A Personal Narrative of a journey to the Source of the river Oxus, by the route of the Indus, Kabul, and Badakhshan, performed ... in the years 1836, 1837 and 1838

Front matter

A PERSONAL NARRATIVE OF A JOURNEY TO THE SOURCE OF THE RIVER OXUS BY THE ROUTE OF THE INDUS, KABUL, AND BADAKHSHAN, PERFORMED UNDER THE SANCTION OF THE SUPREME GOVERNMENT OF INDIA, IN THE YEARS 1836, 1837, AND 1838, BY LIEUT JOHN WOOD. OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S NAVY. LONDON: JOHN MURRAY, ALBEMARLE STREET. 1841. LONDON : Printed by William Clowes and Sons, Stamford Street. TO LIEUT.-COLONEL SIR ALEXANDER BURNES, F.R.S. OF THE EAST INDIA COMPANY'S SERVICE. Sir, I know not to whom the following pages can with more propriety be dedicated, than to yourself. To you I owe, in a great measure, the opportunities which enabled me to collect what matter they contain ; and, it is under the sanction of your opinion that this Personal Narrative is now given to the Public. I trust I may also be permitted to avail myself of this opportunity to record my respect for your conduct as a servant of the public, and my affectionate esteem for your character as a man. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your obedient servant, JOHN WOOD. a

Preface

. The following pages embody a slight sketch of my journeyings whilst employed under Sir Alexander Burnes on his late mission to Afghanistan. It may be therefore superfluous to add, that the doings of this mission and the events to which it has given rise have no part in this Personal Narrative. As the nature of my duties led me over ground hither to but little visited by Europeans, it occurred to the liberal-minded officer at the head of the mission that a brief account of my wanderings might not be unacceptable to the public. On this suggestion I have acted, and rough notes written on the spot are here filed at the ends and twined into the Narrative form. The Afghan character has been fairly drawn and their country well described by the Hon. Mount stuart Elphinstone, Forster, Conolly, and Burnes. If information on these subjects be sought, recourse VI

PREFACE.

. must be had to their valuable works. To Kunduz and the Uzbeks the same observation applies, since both have been dealt with by Dr. Lord in a clever paper published in India, and highly lauded by the press in that country. Of the new ground gone over I have only to remark, that it was travelled at a season of the year when snow lay everywhere ; that its few inhabitants were scattered over a wide extent of poor, cold, unpromising country ; and being chiefly Mohamedans, differed little in their manners and customs from their brethren of the same creed in nations better known to the reader. The Map of the upper valley of the Oxus will be found on comparison to differ considerably from any now extant ; but that of the Indus, save in the latitudes of places lying to the north of Mittunkote, I have not found it necessary to alter but in a very modified degree.

An official report on the navigation of the latter river, an interesting subject both in a political and commercial view, I wished to give in an appendix, but have been disappointed by no copy of the paper having reached this country. The fear of extending the Narrative into a second volume has pre vented the insertion of vocabularies of the dialects

PREFACE.

. VII spoken among the mountain tribes to the north of Hindu Kosh. The same dread has deterred me from giving more details of the various countries visited, which considerateness will, I doubt not, be appreciated by the reader. Page 36 54 CONTENTS. Introduction ..... . 1

Chapter I

Embarkation on the Indus — Seaports of Sind— A Dutch gun-brig — Changes in the course of the Indus — Present to the Amirs — Pir Putta — Site and Shrine— T'hat'hah— Manufactures — Antiquity — Falling banks — Fishing on Kinjor Lake— Sonda— Aspect of the country — Alligators — — . Alligator feast — Beluches — Arabs — A shooting-match — ___ Jerk — Arts in Sind — Haiderabad Mausolea — Lakkat— Shooting — Hawking — Archery . . . . .10

Chapter II

Halla — Manufacture of earthenware — Chunniah — Ruins of Khodab_td — Altars of Alexander — Otters — Black par- _ tridge — Castle at Sihwan — River and crops — Absence of trees — Pulla-fish — Fisheries — Dur-myani — Wulli Mohamed Lagharl — Arrival of Dr. Lord — Arore — Mulala — Importunity of Fakirs — Anecdote — B'hkur, Rori, Sukur — Sand-storm — Battle of Sukur — A Mohamedan's beard

Chapter III

Shikarpur — A fair — Shoes — Sindi ignorance — Bad roads — Wheeled vehicles — Predatory tribes — Unsettled country — Remarks — Tiger-prints — Buffaloes — Swimming the Indus — Horned cattle — Herdsmen — Plundered village — Journey to Ahmedpur — Bullock-hackeries — Nawab's palace — Guards — Followers — Warlike appearance — Interview with Bhawul Khan — Bhawulpur — -A French adventurer — Uch — A drunken Afghan — Arrival at Mittun Kote — Indus — Accounts of the river by ancient and modern authors . CONTENTS. X Page 76 90 103

Chapter IV

Mittun-kote — Trial by ordeal— Departure from Mittunkote — Character of the country — Kalends — Arrival at Dhera Ghazi Khan — A trading mart — Wrestling matches- Alteration in the river — Departure for Dhera Ismael Khan — Aspect of the country — Irrigating dams — Earthquake of 1819 — Charitable seeling — A water echo — Takht-i-Suliman

Chapter V

Dhera Ismael Khan — Old and new town — Peasantry in the Dherajdt — Departure from Dhera Ismael Khan — The wild palm — Difficult tracking-ground — Kaffir-kote — Country of the Esaw Kyi — Khan Beg Khdn — Ahmed Khan, chief of the Esaw Kyi — Interview with the chieftain — Dislike to the Seiks — Kurum river — Pebbles in the bed of the Indus — -Arrival at Kalabagh — The Indus during its swell — Submerged island — Unceremonious removals — Pendant nests — Mirage — Bulrush gatherers ....

Chapter VI

Town of Kalabagh — High temperature — River bathing — Amphibious population — Hindu Sunday's amusement — Their general character — Alum works — Arrival of a Seik army — Instructions — Departure for Attock by the river — The Duggah — Swan river — Dinghot — Mukkud — Author's mishap — Town of Mukkud— Influence of rain on the Indus —Bundewan rivulet — Mountain torrents — Dead bodies — Ascent of the river abandoned — Success of the Seiks — Departure for Attock by land— Guide — Sagri Patans — Seik bad faith — Jats and Awans — Arrival at Attock

Chapter VII

Embarkation at Attock — Berri island — An open plain — Hurru river — Mountains — Character of the navigation — Nilib— Ghori Trup whirlpool — Dangerous eddies — Great depth of the river— A Kuttock outwitted — Muncu— Dangers off the Toe river and Soheilee rocks — Dubber mountains — Fearful eddies — The Indus among mountains — In the plain — CONTENTS. XI Page 121 Characteristics of both — Great velocity of the stream — Dreadful when confined — Upward navigation impracticable — Villages on the river .."...

Chapter VIII

Escort — Salt range — A benevolent fakir — Water-stored shed — Pass of Shukur Durah — Village — Bungi Kyi — Agha Maheide — Start for Kohat — Country improves — Banks of the Toe river — Frontier lines — Superstitions — Fine valleys — Shady Kyi— Kohat— Plain— Town — Fort — Seik soldiers — A love-sick youth . . . . .131

Chapter IX

An excursion in the Kuttock country — Misfortunes at starting — Sulphur mines and Naphtha springs — Reflections — A warm bivouac — A Kuttock chief — Gumut village — Religious and social character of Mohamedans — Prayers for rain — Murdered travellers — A horse exorcised — Return to Kohat — Notice of the Kuttocks — Bungush — Kheirulah Khan's durbar — Quit Kohat— Reach Peshawar — Agha Maheide — Kabul river — Visit Attock — Return to Peshawar — Town — A Seik review — Quit Peshawar — Jamrud — Murdered grass-cutters . . . . . .143

Chapter X

Wah gurujl ka fatteh — -Wussulam Alaikum — Grinth — Koran — Rival nations and creeds — Enter Khyber — Seik scalps — Ali Masjid — A character — A mountain torrent — " Topes " — Presents to the Khyberies — Height of mountains — Sufeid Koh — Pine forests — Supply of ice — Province of Nanjhuehar — Surkh Rud, or Red river — Range and Pass of Karkatcha — Enter Kabul — -Mohamed Akbar Khan — Amir Dost Mohamed Khan 157

Chapter XI

Map of Afghanistan — Province of Koh Daman — Kabul race-course — Shukur Durah — A noble prospect — Beauty of the Scenery— Gardens of Danow and Istalaf— Baber's descrip- CONTENTS. Page 173 tion of Istalaf— Great abundance of fruit— Plain of Be gram—Coins—Turkish settlers— Reig Rawan, or the moving sand — Ziarats — Dost Mohamed Khan's belief .

Chapter XII

An Uzbek Ambassador arrives in Kabul — Object of his Mission — His success — Mirza Buddi — The Passes of Hindu Kosh — Make choice of Parwan — Start for Turkistan — Afghan Elchi — A mistake of the Kafila Bashi — Deserted by the Afghan Elchi — Bad roads— Dangers among the mountains — Enter the Parwan valley — Encamp at the foot of the Pass — Guides — Ascend the Pass — Its dangers — Forced to return — Death of the Afghan Elchi * — Hindustanis among the snow — Return to Kabul . . . .184

Chapter XIII

Start by Bamian for Turkistan — A hen-pecked husband — River Helmand— Immigrant Hazaras — Tribes — Allegiance — Hucksters — Hazara females — Depraved hospitality — Hazara family — Anecdote — Pass of Hajikak — Fuel — Pass of Kalu — Pimuri defile — Ruins of Zohawk — Akrobat — Ungracious reception — A ringing stone — Sykan — Assa fcetida — Slave tribute — ■ Kamurd — Reflections — Mirza Buddi's tenantry — Mazar, ziarat of Hazrat Ali — Arrival in Kunduz 196

Chapter XIV

Murad Beg in Durbar — Kunduz— Character of the chief- Uzbeks— Tribes of Tartary — Tajiks — Uzbek intolerance—Influence of the Mullahs— Predestination— Meals —Salutations— Horses— Dogs— Uzbek ladies— Cemeteries — Mohamed Beg's case — Consultations — Obtain leave to trace the Oxus ..... . 213

Chapter XV

Start on an exploratory expedition— Fellow travellers— Gholam Hussein, Abdul Ghuni Yesawal— Servants — Marco Polo— Kunduz Plain— Phenomena— Khana-i-bad— Hos- CONTENTS. XIII Page 240 pitable students — Snug quarters — Reflections—Badakh shies — Colleges of Khana-i-bad — The town — Journey to Talikhan — Character of the road — Nature of the mountains — Koh Umber — Eagles and crows — An embarrassed interview — Reach Talikhan ..... 227

Chapter XVI

Ataluk Khan — A descendant of Alexander the Great — Talikhan sparrows — Kirghis slaves — Market days — Mohamed Cassim Khojah — Pass of Latta-band — Mountain scenery — Superstitions — Kila Afghan — Wolves — Earthquake — Karabolak — Meshid valley — Legend — Agurdurah — Nahwi — Taishkhan — Junasdurah — Wild hogs — Vale of Duraim — Plain of Argu — Reishkhan — Khojah of Kashgar — Chittah — Aspect of country from Latta-band to Chittah — Absence of inhabitants — Dreary appearance— Fyzabad — Reflections — Glen of Kash — Arrival in Jerm .

Chapter XVII

Interview with the governor of Jerm — Start for the Lapis-lazuli mines — A crazy guide — Partridge hunting — An unwelcome reception — The Kokcha river — An iron mine — Shrine of Shah Nassur — Firgamu — Preparations for visiting the mines — A village sacked by Kaffirs — Anecdote of Abdul Ghani — Re-enter Jerm ..... 255

Chapter XVIII

Badakhshis surprised by winter — Their dwellings— Advantages and disadvantages — Expenses of housekeeping — Domestic utensils — Light from reeds — Dress of the Badakhshis — Their character — Winter's employment — Starved partridges — Ahmed Shah — Chinese — A Jew traveller — Novel punishment for theft — An alchymist outwitted — A partridge-hunt on the banks of the Kokcha — Earthquakes — Kaffirs — Dinner-party— Marriage customs — The independent Mirza — The intrepid ironmonger — A faithful dog — Register of the weather ..... CONTENTS. Page 293 317 345

Chapter XIX

Inhabitants of Badakhshan— Tajiks— Kaffers— Mullahs- Good breeding of the lower classes— Grave deportment of Mohamedan children — Arrival of Messengers from Shagnan — Obtain permission to visit the Ruby Mines — Religious discussion — Slave-dealing — Reflections — Start for the Ruby Mines — Execution of criminals — Kokcha river — Khyrabad — Kosh Darow — Keen air — Yowl — Thieving donkeys — A suspicious death — Robat — Ztf-bak — Preparations from milk — Pass of Ish-kashm — Plain of Ish-kashm — A way-worn traveller — Misfortunes of a tribute-levying party — Fail to reach the Ruby Mines — Some account of them .........

Chapter XX

Fall out with Abdal Ghani — Make up the quarrel — A mounted Kirghiz matron — Her steed — The Yak or kash-gow — Ishtrakh — Shah Turai of Kundut — A Kirghiz encampment — Kila Panj — Mineral spring — Issar — Streams from Mastuch and Pamir — Vestig'es of the ancient Fire-worshippers — The Wakhan chief — Difficulties — A Kirghiz escort — Some account of that people — The Kazaks

Chapter XXI

Quit Langer Kish — Enter durah Sir-i-kol — Cold bivouac — March on the frozen river — A meeting — Willows — Snow encampment — Horns of the wild sheep — Snug quarters — A mutiny — Difficult travelling — Accident upon the river — Kirghiz at prayers — Source of the river Oxus — Lake Sir-i-kol — Height of mountains— Sources of many streams —Sounding the lake — Effects of a rarified atmosphere — Pulsations upon Pamir — Snow line — Scarcity of wood —Himalaya and Hindu Kosh chains — The Kutchkar, or wild sheep — The Rass — Return to Langer Kish .

Chapter XXII

Wakhan— Population— Mohamed Rahim Khan— Sources of revenue — Slave dealing — Its evil tendencies — Descendants CONTENTS. XV Page of Alexander the Great — Physical characteristics of the Wakhanis — Their dress and appearance — Vanity of the sex — Domestic animals — Crops and seasons — Houses — Stoves — Fires — Pine slips — Matrimonial squalls — Roshan — Shagnan — Darwaz — Wandering Fakir — A singing entertainment — Spring — Changed aspect of the landscape — The Edd — Arrival at Kunduz . . . 369

Chapter XXIII

Start for Hazrat Imam — Marching — Hazrat Imam — Patients — Dogs — Hunting of pheasants — Murder of the Wakhan chief — Fertility of the banks of the Oxus — Mortality of Kunduz and Hazrat Imam — Uzbek females* — Sharwan — Kila Chap — Ford the Kokcha — Site of Barbarrah — Plain of Turghi-i-Tippa — Jan Kila — Ford the Oxus — Said — Return towards Hazrat Imam — -Inhospitable reception — Find shelter in an old shed — Arrive in Hazrat Imam — Death ofthe Mir's son — Death ofthe Mir — Kunduz — Philanthropy of Moghul emperors — Robbers — Khulm — Samarcand — Export of skins — Furs — Mohamedan saint — Moorcroft — Kunduz ...... 386

Chapter XXIV

Quit Kunduz — Death of Mirza Badi — Shor-Ab rivulet — Plain of Narin — Hindu Kosh — Inderab — Patriarchal manners of a Tajik chief — Reflections — Movements of pastoral tribes — Arrangement for entering Afghanistan — Thermal springs — Crossing the Pass of Khawak — Khawak fort — Panchshir valley — Scenery and inhabitants— Uzbek dislike of pistols — -Arrive in Kabul — Friendly reception by Nawab Jabar Khan — Public feeling — Dost Mohamed Khan — A new acquaintance — Conclusion ....

Introduction

. Since Lieutenant (now Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Alex ander) Burnes' voyage up the Indus to Lahore, in 1830, the Indian government has never relaxed its efforts to procure the fullest details of that stream and the adjacent countries. The information collated by that officer led to negotiations with every potentate who possessed a river-frontage be tween Lahore and the sea; the enlightened object of which was to confer a boon on Asia, by per mitting commerce again to circulate through an artery which barbarism had closed. This desirable arrangement was effected by treaty in April, 1832. It was further necessary to have the sea-board of Sind surveyed ; but the expedienc)r of this was not at first apparent to its suspicious rulers ; nor was the point conceded until the close of 1835. This survey was no easy task ; and for the excellent map of the " Mouths of the Indus" which government now possesses, it is indebted to Lieutenant Carless, of the Indian Navy, whose talents as a surveyor are of no ordinary class. Agha Mohamed Rahim, a Persian merchant of Bombay, was the first to take advantage of the opening of the Indus for the pur- B

INTRODUCTION.

. poses of trade ; and with a view of outstripping all competitors, and reaping largely of the profits which might be expected in this new field of commercial enterprise, he had purchased, and was now about to despatch, a steamer for the river. At the owner's request, and with permission of the government, I took command of this vessel ; and on Saturday, the 31st October, 1835, Dr. Heddle and myself had the proud satisfaction of unfurling our country's flag on the Indus from the first steam-boat that ever floated upon its celebrated waters.* In February, 1836, the steamer returned to Bombay, whilst I was ordered to remain on the Indus, to ascertain its periodical rise, to note the spread of its inundation, and to record such other phenomena as might hereafter be useful to its navi gation. Towards the end of autumn I went down to the mouth of the river to examine whether its channels had been altered by the late floods.

There, among the inundated rice-fields, in the most noxious season of the year, my health gave way before the climate, and I was seized with a fearful dysentery, without the power of obtaining medical advice, or even medicine, until I reached Mandavi ; but a sound constitution enabled me to bear up against the disease. As soon as I was convalescent I started for Bombay, where on my arrival I found Captain Burnes engaged in preparing the com- * The boat was named after the river, and was only of ten horse power.

INTRODUCTION.

. mercial mission which he had been nominated by the Governor- General to conduct into Afghan istan by the river Indus; and on the 9th No vember I had the honour of being appointed by Sir Robert Grant's government an assistant to this mission, as was also Lieutenant Leech, of the Bom bay Engineers. At midnight on Saturday the 26th of November, 1836, the mission left the harbour of Bombay for Kach'h. The coasting craft of India have been often described ; learned essays have been written to prove the antiquity of their form, and moody chapters devoted to the details of their wretched accommodations. Yet, rough as they unquestion ably are, I prefer the open hold of a Kach'h kotiah, for an along-shore voyage, to the wains coted sleeping-berth of the most crack channel steamer, the splendid decorations of which but ill compensate for its heated and oppressive atmo sphere.

On making the land of Kattiwar we ran along its coast, sighting in succession Diu, Somnat'h, and Jaggut, all places of renown in the varied an nals of Hindustan, but contributing more to her shame than glory. The name of the first is asso ciated with the gallant daring of the Portuguese in the early ages of maritime discovery, when the spirit of enterprise kindled by Prince Henry, from his quiet retreat at Sagres, girt Africa and the East with a chain of forts extending from the Straits of b2

INTRODUCTION.

. Gibraltar to Canton. The piety of the Catholic navigator is evidenced by the names he bestowed on newly-discovered lands ; but how far removed from Christian charity has the conduct of Spain and Portugal been towards the realms they con quered both in the Old World and the New ! " As ye sow, so shall ye reap." If we cast a glance across the wide Atlantic, what fair district of the magnificent countries ceded to the first of these powers by mother Church now yields obedience to Spain ? — Not one. What then has she gained by the wise behest of the pontiff Alexander VI. ? — Nothing but poverty and shame — the result of a sordid, grasping, short-sighted policy, which by monopolies shackled legitimate commerce, to the gain of the few, but to the great injury of the manjr ; while, in return for the wealth drained at the price of blood from the aborigines, the mother country made her colonies no remuneration.

Let Britain beware, lest the fate of that once powerful but now degraded nation be her own. She too has been intrusted with many talents, and the day will come when she must answer for their use. History, sacred and profane, modern as well as ancient, shows that the crimes of a nation never escape punishment, and that its only safeguard is in the freedom and religion of its people. " We must not do evil that good may come" is a golden maxim too often reversed in the affairs of a state ; but this, in the government of nations, as in pri-

INTRODUCTION.

. 5 vate life, cannot be done without blemishing the scutcheons of the guilty. It would be an arrangement fraught with great good to India, could the European powers possessing territories in Hindustan be induced to concede, for an equivalent, the sovereignty of those districts to Great Britain. It is not the influence exercised in such isolated spots, nor is it the sight of a foreign flag waving in juxtaposition to our own, that makes this arrangement desirable. But in these days, when India is acknowledged to be at least one of the many anchors of Old England, — when measures are in progress to augment her weal by turning to her shores the millions annually sunk in Ame rica, — the internal polity of our Eastern empire more than ever demands the thoughtful attention of the legislature. The decision of parliament on the Colonial Passengers' Bill, alias the Cooly trade, will be of serious importance to British India ; for while foreign powers possess a footing there it will be easy for the crafty to evade the most searching enactments that a humane government can devise for the protection of its subjects.

Somnat'h is well known to all acquainted with the history of Hindustan as the place where " Mahmud the Destroyer" smote the celebrated Hindu idol, and from which he carried off the sandle-wood gates to Ghizni in Afghanistan. Jaggut is a temple of great reputed sanctity, to which pilgrims resort from furthest India. As

INTRODUCTION.

. vouchers for having been here, it is customary for the impression of a rupee or other coin to be branded on both arms, a little below the shoulders, for imprinting which the Brahmins receive a fee. The principal temple is dedicated to Krishna, and the smaller ones are sacred to Runchoorjee and Goomtee, gods of the Hindu pantheon. Our boat sailed past within a few hundred yards of the shore, and the edifice, from each spire of which a white triangular flag was waving, had a stately appear ance. When passing Jaggut on a former occasion, in the Indus steamer, our Hindu armourer, as a propitiatory offering, took the rings from his fingers and ears and committed them to the deep. He was a poor man, he said, but, had his wealth been thousands of lacs of rupees, he would willingly have sacrificed it all at the shrine of his god.

To facilitate the examination of the Indus, the government of Bombay, at the suggestion of Sir Charles Malcolm, Superintendent of the Indian Navy, had caused a six-oared cutter and punt* to be built, on a plan that promised to be useful in such a river as the Indus was then understood to be. The first, on subsequent trial, answered admirably ; but the last, from the fineness of her lines, was never of much use upon the river. On reaching Mandavi, the seaport of Kach'h, crews were procured for these vessels, and the few days we remained there were * A small boat sharp at both ends.

INTRODUCTION.

. 7 occupied by me in fitting them for service and rating our chronometers. After quitting Mandavi, and as we neared the Sind coast, Captain Burnes gave out written in structions to Lieutenant Leech and myself. The following is a copy of those addressed to me: — At Sea, 12th December, 1836. Sir, As we have now embarked in prosecution ofthe mission to the Indus, I do myself the honour to note, for your observation and guidance, those points to which it is intended that you should specially direct your at tention. 2. You are aware that one of the objects of this ex pedition is to ascend the Indus, from its mouth to Attok, that a more perfect knowledge of the river may be pro cured, as well for the purposes of commerce as of war ; and this important examination I am instructed by the government of India to intrust entirely to you.

In doing so I am sure that the experience which you have acquired by nearly a year's residence on the banks of the Indus, added to your professional skill and well-known assiduity, will be certain to secure the accomplishment of every object contemplated by the Governor-General in Council. 3. It is unnecessary for me to state, in detail, the parti cular nature of your duties ; but, besides the minutest inquiry into the state of the Indus as a navigable river, it will be expected, from the efficient supply of time keepers and surveying instruments, that the latitudes and longitudes throughout should be carefully fixed ; and, in this part of your duties, I have instructed Lieutenant

INTRODUCTION.

. Leech, of the Engineers, to associate himself with you, and give you all aid and assistance in your observations. 4. The instructions which I have received from the government of India draw my attention " to the facility which the country in the neighbourhood of the river affords for the supply of coal, as a most important point," which I also beg you will keep in view. In addition to this, it would be desirable for you to note everywhere the nature of the wooden fuel procurable on the banks, or within an available distance ; the quantity and quality of it; what descriptions of it are best adapted to the use of steam-boats ; and finally to give the result of your inquiry, that, if coal were not procurable in the valley of the Indus, steamers might rely upon the wooden fuel procurable on it, or, if not, what means present themselves to you of obviating this inconvenience. 5.

Engaged as you now are on a duty which is not altogether free from risk, whether by accidents on the river or otherwise, it appears to me exceedingly desirable that you should embrace every opportunity of transmitting your notes and observations, particularly your longitudes, latitudes, and measurements of the river, to some safe place of keeping ; and none occurs to me more suited to the purpose than the office of Sir Charles Malcolm, the Superintendent of the Indian Navy, where they will be preserved with care, and no pubhc use made of them till your return. In the event of losing any of your notes, you will thus have an opportunity of replacing them. 6. In the foregoing paragraphs I have confined my self to sketching out the general nature of your duties, but you will, of course, note particularly the breadth and depth of the stream, the strength of its current, the means of crossing it by boats, the number which may be found on it and its canals, &c. &c. ; but besides these there

INTRODUCTION.

. are many subjects of interest in a country that is in part so Httle explored, to which you might direct your attention with advantage. Your own turn of mind can only suggest such inquiries to you ; and while we perform the duty which has been intrusted to us, it is still to be borne in mind that we have it in our power to combine, with the correct discharge of that duty, the advancement of general knowledge. I have the honour to be, Sir, Your most obedient humble servant, Alex. Burnes, On a Mission to Sind, &c. To Lieut. John Wood, Indian Navy, Assistant to a Mission -proceeding to the Indus.

Chapter I

Embarkation on the Indus— Seaports of Sind— A Dutch gun-brig — Changes in the course of the Indus — Present to the Amirs — Pir Putta — Site and Shrine — T'hat'hah — Manufactures — Antiquity — Falling banks — Fishing on Kinjor Lake — Sonda— Aspect of the country — Alligators — Alligator feast— Beluches — Arabs — A shooting-match — Jerk — Arts in Sind — Haiderabdd Mausolea — Lakkat — Shooting — Hawking — Archery. The depressed shore of Sind offers no remarkable object to the mariner's eye. The coast-line is sub merged at spring-tides, when the delta of the Indus resembles a low champagne tract of verdure, with tufts of mangrove dotted along its seaward edge ; and the approach to the embouchure of this far famed stream has a dreary and unpromising aspect. Entering by the Hajamari mouth, we wound up its tortuous channel to Bander-Vikkar on Saturday the 17th of December, and there exchanged our sea going boats for the Sindian dundi, or river craft.