WESTERN H I N D O O S T A N. 37 



by the Gbebres, or worfliippers of fire, or Perfees^ defcendants of 

 thole who hadefcaped the horrid maffacre oiTiumr Bek. 



About fifty-five miles above the difcharge of the Setlege^ the The Chunaub. 

 Chunaub, ox Ac e fines .^ joins itfelf with the Indus, and continues 

 a fingle channel about the fame fpace, equal in fize to that river. 

 On the fouthern banks, nearly midway, ftands Moultan, capital Moultan. 

 of a province of that name. The country is very produdlive 

 in cotton ; and alfo fugar, opium, brimftone, galls, and 

 camels, which ufed to be tranfported into Perjia. The galls 

 indicate oaks, which I did not before know grew fo far to 

 the fouth. The finefT: bows are made in this country; and it 

 produces the moft beautiful, and mofi: adtive female dancers in 

 all India, who were in the highefl efleem, particularly in the 

 kingdom of PerJia. 



The air is excefiively hot, and very little rain falls in thefe 

 parts. This is a circumftance which attends remarkably the 

 lower part of tlie Indus, efpecially the Delta, where it has been 

 known to have wanted rain for the fpace of three years. 



The city of Moultan flands in Lat. 30° 34', is fmall, and 

 flrongly fortified. It has a celebrated pagoda, a mofque, with 

 a beautiful minaret, and the place of interment of many pious 

 Shiekhs. Abulfazel, ii. 137, fays, that it is one of the moft 

 antient cities in India, It was not the capital of the Malli, which 

 Mr. Rennel fuppofes to have been near Toulumba ; but they 

 inhabited the circumjacent country. 



Moultan was taken by one of the generals of Tamerlane. 

 Since the ravages made in this province, after the invafion of 

 India by Kouli Khan, a conqueror equally barbarous, the trade 



of 



