150 



071 the Staiistics of Dnkhiin. 



I have before mentioned that the ship was quite steady during her 

 progress tlii-ough the white ^ aler ; this was the case, with the excep- 

 tion, that in a few instances she gave a heavy roll, as if influenced by a 

 following swell ; these were not more frequent than once in a quarter of 

 an hour. Latitude 21° 40' north, 5b° 40' east ; thermometer 87°, ba- 

 rometer twenty-nine inches and nine-tenths. 



The phenomenon I have attempted to describe appeared twice after 

 we were first extricated from it, for periods of about twenty minutes ; 

 its brilliancy, as well as influence over the waves, as previously describ- 

 edj the tr ansition from high and mountainous seas to a smooth and 

 seemingly quiet ocean, and change again to turbulence, was as sudden as 

 a flash of lightning. 



On my arrival at Muscat, a few days after, I endeavoured to gain some 

 information on the foregoing matter, but beyond finding that the pheno- 

 menon was occasionally met during the strength of the south-west mon- 

 soon, about the limit noted, and that the water was then quite fresh, I 

 could ascertain nothing satisfactory. My informants were the Nakodas, 

 or captains of His Highness the Imam's ships of war, who frequently 

 navigate betweenMuscat and Zanzibar, consequently must pass about the 

 spot the Clive met what I have related. The Arab captains were firm in 

 their assertion in the particular of the fresh w^ater, although they con- 

 fessed that they had never tasted it. I did, as also the surgeon of the 

 vessel, and, as I mentioned before, it did not vary in any way from ordi- 

 nary sea-water. — Journal of the Royal Asiatic Society, No. 9 — p. 198-200. 



H. D. 



IX. — Special Report on the Statistics of the Four Collectorates of 

 Dukhun, under the British Government. 



[In spelling Oriental words, the a is the a in all, the u as in hut ; the rest have 

 the usual English sound.] 



The General Committee of the British Association which met at Cam- 

 bridge in 1833, did me the honour to pass a resolution that I should pre- 

 pare for publication my manuscripts respecting the Statistics of Dukhun 

 (Deccan). I have been anxious to respond to so flattering a desire at 

 an earlier period, but having placed my manuscripts in the hands of a 

 distinguished person, as auxiliary to his scientific labours, I have been 



