344 H. G. Raverty —The Milirdn of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. No. 
east of Shor Kot, there is but seven miles between this ancient channel 
(in which the river flowed when Amir Timur crossed, I believe) and 
one of the old channels of the Rawi. This old channel of the Chiu-ab 
pursued a course to the east of Shor Kot, 346 within three or four miles ; 
for the nearest channel is five, and the most distant, nine miles from 
that place east. Running in a direction about south-west, this old 
bed of the Ohin-ab, about seven miles south-south-west of Shor Kot, 
and about four miles east of Rasti-i-Islam, united with another old bed 
of the Rawi some twelve or thirteen miles farther east, and seven 
or eight miles farther north than at present. After the junction the 
Rawi lost its name ; and, at the period in question, the united streams 
took a much more southerly course than at present, passing near 
(not Sutlaj : that lost its name on uniting with the Biah, as did the Biah likewise 
below the junction) and the Ohin-ab, thirteen miles above TTchchh, down to the 
junction of the Sindhu, Ab-i-Sind, or Indus, with this Panch Nad, a distance, as 
the crow flies, of about forty-two miles ; whereas, in the last century, this Panch 
Nad united with the Indus close to U'chchh on the west, and did not then exist as 
it does at present, but was situated much higher up than U'chchh, as noticed at 
page 219. U' chch h now is, or recently was, nearly eight miles from this Panch Nad, 
and over twelve miles below its commencement. 
With all this he very properly points out (p. 220), that, “ In describing the 
geography of Multan it is necessary to bear in mind the great changes that have 
taken place in the courses of all the large rivers that flow through the province,” 
and yet, in another place (p. 218) says, that “ the site of Alexander’s altars must 
be looked for along the line of the present course of the Satlej, at a few miles 
below Hari-ki-patan. # # # To this point, therefore, the territory of the Sudraaa 
or Surakas, must have extended in the time of Alexander.” 
He places it, therefore, at a point immediately east of the 'present Sutlaj, that 
is east of, and before its junction with the Biah, for then it ceased to be the 
Sutlaj ; and at that period, probably, and up to modern times, certainly, as shown 
in the account of that river farther on, it flowed from thirty to sixty-five miles 
farther east (the distance of the oldest channel we know of eastwards) than the 
present course of the Hariari—the united Biah and Sutlaj in the upper part of its 
course, and Gharah in the lower. See page 372. 
846 There is a great depression or hollow east of the town of Shor Kot which, 
in the rainy season, becomes filled, and forms a large lake. Some of the local 
authorities supposed that “ the materials for the great Bhira or Mound,” on which 
the place stands, “ were taken from it.” It is much more likely to be the remains 
of the ancient channel of the Ohin-ab when it united with the Bihat south of the 
town and fort. 
The strip of country peculiar to the southern half of the present sub-district 
of Shor Kot, is clearly of recent formation. The soil is light and sandy, and water 
lies very near the surface. Such parts of it as are not brought under cultivation 
is covered with a dense growth of a grass known as sur (Saccharum sura : Roxb.) 
The tract below Shor Kot is likewise cut up by numerous channels, which conduct 
the inundation waters far inland. 
