IND US
359
point to which special allusion can be made in the long section of its
course beyond British territory is the wonderful gorge by which the
river bursts through the western ranges of the Himalayas. This gorge
is near Skardu, and is said to be r4,0o0 feet in sheer descent.
The Indus, on entering the Hazara District of the North-West
Frontier Province, Bra miles from its ;source, is about ioo yards wide
in August, navigable by rafts, but of no great depth, and studded
with sandbanks and islands. It is fordable in many places during the
cold season; but floods or freshes are sudden, and Ranjit Singh is
said to have lost a force, variously stated at from 1,200 to 7,ooo horse
men, in crossing the river. F~ven the large and solid ferry-boats which
ply upon it are sometimes swept away. Almost opposite Attock it
receives the KABUL RIVER, which brings down the waters of Afghanis-
tan. The two rivers have about an equal volume; both are very swift,
and broken up with rocks. Their junction during floods is the scene
of a wild confusion of waters. The Kabul river is navigable for about
40 miles above the confluence, but a rapid just above it renders the
Indus impracticable. Attock, the limit of the upward navigation of
the Indus, forms the first important point on the river within British
territory. By this time it has flowed upwards of 860 miles, or nearly
one-half of its total length, its further course to the sea being about
940 miles. It has fallen from an elevation of 17,000 feet at its source
in Tibet to about 2,ooo feet, the height of Attock being 2,079 feet.
In the hot season, opposite the fort, its velocity is 13 miles an hour;
and in the cold season, 5 to 7 miles. The rise of ordinary floods is
from 5 to 7 feet in twenty-four hours, and the maximum is 50 feet
above cold-season level. Its width varies greatly with the season, at
one time being more than 250 yards, at another less than loo. The
Indus is crossed at Attock by the railway bridge opened in x883, by
a bridge of boats, and by a ferry. The main trunk road to Peshawar
also crosses the river by a subway on the railway bridge.
After leaving Attock, the Indus flows almost due south, forming the
western boundary of the Punjab, parallel to the Sulaiman Hills. The
great north road from Bannu to Sind runs for several hundred miles
parallel with its western bank ; and from Attock to Mahmad Kot the
Mari-Attock, Mari, and Sind-Sagar sections of the North-Western
Railway run along its eastern bank. Twelve miles below Attock the
Indus receives the waters of the Haroh, a rapid stream which, rising
in the Murree hills as the Dhand, meets the Karral coming down from
the Mochpuri peak, and rushes through steep banks for a total length
of go miles. At Makhad, the Sohan brings in all the drainage of
Rawalpindi and Jhelum Districts that is not taken by the Jhelum river.
The Indus forms the eastern border of the two frontier Districts of
Dera Ismail Khan in the North-West Frontier Province and Dera
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