142 Account of a Journey from Kurrachee to Hinglaj. [No. 98. 



a halting place, as were all the stations on the route to Hing- 

 laj, without the sign of a habitation or a human being near 

 them. The few Noomreeas who are scattered over the face 

 of the country keep their flocks at a distance from the road, 

 but whenever they see a cafila, they come with their families 

 to beg for food. It has become an acknowledged custom 

 for all travellers to give it; even the mendicants themselves 

 spare a portion of their coarse bread for the purpose. Money 

 (save a few Soumeanee pice, to pay for milk when it can 

 be had) is almost useless, for nothing is to be purchased 

 on this barren waste. A mile beyond Dambo, before leaving 

 the sand hills, a small grove of cypress trees is passed, 

 noticed as being of greater size than those met with elsewhere. 

 On descending from the ridge, the road crosses the heads of a 

 number of inlets running into an extensive backwater from 

 the sea, which here is not visible, as the sand banks along the 

 shore are rather abrupt. Ascending a gentle rise we come on 

 a plain covered with a small bush called Lavee or Lauoo, on 

 which the camels fed with great avidity. Of the plant there 

 are two kinds, the male called Lauoo, and the female Lavee. 

 They are much the same in appearance, excepting the leaf of the 

 latter is shorter and thicker than the former; potash is produced 

 by burning the male plant, which is taken to Kurrachee and 

 Soumeanee, and sells at from four to five cassess (about 100 

 pounds) per rupee. This tract is called (i Chura," more par- 

 ticularly that portion of it where low cypress bushes flourish, 

 and pools of clear water with a few wells are found. The open 

 plain extends to the foot of the mountains, and inland to a great 

 distance. Twelve miles from Dambo we found the wells at 

 Kattewara, 12 miles. Kattewara, the encamping ground, choked, 

 nor did we discover water until reaching the base of the lesser 

 range of the Haras, when the pool of a cataract about .half a 

 The Hara mountains, mile up a rugged ravine was pointed out to 

 us by a Beroon we casually met on his way to Soumeanee to 

 dispose of camels. This range of mountains, although their 

 height is comparatively trifling, present a most singularly wild 

 appearance, from their rising at once from the plain at an angle 

 of about forty-five degrees on their eastern side, with a still 



