50 KULLIAN KOT. 



in employ, but tlie rich fabrics of silk, cotton, 

 gold tissue, and embroidery, for which it was 

 famous, are now procurable with difficulty, 

 there being no demand. This city was formerly 

 the seat of the Mahomedan government in 

 Sindh, and contains the ruins of a fine Mosque, 

 built in the time of Aurungzeb, and in the 

 vicinity are the ruins of an ancient fortified 

 town called Kullian Kot. The excessive un- 

 healthiness of the climate has, I imagine, been 

 mainly instrumental in the decline of Tatta. 



Antiquarians declare that Tatta, or Debeil, is 

 the ancient Pattala, simply from its being situ- 

 ated at the apex of the Delta, but Captain Pos- 

 tans justly observes, that, '' as the shifting cha- 

 racter of the river daily removes this town fur- 

 ther from the stream, two thousand years may 

 be fairly considered too long a period to admit 

 of speculation as to its position at the time of 

 Alexander's march." So I think but little de- 

 pendence can be placed on a speculation based 

 on so unstable a foundation. Those acquainted 

 with the Indus must remember two remarkable 

 looking rocks, which in the end of 1858 were 

 situated about mid-channel, at a short distance 

 below Tatta ; yet I was assured by the com- 



