1841.] Roree in Khyrpoor. 395 



vast oval rock in the midst of the Indus, and exhibits on this face twenty- 

 three bastions of different forms resting on the edge of the stream ; and 

 date and peepul trees spring from the naked rock, and fix their roots in 

 the foundation of the embattled curtain. On an elevated citadel in the 

 middle of Bukur, floats the small blood-red flag of the Meer of Khyrpoor, 

 emblazoned with the national emblem of a rampant tiger, and near it on 

 a loftier staff, the more gorgeous standard of Britain, fourfold the size 

 of the banner of the Meer; above and below the fort, are small wooded 

 islands, inhabited by holy beggars, who are fed and attended by votaries 

 from both sides of the water. The eye delights to rest on fertile groves of 

 lofty date trees, mixed with vineyards and mango trees, and the Indus is 

 seen meandering, far away in the distance, in snaky folds, through a per- 

 fectly flat and verdant country. The heights of Sukhur are a prominent 

 feature in the landscape, and every hill crowned with a tent, a tomb, or a 

 ruin. A battery of seven guns is in the midst of the British camp, and 

 to the west of it the decayed mosque, the sainted shrine and minaret of 

 Meer Masoom. The living objects in the foreground of the picture com- 

 municated to it, at the time of my visit, additional interest and anima- 

 tion ; an encampment of several hundred camels occupied a small valley 

 leading to the river, and their drivers had tents of black goat and camels 

 hair raised on sticks. Belooch horsemen, with flowing beards, each in 

 his national cap of coloured cotton and accoutred with sword, shield, and 

 matchlocks, rode slowly among the hills, and asses heavily laden with 

 grass and w r ood for the citizens, wound up the steep rocky ascent into 

 the town. The monotonous song of the washerman filled the air as he 

 beat garments of many colours upon planks, and troops of Hindoo and 

 Moosulman women bathed at the different ghats, each of the former, on 

 her way home, carried a vessel of river water to lave, with pious reverence 

 the roots of a peepul tree, and the emblem of Muhadeva which stood 

 beneath it. 



Most of the houses in Roree rise to three and four floors, and some 

 have five, and standing on elevated ground they assume an appearance 

 of great vastness to the eye. They have no ventilators or towers on the 

 roofs, to catch the wind like the houses in Lower Sind and Arabia ; 

 but the walls of the upper chambers are pierced with small windows with- 

 out regard to symmetry. They are not glazed, but some of them in 

 the harems of the principal residents, are filled with fine gratings of wood 

 or mortar ; some are open, and others furnished like the doors 

 with folding shutters, which close badly, and are secured on the 

 outside with a hasp and padlock; they are not painted any more than 



