BARI DOAB CANAL.
154
The channel
times admitted into the canal during the hot weather.
and runs almost due south till it reaches a point parallel with Di'nanagar, where it becomes available for purposes of irrigation. The Bari Doab is marked off into several minor divisions by natural lines of drainage, and great branches of the canal, 4 in number, run along the crest of each principal dividing ridge between their basins. The Kasur branch diverges from the main line in the thirty-first mile of its course, and flows on nearly due south while the main line turns south-westward, and follows the watershed of the Kasur ndld. Seven miles farther, the Kasiir branch sub-divides one of its channels, still retaining the same name, following the line of upland between the Patti and Kasur ndlds, while the other, known as the Sobraon branch, continues southwards between the Patti ndld and the Beas (Bias). Both these distributaries eventually end in the old bed strikes off across the plain at once,
of the last-named
The main mile;
a
but,
branch.
river.
line little
runs on undivided north-west
till
it
of Maji'tha,
it
reaches gives
its
off
fifty-fourth
the Lahore
This channel crosses the head of the Udiara ndld, follows
the line of highest ground between the Udiara
and the Ravi, passing
between Lahore and Mian Mfr (Meean Meer), and ends in the Ravi a few miles below Lahore. The main branch runs on, still southwestward, down the very centre of the Doab uplands, which narrow just below Lahore into a mere strip of country between the Ravi and the ancient bed of the Beas. At last, near Changa Manga, at the southern e.xtremity of Lahore District, the main stream debouches into the Ravi. The Bari Doab Canal was commenced in 1849-50, and completed and ready for work by the end of the year 1859-60, and irrigation operations
commenced
the
in
following
season.
The
head-works,
however, were then of a temporary nature, the permanent weir and other regulating machinery not being fully completed
till
1873.
The
aggregate length of the main and branch canals amounted in 1882 to
388 miles, with 862 miles of minor
total
capital
expenditure
(exclusive
distributaries irdjbahds).
of interest)
up
to
The
end of
the
1880-81 reached the sum of The gross income in that 1,496,746. year was returned at ^,^107, 492, or, including increase of land revenue due to irrigation, the working expenses of the year were ^^42,272. The net profit in 1880-81 amounted to ^65,220, or 4'3 per cent, on the capital outlay; while the gross profit, inclusive of increased land revenue, was ^^92,863, or 6'2 per cent, on the capital outlay. The regular income is derived from water rates, which rule as follows per acre;
— For
overflow,
sundry crops, from
sugar-cane,
3s. to 5s.
one-half the above rates.
and gardens, 9s. 6d. on fallow, is. 6d. for lift area irrigated by the canal has
12s.;
rice
single watering
The
total
risen from 89,756 acres in 1860-61, to 433,080 acres in 1880-81.
The
