From Kurrachee to Mooltan. 273 



The shore, as seen approaching it, is a flat tract of yellow 

 haze-covered sand, looking as heat-radiant as the desert itself: 

 an intensely blue sky, of course, over it. On the right of 

 the harbour-inlet's mouth, a cluster of dark rocks of fantastic 

 shape, half pyramid, half ninepin, stand boldly out against the 

 yellow beach, and on the left another mass of rock, the top 

 of which is fashioned into a light-house, and flag- staff, has a 

 Robinson Crusoe looking aspect. Rough stone winding steps 

 cut out in the rock, show it to be accessible by water at all 

 events, if not from the promontory of land which joins it, and 

 forms the inner part of the harbour. This is the establishment 

 of the harbour-master, and the sandy beach adjoining, devoted 

 to ship-yard and river- steamer work, is called Manora. 



The entrance to the harbour is obstructed by a bar, on 

 which there is at high water but nineteen feet, rendering the 

 port inaccessible to vessels of large draught, and a very un- 

 comfortable place for ships of lighter burden when the south- 

 west monsoon, to which it is exposed, thunders, in heavy seas 

 and stormy squalls, at its mouth. 



Large government works have been undertaken, and about 

 three hundred thousand pounds expended for the purpose of 

 clearing a/way the bar, partly by narrowing a creek called 

 Chinee Creek, which joins the upper part of the harbour, and 

 partly by the construction of a groyne on one side of it, ex- 

 ending into the sea, by which it is intended to increase the 

 rapidity of the tide in the harbour, and thus, it is hoped, 

 sweep away the obstruction at the entrance. 



The water of Kurrachee harbour, or some creature peculiar to 

 it, so affected the plates of an iron steamer's hull in the course 

 of eighteen months she had lain there, that a pen-knife could 

 be thrust with ease through her plates at places, some a few 

 inches, some farther, apart, as if the iron were rotten wood. 

 The appearance of the iron at these places, indicated by little 

 circular spots, being also like rotten or rust stained wood. To 

 test whether this is the work of an animal, or of the water, or in 

 consequence of the plates being defective, the authorities have, 

 I believe, sunk plates to the bottom of the harbour to try the 

 effect upon them. 



The landing at Kurrachee is at a wooden pier or jetty, and 

 •facing you, mounting its steps, is a wooden building marked 

 " Post-office." A drive of a mile or two along a narrow cause- 

 way-road, bordered by Chinee Creek on one side and the 

 harbour mud the other, brings you to a stone arched gate and 

 building, the Custom House. Here you enter the town, which 

 is laid out in square blocks of buildings of stone, of rough 

 construction, but solid, and nearly all standing in square in- 

 closures (compounds), surrounded by rough stone walls. Far- 

 vol. x. — NO. IV. T 



