The sources of the different great rivers of the world have at all times excited the particular attention of mankind. Of none has our information been more conflicting and obscure than the upper course of the Indus. I record the following particulars relating to this most interesting geographical subject, the result of my intercourse with the people of the neighbouring countries. My enquiries have been materially assisted by the labours of Lieutenant Macartney, though a wide difference will be found between the heads of the Indus, as now described, and their delineation in that officer’s map. Great, however, is the aid which one derives from the records of a preceding enquirer. The papers of Mr. Moorcroft ought to furnish us with some information on this point; but they are still unpublished, and his journey, though it extended nearer to the scene than that of any other modern traveller, was yet distant from the source of the Indus.
Received opinions.
The following are our present and received opinions regarding the source of the Indus. The river of Ladak, joined by the Shyook, falls into the Indus at Draus, and these united streams form the great river which runs north of Cashmere, and is joined by the Aboo Seen before passing Attok. The town of Leh, or Ladak, is placed above the parallel of 37° N. latitude, and Draus lies nearly half way between it and the city of Cashmere. Errors. This account differs materially from the information which I have received. The river of Ladak, and the Shyook, instead of existing as two minor tributaries of the Indus, form of themselves that great river; the one rising near the lake of Mansurour, and the other in the mountains of Karakorum. They unite N.W. of Ladak, and pass through the country of Little Tibet, or Baltee, and a snowy range separates them from Cashmere. Ladak lies nearly eastward of Cashmere, which places it three degrees of latitude below the parallel given to it by Mr. Macartney; and Draus is on the road to Ladak.[24] No such junction as is given in the map takes place at Draus, and the rivulet that passes that village, instead of forming a portion of the waters of the Indus, runs among the mountains of Cashmere, and joins the Jelum, or Hydaspes, at Moozufferabad, as it leaves the valley. This fact is mentioned in a note in Mr. Elphinstone’s book, on the authority of a journal of Meer Izzut Oollah, which he received after his own account was written. It may have been owing to this last circumstance that he overlooked the inconsistency of Izzut Oollah’s statement with the existence of Mr. Macartney’s eastern branch of the Indus. Mr. Elphinstone, indeed, observes, that Izzut Oollah did not see the junction of that branch with the river of Ladak; but he accounts for it by supposing the confluence to lie to the south of the place called Draus in Izzut Oollah’s route. If that route be protracted, however, it will show that the river of Ladak could not well have passed to the south of Draus without falling into the course of the Kishun Gunga; and that, even if the junction had taken place to the south of Draus, both rivers must still have been crossed (either united or separately) by Izzut Oollah before he reached Draus.
It is evident, therefore, that the rivers do not meet at or to the south of Draus; and, as Izzut Oollah went from Draus to the river of Ladak, and accompanied that river to the town from which it takes its name, without seeing the junction of any other river from the east, his account may be regarded as a confirmation of the fact which I have stated, that no such eastern branch exists. It is worthy of observation, that Mr. Macartney’s account of the eastern branch of the Indus appears to have been only communicated by one person.
Description of the two great branches which form the Indus.
That the river of Ladak has its source near the lake of Mansurour has been satisfactorily established by Moorcroft. The course of this branch of the Indus is, therefore, of great length; but the volume of water has been described to me as very small, though it receives several tributaries. The Shyook, on the other hand, is said to be a vast river, formed of many small ones, and discharges the water and melted snows of the Kara Korum mountains. Three days’ journey from Ladak, on the route to Yarkund, it is crossed at a breadth of 1000 yards in March; but widely spread and fordable. This is considered by the natives as the great trunk of the Indus, and its source, to the N.E. of Ladak, is, consequently, that of the Indus. The united streams of the river of Ladak and Shyook pass south of the territories of Iskardo, Gilgit, and Chitral. They are then joined by the Aboo Seen, as described by Mr. Elphinstone, and at Attok, by the river of Cabool, here called the Lundee, which falls into the Indus, close upon the fortress, and not some miles higher up.
Western branch of the Indus.
The sources of this river, commonly called the River of Cabool, are nearly as remote as those to the eastward, which we have now described. The River of Cabool actually rises near Ghuzni; but, in its course eastward of Jullalabad, is joined by a great river that has been called the Kameh, though it is unknown to the natives by such a name. This river is traced to the same source as the Oxus; where it is said to spring from a glacier.[25] That it rises in the same neighbourhood as the Oxus, I have been also informed; but that river (as I have stated when speaking of it) flows from the plain of Pamere, near Lake Sirikol, and not from the ranges of mountains which support that elevated region. This great western branch of the Indus, therefore, rises under a much higher parallel of latitude than the Shyook.
Cashgar; erroneous opinions regarding it.
The country, which is enclosed by these different branches of the Indus, has been called Kashkaur, or Cashghar, in our late maps; which Mr. Elphinstone warns the reader not to confuse with Cashgar, near Yarkund. At Peshawur, I certainly heard of a small mountainous district, near Deer and Gunjoom, called Cashgar, and which is well known for its coarse blankets; but the name has been applied to a far greater extent of country than is even known to the natives of Peshawur. North of Hindoo Koosh, in Koondooz, and the borders of Budukhshan, I could find no person who was acquainted with any country under the name of Cashgaur, but that of Yarkund. They spoke of Chitral and Gilgit, which form part of it, according to the modern nomenclature of our maps, but knew nothing of the southern Cashgar as a separate territory; doubtless from the smallness of the district and its remote position[26]. Since the whole of the information contained in this chapter rests on the authority of others, the credence to which it is entitled must be well weighed. I have the information from people who had seen these rivers and countries, and I have given the facts, after due corroboration and enquiry.