1 192 Accoujtt of Khyrpoor and the Fortress of Bukur. [No. 108. 



family of Moosulmans and Hindoos without one. He brings grass and 

 fuel, carries the merchant and his grain, and the poor keep him for hire. 

 He is never fed on grain, and subsists in the wilds the best way he can, 

 but is always in sleek and comfortable condition. 



The pig is not found in Sind in a domestic state, but the villages, like 

 those of India, swarm with a breed of half-wild disgusting dog, who subsist 

 almost entirely on offal. 



Tigers, wolves, jackals, boars, porcupines, deer, and hares, harbour in 

 the forests ; and among the amphibious animals are the alligator, otter, 

 badger, and porpoise. Alligators inhabit the creeks and minor streams 

 that diverge from the Indus, and are held sacred by Hindoos and Moosul- 

 mans. Tigers are rare, and kept by Moojawurs attached to the tombs of 

 eminent saints to attract visitors. The hog is the scourge of the farmer, 

 and he is obliged to employ watchmen at night to preserve his fields from 

 their ravages. Wolves carry off poultry, but seldom attack grown-up per- 

 sons. Badger and otter skins form an article of export to Afghanistan. 

 Snakes, scorpions, and centipedes abound in rocky situations, and the last 

 attain a large size. Flies, mosquitoes, and many varieties of beetle and 

 grasshopper appear when the inundations subside, but are less numerous 

 and troublesome than in the wet season in India. Leeches are plentiful, 

 and extensively used for venesection. Among the birds are a peculiar 

 kind of Myrops or bee-eater ; the black partridge, similar to that of Kuch, 

 but differing from the species found in the north provinces of India ; the 

 grey partridge. Two kinds of woodpecker found also in the Konkan ; 

 the razor-beak, similar to that of Gujerat; several kinds of gull ; the 

 pelican ; a species of plover, peculiar, I believe, to Sind ; and the Kunchee, 

 or Bhooketta of India, a black bird with long feathers in the tail, remark- 

 able for its antipathy to the crow. Though a third less in size than its foe, 

 the Bhooketta attacks it with so much vigour and determination, that it 

 trembles with fear, and endeavours to escape without offering resistance. 

 Geese, ducks, divers, snipe, and other water-fowl are uncommonly plentiful. 

 The first congregate in thousands on the banks of the Indus and the exten- 

 sive lakes and morasses formed by its overflow, and form part of the 

 food of the lower classes. 



The multitude of fish in the Indus, and the lakes and streams that flow 

 from it, also supply the inhabitants with food. The saleswomen dispose 

 of the small fish by weight, and sell the large ones to purchasers in 

 any quantity they require, by guess. The following catalogue of six- 

 teen, includes, I believe, all the species found in the Indus in Upper Sind. 

 I have added the price in the Roree market of the largest and finest 

 of the kind, but it varies of course with the season and drought. 



