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



forgotten. The site of the houses can hardly be traced, but 

 I found many pieces of glazed pottery and glass among their 

 ruins. A number of Mahomedan tombs are scattered over the 

 high ground in the vicinity, and in the bed of the river is a 

 bluff rock on which are the ruins of a small fort called 

 Rana-Ka-Kot. Rana-Ka-Kot. It is said to have been built when 

 the Hindoos held the sovereignty of the country, to protect 

 the pilgrims going to Hinglaj from the pirates, who used to run 

 up the river in small boats to plunder them. It covers the whole 

 face of the rock, and consists of two towers joined by an 

 embankment^ with a well in the centre ; the foundation now 

 alone remains. After heavy rain, it is said that pieces of silver 

 are occasionally found in the site of the village, but I was 

 not able to obtain any ; and imagine that although some may 

 once have been seen there, yet were it supposed that the most 

 minute search would be rewarded by even a copper coin, 

 the abject poverty of the people would induce them to dig 

 up the whole surface in searching for it. The hills here are 

 composed of sandstone, layers of shells, and conglomerate. 



I made many inquiries regarding the numerous Maho- 

 Mahomedan Tombs. medan tombs which are scattered over the face 

 of the country, near many of which not the slightest trace 

 of a habitation remains ; and the situation of some are so 

 far from streams or wells, that the cause of their having been 

 built in such barren spots cannot now be accounted for. 



I imagine that when the Mahomedans had established them- 

 selves in Scinde, their detachments were stationed in all parts to 

 keep the inhabitants in check, and the spirit of conversion being 

 then all powerful, they buried their dead with much ceremony, 

 and erected stone tombs over them to impress the idolaters with 

 a high sense of the excellence of that faith, which decreed such 

 honours to the departed. On the decline of the Mogul empire, 

 when the troops were required for the defence of the interior, these 

 detachments were withdrawn, the mud huts of the camps soon 

 fell to decay, the population which had been drawn together 

 from the jungle, and derived a subsistence by raising grain 

 to supply them, again spread over the country, and resumed their 

 pastoral habits, when the demand for the produce of their 



