326 



DESERT BETWEEN ROGAN AND B USD ORE. 



submerjed in it. The fresh sand must be derived from decompo- 

 sition of the hard level plain by the action of the air : yet there 

 should be a regular gradation in size of the waves ; those nearest the 

 windward side of the desert ought to be the smallest. Rock pigeon 

 of Loodianah seen. 



There are two ghurrees or forts at the halting place, both small ; 

 the water is tolerable. The chief trees are Salvadora and Rairoo. 



24th and 25th. — Left in the evening and marched all night through 

 the desert, which commences within two miles of Rogan, and towards 

 which place vegetation gradually becomes more scarce until it dis- 

 appears entirely. This sandy waste is upwards of twenty miles in 

 extent : in the direction we traversed it, NW. or NNW., it is almost 

 totally deprived of vegetation; one or two plants, such as Salsoloid, 

 being alone observable near its borders. The surface is generally 

 quite flat, in some places cut up by beds of small streams : the surface 

 is firm, and bears marks of inundation : tracks of camels, etc. being 

 indented. We reached Bushore at 5^ a. m. ; the camels performed 

 twenty-six miles in ten hours. We halted for four hours in the centre 

 of the desert and tried to sleep but the cold was too great, striking 

 up as it were from the ground. The camels marched through with- 

 out halting, and we suffered only one loss amongst them next day. 

 The occurrence of this peculiar desert is unaccountable, especially 

 its almost absolute privation of vegetation ; for many other places, 

 equally dry, have their peculiar plants, such as Salsola, Chenopodium, 

 Furas, Rairo, Ukkoo, Kureel. 



25th. — Bushore is a miserable place, consisting of the usual mud 

 houses and defences : the adjacent nullah does not invite attention ; 

 it is however the only seat of wells, which, as in all this country since 

 leaving Rogan, are of small diameter, from thirty to forty feet deep, 

 and contain very little water, which also is rather brackish and well 

 impregnated with sand. The surrounding country is so barren that it 

 may be called a desert, while the desert itself may be called the desert of 

 deserts. I should mention that this ceases first to the west, in which 

 direction shrubs encroach on it. Phulahi, Evolvulus acanthoides, Tri- 

 bulus, Kureel, etc. are found about Bushore, but the prevailing plant 

 is Chenopodium cymbifolium. 



26th. — Leaving Bushore, we proceeded to Joke, which we reached 

 late, it being nineteen miles : we lost the road however, which is in 

 a direct line only sixteen miles. We soon came on a nullah, or canal, 

 which we followed to Meerpore, a rather large double village, with a 



