Burnes, Alexander: Travels into Bokhara: containing the narrative of a voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, ... and an account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia ; performed by order of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 32, and 33 (Band 1) (London, 1835)

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memoir of the indus.

chap. ii.

CHAP. II.

t

a comparison of the indus and ganges.

I have recorded with care and attention the in-
formation which I have collected regarding the
Indus and its tributaries; yet the magnitude of that
river must be decided by a comparison with the
other great rivers of the world. An European, in
the East, may appropriately narrow his field, and
confine such a comparison to its great twin river,
the Ganges, which, with the Indus, folds, as it were,
in their embrace our mighty empire of British India.
At this time, too, in a publication which has ap-
peared at Calcutta, by Mr. G. A. Prinsep, regard-
the introduction of steam navigation into India, we
have late and valuable matter, both of an interesting
and scientific nature, regarding the peculiarities of
the Ganges; which, with the previous papers of
Ptennell and Colebrookc, afford very precise in-
formation regarding that river. I have ventured,
therefore, to lay down the observations that have
occurred to me regarding the Indus, that the requisite
comparison might be instituted.

The Ganges and Indus, rising in the same moun-
tains, traverse, with an unequal length of course,
the same latitudes: both rivers, though nearly ex-
cluded from the tropics, are yet subject to be