310 it. G. Raver ty— The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. No. 
is the third place of that name previously noticed, and which lies im¬ 
mediately at the skirts of the outer waves of the Koh-i-Surkh, Sor 
Gliar, or Rata Roll, (described in my “ Notes on Afghanistan/’ pages 5, 
and 658), after which it bends southwards at about eleven miles west 
of Khan Garb, now called Jacob-abad, towards Khairo Gar hi and 
Shadad-pur. This ancient channel, which is likewise the largest, marks 
the boundary of our territory in Upper Sind, and separates it from 
Kachchhi. It has since been utilized, I believe, for the new “ Frontier 
Canal,” or at least, such was proposed. 
From what the historian of Sind, Mir Ma’sum of Bakhar, says 
in his work, we know that as late as his day, the “Mihran Rud,” or 
Ab-i-Sind, made a sharp bend westwards below Rujan (the “ Rohjan ” 
and “ Rojhan,” etc., of the maps), a few miles above Kin Kot, and that 
the distance from the river to Siwi, (one of the mahalls of the Sarkdr of 
Bakhar of the Multan Subah, in the southern part of the Af gh an state 
lately annexed), in one direction, that is from the river bank near Rujan 
in the direction of Siwi westwards, was then one hundred kuroh, equal 
to one hundred and seventy-five miles. It is now only one*hundred and 
fifty-two miles ; while, in the opposite direction, that is towards the 
south, in about the direction of Bakhar, the river was, in Mir Ma’sum’s 
time, but sixty kuroh distant from Siwi, equal to one hundred and five 
miles, but now its nearest point is distant one hundred and thirty-two 
miles, just in the position where the other old channel I have referred 
to at page 308, which runs from near Kashtnur by Kand Kot, lies. 
This ancient channel or great depression which I now refer to, is what 
is called, locally, the Ban or Marsh, the Pat or Desert, and “ Dasht-i- 
Beddri by the people, and the “ Sind Hollow ” by Europeans. The 
land slopes down from the banks of the present channel of the Indus 
towards the west as far as this depression. For example:—Kaslimur 
on the river bank is some eighty feet higher than Khan Garh or Jacob- 
abad, and the latter place is lower by some ninety feet than the bed of 
the Indus at Mithri, between Kin Kot and Kashmiir, twenty-one miles 
farther north. There is nothing really to keep back the river until 
the country north and west of this great depression begins to rise in 
the direction of the outlying waves of the Koli-i-Surkh on the north, 
and the Kahtar range 309 (turned into “ Kheerthur,” in the maps) on the 
west; for the country along the right or west bank of the Ab-i-Sind or 
Indus continues higher than the level of this great depression down 
beyond Mihar on the west, as far down as which the overflow from the 
river between Kin Kot and Kashmur finds its way ; and on some occa¬ 
sions as far down as the Manchhar lake, as I shall presently show. 
309 See my “ Notes on Afghanistan/' etc., page 558, and note tt- 
