348 H. G. Raverty —The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. No, 
Only about a century since, when the Sayyid, Ghulam Muhammad, 
before referred to, returned from Kabul by Khush-ab, the Da’irah of 
In Abfi-l-Fazl's time, the Mahdlls or sub-districts of Adam Wa-han, Fath-pur, 
Jalal-abad, SherGarh, Dunya-pur, Raj-pur, Kuhror, Kha’e Bulidhi, and Ghallu-Gharah 
of the Multan Sarkdr of the Multan Siibah, were in the Bist-Jhalandar 
Do-abah, that is, between the Sutlaj, as it formerly flowed in a separate channel, 
and the Biah before they united into one stream and became the Harlan, Nurni, 
Nili, or Gharah, but they are not so now. Multan is still in the Bari Do-abah, 
which extends from the Rawi to the right bank of the dried up Biah — not, it will be 
observed, to the banks of the Hariari, Nili, or Gharah—while the tract between the 
Bari Do-abah and the new river just mentioned, namely, from the left bank of the 
dry Biah to the right bank of the Hariari, Nili, or Gharah, has become known to 
modern native writers as the Shamali Ka chch hi Do abah, or north Ka chch hi delta, 
locally known as the Nili Bar, names not known to Abu-1-Fazl, because the Biah, 
in his day, still flowed in its own bed; and the Mahdlls above referred to are in 
this newly formed Do-abah. The meaning of Ka chch hi is alluvial land of recent 
formation, subject to the annual inundations, and called hethar in the Jhang district ; 
and the tracts of this description lying along either bank of the Hariari, Nili, or 
Gharah, within the influence of the annual inundations of that river, are known as 
Clihoti Ka chch hi to this day. See also pages 331 and 384. 
Let us see what the old European travellers say, from actual observations, 
respecting the rivers in the vicinity of Multan, or running near it; and see also 
page 301. 
The earliest who notice Multan are two Englishmen of Captain Nicholas Down- 
ton’s Company, who made a journey from India to Persia in 1614. Their remarks 
on Lahor are given farther on. “ From thence [Labor] they pass’d on to Multan, 
a great and ancient city, seated pretty near the river Indus. ### When the Potane 
[i.e,, Patan or Afghan] Kings maintained their Ground in India, this place was 
in a very flourishing estate whilst Agra and Lahor lay both in the greatest obs¬ 
curity : But now she has little to pretend to, those upstart Rivals have robb’d 
her of her Trade and Glory, and left her nothing great to lay claim to, but the 
advantage of her Venerable Antiquity. The place is so poor, that Caravans are 
obliged to stay hereabouts eight or ten days whether they have business or no, 
that they may do it a kindness, by spending some of their Money ; neither will 
the Governour let them pass on, till they have rested themselves here for as much 
time as that comes to.” 
Next in rotation comes Mandelsloe (see also note 289, page 297), who pre¬ 
viously had accompanied the Ambassadors of the Duke of Holstein to the Shah of 
Persia, and who was in India in 1639, the same year in which the traitor, ’ All 
Mardan Kh an, the Zik Kurd, betrayed Kandahar to Shah-i-Jahan Badshah. 
See my “Notes on Afghanistan,” page 605. Mandelsloe says : “The Province 
of Multan, with its chief city of the same name extends along the River Indus 
to the East, as the Province of Haca Chan or Hangi Chan [he refers to the Derah- 
jat] has the same River to the West." Here he, or his printer, has reversed 
matters : for west we must read east. 
Thevenot, who comes about twenty-seven years after, in 1666, says : » Multan, 
which comprehends Bucor [Bakhar was a Sarkdr of Multan], has to the south the 
