472 H. G. Raverfcy— The Mihrdn of Sind and its Tributaries. [Ex. No. 
united with the Hakra is not so clear, but, shortly after, we find 
from the earliest ’Arab writers, that four of the five rivers forming 
the Panch Nad or Panj Ab flowed within two farsangs (six miles) of Multan 
on the east, and passed from thence southwards towards LTchohli (but 
which place is not mentioned by that name by the ’Arab writers), which 
it also passed close by on the west side, and lower down again, three 
days’ journey below Multan, in the direction of Aror or Alor, the 
ancient capital of Sind, united with the Sind Rad, or Rud-i-Sind wo 
Hind (the Bihat, Chin-ab, Ravvi, and Biali), and formed the Panch Nad 
or Panj Ab. 54,i Still lower down again, between Baghlah and Sahib 
Mihrdn” for the reason elsewhere explained. See note 124, page 211, and note 548, 
page 475. 
With respect to crossing the Ab-i-Sind or Indus — the AtaTc or Forbidden River — 
daily by Brahmans, Wilford (As. Res. Yol. YI, p. 536) says : “ Those of Multan 
jocularly say, that its true bed [from constant shiftings] is not ascertained, so they 
may cross it with impunity.” 
&44j In ancient times, the Nil Ab, Ab-i-Sind, or Indus, took a more direct southerly 
course after issuing from the hills below Kala Bagh, and, lower down, ran much 
closer to Multan. It was subject to changes in its course upwards as much as 
downwards below that place. Here is an illustration in point, from which we 
may see what has happened in the course of a very few' years in the upper part of the 
Sind-Sagar Do-abah, and we may judge what the changes may have been lower 
down in the course of ages. 
In his “ Year on the Punjab Frontier,” Edwardes says : “ The Indus has for 
many years been gradually taking a more westerly course in its passage to the 
Sutlej. [He here makes it a tributary of the Sutlej, by which he means what was 
the Sutlaj and Blah, but now, since the junction of the two, the Gharah or Hariari], 
and nowhere perhaps so markedly as at Esaukheyl [this shows how far north these 
changes commence]. Year after year it has encroached on the western bank, and 
in removing from the Sindh Sagur [Do-abah, perhaps ?] has increased its breadth 
of terra firma. The alluvium thus thrown up has in process of time created on the 
left, or eastern bank, a low but highly fertile tract called Kuchee [ka chch hi —this 
is the word, signifying ‘raw,’ ‘new,’ ‘recent,’ and applied to alluvium. The word 
occurs in Kachchh Bhuj, Kachchhi north and west of Jacob-abad in Sind, Ohhotah 
Ka chch h on the banks of the Hariari or Gharah, and the term has even extended 
to the alluvium thrown up on the banks of rivers cultivated by Afghans on the 
side of India, ‘ hats ’]. At Meeanwallee, the point where you leave the Sindh 
Sagur Doab to cross over to Esaukheyl, the alluvial tract just spoken of is about 
12 miles broad when the river is at its lowest. In other words, the Indus has al¬ 
ready moved 12 miles from that part of the Sindh Sagur [Do-abah?]; and though 
in seasons of its utmost flood the river still reaches its former bank, and permits 
the villagers on the old high ground to fill pitchers from the waters with which 
Kuchee [Ka chch hi] is then overspread, yet, in ordinary times, the original Doab of 
Sindh Sagur is now no longer discernable from the ferries of Esaukheyl.” 
The country of the ’I'sa Khel clan of the Niazi Afghans is here meant. More 
respecting the changes of rivers in this part will be found in my “Notes on Af¬ 
ghanistan,” etc., Section Four, particularly at pages 340, 341, 370, 371 and 400. 
