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of distance, places Moultan in latitude 30° 34', lon. 71° 21′. The very great length of the line from Candahar, renders it unlikely that the horizontal distance is under-rated; and therefore the probability is, that Moultan is rather above than below the parallel of 30° 34'.

2d. We find by the Ayin Acbaree (Vol. II. p. 136; and also p. 98, et seq. of the Tukseem Jumma) that the Chowkundy district forms the frontier of the soubah of Moultan, on the north-east; where it is joined by the district of Shoor, in that of Lahore: as also, that the said district of Chowkundy occupies both shores of the river Rauvee; whose course is undertood to be nearly S W by W, between Lahore and Moultan. And the same book, in describing the dimensions of the soubah of Lahore (page 131), says, that it is in breadth from Bember to Chowkundy, 86 cofses (that is, common cofses, as we have before observed); so that the common boundary of Lahore and Moultan, in the point that touches the river Rauvee, is 86 cofses from Bember; the situation of which is discussed in page 85. We learn also from Bernoulli (Vol. I. p. 117), who took it from Persian MSS. translated by Anquetel du Perron, that Satgurrah is synonimous with Chowkundy; that it forms the NE frontier of Moultan; and is 40 cofses above the city of Moultan. If then we add these 40 cofses to the 86, we have 126 cofses, or 180 G. miles, for the distance of the city of Moultan from Bember, bating possibly a trifle lost by the angle which the lines make at Chowkundy; and which cannot be estimated at more than 4 miles: therefore Moultan may be taken at 176 G. miles from Bember; and this distance reaches within three miles of the position of Moultan, resulting from the abovementioned distances from Candahar and Lahore. It may be remarked, that if the whole distance between Bember and Moultan, 176 G. miles, consisted of difference of latitude, it would not reach below the parallel of 30 degrees.

3d. The distance between Batnir and Toulumba, a pass on the Rauvee, 35 cofses above Moultan, may be so well ascertained in

a general way, by the marches of Tamerlane, as to prove the great improbability of Moultan being to the south of 30 degrees and a half. Batnir is placed on the authority of Col. Polier's map, page 76.

Timur, or Tamerlane, made two marches (with his whole army) from Toulumba to the neighbourhood of the Beyah river; and part of a third, to the place where he crossed it, near Jenjian. Allow 30 B. road miles for the two marches, and 4 more for part of the third march: total 34 B. miles, or 26 G. miles in direct distance. And Jenjian being 40 cofses from Moultan (Sherefeddin), Toulumba only 35, the course must have been between SE and SSE. Then he was 4 more days between Jenjian and Adjodin (or Puttan): 1st. Schoual; 2d. Asouan; 3d. Jehaul; and 4th. Adjodin. The three first marches being on the road from Moultan to Samanah, may be taken at E by S, or ES E; and the fourth towards Batnir, more to the S E. And for the distance allow 45 road miles for the three marches; and for the fourth, when Timur had separated from his grand army, and marched with horse only, 20: total 65 road miles, or 50 G. miles in direct distance from Jenjian to Adjodin; course E by S to ES E. Lastly, from Adjodin to Batnir, Sherefeddin gives 60 cofses, or about 85 G. miles.

Add then the several numbers 26, 50, and 85, together, and the sum total of the distance between Toulumba and Batnir, will be 161 G. miles. And Moultan being (by article 2d) 126 cofses from Bember; and Toulumba, according to Sherefeddin and others, 35 from Moultan, towards Bember; it is certain that if we lay off 91 cofses, the complement of 35, from Bember, to meet the line of distance from Batnir, we shall gain the position of Toulumba; which, by these authorities, falls in latitude 31°, and in the direct line between Lahore and Moultan, as determined by articles 1st and 2d. And this is really the position that Toulumba is understood to occupy: but had Moultan been more to the south,

and especially near the parallel set forth in the tables, Toulumba must have stood much nearer to Batnir; and would have been at variance with other positions, inferred from the MS. map of the Panjab, which it now agrees with.

4th. The distance of Moultan from Tatta, in the Persian tables of distances, 226 royal cofses, reaches nearly to latitude 31°: and

5th. I may add the opinion of M. Bernoulli (Vol. I. p. 116), that by the itineraries, Moultan cannot be much lower than that parallel.

Such being the authorities for the position of Moultan, I have placed it in latitude 30° 34', longitude 71o 21'. Its longitude is much out in the Oriental tables, and varies in different books.

Thevenot describes Moultan as a city of small extent for the capital of a viceroyalty, but strongly fortified, and having a Hindoo pagoda of great celebrity. The Ayin Acbaree represents it as one of the most ancient cities of Hindoostan. It has, or had, a great manufacture of cotton cloths; the province itself producing the cotton: as well as sugar, opium, galls, brimstone, &c. Thevenot describes the river that led to Moultan, as being partly choked up, or spoiled in its channel, in his time (about 1665), and this had greatly lessened its trade. He also takes notice of a particular sect of Hindoos there, called Catry; and says, that this is their proper country. In another place he explains the Catry tribe to mean Rajpoots, or warriors; that is, the Kuttry tribe, properly. We shall take notice hereafter, that these Catries were the Catheri of Diodorus, and the Cathei of Arrian; with whom Alexander warred, on the borders of the Malli: for it can hardly be doubted that Moultan is the modern capital of the country, which was designed by the historians of Alexander for that of the MALLI, although the ancient capital stood nearer to Toulumba. Moultan has been garrisoned by the King of Candahar's troops, since the year 1779; according to Col. Browne's information.

Having thus ascertained (with what degree of accuracy, the

reader must determine for himself) the three important points of LAHORE, ATTOCK, and MOULTAN, which are the foundations on which the scale, and relative parts of the whole Panjab country depend, I shall proceed to the detail of the geographical construction of the tract itself.

In describing the geography of a country which derives its very character and name from its rivers, it may be proper to convey a general idea of the courses of those rivers, before we attempt the particulars of its geography. Of the five rivers that give name to the Panjab, the Indus is not considered as one: it is rather the trunk, or stock, to which the Panjab rivers, and those of Cabul, are subordinate branches. This river, however, from its connexion with the subject of the Panjab, ought to be the first noticed. It is formed of about 10 principal streams, which descend from the mountains of Persia, Tartary, and Hindoostan, on the northeast, and north-west: and all these streams uniting near Moultan, form that celebrated river known to Europeans under the name of INDUS; and to Asiatics under that of SINDE, or SINDEH.* The Ayin Acbaree says, "the Sinde, according to some, rises be"tween Cashmere and Cashgar, whilst others place its source in "KHATAI." (By Khatai, I believe Koten, the Chatae of Ptolemy, is meant, and not CHINA.) However, it is clear that the people of Hindoostan consider the north-eastern branch as the true Sinde.† The Emperor Baber, indeed, applies the name of Sinde to one of its western branches, that springs near Bamian: but he appears to differ from the rest of his countrymen in this particular; for the name of Nilab, which was applied to the river that ran by the site of Attock (long before that city was founded), was applied also to the same river, in its course through Little Thibet: and NILAB is synonymous with Sinde.

* The name Sinde was not unknown to the Romans: Indus incolis Sindus appellatus. Pliny, Book VI.

+ The ancients reckoned otherwise: the same Pliny continues to say, in jugo Caucasi montis, quod vocatur Paropamisus, ADVERSUS SOLIS ORTUM EFFUSUS.

Before we proceed to detail the information relating to the upper part of the course of the Indus, it may not be improper to say a word on the subject of the name Nilab, which, in its application, has occasioned some confusion.

It appears from the commentaries of Baber, and other authorities quoted by Capt. Kirkpatrick, that early in the 16th century, a city named NILAB, stood on the east bank of the Indus, at a small distance below its conflux with the Cabul river. This city is called in the histories, old Nilab, which implies, that it was then an ancient city. [Ptolemy has a city of nearly the same name (Naulibe), on the opposite side of the Indus. Asia Tab. X.] The city of Attock, founded by Acbar, in a manner succeeded Nilab; their situations differing but little.

It may be conceived from the apparent etymology, that the city originally took its name from the river; which was more generally known by the name of Nilab, than Sinde (Nil-ab signifies the blue river). ABDUL HUMEED LAHORI, and MAHOMED KAZIM, both apply the name of Nilab to the Sinde, or Indus; the former, an author of great reputation both as an historian and a geographer, speaking of a march of the Emperor Shah Jehan, says, that "he came to the banks of the Sinde, better known by "the name of Nilab, opposite to the fort of Attock ;" which applies directly to the point. The same idea is given by ABDUL KURRIM (a Cashmerian of distinction, whose memoirs have been translated by Mr. Gladwin). Speaking of Nadir Shah's crofsing the rivers above Attock (page 12), he says, "These five streams unite at "the ferry of Paishawur; which confluence is called the ATTOCK: "in ancient books it is called the Nilab." The ferry of Paishawur, doubtless means that of Attock itself, which leads across to the province of Paishawur. It is however certain, that by a strange want of accuracy, the name Nilab came to be applied also to an adjunct river, that is, to a part at least of the river of Cabul; for

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