Capt. Grant on the Geology of Cutch. 319 



of the year, when its surface consists of a sandy flat, totally devoid of vegeta- 

 tion; but, perhaps, on account of its saline nature, always sufficiently moist to 

 prevent its particles being drifted. During the prevalence of the south-west 

 winds, however, so much water is blown up its eastern inlet by the Gulf of 

 Cutch, and, at its western extremity, by the eastern branch of the Indus, as 

 to cover its whole surface ; augmented by the freshes, which, at the same 

 time, come down the Loonee and Bunass rivers, and the numerous small 

 streams which intersect the northern coast of Cutch. At those seasons, the 

 Runn has all the appearance of a sea, and is passable only on camels, and, in 

 some seasons, with difficulty. It has been described as the dried-up bed of a 

 sea ; but it is not easy to account for its drying up, unless we suppose a gene- 

 ral depression of the ocean. We must, therefore, look to other causes. 



In several parts of the world, particularly in the Baltic, there are undeniable 

 proofs of a gradual rising of the land; and, in time, parts of that sea might 

 be converted into a tract similar to that of the Runn*. It does not become me 

 to inquire whether this gradual elevation is due to a series of so minute ele- 

 vatory movements as to be unnoticeable, except from the effects which subse- 

 quent measurement proves them to have produced, or from a gradual expan- 

 sion by volcanic heat. But in Cutch we have evidence of movements within 

 a very late date, and every reason to believe that similar ones have occurred 

 at various periods. The earthquake of 1819 is known to have produced a 

 remarkable change on the western extremity of the Runn, by throwing up a 

 mound 50 miles in length, 16 in breadth, and 18 feet high; and by depressing 

 an adjoining tract, so as to convert it, from a cultivated district, into a large 

 salt lagoon. As the changes in level, thus effected, have, however, been de- 

 tailed in other papers, I shall merely observe, that when I was at Luckput in 

 January, 1834, very little if any change had occurred since Captain Burnes' 

 visit, in 1828 ; except that the Sindians had repaired all the bunds across 

 the river, and thus, by preventing further supplies of fresh water, the 

 lagoon had assumed much the same appearance as previous to the freshes of 

 1828. 



I was also informed by a boatman, who constantly plied up and down from 

 Ullah-Bund to the sea, that between Sindoo and Sindree (see Map), there is a 

 bank, six miles broad, covered by only one foot of water ; and as there is no 

 channel tlirough it, the boatmen are obliged to get out and haul the boats 

 across the bank, after which they follow the windings of the channel to Ullah- 



* See Mr. Lyell's Memoir, on the proofs of gradual rising of the land in Sweden. Phil. Trans. 

 1835, p. 1 et seq. 



