1839.] Memoir on the Province of Las. 195 



The greater part is occupied by a mass of barren hills,, with small 

 valleys between them ; and the remainder forms a level sandy district 

 near the sea, which in most places is barren and almost destitute of 

 inhabitants. 



The eastern division of the province is watered by the Poorally and 

 its numerous tributaries, and the only productive part of it is the 

 valley or plain through which that river takes its course. From the 

 sea to the Jahlawan hills it measures about sixty-five miles in length, 

 and in width decreases gradually from thirty-five miles ; its breadth on 

 the coast as you approach its upper extremity, where it terminates in a 

 semicircle of hills, is eight or nine miles across. With the exception 

 of a belt of low broken hillocks on the sea coast, about eight miles 

 broad, the whole face of the valley is perfectly flat, and it is to this 

 circumstance the province owes its name of Lus, and which in the 

 language of the country signifies a level plain. On looking down it 

 from the upper extremity, where the ground rises slightly at the foot 

 of the hills, the horizon appears of a misty blue color, and is as level 

 and well defined as it is at sea : the only elevated spot I saw, was the 

 rising ground on which Beylah is built, and that is not more than ten 

 or twelve feet high. There is a tradition amongst the natives, that at a 

 remote period the valley was an inlet of the sea, and from its extreme 

 flatness, alluvial formation, and small elevation above the level of the 

 ocean, there is reason for believing it was once the case. 



The soil is every where alluvial, and is composed of a light loose 

 clay mixed in a greater or less proportion with fine sand; in some 

 places it preserves a hard smooth surface, and contains a portion of 

 saline ingredients, but in others crumbles into fine dust, which is blown 

 in clouds by the lightest breeze, and renders travelling very disagreeable; 

 it is also in many parts encumbered with large rounded stones, and at 

 the head of the valley above Beylah, where there are numerous streams 

 and water courses, they are so thickly strewed over the surface, that 

 the whole plain, from one range of hills to the other, appears like the 

 bed of a large river. Near the coast there is scarcely a tree or a bush to 

 be seen, and the country has a most barren and desolate aspect. A 

 confused mass of undulating hillocks, 80 or 100 feet high, covered to 

 some depth with loose sand and thinly overrun with creeping plants, 

 extends about eight miles inland, and in the small hollows and plains 

 between them, which are so low as to become saturated at high tide by 

 the sea, the land produces nothing but saline shrubs or coarse reeds. 

 Beyond the sand hills the level plains commence, and small patches of 

 stunted tamarisk trees appear here and there ; but as you approach Lay- 

 aree they attain a greater height, and the jungle becomes dense. 



