Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3) / Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833

by Sir Alexander Burnes

Matters continued in this state till the month of November, 1826, when information was received that the Indus had burst its banks in Upper Sinde, and that an immense volume of water had spread over the desert which bounds that country to the eastward, had likewise burst every artificial dam in the river, as well as the “Ullah bund,” and forced for itself a passage to the Run of Cutch. Actual state of the river. In March, 1827, I proceeded to investigate the truth of what I have stated, to examine the natural mound, and to endeavour to account for these constant alterations in physical geography. I journeyed from Bhooj, the capital of Cutch, to Lucput, a town on the north-western extremity of the province, situated on the Koree, or eastern branch of the Indus. Here I embarked in a small flat-bottomed boat, and sailed up the river. At Lucput, and for twelve miles up, it was about 300 yards wide, and from two to three fathoms deep, retaining all the appearance of a river. At Sundo, a sand bank so called, which is about four leagues distant from that town, the channel shallowed to four or five feet, for two miles; but then regaining its depth, I entered on a vast inland lake that bounded the horizon on all sides, amid which the remaining tower of Sindree stood, like a rock in the ocean. At Sundo the water was brackish, at Sindree it was quite fresh. Hence I proceeded to “Ullah bund,” which I found to be composed of soft clay and shells, elevated about ten feet from the surface of the water, and cut through like a canal, with perpendicular banks on either side. The channel was about thirty-five yards broad, and three fathoms deep; and a body of fresh water, a portion of the real Indus, rolled down it into the lake which I had traversed, below “Ullah bund.” Here the stream took on once more the appearance of a river, and I found several boats laden with “ghee” (clarified butter), which had descended it from Wunga, and thus corroborated all which I had heard, that the bunds of the Indus had been burst, and that the communication between the great river and its eastern and long-forsaken branch was once more restored. I learned likewise that the far-famed fortress of Omercote had been partially overwhelmed in this inundation; for instead of being an öasis in the desert, as had long been supposed, this birthplace of the great Acbar is a small brick fort only three or four miles distant from the Indus, and between which and Lucput, so late as May, 1829, there was a communication by water.

Ullah bund described.

The “Ullah bund,” which I now examined with attention, was, however, the most singular consequence of this great earthquake. To the eye it did not appear more elevated in one place than another, and could be traced both east and west as far as it could reach; the natives assigned to it a total length of fifty miles. It must not, however, be supposed to be a narrow stripe like an artificial dam, as it extends inland to Raomaka-bazar, perhaps to a breadth of sixteen miles, and appeared to be a great upheaving of nature. Its surface was covered with saline soil, and I have already stated that it consisted of clay, shells, and sand. The people universally attributed this bund to the influence of the earthquake, and also assigned the shallowness of the river at Sundo to the same cause.

Opinions regarding the effects of the earthquake.

The inland lake which had been thus formed, extended for about 2000 square miles, and its limits were well defined, since the roads from Cutch to Sinde passed on either side of it. The one led from Nurra to Loonee and Raomaka-bazar, and the other from Lucput to Kotree Garee and the Jattee. I am disposed to believe that this sheet of water has collected from a depression of the country round Sindree; for the earthquake had an immediate influence on the channel of the river below “Ullah bund,” which became deep enough to be navigable for boats of 100 tons from the sea to Lucput, which had never been the case since 1762. While the basin of Sindree, as I may call it, was depressed, it is evident that the mound of “Ullah bund” was raised at the same time, as the description already given will have satisfactorily shown.

Subsequent alterations in the Indus.

In the month of August, in the year 1827, I proceeded a second time to the eastern branch of the Indus, to make further investigations regarding a subject on which many individuals, as well as myself, had taken an interest. Great alterations had taken place in this changeable country; the river and lake were deeper in all places by two feet, the channel through “Ullah bund” was much widened, and the sheet of water was now entirely and every where salt. The stream which passed “Ullah bund” was fresh, but greatly diminished in size: in the time that had intervened between my visits, the south-westerly winds had prevailed, and blown the sea water in upon the fresh, which, appeared to account for the change that had taken place.

Besides the facts which have been recorded, it appears clear that a portion of the waters of the Indus have a tendency to escape by Lucput and Cutch. We find an inundation of the river seeking an old channel which had been deserted by them for sixty-five years.[34]

THE RUN.

Run of Cutch.