THE INDUS PLAIN.—The first of the regions into which the Indus Plain may be divided—the central Punjab—is economically the most important, but it is only able to maintain its large popula tion—over 400 to the square mile—by means of an extensive and well-developed system of irrigation. As the west and south-west Punjab and the plains of the North-West Province also present considerable facilities for irrigation, these regions may be considered along with the central Punjab, notwithstanding their lower rainfall and much smaller population—about 130 to the square mile. Naturally, it is in the drier regions that irrigation is most essential, but only-about 50 per cent. of the whole Punjab (including the well watered mountain districts) is entirely dependent rainfall. The remainder of the country obtains either the whole:or part of its water supply from canals or from wells. Of the former, which are the more important, there are over 10,000 miles, while of the latter there are hundreds of thousands.
The principal crops, sown in the autumn and reaped in the spring and early summer, include wheat, gram, and barley, while such cereals as maize, millet, and rice, are sown during the summer and reaped in the autumn. Of these, wheat is commercially the most important, and its rapid extension in the northern region under consideration, where it now covers over 15,000 square miles, is largely the result of the development of the irrigation system of the Punjab. Cotton is also becoming important as an export of this region ; it is of the short-stapled variety known as Bengals, but is in much demand by the Bombay mills.
Although agriculture is here, as in other parts of India, the chief occupation of the people, it only gives employment to about 56 per cent. of the labouring population, and this percentage, lower than that of the Ganges plain, reflects the less favourable conditions under which it is carried on. On the other hand, manufactures are more important. At the last census about 20 per cent. of the work ing population were engaged in these, as against 15 per cent. in the United Provinces, and 12 per cent. in Bengal. Cotton spinning is an important domestic industry, the region itself supplying the raw material. Sheep are raised largely in the south-west Punjab, and the manufacture of wool ranks next to that of cotton. Amritsar is noted for its carpets, the finest being made from the hair of the Tibetan goat. The manufacture of gold and silver orna
ments, brass and copper ware, and pottery, are all carried on to an even greater extent than in other parts of India. Within recent years there has also been a considerable extension in the Punjab of the modern factory system, and several cotton mills have been established.
In the basin of the lower Indus—the region known as Sind—the conditions of economic development are much less favourable, and the total population is less than 70 per square mile. As the river brings down more silt than it is able to carry to the sea, it is constantly changing its bed, and the whole area is covered with recent alluvium. The deserted beds of the river in many cases offer favourable opportunities for irrigation, without which agriculture is impossible. The crops are much the same as in the Punjab, rice; wheat, and cotton being the most important, but the total output is small.
In the-Thar or Indian desert the scanty population is more or less nomadic. The wells—the only source of irrigation—are not perma nent, and as soon as one runs dry the village community, which has settled about it, must move elsewhere.
The Indus plain to the east of the river is the home of the Indo Aryan people, while the Turko-Iranian stock is found in the narrow plains to the west. Climatic conditions are generally favourable to the development of a more vigorous type than in the Ganges plain, although they do not conduce to so dense a population, and the region probably does not contain more than 8 per cent, of the population of the whole country. The principal towns generally have their sites determined for them by physical conditions. A number, of which Lahore is typical, have grown up where the great highway from Calcutta to Peshawar crosses the rivers of the Punjab, while others, like Amritsar, have developed in fertile doabs between the rivers. Multan, the most important town in the south-west Punjab, is at the meeting place of a number of the routes offered by its great rivers. Hyderabad stands on an eminence of Cretace ous rock at the head of the delta of the Indus, and offers a fixed crossing point in a region where, owing to the shifting of the river, such points are few. Karachi, to the east of the mouth of the Indus, owes its development largely to the railways, which connect it with the Punjab and the North-West Province, and make it their port ; it is the Indian port nearest to Europe.