FLATS FOR CONVEYANCE OF TROOPS. 83 



bour of Kurracliee and the Hujamree mouth of 

 the Indus is not far short of a hundred miles of 

 sea passage. The entrance into the Hujamree 

 Channel is marked by a beacon and posts 

 showing the channel to be followed. A pilot 

 establishment is also maintained at Khetti for 

 the guidance of vessels over the bar and up the 

 Hujamree to that place. We reached the mouth 

 of the Hujamree Channel about 3 j). m., and the 

 Flat which we had in tow astern was then 

 brought up alongside. On inquiring the cause 

 of this arrangement I was informed by Captain 

 M'Neil, the commander of the Frere, that a Flat 

 cannot be towed astern of a steamer in many 

 parts of the Indus, in consequence of the sharp- 

 ness and suddenness of the turns, wdiich the 

 navigable portion of the river makes in its 

 course, whereby a vessel towed astern must be 

 continually grounded, from inability to follow 

 in the exact track of the steamer ahead. This 

 led me to ask him what he thought of Mr 

 Bourne's projected plan, as announced in the 

 newspapers. His reply was that it could not 

 possibly answer, as, if a single Flat could not 

 follow in the wake of a steamer, it w^as quite 

 impossible that a train of barges, on Mr 



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