SHIKARPORE TO ROGAN. 



325 



The weather has continued cool : yesterday we had a good deal of 

 rain ; to-day it is very cloudy. The range of the thermometers from 

 46° and 48° to 82° outside. 



Artificers are not uncommon, as carpenters and blacksmiths, but 

 their tools are miserable : and there is no such thing as a large saw to 

 be seen. Wages are high, and from the slowness with which they 

 work, it is ruinous to employ them. 



Left Shikarpore on the 21st and marched to Jargon, 13£ miles, 

 one of the usual fortified villages of kucha or unburnt brick. Houses 

 surrounded also with J how fences. The jungle and country precisely 

 the same as that round Shikarpore, road at first bad, but subse- 

 quently good enough : water is to be had very good : at no great 

 depth. 



22th. — To Janidaira, 1 1£ miles : road excellent throughout. Coun- 

 try less covered with jungle : features mostly the same : a curious 

 looking plant occurred plentifully, but to a limited extent near Jargon : 

 and subsequently, as the country became more sandy, we had abun- 

 dance of Salicornia, of which camels are excessively fond, otherwise 

 Jhow, Furas, very common, Rairoo, Kureel, Ukko throughout ; near 

 Jargon, Elrua very common, Chenopodium cymbifolium throughout. 



The soil at first is very fine, finely pulverized, brownish as we pro- 

 ceeded onwards, becoming more and more sandy. Hills of some height, 

 apparently very distant, are seen ahead due north, and to the west. 

 We passed one village to the left, two canals of small size, and some 

 Bagree cultivation. A small ridge with a hillock occurred after 

 passing the village, otherwise all was flat. And about this the jungle 

 was thin, entirely of patches Kureel, Rairoo, and Furas, Peepul. 



We had a violent north wind yesterday evening with some rain. 



23rd. — To Rogan, distance 11 to 12 miles: country generally flat, 

 presenting here and there sandy undulations, generally bare of vege- 

 tation. Salvadora, Jhow, Furas, Kureel, Rairoo, continue ; Furas and 

 Rairoo most common ; a new Chenopodium and a Salsola, or a plant 

 of the same genus as that met with yesterday, swarming in some 

 places, both species were common in some parts, in others one of 

 the two only occurred. Road generally excellent, level and unbroken. 

 Two small ghurrees or forts occurred, with a large patch of cotton, 

 and still larger of Bagree : a small Sedoid. looking plant with yellow 

 flowers, and one or two other (to me) novelties occurred : Heliotropium, 

 Fagonia, Joussa, Bheir. In those parts in which loose sand had 

 become accumulated, it not only formed banks, but every bush was 



