1 5 Kennedy, t. 163.
2 6 Burnes, Bokh. iii.
3 7 Outram, 40.
4 ’
5 8 Med. Mem. of
6 the Plain of the
7 Indus, 58,
8 5 Lord, Med. Afem.
9 01,
10 2 Pott, 854, 385.
11 3 Carless, Offictal
12 Survey of the In-
13 dus, 9; Lord, 61.
14 208 SINDE.
15 rises near the north-east corner of the province of Lus, and runs
16 southward, discharging itself into the sea immediately west of
17 Cape Monze. The whole of that part of Sinde between Kur-
18 rachee and Sehwan is a maze of hills, known by various denomi-
19 nations,. Jutteel, Keertar, and Lukkee. The Lukkee are con-
20 sidered the highest, having an elevation, where greatest, variously
21 estimated at 1,5005 and 2,000 feet.6 They terminate abruptly on
22 the west bank of the Indus.” :
23 The climate of Sinde is remarkably sultry and dry. As
24 Lord ® observes :—‘‘ Situated on the verge of two monsoons,
25 it is unrefreshed by the waters of either. The south-west
26 monsoon,” he proceeds, ‘ terminates at Lucput Bunder (on the
27 western coast of Cutch), as accurately as though it covenanted
28 not to violate the Sindh frontier.” The north-west monsoon,
29 which deluges the country to the west, comes no farther than
30 Kurrachee, and even there the annual fall of rain does not exceed
31 six or eight inches. At Hyderabad, the rain of an entire twelve-
32 month amounted only to 2'55* inches; and farther north, at
33 Larkhana. Three years had elapsed continuously without rain,}
34 at the time of Hamilton’s visit in 1699; the consequence was a
35 pestilence, which cut off one-half of the population.t But Burnes,
36 in travelling through the delta on the 10th of April, experienced
37 very heavy showers, and a severe fall of hail; and in June, 1809,
38 during the visit of the British mission, the rain? fell so heavily
39 there that the streets frequently resembled rivulets, and none could
40 stir abroad. In the following August the rains were again exces-
41 sively heavy during the stay of the mission at Hyderabad. The
42 N.W. monsoon commences in February, and continues about
43 four months,} rendering the navigation® along the coast at that
44 * Lord quotes Wood's Meteorological Tables, but those given by Wood
45 in the Official Survey of Carless contain some astounding statements; e. g.,
46 in p. 39 it is stated that fifty-two inches of rain fell on the 13th of July, a
47 quantity which probably never fell in any one day in any country in the
48 world since the deluge. An error, therefore (probably the omission of the
49 decimal point), is to be suspected. The total quantity during the month he
50 states at fifty-eight inches. :
51 t Such is strictly the subatance of the statement made by Hamilton (New
52 Account of the East Indies, 8vo. Edin. 1727, vol. i. p. 122). Burnes, refer-
53 ring to it, says: ‘‘I observe in Hamilton’s India that there is frequently
54 dearth of it (rain) here for three years at a time,’’ which is not correct.
55 t Postans (Observations on Commerce of the Indus, 8) states, that the