A General History and Collection of Voyages and Travels — Volume 09 / Arranged in Systematic Order: Forming a Complete History of the Origin and Progress of Navigation, Discovery, and Commerce, by Sea and Land, from the Earliest Ages to the Present Time

by Robert Kerr

5. Buckor, or Backar, its chief city being Buckor-Suckor. The river Indus pervades this province, which it greatly enriches.--In modern maps, the city of Backar is placed in a small island in the middle of the Indus, at the junction of the Dummoddy from the N.E. Suckar, whence probably our word sugar is derived, is given as a distinct place, on the western side of the Indus. Indeed, in the map of India given in the Pilgrims, Backar and Suckar are made distinct places, but their situations are reversed.--E.

6. Tatta, with its chief city of the same name. This province is exceedingly fertile and pleasant, being divided into many islands by the Indus, the chief arm of which meets the sea at Synde, a place very famous for curious handicrafts.--The most western branch of the Indus, called the Pitty river, from a place of that name on its western shore near the mouth, is probably that here meant. That branch leads to Larry-bunder, the sea-port of Tatta; and the Synde of Terry is probably the Diul-sinde of other authors, a place situated somewhat in this neighbourhood, but which is not to be found in modern maps.--E.

7. Soret, the chief city of which is called Janagur, is a small, but rich province, which lies west from Guzerat, having the ocean to the south.--Soret is not now recognized as a distinct province or district, but seems the modern Werrear, the western district of Guzerat, Rhadunpoor appearing to be its chief town. Janagur, in this district, is on the west side of the river Butlass, or Banass, which runs into the head of the gulf of Cutch.--E.

8. Jesselmere, of which the chief city has the same name, joins with Soret Backar and Tatta, being to the south of Soret and Tatta, and having Backar on the west.

9. Attock, the chief city being of the same name, lies on the east side of the Indus, which parts it from Hajykan.--This account is erroneous, as Attock-Benares is much farther up the river Indus than Hajykan, having the eastern extremity of Cabul on the opposite side of the Indus.--E.

10. Punjab, which signifies the five waters, because it is seated among five rivers, all tributaries to the Indus, which, somewhat to the south of Lahore, form only one river. This is a great kingdom, and extremely rich and fertile. Lahore, the chief city, is well built, very large, populous, and rich, being the chief mart of trade in all India.

11. Chishmeere, Kyshmir, Cachmir, or Cashmere, its chief city being Siranakar. The river Phat passes through this country, and, after creeping about many islands, falls into the Indus.--The rivers of Cashmere, here called the Phat, are the Chota-sing, or Jellum, in the N. and the Jellium, or Colhumah, in the S. which unite in the W. to form the Jhylum or Babut, the Phat or Bhat of Terry and Purchas, and the Hydaspes of the ancients, one of the five rivers of the Indus. The present capital of Cashmere is likewise named Cashmere; but has in its close neighbourhood a town or fortress called Sheergur, the Siranakar of Terry.--E.

12. Banchish, with its chief city named Bishur. It lies east southerly from Cashmere, from which it is divided by the river Indus.--No such province or city is to be found in the modern geography of Hindoostan, neither any names in the indicated direction that have any resemblance to these. In the map of the Mogul empire in the Pilgrims, appended to the journal of Sir Thomas Roe, Banchish and Bishar are placed on a river named the Kaul, being the fourth of the Punjab or five rivers, counting from the west, and therefore probably the Ravey, or Hydraotes of the ancients. Near the head of that river, and to the east of Cashmere, is a town, called Kishtewar, which may possibly have been the Bishur of Terry: But there is a little-known district near the head of the Jumna, S.S.E. from Cashmere, named Besseer, that has considerable resemblance in sound to Bishur, and is in the indicated direction.--E.

13. Jeugapor, with its chief city likewise so named, lies on the Kaul, one of the five rivers that water the Punjab.--The only place upon the Ravey, which answers to the Kaul, which has the smallest resemblance with Jengapor, or Jenupur, as it is likewise called by Purchas, is Shawpoor, N.E. from Agra. Yet Jaypoor, otherwise called Jyenagur, in Ajmeer, is more probably the district and city here meant, though not in the Punjab.--E.

14. Jenba, its chief city so called, lies east of the Punjab.--This may possibly be Jambae, north of Lahore.--E.