43 
Ghiznee Sanatarium, June 1, 1854. 
The only birds are the sand-grouse and a species of lark, the crows 
and sparrows even contemptuously avoiding such a dried-up place ; 
about two miles distant is a creek banked with rocks, which is a 
favourite resort for water-fowl. In my pursuit of natural history 
this morning, an accident happened which I am afraid will lose me a 
good servant. A pair of hawks had built their nest in the rocks, 
about fifteen feet from the ground, and my gharawallah (groom) 
declared that nothing would be so easy as to take it, and that he 
could climb up the side of a house; so I sent him up, but when 
within a few feet of it he screamed out and fell ; he afterwards stated 
that the devil (shitan) came behind and pushed him off; the fall 
would have been nothing on soft ground, but the poor fellow fell 
across a stone and injured his spine; I had to gallop into camp and 
fetch a palanquin and four men to bring him into hospital, where I 
am now treating him. The hills hereabout abound with jackals and 
hyzenas, and one of the latter came within the tent-ropes last night 
after my unhappy goats ; the barking of the dogs awoke me, when 
I saw him gazing affectionately at my throat, not two yards distant ; 
a clout on the head with a stone sent him off. 
I should like to start in the month of December to the Lake 
Munchar, beyond Hyderabad, where, during the winter, is to be 
found a reunion of all the water-fowl im Scinde; I am told that the 
ducks, geese, cranes, and, in fact, all the natatorial and wading-birds 
congregate there in immense numbers; thence to Luccur and Shi- 
karpore, shooting all the way. I should then wish to explore an 
entirely new country, zoologically speaking,—Khelat—the tempera- 
ture of which is somewhat similar to our own, freezingly cold in 
winter, with a delightful spring ; it is well-wooded, and doubtless 
contains much of interest to the naturalist; with introductions from 
the Commissioner, I believe I should be well treated by the “‘Khan;” 
the only difficulty is to reach it. From Jacobabad to Khargarth, 
our extreme frontier military post, there are two routes, one by the 
well-to-be-remembered Bolan Pass (vide the march of our troops to 
Cabul), and the cther by Gundawa and the Gundawa Pass. By the 
Bolan, the chances are about equal whether I should get through or 
have my throat cut, for the Khan cannot control the fierce Beelooch 
hill-robbers, although his own subjects ; they would attack anything 
under the force of fifty men; by Gundawa the road is tolerably safe, 
being under the influence of the Scinde horse; that is the road I 
should take. It is seventeen days’ march between Jacobabad and 
Khelat, which I should reach at the commencement of spring, and a 
month or six weeks’ stay would enable me to ascertain the zoological 
resources of the country, after which I should return to Kurrachee 
and resume my medical duties. This leave I do not wish for any 
private, but for a scientific purpose, and the collections I may make 
would be sent, after any novelties had been described, to the Com- 
pany’s house in Leadenhall Street, or such of them as they may want 
for their museum ; everything, however, must depend upon cireum- 
stances. 
