ALLUVIAL PLAIN OF SINDH. 109 



of stratified limestone, bears marks of violent 

 volcanic action. The springs are mostly ther- 

 mal ; and are all more or less impregnated with 

 sulj^hur. Rain is uncertain and scanty, espe- 

 cially away from the coast. Pasturage, though 

 scattered, is nourishing, and sheep and goats 

 thrive among the bare hills. Horned cattle 

 are rarely seen, horses are in little use, and 

 even the camel is not common. 



*' General character of the alluvial jjlain of Sindh, 

 and notice of the river alliivimn. — The general 

 character of the alluvial plain of Sindh has been 

 so often described that its principal features are 

 well known. Formed from the washings of the 

 mountains whence the Indus and its tributaries 

 take their rise, the process of formation is still 

 going on. As the sediment brought down by 

 the river is deposited in the beds of all the 

 streams through which the volume of the river- 

 water seeks its way to the ocean, these beds 

 gradually silt up, until the streams, unable to 

 find a fall along their old channels, force their 

 way along other depressions of country. Under 

 the operation of this law, the main river and 

 all its offshoots are perpetually changing their 

 courses, and thereby perpetually changing the 



