only exercise political control. Near Palosí, 812 miles from the source, the river enters British India. In Kashmír the Indus and the Shyok in some places flow placidly over alluvial flats, and at others with a rapid and broken current through narrow gorges. At Skardo their united stream is said, even in winter, to be 500 feet wide and nine or ten feet deep. If one of the deep gorges, as sometimes happens, is choked by a landslip, the flood that follows when the barrier finally bursts may spread devastation hundreds of miles away. To the north of the fertile Chach plain in Attock there is a wide stretch of land along the Indus, which still shows in its stony impoverished soil the effects of the great flood of 1841.
The Indus in British India.—After reaching British India the Indus soon becomes the boundary dividing Hazára and Pesháwar, two districts of the North West Frontier Province. Lower down it parts Pesháwar from the Panjáb district of Attock. In this section after a time the hills recede on both sides, and the stream is wide and so shallow that it is fordable in places in the cold weather. There are islands, ferry boats and rafts can ply, and the only danger is from sudden freshets. Ohind, where Alexander crossed, is in this section. A more famous passage is at Attock just below the junction of the Kábul river. Here the heights again approach the Indus on either bank. The volume of water is vastly increased by the union of the Kábul river, which brings down the whole drainage of the southern face of the Hindu Kush. From the north it receives near Jalálábád the Kunar river, and near Charsadda in Pesháwar the Swát, which with its affluent the Panjkora drains Dír, Bajaur, and Swát. In the cold weather looking northwards from the Attock fort one sees the Kábul or Landai as a blue river quietly mingling with the Indus, and in the angle between them a stretch of white sand. But during floods the junction is the scene of a wild turmoil of waters. At Attock there are a railway bridge, a bridge of boats, and a ferry. The bed of the stream is 2000 feet over sea level. For ninety miles below Attock the river is confined between bare and broken hills, till it finally emerges into the plains from the gorge above Kálabágh, where the Salt Range impinges on the left bank. Between Attock and Kálabágh the right bank is occupied by Pesháwar and Kohát and the left by Attock and Mianwálí. In this section the Indus is joined by the Haro and Soán torrents, and spanned at Khushálgarh by a railway bridge. This is the only other masonry bridge crossing it in the Panjáb. Elsewhere the passage has to be made by ferry boats or by boat bridges, which are taken down in the rainy season. At Kálabágh the height above sea level is less than 1000 feet. When it passes the western extremity of the Salt Range the river spreads out into a wide lake-like expanse of waters. It has now performed quite half of its long journey. Henceforth it receives no addition from the east till the Panjnad in the south-west corner of the Muzaffargarh district brings to it the whole tribute of the five rivers of the Panjáb. Here, though the Indian ocean is still 500 miles distant, the channel is less than 300 feet above the sea. From the west it receives an important tributary in the Kurram, which, with its affluent the Tochí, rises in Afghánistán. The torrents from the Sulimán Range are mostly used up for irrigation before they reach the Indus, but some of them mingle their waters with it in high floods. Below Kálabágh the Indus is a typical lowland river of great size, with many sandy islands in the bed and a wide valley subject to its inundations. Opposite Dera Ismail Khán the valley is seventeen miles across. As a plains river the Indus runs at first through the Mianwálí district of the Panjáb, then divides Mianwálí from Dera Ismail Khán, and lastly parts Muzaffargarh and the Baháwalpur State from the Panjáb frontier district of Dera Ghází Khán.
The Jhelam.—The Jhelam, the most westernly of the five rivers of the Panjáb, is called the Veth in Kashmir and locally in the Panjáb plains the Vehat. These names correspond to the Bihat of the Muhammadan historians and the Hydaspes of the Greeks, and all go back to the Sanskrit Vitasta. Issuing from a deep pool at Vernág to the east of Islámábád in Kashmír it becomes navigable just below that town, and flows north-west in a lazy stream for 102 miles through Srínagar, the summer capital, into the Wular lake, and beyond it to Báramúla. The banks are quite low and often cultivated to the river's edge. But across the flat valley there is on either side a splendid panorama of mountains. From Báramúla the character of the Jhelam suddenly changes, and for the next 70 miles to Kohála, where the traveller crosses by a fine bridge into the Panjáb, it rushes down a deep gorge, whose sides are formed by the Kajnág mountains on the right, and the Pír Panjál on the left, bank. Between Báramúla and Kohála there is a drop from 5000 to 2000 feet. At Domel, the stage before Kohála the Jhelam receives from the north the waters of the Kishnganga, and lower down it is joined by the Kunhár, which drains the Kágan glen in Hazára. A little above Kohála it turns sharply to the south, continuing its character as a mountain stream hemmed in by the hills of Ráwalpindí on the right bank and of the Púnch State on the left. The hills gradually sink lower and lower, but on the left side only disappear a little above the cantonment of Jhelam, where there is a noble railway bridge. From Jhelam onwards the river is of the usual plains' type. After dividing the districts of Jhelam (right bank) and Gujrát (left), it flows through the Sháhpur and Jhang districts, falling finally into the Chenáb at Trimmu, 450 miles from its source. There is a second railway bridge at Haranpur on the Sind Ságar line, and a bridge of boats at Khusháb, in the Sháhpur district. The noblest and most-varied scenery in the north-west Himalaya is in the catchment area of the Jhelam. The Kashmír valley and the valleys which drain into the Jhelam from the north, the Liddar, the Loláb, the Sind, and the Kágan glen, display a wealth of beauty unequalled elsewhere. Nor does this river wholly lose its association with beauty in the plains. Its very rich silt gives the lands on its banks the green charm of rich crops and pleasant trees.
The Chenáb.—The Chenáb (more properly Chínáb or river of China) is the Asikní of the Vedas and the Akesines of the Greek historians. It is formed by the union of the Chandra and Bhága, both of which rise in Lahul near the Báralácha pass. Having become the Chandrabhága the river flows through Pángí in Chamba and the south-east of Kashmír. Near Kishtwár it breaks through the Pír Panjál range, and thenceforwards receives the drainage of its southern slopes. At Akhnúr it becomes navigable and soon after it enters the Panjáb district of Siálkot. A little later it is joined from the west by the Tawí, the stream above which stands Jammu, the winter capital of Kashmír. The Chenáb parts Siálkot and Gujránwála on the left bank from Gujrát and Sháhpur on the right. At Wazírábád, near the point where Siálkot, Gujrát, and Gujránwála meet, it is crossed by the Alexandra railway bridge. Leaving Sháhpur and Gujránwála behind, the Chenáb flows through Jhang to its junction with the Jhelam at Trimmu. In this section there is a second railway bridge at Chund Bharwána. The united stream runs on under the name of Chenáb to be joined on the north border of the Multán district by the Ráví and on its southern border by the Sutlej. Below its junction with the latter the stream is known as the Panjnad. In the plains the Chenáb cannot be called an attractive river, and its silt is far inferior to that of the Jhelam.
The Ráví.—The Ráví was known to the writers of the Vedic hymns as the Parushní, but is called in classical Sanskrit Irávatí, whence the Hydraotes of the Greek historians. It rises near the Rotang pass in Kángra, and flows north-west through the southern part of Chamba. Below the town of Chamba, it runs as a swift slaty-blue mountain stream, and here it is spanned by a fine bridge. Passing on to the north of the hill station of Dalhousie it reaches the Kashmir border, and turning to the south-west flows along it to Basolí where Kashmír, Chamba, and the British district of Gurdáspur meet. At this point it is 2000 feet above the sea level. It now forms the boundary of Kashmír and Gurdáspur, and finally near Madhopur, where the head-works of the Bárí Doáb canal are situated, it passes into the Gurdáspur district. Shortly after it is joined from the north by a large torrent called the Ujh, which rises in the Jammu hills.