~Canals before annexation.~--In the west of the province we found in existence small inundation canals dug by the people with some help from their rulers. These only ran during the monsoon season, when the rivers were swollen. In 1626 Shahjahan's Persian engineer, Ali Mardan Khan, brought to Delhi the water of the canal dug by Firoz Shah as a monsoon channel and made perennial by Akbar. But during the paralysis of the central power in the eighteenth century the channels became silted up. The same able engineer dug a canal from the Ravi near Madhopur to water the royal gardens at Lahore. What remained of this work at annexation was known as the Hasli. ~Extent of Canal Irrigation.~--In 1911-12, when the deficiency of the rainfall made the demand for water keen, the canals of the Panjab and the N.W.F. Province irrigated 8-1/2 millions of acres. The figures are: _Panjab_ A. Permanent Canals Acres Interest earned % 1. Western Jamna 775,450 7-3/4 2. Sirhind 1,609,458 8 3. Upper Bari Doab 1,156,808 11-1/2 4. Lower Chenab 2,334,090 34 5. Lower Jhelam 801,649 10-1/3 B. Monsoon Canals 1,654,437 Total 8,331,892 _N.W. Frontier Province_ Acres Interest earned % Lower Swat River 157,650 9-3/4 Two minor Canals 67,510 Total 225,160 On the Sirhind Canal, on which the demand fluctuates greatly with the character of the season, the area was twice the normal. The three canals of the Triple Project will, when fully developed, add 1,871,000 acres to the irrigated area of the Panjab, and the Upper Swat Canal will increase that of the N.W.F. Province by 381,000 acres. The canals will therefore in a year of drought be able to water over ten millions of acres without taking account of possible extensions if a second canal should be drawn from the Sutlej. The money spent from imperial funds on Panjab canals has exceeded twelve millions sterling, and no money has ever been better spent. In, when the area irrigated was a good deal less than in, the value of the crops raised by the use of canal water was estimated at about 207 millions of rupees or nearly L14,000,000. It is only possible to note very briefly the steps by which this remarkable result has been achieved. [Illustration: Fig. 45. Map--Older Canals.]