358 rr rD Us
territory are, beginning from the south : Karachi, Kotri, Hyderabad,
Sehwan, Sukkur, Rohri, Mithankot, Dera Ghazi Khan, Dera Ismail
Khan, Mianwali, Kalabagh, Khushàlgarh, and Attock.
The first section of the course of the Indus lies outside British
territory, and must be dealt with briefly here. The river rises, as above
stated, in Tibet (32° N. and 8r° E.) behind the great mountain wall
of the Himalayas which forms the northern boundary of India, and
is said to spring from the north side of the sacred Kailas mountain
(22,000 feet), the Elysium of ancient Sanskrit literature. Issuing from
the ring of lofty mountains about Lake Manasarowar, whence also the
Sutlej, the Brahmaputra, and the Kauriala spring, it flows north-west
for about 16o miles under the name of Singh-ka-bab, until it receives
the Ghar river on its south-western bank. A short distance below the
junction of the Ghar, the Indus, which is supposed to have an elevation
of 17,000 feet at its source, enters the south-eastern corner of Kashmir
at an elevation of r3,8oo feet, flowing slowly over a long flat of alluvium.
Following a steady north-by-west course it skirts Leh at a height of
ro,5oo feet and drops to 8,ooo feet in Baltistan, just before it receives
the waters of the Shyok river. At Leh it is joined by the Zaskar river,
and is crossed by the great trade route into Central Asia via the Kara-
koram Pass. Early travellers like Dr. Thomson and Mr. Blane have
described this portion of the Indus. The former found numerous hot
springs, some of them with a temperature of 174' and exhaling a sul-
phurous gas. Still flowing north, but more westerly, through Kashmir
territory, it passes near Skardu in Baltistan, and reaches the Haramosh
mountain (24,300 feet) in about 34° 5o' N. and 74° 30' E. Here it
takes a turn southwards at an acute angle, and passing beneath the
Hattu Pir, at an elevation of 4,000 feet, enters Kohistan in the Dir,
Swat, and Chitral Agency near Gur. The steepness of its fall varies,
now becoming greater, now less. This inequality of slope has been
connected with the changes that occurred in the glacial period from
the damming of the river by huge glaciers and the formation of great
thicknesses of lacustrine deposit. The Indus has been the cause of
serious and disastrous floods; the rapid stream dashes down gorges
and wild mountain valleys, and in its lower and more level course it
is swept by terrific blasts. Even in summer, when it is said to dwindle
down to a fordable depth during the night, it may in the course
of the day swell into an impassable torrent from the melting of the
snows on the adjoining heights. Opposite Skardu in Baltistan it is,
even in the depth of winter, a grand stream, often more than 500 feet
wide and 9 or ro feet in depth. After leaving Gur, it flows for about
120 miles south-west through the wilds of Kohistan, until it enters
the North-West Frontier Province (350 25' N. and 73 51' E.) near
Darband, at the western base of the Mahâban mountain. The only
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