236 Essay on the Ancient Geography of India. [No. 3. 



Sherd and Tehard ; but the distances are omitted. The western ex* 

 tremity of the ridge of mountains in CacKha> is to the N. E. of Asa- 

 purl; distance about eight, or ten cos, and probably to the north of 

 Tehard, 



After crossing the river to the west of Asd-puri, there is a high 

 beach along the sea shore, level all the way, considerably higher than 

 the adjacent country. It consists of hard sand ; its breadth, which is 

 considerable in many places, is very irregular ; and the whole is covered 

 with a shrub-like plant called Luni in that country, and Jhau on the 

 banks of the Ganges.* Six cos from the river of Asd-puri, is a small 

 reservoir under an Indian fig tree, and sometimes there are a few 

 wretched huts : hence to another arm of the Indus five cos : it is navi- 

 gable, and a short cos beyond, is the town of Ldc 1 h-pat-bandar, or 

 the port of Lac'h-pati the grandfather of the present Raja of Cach'ha, 

 who built this place, between fifty and sixty years ago. There was a 

 small village before, the name of which is already lost, at least to me. 

 As it was a favourite place of his, he granted to it the exclusive privi- 

 leges of a Pdtfani town. Pdt in Hindi signifies the breadth of any 

 thing, of a river, of a gulf. From Pat, they have made on the banks 

 of the Indus Patt'an, in a derivative form ; and there it signifies a 

 Ferry ; and from Pdt fan comes Pdt f am, bestowed on towns and 

 villages, where is a famous, and much frequented Patt'an or Ferry. 

 The towns on the sea shore, which have the exclusive privilege of a 

 Patt'ani place, have packet boats, which at stated times, regulated by 

 the monsoons, sail to various harbours, either with passengers, or 



Crdchi or Rdmbdg is the Pdtfani of the Vali, or Nawab of Sind. 

 Leheri-bandar was so formerly ; and other places at various periods : 

 hence in the old Portuguese maps is a town, either in, or near the 

 Delta of the Indus, called Pateniz. For this information I am indebt- 

 ed to my old friend Mauluvi Sal eh, a native of Calat, and Tasildar of 

 Thatt'ha under Golam Mohammad Abasi about 50 years ago ; and is 

 now living at Benares, being above 80 years of age. This denomina- 

 tion is of great antiquity ; for it seems, from a passage of Diodorus the 

 Sicilian, that Alexander built a town in the Delta, which was called 

 Potana probably Bastdh-Bandar ; and from the particulars, there is no 

 * The Tamarix indica according to Dr. Hunter. 



