sind and Kuchh the 

 former had, after several unsuccessful attempts, succeeded, about 

 1802, in permanently blocking the channel of the Indus, which once 

 flowed by Lakpat and out by the Kori mouth. As a consequence 

 of this there was no water flowing in the channels across which the 

 Allah Bund was raised, and there was nothing to show whether there 

 was an actual elevation of the ground or not. In 1826, however, 

 there was a great flood of the Indus, which broke through all artificial 

 barriers, and forced its way along the old channel, cutting a passage 

 for itself through the Allah Bund. 



Such, briefly, is the history of this interesting feature, but of all the 



» Memoirs IX, p. 36. 



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