NATURALIST IN INDIA. 33 



but the nights are cold and frosty. We waded along, ankle- 

 deep in the heavy sand, towards the station, about li mile, 

 with a 'companion who (by way of cheering our drooping 

 spirits) informed us, that four years previously he had lived 

 at Kurrachee, in a tent, where the thermometer was often 130°! 

 This, however, we found was not a common occurrence, for 

 during the forepart of the day the sea-breeze sets in and lasts 

 for several hours, so that, take it aU in all, the heat of Kur- 

 rachee is not so severe as that of many inland stations. The 

 native city is built on an eminence near the sea. Like many 

 Oriental towns, its streets and bazaars are abominably filthy ; 

 and, besides the usual hubbub of crowds of natives, goats, 

 and sheep, there is a sickening atmosphere, redolent of rancid 

 butter, assafoetida, and divers other powerful, and not particu- 

 larly pleasant, odours. Although the Turkish cemeteries at 

 Scutari and Constantinople greatly exceed, in extent of area, 

 anything of the sort I have seen in Hindoostan, the size of 

 that outside the city of Km-rachee is very striking. Nothing 

 shows the antiquity of Eastern towns more than their grave- 

 yards ; and, even without the testimony of history, those 

 around Kurrachee give evidence of its existence for many cen- 

 turies. The gravestones are painted white, and covered with 

 various devices in red, becoming thus prominent objects in 

 an otherwise desert plain. Here and there are tall poles, 

 from which float triangular flags of divers colours. We may 

 wander through miles of sepulchres without meeting a symptom 

 of animated nature. Now and then a solitary pied stone-chat 

 (Saxicola picata) may be seen hopping about. This familiar 

 little creature I observed at Poonah. It is plentiful in and 

 around Kurrachee, and is, in fact, the " robin" of Scinde. 



To one just atrived from the Deccan, the chimney-tops at 

 Kurrachee are suggestive of the comfort of "my ain fireside " — 



D 



