NATURALIST IN INDIA. 47 



water, stretcMng far away inland on both sides, intersected 

 with numerous islands ; or, gliding tardily between high 

 banks of alluvium, dense jungles of tamarisk and underwood 

 alternate with open and highly-cultivated tracts of country, 

 which are irrigated from the river by means of Persian 

 wheels, worked by camels. At every turn of the river the 

 traveller hears the dull creaking sound made by these 

 machines. 



Fields of wheat, barley, grain,* and mustard gladden the 

 eye. The last is cultivated for its oil, which the natives 

 burn instead of that of the cocoa-nut, generally used in the 

 Deccan. 



The mud villages are shaded by groves of mangoes, which 

 may be seen stretching in lines across the country, while 

 here and there dense shikargahst (formerly the hunting- 

 grounds of the Amirs of Scinde) vary the landscape. These 

 are now :fest disappearing, their wood being used as fuel for 

 the river-steamers. 



The channels of the Indus, and indeed all the great 

 northern rivers of India, are continually shifting, in con- 

 sequence of the constant and copious deposit of alluvium 

 going on ; the mud banks are also wearing away at a greater 

 rate than formerly, and since the introduction of steamers, for 

 as the swell gradually undermines them, large masses fall in 

 with a thundering noise. 



The water of the Indus is thick and muddy, but filtering, 

 or the addition of a few grains of alum, renders it clear and 

 drinkable. 



It is asserted that there is an undercurrent in the Indus, 

 so powerful as to suck down whatever disappears beneath 

 the surface of the water ; we had, however, a pretty strong 



* Cicer arietinum. t Game-preserves. 



