1892.] H. G-. Raverty— The Mihran of Sind and its Tributaries. 495 
Mir Ma’sum states, in his History, that when Shah Beg TOian, the 
Arghun Mughal conqueror of Sind, first went to inspect Bakhar, after 
which serue the country round about. At Sucker we stayed [in the town : not in the 
fortress, certainly] four and twentie days for a safe conuoy to Oandahar, and passed 
to Candahar in twenty days,” etc., etc. See my “ Notes on Afghanistan ” etc., 
note Tf, page 674. 
Another traveller, Nicholas Whithington, “left in the Mogols country by 
Captain Best, a factor, in 1612,” in the “Tractate” written by the former, states, 
that “ Goods may be conveyed from Agra on camels to Buckor in twenty days, 
which is on Sinda Riuer, thence in fifteen days aboard the ships.” 
If we can place implicit faith in Sir Thomas Roe’s Journal, we shall find, that 
Bakhar tow r n joined the main land in his time. He says respecting the province 
[ sarkdr ] of Bakhar, that, “ the chief city, which is called Buckar SucTcar [according 
to this the names were not used singly then] lies upon the River Sindee or Indus 
# # * Saagichan, the kingdom [!] of the Baloaches, to the west of Tata and Buckar , 
confines west upon the kingdom of Bar, subject to Sliabas [Shah ’Abbas]. Indus 
windeth itself into the eastern side of it: it has no renowned City.” 
From these different statements it appears that Sakhar, or old Sakhar, really 
formed part of the shahr, baladah, or city, or town of Bakhar, when the latter joined 
the main land, as I have before demonstrated from the situation of Mir Ma’sum’s 
tomb. 
The “ river Damiadee ” of Salbanke, can only refer to the Ab-i-Sind or Indus, 
when it flowed in one of the old channels between Dijf Kot and the present channel 
referred to at page 458, and the Sindy,” of course, is the Hakra. 
Mandelsloe says, that “ Bachar or Bukar, lies on both sides of the River Indus.” 
He was in these parts in 1639. 
Now let us see what wild theories have been entertained respecting Bakhar, 
and its neighbourhood, centuries before it became an island, and even centuries 
before any river passed near it. 
Vincent, from whom others copy, in his “Navigation of the Ancients,” goes 
back to Ptolemy. He says, “The author (Ptolemy) means Bekher [as Dr. 
Vincent spells it] for the site of the tribe of Sogdi or Sabracse,” but Vincent himself 
says: “ I take Binagara for Bekher. * * * Craterus was detached into Arachosia 
and Drangiana from the island of the Sogdi, but he appears to have again rejoined 
the main body.” Then again, referring to Pnrchas, he says, “ Bekher is equivalent 
to the capital Mansura and the island. Suckor or Sunkar is a town on the island.” 
I am sure Parchas never made such a statement that “Mansura was the capital, 
or that Bakhar was Mansuriyah. While the writer knows all about Ptolemy, he 
does not appear to have known who founded Mansuriyah or when, he seems to 
know nothing of Bahman-abad or Bahman-nih, nor of Alor the ancient capital of 
Sind. 
Tod (p. 334) says, “ The island of Buk’har [in other places he styles it “ Rory 
Bekher ”—perhaps they were quite different places in his imagination] on the Indus, 
is a place celebrated in Alexander’s voyage.” He also supposes that “ Sangra ” is 
“ a stream branching from the Indus,” and that it branches off at Dura, seven 
miles north of “ Buk’har;” and that it must be the Sankra [sic] of Nader Shah’s 
treaty with Muhammad Shah Badshah. Such nonsense as the above may be allowed to 
