granted by the Church of Rome, to kings and cardinals, is the power of presenting to benefices. The power of nominating to the bishoprics within his realm, was granted to Francis I. of France, upon the abolition of the pragmatic sanction, A.D. 1516. By the agreement between Paul IV. and the college of cardinals, A.D. 1555, the latter have the disposal of the benefices depending upon them.

**INDUS.** This great river of Asia has its rise in Thibet, at the N. of the Kailas mountain, regarded in Hindoo mythology as the mansion of the gods, in about Lat. 32°, Long. 81° 30′. It first takes a north-westerly direction for about 460 miles, when it is joined by the river of Dras, which, rising in the mountains of Cashmere, and receiving several streams both from the E. and W., discharges a considerable volume of water at its confluence. At Makpon-i-Shagaron, in Lat. 35° 48′, Long. 74° 30′, the Indus emerges from the mountainous region, and turning S., (a course which it thenceforth continues to the sea), takes its way through the country N. of Attock. Close above this last mentioned town, and at the distance of 870 miles from its source, the Indus receives on the western side the great river of Cabool. Both rivers have a large volume of water, and as they meet amidst numerous rocks, the confluence is turbulent, and attended with great uproar. The town of Attock is situated about 1000 feet above the sea level, and about 17,000 feet below the source of the Indus, which falls therefrom 16,000 feet in 870 miles, or at the average rate of about 19 feet per mile. The length of its channel from Attock to the sea is 942 miles, and, consequently, in that lower part of its course it falls little more than one foot per mile. For about 10 miles below Attock, the river, though in general rolling between high cliffs of slate rock, has a calm, deep, and rapid current; but for 100 miles further down to Kalabagh, it becomes an enormous torrent. Lieutenant Wood, describing this section of its course, observes, “It here rushes down a valley, varying from 100 to 400 yards wide, between precipitous banks from 70 to 700 feet high.” From Kalabagh, southwards, to Mittunkote, distant about 350 miles, the banks either right or left, are in several places so low, that the first rise of the river covers the country round with water, extending, as the inundation advances, as far as the eye can reach. On entering the plain, the water loses its clearness, and becomes loaded with mud. Two or three miles below Mittunkote, and about 450 miles from the sea, the Indus receives the waters of the Punjnad, the channel which conveys the collected streams of the Panjab. Above the confluence, the breadth of the Indus is less than that of the other river, but in consequence of the greater depth and velocity, the former has the greater volume of water. Wood found that the Indus near the confluence had a breadth of 608 yards, a velocity of about 5 miles an hour, a depth of 12 or 15 feet, and discharged 91,719 cubic feet per second. The Punjnad had a breadth of 1766 yards, a velocity of about 2 miles an hour, a depth of 12 or 15 feet, and discharged 68,955 cubic feet per second. Below the junction, the Indus in its lowest state is 2000 yards wide. Its aspect in this part is well described by Major Boileau. He says, “At the place where we crossed the Indus, almost immediately below its junction with the Punjnad, its stream is 2047 yards, or nearly a mile and a quarter in breadth, at a place where its width was unbroken, either by islands or sandbanks. The banks are very low, and the water very muddy, having just begun to rise from the melting of the snow at its sources, nor is the stream of very great depth, except in the main channel; but with all these drawbacks, it is a magnificent sheet of water, a very prince of rivers.” Below Mittunkote, the river passes in succession the towns of Sukkur, Bukkur, Schwam, Hydrabad, and Trieial. The last mentioned of these towns is situate in Lat. 25° 9′, Long. 68° 21′, and here the delta commences; all the country below it, and contained between the Pulalee branch on the E., and the extreme western branch of the river, being, with little exception, alluvial, and obviously deposited by the stream. At about 5 miles below Tatta, and 60 miles from the sea, the Indus divaricates into two great branches, the Buggaur, which flows westward, and the Sata, which maintains the previous course of the Indus southwards, and is, in strictness, the continuation of that river. The lower part of the delta is intersected by rivers and creeks in almost every direction, like the delta of the Ganges; but it so far differs from the latter, that it has no trees on its surface, the dry parts being Infalstatio covered with brushwood, and the remainder, by much the largest part, being noisome swamps or muddy lakes. It is remarkable that the influence of the tides is not felt at a greater distance than 60 or 65 miles from the sea. At the mouths of the different branches, the rush or influx of the tide is high and dangerous, running, as has been estimated, at the rate of 4 miles an hour, though varying greatly at different places. From the sea up to Hyderabad, the Indus is in general about a mile in breadth, varying in depth from 2 to 5 fathoms. The river begins to swell in the middle of July, from the melting of the snows, and continues to increase until the end of August. The most eastern of the estuaries connected with the Indus is the Koree Mouth, from which, proceeding westward, the remaining creeks or estuaries most worthy of notice, occur in the following order.—The Seer, Mull, Kaha, Kookewarree, Kedywarree (discharging the waters of the Sata), Hujamree, Jooa, Durbar, Pittecanee, Coondee, Pitty, and Gizree. The spring-tide rises 9 feet. The length of the navigable part of the river from the sea to Attock has been ascertained by measurement to be 942 miles, that of the upper part is about 870 miles, making a total length in round numbers of 1800 miles. The average declivity of the water-course from the locality of the source to Attock is, per mile, 19 feet; from Attock downwards to Kalabagh, a distance of about 110 miles, it is 20 inches; from this last place to Mittunkote, a distance of about 350 miles, it is 8 inches, and thence to the sea 6 inches. The Indus appears destined to become an important channel of commercial communication.