CANALS for irrigation are of the greatest im portance in all the tropical countries liable to the calamities resulting from excessive droughts.
The great canal of the world is that of Suez, connecting the Red Sea with the Mediterranean, and separating Africa from Asia. It was com menced 25th April 1859, the first ships passed through it in the year 1867, and it was formally opened for traffic in December 1869. It had occu pied ten years of labour to bring it to that state, and cost to that period 13 millions sterling = 13 kror of rupees.
In British India the great works are the Ganges Canal, the Eastern Jumna Canal, the Agra Canals, and the Lower Ganges Canal.
The Ithltan Inundation Canals supply the dis trict of Multan between the Sutlej and the Chenab, where rain hardly ever falls, and convert it into a succession of beautiful gardens, shaded by palm trees. There is a burning sun above arid canals flowing below.
The rude inundation canals of Gugaira and other districts of the Bari Doab above Multan, are of value, and from those in the rich country of Muzaffargarh, between the Chenab and the Indus, the land is made one sheet of cultivation.
The inundation canals of the Shahpur district draw their supply from the Jhelum.
The Derajat Canals run parallel with the river Indus and fill during the periods of inundation.
The Khadar lands of the Bahawulpur State are 10 or 12 miles wide, and border the Indus. They are irrigated by inundation canals from the Sutlej.
The aggregate length of the Upper Sutlej Canals is 213 miles.
The Khanwah Canal leaves the Sutlej at a point 20 miles below Firozpur, by a mouth 90 feet wide, narrowing to 20 feet at the end of its length of 55 miles.
The Sohag Canal, 73i miles long, leaves the Sutlej a little below the mouth of the Khanwah, and irrigates the country between that canal and the river.
The Para Nullah is a continuation of the Sohag, and is connected with the old bed of the Beas by a channel called Nawabbin.
The Kutora Nullah is to the north of the Khan wah canal, and it was proposed to bring into it the waters of the Sutlej.
The canals of the Lower Salle) and the Chenab fertilize the Multan district, irrigating 120,000 acres, belonging to 120,000 villagers. In 1871-72 they were 39 in number, with an aggregate length of 632 miles; 11 had been made by the British.
The Indus Canals include those of Muzaffar nagar and the Derajat. There are 66 in the Muzaffarnagar district, drawing their supplies from the Indus and the Chenab. Those of the Derajat are 592 miles in aggregate length, of which, up to 1871-72, 108 had been constructed by the British.
The Dera Ghazi Khan district and the Sind Sagar Doab need irrigation.
The l'eshawur valley, with the exception of a small opening towards the Indus, is encircled by mountains, and comprises 2400 square miles, divided into two by the river Kabul, which enters the plain at Michni. It is joined midway by the Swat river flowing from the N.W., and entering the plain at Abazai it waters Yusufzai by many channels, the RIM from the S.W. entering the plain at Shaikhan.
Bahawulpur State extends for 300 miles along the left banks of the Sutlej, Chenab, and Indus. In former times, the Ghaggar, the ancient Saras wati, flowed through it from the Siwalik moun tains to the Indus, between Rori and Uch, parallel with the Sutlej, but it dried up ; and ruins of old towns are dotted along its banks, and all the once fertile tract is now barren and sandy, drifted from the desert, and is known asthe BahawulpurBangar. To the west of the Bangar are narrow strips 10 or 12 miles wide, along the left banks of the Indus, Chenab, and Sutlej, called the Khadar. In 1867 70, Major Minchin, political agent, led a canal 105 miles long from the Sutlej, and called it the Ford-wah. lie a'so formed six small canals in the Khairpur district.
Below Khairpur, are the Vahind, the Khanwah, Naoranga, Kutubwah, Sultanwah, Mubarakwah, Minchinwah, Baruswah, Sadikwah, and the Hari ari or Fertiliser, all of them large channels 100 to 200 feet wide, irrigating a vast area by an endless network of branches, and annually cleared out.