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the Dahder. Crossing the river at the pass of Maun-poor, we 

 pitched our tents in a shady spot on the south side of the river, 

 and found the plains adorned by a beautiful species of the mimosa, 

 covered with fragrant blossoms of rose-colour and yellow; also a 

 thorn, bearing a red flower, succeeded by a small plum varying 

 in tints of green, pink, blooming lilac, and dark purple. 



On the 25th we marched towards Baroche, through the Ahmood 

 districts, generally a rich black earth, favourable to cotton, juarree, 

 and many valuable productions; the Brodera Purgunna was 

 mostly a light reddish soil, very productive. The next day we 

 entered the Baroche Purgunna, belonging to the English: it is 

 extensive and productive: the soil in different parts partaking of 

 the Ahmood and Brodera districts, resembles them in crops. 



No enemy having been there, we found the country in the 

 highest style of cultivation, the inhabitants peaceable and happy, 

 the villages, seldom more than two miles from each other, contained 

 from fifty to a hundred cottages, with a tank, and one or two pub- 

 lic wells; the white dome of a Hindoo temple, or a Mahomedan 

 minaret rising among the mango and tamarind trees, added to 

 the general beauty. They are usually planted when the village is 

 built, and in a few years form a useful and ornamental grove; 

 where the women spin, and the weavers fabricate cotton cloth of 

 every texture, from coarse canvas to delicate muslin. Many other 

 occupations are carried on under this verdant canopy. 



We encamped for the night at Sourban, one of the best vil- 

 lages in the Baroche Purgunna. In our march thither we passed 

 through the country described by Thevenot in the seventeenth 

 century, as a wild tract, once inhabited by anthropophagi; that I 



