From Kurrachee to Mooltan. 277 



November 8. Reached Bembra (the next station) at half- 

 past ten a.m. Went to see the village mud huts, and two 

 seedy-looking plaster mosques. At night, pulled up at the 

 bank. Went for a walk through a real Sind wood ; startled a 

 lot of grey partridges roosting on trees overhead; gathered 

 some cotton flowers and pods in various stages of maturity. 



November 9. Approaching the first town of any impor- 

 tance, Sehwan, by name, eighty-four miles from Kotree only by 

 land ; stuck in the mud for an hour as we near it ; passengers 

 set to at whist, catch mosquitoes, and drink beer ; captain, 

 crew, and steam-pipe all roaring, and very busy till she comes 

 off again. At Sehwan you observe a chain of hills — the Luk- 

 kee Range — extending the length of Beloochistan down nearly 

 to the sea, and originating far off in the Hala Mountains. 

 Every turn and winding of the river seems to bring us near to 

 their base, though of course in reality they are a long way off. 

 Went to see " the lion" of Sehwan, which is a magnificent 

 tiger, kept in a rattle-trap bamboo cage. The town is com- 

 posed of streets of mud houses ; but there is a fine mosque, 

 into which, after taking off my shoes, I was allowed to pene- 

 trate, across an inner square court of stone, to the tomb, where, 

 amid crowds of worshippers, and tom-toms, reposed (which 

 was more than I conld have done) the remains of some great 

 departed. Backsheesh, of course; and back to the steamer, 

 hoping the tiger would not break out of his cage that evening, 

 as he seemed pretty certain of doing some time or other soon, if 

 he felt inclined. 



November 10. Left Sehwan at daylight. The next station 

 is called Kukan ; then Seta, then Jumalli, then Baradera, then 

 Suliana, and then Sukkur, the great place between Kotree 

 and Mooltan. Here we arrived November 16, having passed 

 through a continuous tract of vast sandy plain, day after day, 

 following a winding course wherever clayey strata in the bed 

 of the stream altered its course through the soft sand. Where 

 there is no clay the banks of the stream are soft and yielding, 

 crumbling away trees and all under the wash of our paddles 

 as we pass. At intervals we passed numbers of native boats, 

 employed in carrying the produce of the country, though many 

 are lost in their passages. It occupies them generally about 

 six months to get up from Kotree to Mooltan, partly sailing 

 and partly tracking, though the passage down stream is com- 

 paratively easy. Some are employed conveying wood to the 

 fuel station on the river, large quantities being used by the 

 steamers. 



The sails of some of these boats are as peculiar as their shape, 

 those from Ferozepore and the Sutlej River being different 

 to the Mooltan and Kotree ones. Some have sails laced to a 



