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220 THE ANCIENT GEOGRAPHY OF INDIA.

the verge of the Bikaner desert. This tract, which now forms the territory of Bahawalpur, is most effectu- ally separated from the richer provinces on the east by the natural barrier of the Great Desert. Under a strong government it has always formed a portion of Multân; and it was only on the decay of the Muham- madan empire of Delhi that it was made into a separate petty state by Bahawal Khân. I infer, therefore, that in the seventh century the province of Multân must have included the northern half of the present territory of Bahawalpur, in addition to the tract lying between the rivers. The northern frontier has already been defined as extending from Dera Din-panáh, on the Indus, to Pák-pattan on the Satlej, a distance of 150 miles. On the west the frontier line of the Indus, down to Khânpur, is 160 miles. On the east, the line from Pâk-pattan to the old bed of the Ghagar river, is 80 miles; and on the south, from Khânpur to the Ghagar, the distance is 220 miles. Altogether, this frontier line is 610 miles. If Hwen Thsang's estimate was based on the short kos of the Panjâb, the circuit will be only 3 of 667 miles, or 437 miles, in which case the province could not have extended beyond Mithankot on the south.

In describing the geography of Multân it is neces- sary to bear in mind the great changes that have taken place in the courses of all the large rivers that flow through the province. In the time of Timur and Akbar the junction of the Chenâb and Indus took place opposite Uchh, 60 miles above the present con- fluence at Mithankot. It was unchanged when Rennell wrote his 'Geography of India,' in A.D. 1788, and still later, in 1796, when visited by Wilford's surveyor,