DOI Seite / Zitierlink:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0302
chap. x. FROM MITTUN TO ATTOK.
267
ander led him beyond the neighbourhood of the
Indus; and in the case of the emperors their capital
was long fixed at Lahore, and several of their fleets
against lower Sinde were fitted out at Mooltan,
always a city of great importance in the empire, and
on a river as accessible to the boats of the country
as the Indus itself.
The Indus has been crossed at Attok, and an ac-
count of it, and that fortress, will be found in Mr.
Elphinstone's work; but the means which the ruler
of Lahore has used of late years to transport his
army to the right bank of the river, and which I
heard from his officers, and afterwards had confirmed
on the spot, deserve mention. Runjeet Sing retains
a fleet of thirty-seven boats, for the construction of
a bridge at Attok, where the river is only 260 yards
wide. The boats are anchored in the stream, a
short distance from one another, and the communi-
cation is completed by planks, and covered with
mud: immediately below the fortress of Attok,
twenty-four boats are only required, but at other
places in the neighbourhood, so many as thirty-
seven are used. Such a bridge can only be thrown
across the Indus from November to April, on ac-
count of the velocity of the stream being compara-
tively diminished at that season, and even then the
manner of fixing the boats seems incredible. Ske-
leton frame-works of wood, filled with stones, to the
weight of 250 maunds (25,000 lbs.), and bound
strongly by ropes, are let down from each boat, to
the number of four or six, though the depth exceeds
thirty fathoms, and these are constantly strengthened
267
ander led him beyond the neighbourhood of the
Indus; and in the case of the emperors their capital
was long fixed at Lahore, and several of their fleets
against lower Sinde were fitted out at Mooltan,
always a city of great importance in the empire, and
on a river as accessible to the boats of the country
as the Indus itself.
The Indus has been crossed at Attok, and an ac-
count of it, and that fortress, will be found in Mr.
Elphinstone's work; but the means which the ruler
of Lahore has used of late years to transport his
army to the right bank of the river, and which I
heard from his officers, and afterwards had confirmed
on the spot, deserve mention. Runjeet Sing retains
a fleet of thirty-seven boats, for the construction of
a bridge at Attok, where the river is only 260 yards
wide. The boats are anchored in the stream, a
short distance from one another, and the communi-
cation is completed by planks, and covered with
mud: immediately below the fortress of Attok,
twenty-four boats are only required, but at other
places in the neighbourhood, so many as thirty-
seven are used. Such a bridge can only be thrown
across the Indus from November to April, on ac-
count of the velocity of the stream being compara-
tively diminished at that season, and even then the
manner of fixing the boats seems incredible. Ske-
leton frame-works of wood, filled with stones, to the
weight of 250 maunds (25,000 lbs.), and bound
strongly by ropes, are let down from each boat, to
the number of four or six, though the depth exceeds
thirty fathoms, and these are constantly strengthened