21G The Flooding of the Indus. [No. 3. 



thick, the very different natural soil below. In August 1858 the 

 Trunk Boad for nearly four miles to the East of Attok, and on the 

 west, wherever sufficiently low to come under the influence, up to 

 beyond Nowshera, was buried under this deposit. The total length 

 so covered was 12 miles, and the depth averaged one foot, while 

 wherever the silt was left on the road it equally covered all ground 

 on the river side and a good deal on the upper. The water of the 

 flood was surprisingly muddy and wherever not agitated by a vio- 

 lent current deposited this silt in abundance. It seems, as far as I 

 have been able to ascertaiu, that this silt is highly injurious to gar- 

 den ground — and there is a good deal of vegetable cultivation near 

 Attok — but that for the ordinary cereals it does not do any harm 

 when ploughed up with the subsoil. The natives complain of it as 

 burning up their cultivation through its not retaining a certain 

 quantity of moisture and from the quantity of sand it contains. 

 "Where laid thickly and in sheltered situations, it remained in the 

 form of a sticky mud for 2 or 3 months ; but in the open fields it 

 cracked in every direction, and in about a month and a half was fit 

 to be ploughed up. Going from Attok towards Nowshera the extent 

 visible was very great, and, before the grass and weeds burst through 

 the cracks, the appearance was that of very striking desolation. 

 But no where was this objectionable deposit productive of more 

 annoyance. than on the Grand Trunk Koad, which, in spite of the 

 measures taken at once, was impassable for about ten days, till the 

 silt dried ; and when that process was complete and the cake got 

 broken up, it issued in a light fluffy dust, which causes a heavy drag 

 on all traffic ; and in dry weather, rises in clouds almost unbearable. 

 All the road which has thus suffered had been metalled with 

 shingle, was in all respects nearly finished, and was beyond all 

 comparison, the smoothest and most pleasant piece of road between 

 Lahore and Peshawur. It sustained no injury of any moment 

 beyond what I have particularized ; and it was not at first, nor till some 

 three months had elapsed, that we became fully aware how much 

 the silt deteriorated the road surface for purposes of traffic. 



A good deal has been done to remedy the injury and in the course 

 of another year it is to be hoped that it may be entirely effaced. 

 The silt appears to consist of very fine sand with just sufficient 



