Indus

Indus (Sansk. Sindhu), a river of India, which rises in an unexplored region in Tibet, near the sources of the Sutlej, in 32° N. lat. and 81° E. long. The precise spot is said to be 16,000 feet above the level of the sea, and to be on the north side of the Kailas Mountain. Its general course is at first towards the north-west, through Tibet and Cashmere. Here it is known as the Singh-ka-bab. In the north-west of Cashmere, in about 34° 50' N. lat. and 74° 30' E. long., it turns abruptly southwards, and follows that direction, varied by stretches to the south-south-west, right down to the sea. In the mountains its current is very rapid; the river passes through deep, wild gorges (one near Iskardoh, in north-west Cashmere, having a sheer depth of considerably more than 10,000 feet), and is liable to floods, which come with terrible swiftness, rise very high, and cause tremendous damage. The Indus enters the Punjab 312 miles from its source. Near Attock (q.v.), 48 miles lower down, it receives the Kabul River from Afghanistan, and then becomes navigable. Here it is only 2000 feet above sea-level. 450 miles below Attock it receives, on the left, the accumulated waters of the Punjab through the single channel of the Panjad. Each of the 'five watercourses,' as well as the Kabul, is practicable for inland craft to the mountains. Below its confluence with the Panjad the Indus, instead of increasing in volume, becomes gradually less. Its basin is narrow, and the affluents are insignificant, while there is a great loss by evaporation. The river also divides into numerous channels, many of which become lost in the sand, while others return much shrunken in volume. The delta of the river covers an area of about 3000 sq. m., and extends for some 125 miles along the Arabian Sea. The main channel is constantly shifting. The delta is not on the whole very fertile, and is almost entirely destitute of trees. In both Punjab and Sindh the bed of the river is littered with islands and sandbanks. The cultivation of the arid plains through which the lower Indus passes is dependent upon the annual overflow of the river and artificial irrigation fed by that overflow. The total length of the river is estimated at somewhat more than 1800 miles, and the area of its drainage basin at 372,700 sq. m. The Indus abounds with fish of excellent quality, and is infested by crocodiles. Before the opening of the Indus Valley Railway in 1878 the river was necessarily the principal means for the transmission of commerce; but since that event the railway has very greatly superseded navigation.