1831 .] 
Overland Journey to India. 
397 
a view of two other broad reaches, and the scene altogether was one that for quiet 
grandeur and beauty could hardly be surpassed. We slept on the bank, and the next 
morning were ferried over, in boats which held two camels and three horses ; we 
were towed up the bank for some distance, and then loosing, we were rowed 
across diagonally with the help of the stream. The water ran at the rate of 
about 2£ miles per hour, and its breadth was half a mile. Though the right bank 
was high, the left one was here hardly defined ; the bed was of earthy sand, and 
the water was in appearance like that of the Ganges. 
We proceeded 19 miles to Khyrpur, a very large open town, built among fine 
trees, the seat of the descendants of Amir Sohrab. Here an exorbitant duty was 
taken for our horses, and we were then allowed to proceed to Rohri, the capital of 
theSogdii in the time of Alexander the Great, now an old town on the rocky bank 
of the Indus, looking upon the island fort Bukkar, which is strongly built of brick 
and stone upon a flint rock that rises from the centre of the river. The water 
covers part of this rock at one end, and forms a little islet on which is a Mahome 
dan temple embowered in trees, the resting place of so gieat a saint, that the n iy 
fishes come np from the sea to swim a siarat round it ; and to mark their respect 
for the shrine, they never once turn tail on the journey up. The nathes have a 
curious inode of catching fish here : they lay their stomachs upon l a '» e em l'ty 
jars, and holding a line or a net in their hands, they use their feet as paddles, and 
float about with their faces close to the water. 
From Rohri, we journeyed 240 miles up to Bahawelpfii ; the first , nil es o 
the road were through the Khyrpfir Amir’s country, the soil of which, thong 
rery good, was neglected and over-run will, jungle. As soon as we entered Ra- 
hatvel Khan’s territory, we were sensible of a great difference. The wood was 
greatly cleared, and the ground well tilled ; the people also seemed better off, and 
The soil became lighter and more sandy as we advanced ; 40 miles or so flora 
Alimedpfir, we got upon the border of the desert separated J if by a line 
the good soil on our left, which was well cultivated as far as i 7 
Alimedpfir is a large and flourishing town, -t’.he residence ^ ^ 
travelled from it 35 miles to Bahawelp , ference which the Kli&n 
time when Mr. Elphinstone described •*. °'™K be £ rthei . from his unpleasant 
gives to Alimedpfir, chiefly I believe that lie y 
neighbours the Sikhs. . , t desert t0 Hissar. This 
We concluded our travel by journeying aero o What loose sand there 
is not, as has been thought, altogether a c esei Neither 
is, .ays upon a hard subsoil, and it hears no pro^J ^Trtified towns, at 
is the country uninhabited : we passe r ° U S tQ feed our horses upon Bajera, 
which we got common necessaries. ew 8^ ^ pga>) crops are raised 
the staple food of the people. Ot tins grain table land . water is only 
by the periodical rains. This deseit is evi e the wells were 300 feet deep, 
found at a great depth below the surface, some ^ ^ so i d to passengers. The 
At many of the stations the water is kept in * ’ , and many thousands of 
country is greatly covered with » rass W , g crOSS each other, leading to 
camels and oxen are pastured in it. a1 ^’ T dr ; ve n every second day to water, 
wells dug in the desert, to which the eas^s a f BahaW el Kh&n : beyond 
The people for the first 80 miles owned ^eauthon, ^ and to our 
this we travelled through the quiet coun ) a t Tibbi, a small out-post, 
great joy, crossed the British f Three days afterwards we 
where we found a Resallah of Colonel Sk 
