1 74 Journal of a voyage from [March, 



in all directions ; insomuch, that it required great care and attention 

 to steer clear of them. None but an experienced eye could distin- 

 guish from a long distance what the boatmen call " kacha" from 

 " paka-jal." A villager who accompanied us from Bhundri pointed 

 to a number of temporary huts on the left bank near that place, the 

 inhabitants of which had, in his memory, removed no less than three 

 times from one bank to the other, in consequence of the river 

 changing its course and undermining its banks. Abounding as it 

 does with shoals and sand-banks, and running over a loose soil 

 through a flat country, this frequent change in its channel is the less 

 surprising : it generally occurs after the rains, when its waters are 

 swollen and impregnated with earthy particles. The prevalence for 

 a length of time of a particular wind occasions the choaking up of 

 the old channel, which the waters leave on subsiding, to pursue a 

 new direction. 



The country to-day differed little in its features from that we had 

 passed the day before. At this season there are no crops standing, 

 and, save in the vicinity of villages where a few garden vegetables 

 give an appearance of verdure, the whole has an unvaried arid aspect. 

 Trees are only seen near the villages, and those generally of the 

 common bdr, with here and there a pipal. The jhdn is met with 

 only in small patches, low and straggling. There was a great improve- 

 ment observable in the soil of the banks of the river, especially that 

 of the right bank, which exhibited strata of a rich red clay with 

 mould of a dai-ker color beneath. During the first part of our 

 course after leaving Bhundri, the current was rapid, running under 

 the high bank at the rate of four miles an hour ; as we approached 

 the end of our journey it became sluggish, scarcely averaging a mile 

 and a half. We had a depth in some places of eighteen and twenty 

 feet, and in others not more than four : in the deepest part this occur- 

 red where there were many channels, and we might not have been 

 in the deepest, although we always chose those which in appearance 

 promised to have the greatest body of water. 



In passing Sidhuan I observed immense flocks of wild geese feed- 

 ing on the sand-banks, and close to them an alligator, the first I have 

 seen on the river, though they are said to have been found as high 

 up as Ropur, and small ones are sometimes caught in the nala near 

 Lodiana. Perhaps the coldness of the weather may account for my 

 not having hitherto seen them in greater numbers. There appear to 

 be few wild ducks or teal. The jal kawd, which we call the black 

 diver, is common. 



