1 6
2 INTEODUCTION.
3 Crops of the pooreat kind of pulae^ and of Bajri, or Hdon SpicHtea,
4 and diia hat, though it flourishes in the most sterile countries, grows
5 hoe with difficulty, each stalk sevenl &et fiom its aei^ibour. The
6 wells are often three hundred leet deep, and one wia Ihxet hundred
7 and ibrty-five feet. With this enormous depth, aome wete only three
8 feet in diameter ; the water is always brackish, unwholesome, and ao
9 scanty, that two bullocks \vorkIn<r for a night, easily emptied a well.
10 The water was poured into reservoirs lined with clay, which our party
11 drank rlr^ in an instant after its arrival. These wells nrp all lined
12 witii niasonrv. Tlie natives have a way ot" covering them with boardsi
13 heaped with suiul. that effectually conceals them from an enemy. In
14 the midst of so arid a conntrv, the water-melon, the most juicy of
15 ftiiits, is iit>und in profusion. It is really a subject ot" wonder to see
16 melofis three or four £eet in circumference, growing fit>m a stalk as
17 dender aa that of the common melon, in the diy aand of the deaart '
18 They eve aown, and perhaps require some colthratioo* but dwjr are
19 acattered dbKmt to aU apfpeasance aa if they grew wild.
20 Hie oonupon inhabitants axe Janta. The upper daaaea areRatfaore
21 Ratgpools. The formor ave little* hla^ and iU looking, and bear
22 strong aqapearanoea of poverty and wretchedness The latter are
23 atout and handsome, with hbolced nbeea, and Jewish featnres. They
24 are haugh^ in their maunen, very indolent, and almost oontinuaUy
25 dnmk with opium.
26 The atock consists of bullocks and camels, which last are kept in
27 nnmerous herds, and are used to carry loads, to ride on, and ev en to
28 plough. Of the wild animals, the desart rat deserves to he men-
29 tioned for its numbers, though tiot tor its size; the innumerable holes
30 made by these animals where tlie ground is solid enough to admit of
31 it, are indeed a serious iticonvenience to a horseman, whom they dis-
32 tress even more than ilie Ju-avy sunii. it is more like a squirrel than
33 a rat, has a tuft at the end of its tail, and is often seen sitting upright,
34 with ita finoifeet croaaed like a kangaroo. It w not unlike the jerboa,
35 bnt ia much leas» and naeaall ita feet lit ia not peculiar to the d»>
36 aact, bemg found in moat aandy placea on the weat of die Jumna* .
37 Digitized by Google