44 WYNNE : C4E0L0Gy OF KUTCH. [PAET I. 



Tradition far more ancient^ though certainly less reliable^ than the 

 Tradition of the gra- historj of the events of 1819, has left an impres- 

 Indus. ° siou with the people of North- West Kutch that 



subsequently to the period when the Runn was a navigable inlet of the 

 sea, having the ancient city of Veego-Gud upon its shore, another 

 ancient maritime city flourished near Sindree, which was its port, or 

 hmder, on the Pooraun or Koree river. In course of time the river 

 shoaled so much by accumulation of silt that navigation was impeded, 

 and the site of the city following the limits of deep water was changed 

 to Sindee or Sindu in the Sayra country. Here again the channel 

 became reduced in depth, and the people moved their city stiU further 

 down the stream to Lukput, which had once a considerable trade, but 

 is now almost deserted ; its traffic having left it for the same cause and 

 being now transferred to Kotesir and Narainsir on a deeper part of 

 the estuary which was formerly the mouth of the Koree river. Mingled 

 with this tradition are vague tales of the silting up of the Indus near 

 Subkm* and the formation of the ' Alore Bund^ near where the Nurrha 

 or Pooraun distributory branched from that river in Sind ; these changes 

 having prevented the southward flow of the fresh water inundations 

 which formerly fertilized the now ruined country of Sayra, 



In connection with the objects of the Geological Survey an endeav- 

 our was made to reach the Sindree basin from 

 Visit to Sindree. 



Lukput in the middle of December 1868, but this 



was impracticable from want of water in the old river channel. Another 

 attempt was made from Nurrha in the following month with the help 

 of camels carrying supplies of wood and water. 



The road lay from Nurrha north-east by Hajee Peer to Loona about 

 ten miles, first over low ' Mntd' or babul country and then over Runn 

 and laana. Thence northwards four miles across the Bunnee to a 

 group of grass huts and shallow weUs (naess) on its margin, called Bitaro. 

 Prom this, the last place at which fresh water could be obtained, the 



( 44 ) 



