200 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



of all such places in the world, the Indian remains of 

 the Portuguese empire are the least calculated to afford 

 that meditative repose which we seek amid ruins ; 

 their life is too far gone and too much mingled with 

 the still more advanced decay of ancient Indian races. 



There is much of interest in these shores of the 

 upper portion of the Arabian Sea, stretching up by 

 Kathiawar, Kutch, and Sind, formed on the north 

 by the coast of Beloochistan, and coming down, on 

 the Arabian side, in the shores of Oman and Had- 

 ramaut. It is a coast-line for the most part desert 

 and sparsely inhabited, but it has wild beauties of 

 its own. Its summer sea is not much ruffled by 

 storms, and strange, picturesque-looking people live 

 upon it, or at no great distance inland. Emphati- 

 cally, it is a region of blinding sunlight by day, and 

 brilliant skies by night. Its palms and mimosas, 

 and thinly-scattered human beings, do not oppress 

 its naked deserts and flame -like mountains. But 

 Kathiawar is midway between this arid region and 

 the rich fertile shores of the Northern Koncan and 

 Southern Guzerat. It partakes of the nature of both 

 zones, and illustrates the change between them. 



As we approached Vairawal, the chief port of the 

 Kathiawar state of Junaghar, the great isolated moun- 

 tain-mass of Girnar was visible in the distance, in the 

 clear, cool, evening air, a great tract of cultivated 

 plain stretching up to it ; while on the right, or 

 towards the southern side of the peninsula, lay the 



