20 



inconvenience upon the inhabitants. Low bunds hastily constructed were to be 

 seen in every direction within and around the town and many stores have had to 

 be removed to the south end. From what I saw it is likely that tlie river may cut 

 its way across the land immediately north of the town (it passes to the west of 

 it at present). I was informed that until about three years ago the Hajamro 

 was not directly connected with the Kediwari and in consequence its water was 

 tidal and saline, a coast creek. To-day it has direct connection with the Kedi- 

 wari and is virtually a branch thereof, conveying an immense amount of Indus 

 water to the sea. The whole of the paddy cultivation seen on our way up has 

 arisen since this junction has taken place ; it will disappear when another freak 

 of the river again shuts off river connection. From what I have learned of the 

 past history of these channels it appears there have been several of such alterna- 

 tions between fresh and salt-water conditions in the Hajamro. 



80. Understanding from Mr. Judd that no oyster-beds exist in the creeks 

 south of the Kediwari it was useless to prolong our cruise in that direction ; 

 we accordingly dropped down the river in the afternoon to he ready to pass the 

 bar early the following morning. On our way we passed several flocks of 

 pelicans fishing in most business-like manner by driving the fish together by 

 means of a gradually narrowing semi-circular formation. 



81. On the flats at the mouth great multitudes of a large-clawed Ocypod 

 crab began to scamper about as the sun went down. They kept in large com- 

 panies, some engaged in turning over the surface of the sand in search of food, 

 others trooping towards the edge of the sea. They run swiftly and silently 

 a ghostly army. When one of them is intercepted, it turns on its pursuer most 

 valiantly and even advances towards him, with claws raised threateningly and in 

 defiance. They also eject a few drops of water from the mouth parts, sometimes 

 so much as to form a slight jet 1 



82. The next morning we hove anchor at sunrise and attempted the bar 

 although the tide had not long turned. We had no trouble and never found 

 less than 6 feet of water. Head winds delayed us and the journey to Karachi 

 took no less than 14 hours ! 



83. The following day, 1st November, we left Karachi at daybreak for the 

 Hab Eiver. Again we were plagued with head winds and it was night before 

 we anchored under the lee of Churna Island, a bleak inhospitable rock rising 

 to a height of 580 feet, 4 miles N.-W. of Cape Monze. We landed on 2nd 

 November on the Sind side of the entrance of the Hab just within a great sand- 

 bank which lies athwart the river mouth. A few fishermen's huts were located 

 here and we saw a number of fine Tunny, sharks and plough-fish (Rhinobatia) 

 on the beach, while a number of boats were cruising off the river on the look- 

 out for shoals of Scieena (Sua), one of the crew perched at the masthead as 

 lookout on each boat. Polynemus (Rawas, Sindhi) appears very abundant. We 

 saw a large catch made inside the river by a peculiar form of shore seine. As 

 the water off this coast is very clear the men say they are unable to employ 

 tanned nets ; the plan they adopt to preserve their nets is to dip them in a 

 bath of thin chunam (lime). The copper sulphate method of preserving nets 

 might be introduced to these men's notice with advantage ; their catches would 

 probably be increased and the life of the nets lengthened. 



84. When the tide receded sufficiently we made our way up the river 

 towards the oyster beds. On the way we crossed an ebb-dry creek running 

 east or E. S. E. from the river, well suited it seemed to me for oyster culture 

 as the bottom consists of a thin layer of fine mud, not more than 1^ to 2 inches 

 deep, overlying well consolidated muddy sand. Everywhere on this thin sheet 

 of mud lay a brownish scum of diatoms. Continuing our way about a quarter 

 of a mile we turned a bluff and came upon a series of low tabular rocks of 

 varying area in the bed of the river close to the Sind side. Between these rocks 

 is excessively soft mud, and so far as I could observe the base of the rocks is 

 never left entirely dry. 



85. The oysters cluster thickly upon the sides of these rocks, extending 

 upwards from the base to a height of about a foot or 14- inches. The slipper- 

 form so typical- of the creek oysters is all but suppressed here, although the 

 species is identical ; in form these oysters are extremely irregular and many 

 malformed individuals occur owing to excessive crowding. The size is small 

 Compared with creek oysters, and I should say the majority are under two years 



