Page:Encyclopædia Britannica, Ninth Edition, v. 12.djvu/874

848 848 INDUS Below the junction the united stream, under the name of the Indus, has a breadth which varies from 2000 yards to several miles, according to the season of the year. The whole course of the river through the Punjab is broken up by islands and sandbanks. The Indus enters Sind in 28 26 N. lat. and 69 47 E. long., and empties itself by many mouths into the Arabian Sea, after a generally south-westerly course in this province of 580 miles. Its average width during the low season is 680 yards ; its depth varies from 4 to 24 feet. Its velocity in the freshes averages 7 knots per hour, at ordinary times 3 knots. The discharge per second varies at the two periods from 446,086 cubic feet to 40,857. The average temperature is 10 lower than that of the air. The delta of the Indus covers an area of about 3000 square miles, and extends along the coast-line for 125 miles. It is almost a perfect level, and nearly destitute of timber, the tamarisk and mangrove alone supplying fuel. In the marshy portions good pasturage is obtained, and in the drier rice grows luxuriantly. The climate of the delta is cool and bracing in the &quot; winter &quot; months, excessively hot in the &quot; summer,&quot; and most healthy during the floods. The Indus begins to rise in March, attains its maximum depth and width in August, and subsides in September, The registered rise at Gidu-Bandar is 15 feet. Fish abound, at the mouths, the salt-water varieties, notably the Clupea neoivkii, a species of herring ; the chief of the freshwater varieties is the pala. The local consump tion and export of the dried pala are both very large. The boats of the Indus are the dundhi and zaurak (cargo boats), the kauntdl or ferry-boats, and the dtindo or fishing boats. The aggregate burthen of the native craft on the river in 1861-62 was as follows : up-stream to Sukkur 20,232 tons, and beyond that town 16,317 ; down-stream to Sukkur 7694 tons, and beyond it 11,456. In 1874 the number of steamers plying was fourteen, and of barges forty-three, with an aggregate burthen of 10,641 tons ; the receipts amounted to 83,370. END OF VOLUME TWELFTH. NEII.L AND COMPACT, PRIXTEKS, EDIMJUIUiH.