226 H. G. Raverfcy —The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries . [No. 4, 
From it to Maosuriyah is a little more than three days’ journey. Man- 
siiriyah is surrounded by a branch of the Mihran, but it is at a distance 
much less twenty-three centuries is sufficiently absurd, but it is still greater when, 
from his own authorities (page 157), the fleet of boats of Muhammad was sent up the 
Sind-Sagar (or Wahind Sagarah as stated in the Chach-Namah. See note 181, page 
231), that is, the Hakra or Wahiudah, mis-called the “ Narra ” in the maps and 
Gazetteers, and that it flowed some seventy-five miles east of this “ Helai ” and the 
“ Kinjar lake,” and continued to do so for centuries after the time referred to. How 
many scores of times, likewise, has the western branch (described farther on), 
changed during that period from west to east and back again, and how many lakes 
formed, dried up, or swept away P 
Wood—a keen observer and experienced surveyor—says in his work (“ Journey to 
the Oxus ”) respecting this, that, “ In the neighbourhood of Yikkar is the imbedded 
hull of a Dutch brig-of-war, pierced for fourteen guns, affording proof, if any were 
wanting, of the ever-changing coarse of the Indus. It is in vain in the delta of such a 
river to identify existing localities with descriptions handed down to us by the 
historians of Alexander the Great. The whole country from Kach’h to Karachi is 
alluvial, and none of its spontaneous productions , the tamarisk tree, for instance, 
exhibit the groioth of a century. Higher up the course of the river, where its channels 
are more permanent, this tree attains a large size, and this never being the case in 
the delta, our conclusion would appear legitimate, the soil at both places being the 
same. 
“ Could the northern apex of the delta be as easily fixed as its triangular sides 
can be defined, we might then venture to speculate on the probability of Alexander 
having visited Kach’h or Gujerat. * * * But, as before observed, the absence of 
tangible localities involves us in a maze of doubt; and hence our deductions are 
oftener the result of fancy than sound inference. 
“ The old Dutch-built vessel mentioned above affords negative evidence that the 
mouths of the Indus in her day were not more accessible than at present. * # * 
We have tolerable evidence that the Indus has never been more or less navigable 
than we now find it to be. Tavernier, nearly two centuries ago, said, “ At present 
the commerce of T’hat’hah, which was formerly great, is much diminished, as the 
mouth of the river is always getting worse, and the sand, by increasing, scarcely 
gives room for a passage,” pp. 2—3. 
“ In a mud basin undergoing continual change, such as the valley of the Indus 
south of the mountains, it is almost vain to look, after the lapse of so many centuries, 
for indications of the Grecian general’s march,” p. 20. 
As to the apex of the delta, there can be very little doubt, that, in very ancient 
times, it was between Bahman-abad, and the range of lime stone hills running down 
from Aror, and where the Mihran of Sind separated into two branches. See note on 
the rivers farther on. 
To return to the previous subject, however, after this digression One thing 
appears conclusive, namely, that as the distance between Bahman-abad and Nirun 
was rather more than between Nirun and Debal, its site must be looked for some 
thirty-five or forty miles south of the modern Haidar-abad, and about the same 
distance east of Thathah ; and in the Sindi accounts of the founding of Haidar-abad 
there is no mention of its being founded on the site of Nirun. Al-Idrisi says Nirun 
lies about half way between Mansuriyah and Debal, that it is three days’ journey 
