1 PUNJAB. 127
2 tween it and Attock, extend over it on the north, and the arid
3 wilds, called by Elphinstone® the Little Desert, form nearly the * Ace, of Caubul,
4 whole of the southern part.6 According to that eminent authority, 6 Burnes’ Bokh.
5 the Little Desert extends from north to south upwards of two "5!
6 hundred and fifty miles, with a width, which was traversed by
7 him in two marches, probably measuring together between thirty
8 and forty miles. It occupies all that part of the country between
9 the Jailum and the Indus which is not flooded by both those rivers,
10 and extends northward from the thirtieth degree of latitude, where
11 the inundated lands terminate, to the Salt range, seeming to be a
12 part of the great desert of Rajpootana, cut off from the main body
13 by the rivers and their rich banks. The outline being strongly
14 marked and abrupt, the traveller, on leaving the fertile country,
15 at once finds himself amongst sand-hills and the stunted shrubs
16 and plants congenial to such tracts, and must be content with
17 brackish water obtained from wells. The colour of the sand here
18 is grey instead of the reddish-yellow of the Great Desert. The nar-
19 row tract, forming the southern part of the doab of Sinde-i-Sagur,
20 is, however, rich and fertile through the entire breadth from
21 one river to the other.” In the north also of this doab a tract A ibe
22 of great fertility,® having a soil of black loam, extends for about associ meeea:
23 thirty miles along the right bank of the Jailum, between the ee
24 town of that name and Pind Dadun Khan. The small doab of jab.
25 Jinhut, between the Jailum and Chenaub, is barren and little cul-
26 tivated. Jacquemont,® who from the Salt range viewed this doab ® voyage, v. 124.
27 in nearly its whole extent, describes it as a monotonous plain,
28 broken by only one small hill which rises above the town of Lallee,
29 It is thus noticed by Burnes :—*‘* Nothing, however, can be more
30 miserable than the country between the Acesines and Hydaspes ;
31 a sterile waste of underwood, the abode cf shepherds, scantily
32 supplied with water, which is sixty-five feet below the surface.” 9 9 nurnes, ut su-
33 The doab of Reechna, though having in general a sandy soil, is a '
34 little more fertile and better cultivated than that just noticed.
35 By means of wells, water can everywhere be obtained at a depth
36 not exceeding twenty-five feet.’ The soil and climate are suitable ! 1a. 1. 48.
37 for the growth of the sugar-cane, and fruits and flowers are pro-
38 duced in great profusion, variety, and luxuriance.? Burnes® de- * F. Von Hugo,
39 scribes a garden visited by him, “ as not a hundred yards square, - sete ae
40 but well stored with fruit-trees and flowers ; most of the former,”
41 he adds, ‘“‘ were now in blossom, and an enumeration of them