276 From Kurrachee to Mooltan. 



November 5th, 186 — . Shook myself down on board the 

 river steamer ! Reached the first wood station, Onapore, at 

 dark, here we lash to the bank, and take in wood fuel. All 

 sleep on deck on account of mosquitoes taking charge below. 



The river's bank here is a low sandy plain, patches of sandy 

 islets intersect the river course frequently, and now and then 

 the bank is a bluff of muddy sand, with trees of larger growth 

 than the shrubs which appear to border it. The course of 

 the stream is apt to vary through the sand it carries with it, 

 which, lodging on these islands, in time changes the channel. 

 We take a pilot at every wood station. The great guide in 

 the navigation (in addition to local knowledge) appears to 

 be the eye ; the pilot is constantly on watch, altering the ves- 

 sel's course where little peculiar ripples on the smooth, muddy 

 surface of the river indicate shallow water. Our steamer draws 

 only four feet of water, and we keep sounding with bamboo 

 poles, marked to feet, on her and on the fiats all day, the 

 Lascars constantly chaunting the depth they have. The pilots 

 are Sindians — intelligent fellows, who have worked in the 

 Bherrie, or large river boats, up and down the river, all their 

 lives. They are organized by Government, and under the 

 control of the Conservator of the Indus. Each one wears a 

 red sash, with a brass plate on it, as a badge of office ; and 

 they get about eighteen rupees (twenty-six shillings) a month 

 as pay. 



November 6. Passing the same sort of scenery as yester- 

 day, all day. A line of trees in the far distance shows the 

 difference between the river's breadth to-day and in the floods. 

 Sometimes it is so capricious in its direction, that villages 

 originally on one bank are discovered, when the floods subside, 

 to be on the opposite side to where they were before; and it 

 not unfrequently happens they are washed away altogether. 

 At night we reached Gopang', the second wood station. Went 

 on shore ; found a fine beaten road, and a village of mud huts. 

 During the latter part of the day we had passed some small 

 forests blossoming with yellow flowers ; at other places groups 

 of breeding camels and their little ones, watering ; and some 

 picturesque native boats being tracked up stream by their 

 crews, the towline being led from the top of the boat's mast. 

 At places, as you pass, the stream comes with a rush, and you 

 see large masses of sandy bank crumbling into the river 

 bodily. They said, a man on horseback, riding by here, was 

 suddenly engulphed in this way, and his body picked up fifty 

 miles down the river. 



November 7. The same sandy shore, with here and there 

 small forests. Current very strong, so we did not reach the 

 wood station. 



