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



As I mentioned in my letter of 29th March last, Captain Hender- 

 son had travelled from Cashmere towards Ladakh, and up some por- 

 tion of the course of the " Shayok," one of the main tributaries of the 

 Indus, had seen huge glaciers borne down or projecting into the stream, 

 and in all probability had read Captain Alexander Cunningham's book 

 on Ladakh, where this " cataclysm" of 1841, as well as those previous 

 to it,* is fixed at 30 miles below the village of Sasserh, and 20 miles 

 above the junction of the river Chang Chinmoo with the Shayok.t 



Following up this direction on the map, J he found near the head of 

 another branch, issuing from the Nubra lake, the village of Kangree, 

 which seemed to represent or resemble that from which the letter of 

 the Syuds came. 



But as the letter from which the deduction is drawn, proves to 

 have travelled only a few miles from the Syuds of Kalinjur in Huza- 

 ra to the Tarkbeylees of Kazeepore, and as I can learn nothing of 

 any Syuds of Kangri, — I have no doubt that the mistake has arisen 

 from the similarity of the Persian letters in the two names, and I 

 think this disposes of the questions of the previous warning and of 

 the locality of the informants. 



It is certainly very desirable to ascertain the locality of the late 

 obstruction, and I have purposely deferred my reply, as I was on the 

 point of leaving for Cashmere where I should have the greatest facili- 

 ty for enquiry ; but in my letter of 29th March I have already indicated 

 the spot as in the vicinity of Gilgit. This was the result of my enqui- 

 ries from the frontier beyond Huzara, and of information communicated 

 by the authorities of the Maha Raja of Cashmere,§ whose Fort of Boon- 



* In 1826 and 1833, A. D. 



f See Cunningham's "Ladakh," Page 101. 



J Map of the Punjab published in the Office of the Surveyor General of India. 



§ Translation of a letter dated 15th Asaj, 193 5 or 30th September, 1858, from 

 Wuzeer Poonoo, Offg. Governor of Cashmere, to the Vakeel of the Maja Raha of 

 Cashmere at Huzara. 



" * * * The Hurkura (messenger) I sent to Iskardo has returned and reports 

 that the river coming from Gilgit joins the Attok (Indus) 4 coss above the Fort 

 of Boonjee, and a branch coming from Nuggur and Hoonza joins the Gilgit 

 river below Gilgit. The late inundation proceeded from these " Hoonza' » 

 and " Nuggur" rivers, there was a lake above Hoonza in the mountains, the 

 waters of which were dammed up and have now been set free. Have the good - 

 ness to communicate this to the Deputy Commissioner of Huzara." 



