1859.] The Flooding of the Indus. 219 



turn, ebbed away with sufficient gentleness to leave it nearly undis- 

 turbed over all the open ground beyond the actual banks of the river. 

 The out flow in the bed also does not appear to have been peculiar- 

 ly rapid, and no remarkable cutting away of the original solid banks 

 was observed. 



Letter addressed to B. II. Davies, Esquire, Secretary to the Govern- 

 ment of the Punjab and its Dependencies. — By Major J. Becher, 

 Deputy Commissioner, Cashmere, 1st July, 1859. 



Sir, — I have the honor to acknowledge your letter of 2nd April, 

 1859, directing me, in accordance with the instructions of a despatch 

 from the Secretary to the Government of India in the Department 

 of Public Works, to ascertain the particulars of the recent inunda- 

 tion of the river Indus in August 1858, and to trace the residence of 

 certain syuds of " Kangri," or " Kangra" who are reported by Captain 

 Henderson to have conveyed to the boatmen of Attok, a written 

 warning of the coming danger. 



When your communication reached me, I addressed Captain Sandi- 

 lands (who is Officiating at Attok during the absence of Capt. 

 Henderson) requesting him to send me the original paper, from which 

 I should best be enabled to identify the authors ; I also asked him to 

 record the evidence of the boatmen, who had affirmed that the letter 

 Was authenticated by the same signatures as that alleged to have been 

 received by them in 1841 on the occasion of the previous flood. 



It seemed surprising that such an intimation should not first have 

 reached Jehandad Khan of Umb, the principal Chief on the river's 

 bank above Attok, for if it came from the source of the obstruction 

 it would have been passed downwards from point to point, as had, 

 I knew, been done in 1841. 



Captain Sandilands replied that no document had reached the boat- 

 men direct, — that the writing alluded to was a copy, which had been 

 forwarded to the executive Officer, from the Office of the Assistant 

 Commissioner at Attok ; and ho appended a copy of this and the 

 depositions I had requested. 



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