1 INTRODUCTION.
2 hnndred and fifly yards broad. We passed in good fl«t4lOttOMWwl
3 ^iO«tfl» made of fir, and capable of csnybig &mn thirty to forty tons.
4 Our camels had their feet tiedt and were thrown into the boats like
5 any other baggage ; our horses also crossed in boats. Tlie elephants
6 alone swam, to the f?rpat astonishment of the people of the country,
7 who, probably, had never seen an animal of the kind before. 1 t orn
8 tlie ferry to Dcra Ismael Khaun waa tliirty-five miles. The country
9 was covered with thickets of long grass and thorny shrubs, full o(
10 game of all kinds, from partridges to wild boars, and leopards.
11 The cultivation was flourishing, but was not extensive, though wa-
12 ter is dljundant ; and the soil to appearance, enjoys all that richness
13 and fecundity, (or «lu^ inundated countries are so &mous.
14 . We lencfaed Den Isnuel Khaim on.t]ie 11th of January; Befaie
15 we entered Dei^ we were met by Tutteh Khaun, a Belocbe, who go-
16 ▼ems ihia.provmoe as deputy for Mahonuned Khaun» to iriiam it> as
17 weU as Lda, is asngned by the Kug. He was splendidly atdiedt and
18 accompanied by a few infimtijt and a troop of ill drened and 01
19 nioonted horsey armed with long spean. He and hiaeompanioiis ex-
20 patiated on the greatness of their master; on the strength of bis twen--
21 ty feitSy the number of his cannon, the forty blacksmiths who were
22 employed night and day to make shot for them, and other topics of
23 the same kind. In the coui^se of the day, Tutteh Khaun sent na m
24 present, including six bottles of Caubul wine, and two of the essence
25 of a plant, much vaunted in the £ast» and called the bedee mishk or -
26 musk wilUtw.
27 We rciiiaitM>d near a mouth at Dera Ismael JKhaun, waiting for a
28 MehmRuiKtaur.
29 Tin- town is >iniated in a large worn! of date trees, within a hun-
30 dretl \ ards of tlu' Indus. It lias a ruinous wall of urnbumed bricks,
31 about a mile and a liall iii ciicuiuference. The ndiabitants of tlie
32 town were chiefly Beloches, though there were also some A%hauns,
33 and Hindoos : the. latter have a tmple In the town. The country
34 people aire Bdodhes and Juts, resembling those on the opposite bank
35 of Iftie Indus. We saw many Afghauns fiom Bemaun, who diflfered
36 Digitized by Google