285 



of this great work I mean the great and extensive de- 

 serts, in the neighbourhood of these rivers. 



*< The province of Scindy," says Mr. Rennell, " in 

 many particulars of soil and climate, and in the general 

 appearance of its surface, resembles Egypt : the lowest 

 part of it being composed of rich vegetable mould, and 

 extended into a wide delta; while the upper part is a 

 narrow slip of country, confined on the Persian side by 

 a ridge, or ridges of mountains, and on the other by a 

 sandy desert." 



Again, - Owing to this, (the want of rain,) and to 

 the neighbourhood of the sandy deserts, which bound it 

 on the east ; and not far removed from it on the north 

 west; the heats are so violent, and the winds from 

 those quarters so pernicious, that the houses are so 

 constructed, as to be occasionally ventilated, by means 

 of apertures on the tops of them, resembling the fun- 

 nels of small chimneys."* 



Further, he says, " JL sandy desert bounds Scindy 

 on the east, and extends the whole way from the terri- 

 tory of Cutch, to the confines of Moulta ; being near 

 five hundred and fifty miles in length, and from one 

 hundred to one hundred and fifty wide.^\ 



If we take into view the situation of these barren 

 deserts, rendered still more sterile by the intensity of 

 a vertical sun, that blasts every effort of vegetation up- 

 on these oceans of sand ; and their exposure to the vio- 

 lence of the eastern Monsoons, which are, for more 



* Rennell's Map, page 182. f Do. page 183. 



