'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎137] (246/496)

To the information thus obtained regarding tin's portion of the river, through
5th. SirC. Wade’s I A iie ' lfcenan ^ Mathias and Major Wilson in 1820, from Lieut,
testimony. Anderson in 1841, and from Captain Abbott submitted in the
present year, it may be satisfactory to append the opinion of
the late Resident at Indore, Sir C. Wade.
He writes as follows : “ Having seen the obstructions of the Nurbudda in almost
every part surveyed by Captain Anderson, his description of them appears to me
to conform more closely to their real nature than that of any other which I have
met with, excepting where he assigns a fall of eight feet at the Suhesur Durruh,
near Moheysir, which does not in my opinion exceed five, and with respect to
the length of the Hirun Phall fall being considerable, which did not
strike me as being so. I should say it cannot exceed sixty or seventy
feet, and is composed of detached masses of rock, which I am con
vinced would easily yield to explosion, in the hands of a scientific Engineer
accustomed to the removal, by that agency An office of the East India Company and, later, of the British Raj, headed by an agent. , of such obstacles.^
r lliis officer concurred with Capt. Anderson in considering that the magnitude
of these obstructions has been exaggerated, and recommended that the survey
should be entrusted to one Engineer alone, with such assistance as might be ne
cessary. He considered it a great mistake trusting for our knowledge of the river
to partial observations made at different times and by different persons, who each
had his own peculiar views on the subject.
Regarding the navigability of the stream between Tulluckwara and Baroche,
Hid Portion. tliere is uo doilbfc -
Our first account is derived from Mr W. Webbe, who furnished a memorandum
on this portion of the river in June 1820.
“ The navigation from Baroche to Tulluckwara is not open until fifteen or
1st Mr W Webbe’ twent y da ys after the monsoon sets in, or after the water in
Memorandum in 1820. S ^he Nurbudda begins to rise, which is generally about the
. beginning of July. It is first navigated by boats of the burden
of ten kulsies or eight candies to fifty kulsies or forty candies, some laden and
others not; they run up in four or five days, and sometimes in three, with a strong
S. W. monsoon wind, and return heavily laden much about the same time with
the current in favor. Boats of these burdens can navigate to Tullukwara until the
Dewallee feast, or the month of September, after which the navigation becomes
difficult, if not impracticable. Those of fifty kulsies have five men in each, and those
of ten or twenty have two to four men. These draw, when heavily laden, from
five to three and a half feet water ; after the month of September these boats take
fifteen days to go, having one or two additional hands in each, and return in six or
seven days: the current and wind being then against them, they are obliged to track
the boat in going up.
“ After an interval of a few days, and after the Nurbudda has considerably risen,
boats of a larger burden, from one hundred to one hundred and fifty kulsies (which ara
the largest), eighty candies or one hundred and twenty candies, leave Baroche for
T ulluckwara with ten men in each. r l he trip up and down is performed much about
the same time as those of a lesser burden; they return heavily laden, and leave
this either full or empty. Boats of these burdens can only navigate until Sept., or
three months at the furthest ; they draw about seven or eight feet water. These
boats go even as lar as Deygaum Peeplia, which is about fifteen or twenty coss
higher up, but not always with that facility as from Baroche to Tulluckwara, on
account of the river having a rocky bed, and the current in places being very rapid:
besides, there are three Ghauts to pass—Tulluckwara, (which is the most difficult,)
L kteysir, and Jihimpary. In order to get over these obstacles, the boatmen are
obliged to send out long ropes from the end of their mast to be fastened to the
trees ou the banks of the river, and by this means draw the boat forward over the
stream. This passage is performed in three or five days, aud is the utmost limifc