DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0232
chap. t. GENERAL VIEW OF THE INDUS. 197
Steam would obviate the. inconveniences of this
slow and tedious navigation; and I do not doubt
but Mooltan might be reached in ten, instead of
forty days. From that city a commercial communi-
cation could best be opened with the neighbouring
countries.
A boat may drop down from Lahore to the sea
in fifteen days, as follows: — To Mooltan in six, to
Bukkur in four, to Hydrabad in three, and to the
seaports in two. This is, of course, the very
quickest period of descent; and I may add, that it
has never been of late tried, for there is no trade
between Sinde and the Punjab by Avater.
There are political obstacles to using the Indus as
a channel of commerce. The people and princes
are ignorant and barbarous : the former plunder the
trader, and the latter over-tax the merchant, so that
goods are sent by land, and by circuitous routes: this
absence of trade arises from no physical obstacles,
and is chiefly to be traced to the erroneous policy
of the Sinde government. There are about 700 boats
between the sea and Lahore; and this number
suffices for ferrying, and all other purposes.
The defence of the Indus, the grand boundary of
British India on the West, is nowise affected by
these trifling impediments, and we can command its
navigation without obstruction from both Cutch and
the Sutlege. The military advantages of the Indus
are great: it is navigable for a fleet from Attok to
the sea. The insulated fortress of Bukkur is a most
important position.
o 3
Steam would obviate the. inconveniences of this
slow and tedious navigation; and I do not doubt
but Mooltan might be reached in ten, instead of
forty days. From that city a commercial communi-
cation could best be opened with the neighbouring
countries.
A boat may drop down from Lahore to the sea
in fifteen days, as follows: — To Mooltan in six, to
Bukkur in four, to Hydrabad in three, and to the
seaports in two. This is, of course, the very
quickest period of descent; and I may add, that it
has never been of late tried, for there is no trade
between Sinde and the Punjab by Avater.
There are political obstacles to using the Indus as
a channel of commerce. The people and princes
are ignorant and barbarous : the former plunder the
trader, and the latter over-tax the merchant, so that
goods are sent by land, and by circuitous routes: this
absence of trade arises from no physical obstacles,
and is chiefly to be traced to the erroneous policy
of the Sinde government. There are about 700 boats
between the sea and Lahore; and this number
suffices for ferrying, and all other purposes.
The defence of the Indus, the grand boundary of
British India on the West, is nowise affected by
these trifling impediments, and we can command its
navigation without obstruction from both Cutch and
the Sutlege. The military advantages of the Indus
are great: it is navigable for a fleet from Attok to
the sea. The insulated fortress of Bukkur is a most
important position.
o 3