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



pying its entire crest. Near the southern edge, at intervals of a 

 quarter of a minute, a few small bubbles appeared on the sur- 

 face ; that part of the mass was then gently heaved up, and 

 a jet of liquid mud, about a foot in diameter, rose to that height, 

 accompanied by a slight bubbling noise. Another heave 

 followed, and three jets rose, but the third time only two. 

 They were not of magnitude sufficient to disturb the whole 

 surface, the mud of which at a distance from the irruption was 

 of a thicker consistency than where it took place. The pathway 

 round the edge was slippery and unsafe, from its being quite 

 saturated with moisture, which gives the top a dark colored 

 appearance ; on the southern side, a channel, a few feet in 

 breadth, was quite wet from the eruption having recently 

 flowed down it. I was told, that every Monday the jets rose 

 with greater rapidity than at other times, and then only did 

 any of the mass ooze out of the basin. The entire coating of 

 the hill appears to be composed of this mud baked by the sun 

 to hardness. No stones are to be found on it, but near the 

 base I picked up a few pieces of quartz. Crossing the ridge 

 which connects this hill with the least of the three, I climbed 

 up its rather steep side. In height or compass it is not half 

 the magnitude of its neighbour, and its basin, which is full of the 

 same liquid mud cannot be more than five and twenty paces in 

 diameter; the edge is so narrow and broken that I did not 

 attempt to walk round it. One jet only rose on its surface, 

 but not more than an inch in height or breadth ; but a 

 very small portion of the mass was disturbed by its action, 

 and although the plain below bore evident marks of having 

 been once deluged to a short distance with its stream, no eruption 

 had apparently taken place for some years. At times the surface 

 of this pool sinks almost to the level of the plain, at others it 

 rises so as to overflow its basin; but generally it remains in 

 the quiescent state in which I saw it; two years previous it 

 was many feet below the edge of the crest. On my way to 

 the third hill I passed over a flat of a few hundred yards 

 which divides it from the other two. The sides are much more 

 furrowed with fissures than theirs are, although their depth 

 is less ; and its crest is more extended and irregular. The 



