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 ;

BAJi/ desert,'

DOAB CANAL.

153

except where a narrow fringe of cultivation extends along the

boundary rivers. Commercially and agriculturally, most important of all the Doabs which make up the

sides of the great this region is the

Punjab Proper, containing, as it does, the great cities of Lahore, Multan, and Amritsar, together with the watered plains of the northeastern slope. The name Bdri Doab was formed by Akbar as a combination of Bias and Ravi. Bari Doab Canal. An important irrigation work in Gurdaspur, Amritsar, and Lahore Districts, Punjab, drawn from the river Ravi passing through the upper portion of the tract from which it takes its name, and watering, in 1880-81, a total area of 433,080 acres. Lies between 31° 4' and 32° 22 n. lat., and between 74° and 75° 41' e. ’

‘

—

long.

The

present undertaking originated in a project for the improve-

ment of an older work, the Hash Canal, constructed about the year 1633 by Ali Mardan Khan, the famous engineer of the Emperor Shah After the occupation of Lahore, in 1846, Major Napier (now Jahan. Lord Napier of Magdala) turned his attention at once to this project, and set on foot the necessary surveys. The progress of the work was interrupted by the outbreak of the Multan war, but continued after

The alignment

the annexation.

of the Hasli Canal proved on exami-

nation to be so defective, that the officers in charge decided upon the

adoption of an entirely independent line for the new canal, parts only of the original channel being utilized as distributaries. The main difficulty of the

through which

modern scheme was found

in the slope of the

country

upper portion must unavoidably pass, the fall being as much as 200 feet in the first 13 miles. It was at that time considered impossible to take the supply from any points lower down the river, as it was supposed that the fierce floods of the Ravi would not its

dam across its main channel. was therefore thought necessary to seek a branch which would yield a sufficient quantity of water in the rains, and into which the whole body might be diverted during the dry season. The only branch which answered these requirements was that already utilized for the Hasli permit the construction of a permanent It

Canal.

The

head - works were accordingly constructed opposite the Madhupur, about 7 miles north-west of Pathankot, and a short distance above those belonging to Ali Mardan’s undertaking. The minimum cold w'eather supply in 1847-48 having been found by Lieutenant Dyas (the engineer in charge of the works) to be 2753 cubic feet per second, and as this was believed to be unusually low, he fixed the discharge of the canal at 3000 cubic feet per second. As a matter village of

of

fact,

however,

occasionally run

the

down

actual

minimum

in

the

cold

weather

to less than 1600 cubic feet per second

on the other hand, as much as 4000 cubic

feet per



has

whilst,

second has been

at