THE HUMAN SPECIES. 29 



SOUTH OF ASIA. 



TURNING our attention to the south coast, at the Per- 

 sian Gulf, we find the high rocks of Laristan and 

 Mekran bordering on a deep water sea, belted with 

 narrow shores, thus bearing tokens of subsidence ; for 

 though Reesheer, not an ancient place, was abandoned 

 in the seventeenth century, on account of the encroach- 

 ments of the water, Busheer, built in its stead, is 

 already so low, that during certain winds, the whole 

 town is surrounded by the flood. 



THE INDUS. 



BEYOND Cape Monze (Ras Moaree), the terminal point 

 of the Lukkee mountains, which form the western 

 boundary of the Indus, we have the great delta of that 

 mighty river. From the point where the stream 

 escapes through the high lands, and now pursues a 

 course almost due south, there are abundant tokens, 

 that originally it flowed nearly south-east, receiving the 

 tributaries of the Punjaub nearer their sources, and 

 reaching the Indian Ocean as far eastward as the 

 Rhunn and Gulf of Cutch, or even of Cambay. But, 

 in a succession of ages, it has either filled a region of 

 little depth ; or, by a constant erosion of the western 

 banks, from longitude 76, the bed of the river has 



