16 WYNNE : GEOLOGY OP KTTTCH. [pART 1. 



still salt but dark and bitter it is called ' kiiller,' and liiglrer portions with 

 some vegetation more seldom flooded are known by the name of Laaua. 



The large tract called the Bunnee, occupying a wide space between 



the Putchum and Kutch Proper, has much of a 



' dhooi^ nature, rising gently a little higher 



tbau the remainder of the Runn, is scantily covered with coarse grass 



and hdbul trees, and here and there inhabited by herdsmen, large herds 



of buffaloes and other cattle being sent here to graze.* 



When floods are high upon the Runn the Bunnee is also covered, 

 and those who are able resort to some more elevated spots, one of which, 

 a narrow strip about a mile in length, was described as lying westward 

 of Bindiara, and as being but rarely overflowed. No means are used 

 to raise the habitations of these people above the ground, and when the 

 inundations rise rapidly, much loss of human life and of cattle is stated 

 occasionally to take place. 



There are some shallow wells on the Bunnee at which the cattle 

 are watered every second or third day ; but when these are sunk to any 

 depth, the water becomes too brackish for use. These wells are called 

 ' naess ;' they do not appear to be so numerous as might be inferred from 

 the use of the word ' abounding' on Burnes' map ; and as resources 

 they are supplemented by the construction of shallow tanks, which soon 

 dry up. The western portion of the Bunnee would seem to be lower 

 than at Bindiara, for the people stationed at Loona, to collect taxes upon 

 the traffic from Sind, are obliged to leave that place in the rainy season. 



The boundary between the Bunnee and the Runu, always indefinite, 

 vanishes almost entirely south of the Putchum Isle, and the only apparent 

 difference is that a narrow belt without trees intervenes. 



* The inhabitants of the Bunnee Hve in clusters of beehive-shaped grass huts, and, 

 according to Lieutenant Dodd, use no sleeping cofs and light no lamp after dark, "both 

 luxuries, it is said, having been forbidden by certain holy men." 



( 16 ) 



