the village. The soil on both sides is alternately the most fertile mould, and sand covered with salt.

Before I reached Garrah, I was joined by my fellow-travellers: we proceeded together through the dirty village, built on a gentle declivity, to a caravansary at the eastern end. Our way led by the house of a tanner, and I accordingly stopped to examine his operations. The hides are sewed together in the shape of the body of the animal, and suspended to three stakes, over a small bricked basin, with the neck upwards; a constant flow of water and some bark of the Babul tree (Mimosa) is then poured through the neck of the skin, and gradually forces its way through the small apertures. From time to time the hide is let down into the basin to be made more pliable, and the hair is scraped off with a long knife. As soon as the hide is properly tanned and oiled, it is dried in the shade; the leather of Sinde is some of the best in India, and not inferior in softness and durability to that of Europe.

All the houses here are built of clay; they are scarcely twenty feet high, have flat roofs, from which a kind of ventilator sometimes rises, and airholes supply the place of windows. Long-continued rain would destroy these huts, and sweep away entire villages. The caravansary is a small open apartment, with a court-yard enclosed by a mud wall, and is kept by a Parsee, who is commissioned by the British government to provide for the accommodation of travellers. We resolved to wait here till the afternoon carpets were accordingly spread in the hall, and, while we took some repose, the servants prepared a repast, consisting of tea, rice, and fish. When the sun was near setting, our little caravan

commenced its march to Tatta, some on camels, some on horseback. Our road lay through a desolate tract, first by the side of a dried-up branch of the Indus, then through a fertile district between high tamarisk bushes, and over numerous ditches, partly dry, partly full of water. After riding two hours we found the landscape more diversified by lofty trees and detached farm houses, round which the land was cultivated. We saw a jackal standing by the roadside, behind a tamarisk bush; his large eyes were directed towards us, and he was so bold, that we might have shot him with a pistol.

It was 10 o'clock when we arrived at the village of Gongah, but having the advantage of the bright moonlight, we were enabled securely to traverse the country, which was more and more intersected with ditches. It is a large place, with several brick houses, situated in a very fertile plain. We found the officers who had set out the day before, encamped by the side of a pond, under tamarisk and mango trees; and we took up our quarters next to them. At 3 o'clock in the morning we resumed our march through a plain traversed by deep ditches, between corn fields of Jowaree (Holcus sorghum) twelve feet high, and Bajeera (Panicum spicatum). Three miles further on, we found ourselves on a broad road in an impenetrable jungle of tamarisks and stunted tamarinds, only now and then relieved by a babul or banyan (Ficus Indicus) tree rising above it. Half way there was a small caravansary by the side of a pond, under the care of a priest and some fakirs. The ground about it was cultivated, and a small garden with bananas and mangoes, and a few tamarinds, overshadowing the water, afforded a refreshing and agreeable object in this wilderness.

At 7 o'clock we approached a rocky chain about 150 feet high, on which an extensive town appeared to be situated, but it was a mass of numerous large and small sepulchres, with lofty vaulted roofs like cupolas, covered with glazed tiles, chiefly blue, and adorned within and without, with mosaic work, made of china. Some of them were in perfect preservation; others had suffered by violence, or by the lapse of time, for they are said to be 200 years old. As we rode past them we met the first Belooches I had seen; they were handsome, vigorous men, with dark, fiery eyes, and long beards; wore a shield on their back, a sabre by their side, and a long gun over their shoulder. One of them had a boy, about eight years old, on the horse behind him, and looked at us with an air of defiance. We asked if they were Belooches? "Yes, fighting Belooches," was his insolent reply.

From this elevation we suddenly came in sight of the ruins of Kulan Cote, Tatta, and the Indus in its broad channel, flowing through a boundless fertile valley. Tatta, whether it is the ancient Patala, or Minagara, is uncertain, lies three miles from the Indus, on an eminence slightly elevated above the valley, and affording a surprisingly beautiful prospect from a distance: the streets are narrow, irregular, and very dirty; the houses, which are built of clay, wood, or brick, are from twenty to thirty feet high, and resemble square towers with flat roofs, on which the inhabitants are accustomed to sleep, in the open air, during the warm nights. Cakes of dung, used for firing, and prepared by the women and children, are piled up against the walls.

There are only a few mosques in the place, which are built of stone and painted white, but they have

the same dirty and ruinous appearance as the town; and there are no traces of the extensive trade which was formerly carried on. The silk and cotton manufactures of the Lundshis, wrought with gold and silver, which were formerly so much in request, are now nearly exploded by those of Mooltan, and the few that are still manufactured here, are usually taken by the Ameers, who pay barely sufficient to enable the weavers to live. The inhabitants are about 10,000 in number; they wear wide garments, Sinde caps, or turbans, and the women long cotton dresses reaching to the ground; poverty and dirt everywhere prevail. We traversed the town in its whole length, passed through the valley, which is irrigated by water wheels driven by oxen or camels, is highly cultivated, and produces corn and cotton.

We reached the place of embarkation, four miles to the east, at ten o'clock. Here we found our servants, who had already arrived and pitched our tents; but we were unable to obtain any repose, as they did not protect us against the scorching rays of the sun, and the thermometer was 110° of Fahrenheit (in my tent. it rose to 118°). Indeed in Sinde the sun is fierce enough to dye white men black, and is sufficiently powerful to roast an egg; an experiment which has been tried with success. The British government has four iron steamers on the Indus, which are 120 feet long, 35 broad, and of 70 horse power: they draw only three or four feet water, and are armed with guns (three pounders) and wall-pieces. Along the coast are depôts of tamarisk wood for fuel, which consumes rapidly, but gives very great heat.

In the afternoon some boats arrived to convey us, and our effects to the steamers, two of which were to