1 188 Account of Khyrpoor and the Fortress of Bukur. [No. 108. 



the country are exclusively at the charge of the farmer, who contributes 

 likewise to the expense of making and repairing the large canals within 

 his property. 



As soon as the waters of inundation evaporate, the soil is ready to receive 

 all kinds of seed almost without preparation. It is sown in the month of 

 October, and always yields an abundant harvest. The river does not 

 occupy above a fourth of its channel in the dry months, and not more than 

 a tenth of the soil on its banks, capable of cultivation, is turned to ac- 

 count. There are vast tracts in north Khyrpoor, which the inhabitants 

 of Bengal would seize with avidity, overrun with tamarisk, and the long 

 feathering grass known in India by the name of Moonj. 



The tamarisk springs from the soil within a month after it is deserted by 

 the water, and villagers at a distance from the stream drive their buffaloes 

 to graze on the shoots and young grass which cover the banks. The herbage 

 is extremely nutritious, and communicates great sweetness to the milk of 

 cattle that feed on it. Cow's milk is inferior to buffaloe's milk in richness 

 and flavour. The people convert the milk to ghee, and dispose of it to 

 merchants and boatmen, who carry it for sale to the markets of Roree and 

 Sukhur. The peasants remain at the river in tamarisk sheds until the 

 floods oblige them to retire. Some of the sheds cover an area of several 

 hundred yards, and contain 400 and 500 buffaloes, with the herdsmen, their 

 wives and children. Half a dozen families often crowd into a narrow 

 space divided from the herd by a railing, and cook, eat, and sleep on the 

 ground among milk pots, platters, spinning wheels, and a few articles of 

 common furniture. 



There are no rocks in the river above Bukur, and the extent of cultiva- 

 tion on the Khyrpoor side much exceeds that on the shore opposite ; the 

 bank is cut to receive Persian wheels, and the peasant removes them when 

 the floods cease to another locality. 



The stream of the Indus is foul and turbid, and though little encumber- 

 ed in the dry months with reeds and drift wood, is sufficiently rapid to 

 hold in solution quantities of sand and other matter it washes along in its 

 course. The number of shoals that perpetually shift their position ob- 

 struct the navigation, and render it necessary in the dry season to stop 

 boats while one of the crew is sent forward to sound the channel. Vessels 

 are constantly obliged to cross from one bank to the other, and the want 

 of paths through the dense jungle makes it difficult to carry the track 

 line, and serves materially to lengthen a voyage. 



The east part of Khyrpoor is nearly desert, and the scanty supply of well- 

 water loathsome to the taste. The few spots which yield good pasture de- 

 pend on the rains, which often fail. The supply in 1839 was said to exceed 



