220 The Flooding of the Indus. [No. 3. 



The deposition of the Jemadar, and head boatmen of Attok, is to 

 the effect that their communication " to Captain Henderson related 

 only to the flood of 1841 in the reign of Maha Raja Sher Singh when 

 such a letter had come to them ; they remembered only the name of 

 Syud Kasim, but not where he lived. On the present occasion they 

 had received no written warning nor any reliable information — only 

 the general rumour." 



The copy of the letter sent by Captain Sandilands was dated 29th 

 Har. 1915 S. (about 10th July, 1858,) bearing the seals of " Syud 

 Jumal" and " Syud Kasim," addressed to Zerdad Khan, Meerdad 

 Khan and others of the Tarkheylee tribe, living iit Kazeepore, near 

 Huzroo. 



I then wrote to the Assistant Commissioner and obtained the ori- 

 ginal letter. 



Syud Kasim, and Syud Jumal are brothers — Syuds, generally known 

 and respected, living at " Kalinjur" in the Jagheer of Jehandad 

 Khan near the Indus, in Huzara. I know them both well, and Syud 

 Kasim had informed me of the general report that the river was ob- 

 structed somewhere in its upper course.* The letter was at once 

 acknowledged ; they had written it to their marriage relations (whom 

 I also know) on the authority of Jowala — a trader of their village 

 who had received, and read in their presence a Hindee note from his 

 brother Khuzana of Umb (Jehandad Khan's place) informing him 

 that he (Khuzana) had learnt from intelligence which the Khan had 

 received, that the river was shut up in its bed, and therefore he had 

 sent off his property for safety. 



Khuzana being called, stated that he was with Jehandad Khan at 

 Bara (on the hills above the left bank of the Indus) and that the 

 Khan advised him to remove his property from Umb, as one " Nasir 

 Shah" of Bimbal (a village two days' journey from Umb in the inde- 

 pendent country of the Akazye tribe) the brother of one of the Khan's 

 servants, had written, that news had reached from a Eaja " Gohree- 

 tan" or " Gohr Aman," that two tributaries of the Indus were closed. 



* I made this generally known to all the villages of Huzara on the Indus, tell- 

 ing them to be on their guard and to make what arrangements they thought best. 

 — Scarcely a»y loss occurred to property and none to life. 



