1859.] The Flooding of the Indus. 225 



Captain Cunningham records three inundations of the Indus 

 since A. D. 1822, in the years 1826, 1833 and 1841. 



In 1837, Mr. Vigne travelled beyond Iseardo, and learnt that a few 

 years previously (1833) a serious flood had come down the valley of the 

 Shayok, which was attributed to the bursting of a glacier by which 

 the waters of a large lake, called the Nubra Tsuh, had hitherto been 

 upheld ; and he added that " so well was the cause of this inundation 

 known to the people, that it was believed that the same terrific vi- 

 sitation might be expected again at no very distant period." 

 Captain Cunningham, who quotes this passage, immediately adds 

 " the expected cataclysm occurred in June 1841, but it was immensely 

 greater in volume and more devastating in its effects than the previous 

 inundation of 1833. 



In the edition of 1844, Mr. Vigne adds a note as follows, " Since 

 writing the above, I observe that a letter from Dr. Falconer dated 

 8th August, 1841, has been read at the Calcutta Asiatic Society, 

 containing a notice of some devastating inundations that have taken 

 place on the Indus below its debouchure ; and it is highly probable 

 that the glacier of the Nubra Tsuh may have again been broken up. 

 ####*### jr rom the openness of the bed of the river, as seen 

 from Acho, I should also imagine that the obstruction must have 

 happened above the place marked on the Map, " Makpon-i-Shang 

 Kong."* 



Captain Cunningham proceeds to give the testimony of the people 

 of "Chulung," "Tartuk," "and Tertse" (places on the bank of the 

 Shayok river, but about 130 miles below his assumed site of the 

 accident) and affirms that the effects could in October 1847 be traced 

 to a height of more than 20 feet above the stream, where straws and 

 twigs were massed together in lines 2 or 3 feet broad. 



As Captain Cunningham's own route did not include this portion 

 of the country, the above information was probably collected by 

 Dr. Thomson. A\> that season (October) the river always falls con- 

 siderably, so that these lines of grass and twigs may possibly have 



* This spot is opposite Grilgit, and at least 4Q0 miles below Sasserh. It is 

 described by Captain Cunningham as a place of craggy defiles, where the waters 

 of 1811 must have been massed up at least to 100 feet. It is near the point 

 where the late obstruction of 1858 is asserted to have occurred. 



2 (r 



