J 892.] H. G-. Raverfcy —The Mihrdn of Sind and its Tributaries. 307 
the Jihun rises.” These old geographers can scarcely be expected to have 
known much respecting those tributaries of the Ab-i-Sind, or Indus, north 
the east side, and runs southwards in two main branches towards Shadad-pur; and 
after a course of about one hundred and seventy miles, much of its waters having 
been drawn off higher up for irrigation purposes, it is lost in the dense jangal in the 
thirsty soil of the great Ran , or “ Sind Hollow,” about twelve miles south of Tanbbu 
(“ Turnboo,” “ Tambu,” and “ Tambu ” of as many different maps), but, in time of 
flood, even now, its waters reach the Manchbar lake, one hundred and thirty-four 
miles farther south, for it then contains a vast body of water. Ninth : the Ghar or 
Ghaj which rises in the Baluchistan near Kalat-i-Nicharah ( vul. “Khelat”), which, 
flowing through the Mulah Darah, and making, so to say, the Mulah Pass, after 
receiving some minor tributaries by the way from the direction of Gand-abah, 
issues from the hills ; and, after a course altogether of between one hundred and 
fifty and one hundred and sixty miles, is, like the Nan river, some forty miles 
farther to the south-east, lost in the great Ran —the “ Sind Hollow”—about twelve 
miles north-west of Shadad-pur, but it is generally flooded twice every year. At 
such times, the waters of these two rivers, Ghar and Nari, meeting the overflow 
from the Indus by the old channel I have referred to, causes vast damage, and lays 
a great tract of country under water, as related in the text farther on. 
This great Ran of Upper Sind, or “ Sind Hollow,” may be said to form the natural 
boundary of the territory of Sind on the north and north-west, from Kashmur to 
Khairo Gafin, and the Kahtar range on the west. 
That the fourth river of the five referred to by Al-Mas’udi, as coming from the 
side of Bust, Ghaznin, Ar-Rukhaj, Dawar, etc., can refer to the Ghar and its tribu¬ 
taries, is out of the question, because it is impossible for any other river to be 
referred to as coming from the side of Bust, unless the Ivojzakh range has been 
thrown up since Al-Ma’sudi wrote, a thing not impossible, and diverted the Lorah, 
that is, “ the River,” which now flows through Pushang (incorrectly written Peshin 
in official documents) to the west side of that great range, into Shora-wak and 
the sandy desert farther south. There are certainly traditions current among 
the Afghans and Tajziks of these parts, that that river did find its way eastwards 
in bygone times, and that its old bed lay in the part now constituting the Bolan 
Pass and defile, and that a great convulsion of nature changed the face of the 
country, turned up hills, and diverted rivers. Whether the geological appearances 
are sufficient to warrant our placing faith on these traditions I am unaware, but I 
believe that all traditions have some foundation of truth. 
This may also account for the fact, that such a route as the Bolan is never 
once mentioned in any history whatever up to quite recent times ; and the route 
from Sind, and sometimes from Multan also, to Kwatah and Kandahar, was always 
by Siwi and Sangan, about twenty-five miles east of the present Bolan route. 
The Gumul river, and its tributaries also, certainly rise in the range, which, in 
Al-Mas’udi’s time, and in all time, formed the eastern boundary of Zabul-istan. 
Farther south again than the Ghar, in the “ Tcohistan” of Sind, is another im* 
portant river bed, the Baran of the maps, which drains a large extent of country, 
and, after a course of about ninety miles or more, unites with the Ab-i-Sind, or 
Indus, a few miles above Kotri. Though now chiefly dependent on rain, it appears 
not to have been always so; and it is, together with some lesser river beds 
or mountain torrents, as they now are, its tributaries, the rivers referred to by the 
