1855.] Account of a visit to the Shrine of Sakhi Sarwar. 337 



There are no shoemakers or any other artisans, except a few tan- 

 ners. 



In the afternoon of the last day of the Meld the visitors begin to 

 draw off, and by the next day the place is deserted. To avoid con- 

 fusion I left a short time after two p. m., attended by the same party 

 of Beluchis who had accompanied me from Widor, and one Police 

 horseman who acted as my orderly. At half-past three o'clock, 

 having again lost the Eesaldar on the road, we reached the latter 

 place — a distance of sixteen miles ; and after devoting a quarter of 

 an hour to breathe the animals, at the request of my Laghari guide, 



I exchanged the fine mare which had carried me so well thus far, 

 for the one he had ridden, as I had the advantage of being a lighter 

 weight, he taking the mare of another of the party whom we now 

 left behind at "Widor. By degrees the party — now consisting of 

 five persons — began to diminish — at first one, and then another 

 dropped behind — and by the time I had arrived within a mile of Derah. 

 Ghazi Khan, the Police Orderly Sawar alone remained with me. We 

 reached Derah at a quarter-past six, having come a distance of thirty- 

 six miles in three hours and a quarter, the policeman's horse having 

 carried him the whole of the way. The Beluch mare too had not done 

 less, for she had carried her master one half, and myself the other half 

 of the distance. Both animals could have gone much farther had it 

 been necesssry. This speaks well for the endurance of the horses 

 of this part of the country — celebrated in the writings of classical 

 authors as the land of the Aswadhyas — the country rich in steeds.* 



The following tradition respecting Sultan Sakhi Sarwar, I have 

 extracted from the account of his life contained in a small book, the 

 property of one of the attendants at the shrine, which was kindly 

 lent to me for that purpose. 



HISTOEY OF SU'LTA'N SAKHI' SAEWAE. 



" The real name of Sultan Sakhi Sarwar was Suyed Ahmed, but 

 he is best known amongst his disciples by the former name. His 

 father was Suyed Zain-ul-Abadm, bin Suyed Omar, bin Suyed Abd- 



* The Ossadii also sent ambassadors tending allegiance. Who these different 

 tribes were, it is not possible to ascertain ; their names were apparently Indian. 

 The Ossadii may have been the people to the west of the Indus — the Aswadyas, the 



II rich in horses." Wilson ; Ariana Antiqua, page 201. 



