460 H. G. Raverty— The Mihrdn of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. No. 
on the west of Araar Kot, much as the channel still remains, which, 
from the place of junction, some forty miles above the sites of Mansu- 
riyah and Bahman-abad, the place of separation is not yet effaced, and 
indicates its having occurred, as near as possible, as described by the old 
’Arab writers, the place of separation above Togachli being just forty miles. 
West of this, above Jakrao, is a great dhand or lake; and that branch 
gets no farther south towards Mansuriyah than Mithrao (“ Mithrau ” 
and “ Mi throw ” of the maps — a different place from that mentioned 
at page 454)—about seventeen miles; and hence it is the Puranah. 
Dhorah or Ancient Channel. Indeed, from near Mithrao, above which 
the Puranah Dhorah branches off, down to near Bakhar, fourteen miles 
south-south-east, there is still an extensive tract of ran or swampy 
ground some two or three miles in breadth, and extending east and 
west about ten, in which is a short channel from the Puranah Dhorah 
which unites with the present channel above Bakhar (but “ Bukar ” 
in the maps), twenty-six miles north-east of Bahman-abad. In the 
season of inundation a large tract of country, from eighteen to twenty 
miles in breadth, from Mithrao to the present Hakra channel west¬ 
wards, is under water. 
Just beyond Togachh, where the channel of the Puranah Dhorah and 
the present Hakra channel now separate, those numerous elands or 
•• , •( •• , *• 
dhands ( ^3 or OJobS ), or long, narrow lakes commence, amounting to 
some four hundred or more, with high banks between them. These 
run nearly at right angles to the old channel, but parallel to the run 
of the great sand hills of the thal , thar , or desert, on the left or east 
bank, showing that, at some period, not very long ago, the river must 
have been of great breadth here, and have contained a large volume 
of water. 623 Some of these cl,hands or lakes are from four to five miles 
in length from east to west, and from a mile to a mile and a half in 
breadth, and some of them are of considerable depth. The great lake 
near Amar Kot has been mentioned elsewhere. 
There are also a number of places where there were ferries over 
the Hakra. There was one near Bakhar, and another at Khiprali, or 
Khipro, as the Sindis call it, lower down ; and there are nine in all in 
the Thai, Thar , or Parkar district. Of course such ferries do not refer 
to the crossing places in the channel of a dried up river , but to a river 
in which, more or less, water ran, and shows, that at no very distant 
623 in the “ Report on the Eastern Narra,” page 34, the Commissioner of Sind 
writes, that, “ Authentic history and tradition concur in stating that but a few genera¬ 
tions ago, there was more cultivation and greater population on the banks of the 
Narra [the Hakra is meant] than exists now on those of the present Indus.” See 
also what Ibn-i-Khurdad-bih says of this part in ancient times, at page 195. 
