NATDKALIST IN INDIA. 45 



very slight mastication, but the majority, anxious to escape 

 from their greedy companions, made instantly for the water, 

 and disappeared with the piece of flesh sticking between 

 their jaws. 



Our young Belooch friend informed us that they generally 

 swallow their food at once, and do not, as hds been asserted, 

 bury it until it becomes putrid ; also that other large indi- 

 viduals besides the old king frequently devour the young soon 

 after they are hatched. Crocodiles wallowing in the mud of 

 the NUe, or gavials in the Indus, are sights which one is pre- 

 pared to encounter ; but the traveller may wander far before 

 he meets with a scene so strange and unexpected as that just 

 described. How these animals found their way inland to this 

 soUtary oasis we could not discover. It can only be surmised 

 that they had probably been introduced by the natives. 



We left Kurrachee in a small steamer " one fine sunny 

 morning" towards the end of January, and reached the Delta 

 of the Indus in ten hours. 



The scenery along the Scinde coast was devoid of iaterest 

 until, nearing the river, the dreary and sandy wastes gave 

 place to a rich green carpet, on which sheep, goats, and cattle 

 were pasturing. 



TaU reeds line the shore, out of which flocks of pelican 

 and waterfowl, scared by the approach of our little vessel, 

 rose and sought more secluded retreats among the numerous 

 channels, creeks,'and islands which abound at the mouths of 

 the Indus. The porcupiue is not uncommon in the neigh- 

 bourhood ; we came on a dead specimen. 



The govind-kite followed in the wake of our vessel, 

 sweeping obliquely downwards, and seizing with its talons 

 any substance thrown overboard ; and whenever we drew up 

 to cook or take in fuel, numbers of Indian jackdaws hovered 



