of the Introduction. The fort of Ammercot, the retreat of the Emperor Humaioon, and the birth place of his fon Acbar (page lvii) is fituated within this defert. In the Ayin Acbaree, it is claffed as belonging to the Nufferpour divifion, of the province of Sindy Ferifhta reckons it about 100 coffes from Tatta. It may reasonably be fuppofed that this defert contains many habitable tracts or iflands, within it, like the OASES* of the Lybian deferts. The city of Tatta, the pofition of which we have described above, was, in the last century, very extenfive and populous, and was a place of great trade; poffeffing manufactures of filk, carmania wool, and cotton: and was alfo celebrated for its cabinet ware. Little of thefe now remain; and the limits of the city are very much circumfcribed. On the fhores of the Indus, above the delta, confiderable quantities of faltpetre are made: and within the hilly tract, which commences about three miles on the N W of Tatta, are found mines of iron, and falt. The ruins of a city, fuppofed to be Braminabad, lie within 4 miles of Tatta. The river Indus and its branches, admit of an uninterrupted navigation from Tatta to Moultan, Lahore, and Cashmere, for veffels of near 200 tons; and a very extenfive trade was carried on between those places, in the time of Aurungzebe: but at present very little of this trade remains, owing to a bad government in Sindy; and probably to the hoftile difpofition of the Seiks, the prefent poffeffors of Moultan and Lahore. Capt. Hamilton fays that boats came from Lahore to Tatta, in 12 days. Had Ferofe's canal1 been completed, there would have been an inland navigation from Tatta to Bengal, and Affam. (See page 72.) The reader will recollect that Nadir Shah, in 1739, obtained a ceffion of the province of Sindy, as well as the rest of the Indian provinces, lying on the weft of the Indus: and he even vifited See Savary's Letters on Egypt. Tatta. : Tatta. Abdalla, when he feized on the provinces, which comof the abdall pofe is prefent empire, retained the fovereignty of Sindy alfo and the Prince of this province, is accordingly, tributary to the prefent King of Candahar, Timur Shah*. The Prince is a Mahomedan, and of Abaffynian extraction: his usual place of refidence is at the fort of Hydrabad, fituated on the Indus, not far above the head of the delta; and in the neighbourhood of the city of Nufferpour. The Hindoos, who were the original inhabitants of Sindy, and were reckoned to outnumber the Mahomedans, in the proportion of 10 to 1, in Capt. Hamilton's time, are treated with great rigour by their Mahomedan Governors; and are not permitted to erect any pagodas, or other places of worhip: and this feverity drives vaft numbers of them into other countries. The gentleman from whom I had my information concerning the delta of the Indus, &c. went up the Indus as far as the city of Bhakor (or Behker) which is about two-thirds of the way to Moultan. He obferved the moveable towns or villages on the banks of the river (noticed by Nearchus, and the Ayin Acbaree fee Introduction page xxx). Some of these are the habitations of fishermen, and others of graziers: and they are constantly changing their pofitions like a camp. Few rivers abound more with fish than the Indus does; and among these, are some very delicious forts. Among the various tribes, that inhabit the hilly tracts bordering on the western side of the Indus, there is according to my friend's account, one of the name of Nomurdy. They are of the Mahomedan religion; are freebooters, and very troublesome to the villagers, and travellers. The Ayin Acbaree alfo takes particular notice of this tribe; and states its ftrength to be 7000 infantry, and 300 horsemen (about the year 1560). This being a part of the tract Mr. Frafer, in his account of Nadir Shah, gives a copy of the partition treaty, by which the Nulla Sunkra, or Sunkra river was to be the common boundary between Hindooftan and the Perfian provinces, near the mouth of the Indus. It may then, be inferred, that the ea tern branch of the Indus is named the Sunkra river. named named INDO-SCYTHIA by the ancients, a doubt arifes whether they may not be the defcendants of the Scythian NOMADES; if the Scythians on the borders of Mount Imaus, did really call themfelves by that name; and that it was not a term applied to them by the Greeks*, alone. It may also be a question whether the graziers abovementioned, may not have derived their custom of moving their habitations, from Scythian ancestors: for the custom, as far as I know, does not prevail in the rest of India. The upper part of the course of the Indus, is taken from M. D'Anville's map of Afia; as I know of no better authority. The towns on its banks are taken chiefly from the itinerary, mentioned in page 68; as is alfo the point of conflux of the Setlege (or Suttuluz) with the Indus. The latitude of Behker is given at 27° 12′ in this itinerary, which I have corrected to 27° 32′; for reasons given in pages 68 and 80. Finding Hajykan mentioned as one of the districts belonging to Sindy, in the Ayin Acbaree, and it being very clear that a large province of the fame name, lies on the west of the Indus oppofite to Moultan, I can no otherwise reconcile these two accounts, than by supposing that Hajykan extends southward, along the Indus, until it meets the borders of Sindy; and that a small part of it was subject to Sindy. In this case, the province of Behker must be confined chiefly to the caft fide of the Indus. No part of Hajykan is reckoned to belong either to Moultan or Candahar; in the Ayin Acbaree: Cutch, is a territory of confiderable extent, fituated on the foutheaft of Sindy; the eastern branch of the Indus feparating the two The following paffage occurs in M. D'Anville's Eclairciffemens Géographiques fur la Carte de l'Inde, p. 42. "On ignore le temps auquel les Scythes font venus occuper le Sindi. Dans le Périple de la mer Erythrée, la ville de Minnagara, la même que Manfora †, eft qualifiée de capitale de la Scythie. Denys Périegète dit, que les Scythes méridionaux, habitent fur le fleuve Indus. Euftathe les nomme Indo-Scythes: & ce que Ptolémée appelle Indo-Scythie remonte le long de l'Indus jusqu' au fleuve Coas .. • The Arabian sea, or sea of Omman. + Bhakor or Behker, is the fame with the ancient Manfora-Ayin Acbaree. That which runs by Nagaz, and falls into the Indus a confiderable distance below Attock; and which, according to my idea, is the Hir of the Perfians. coun countries. It extends along the northern coaft of the gulf of Cutch, and is feparated from Guzerat, by the Puddar river, or one of its branches. The prefent capital, and refidence of its Rajah, is Boodge-boodge; and appears to be the place named Booz in Mr. Hornby's map, where it is placed about 34 G. miles to the eastward or ESE of the eastern branch of the Indus. Cutch is compofed chiefly of hills, woods, and fandy wilds: and we are utterly ignorant of any particulars relating to the interior part of it. The mouths of feveral rivers appear in the map of its coast: 'and the ancient maps describe the Puddar river as discharging itself into the gulf of Cutch, through these openings. It is poffible that the river formed by the Caggar and other ftreams, may discharge itself by one or more of these openings; unless it lofes itself in the fands of the defert, which borders on the north of Cutch, adt mi On the fouth coaft of the gulf of Cutch is a district inhabited by a piratical tribe named Sangarians, who cruise for merchant thips, as far to the weft as the entrance of the gulf of Perfia. The capi tal of this ftate, is Noanagur; and Bate (or Bait) and Aramroy, are its principal ports. The Ayin Acbaree takes notice of the founding of Noanagur, by a Rajah who was driven out of Cutch, about 280 years ago: and fays that the territory in which it is fituated, is named Little Cutch. No mention is made of Sangarians, in the fame book: nor of any piracies being committed by the people of Noanagur. Nearchus names certain parts of the country between the mouth of the Indus and the river Arabius, Sangada and Saranga; but the tract was too confined, to be the abode of a nation. M. D'Anville fuppofes that the country of Sangada*, was the fame with the modern Sangara: if fo, the Sangarians must first have removed from the western, to the eastern fide, of the Indus; and afterwards Eclairciffemens. page 42, must must also have croffed the gulf of Cutch. The latter fact, feems verified by the Ayin Acbaree. I cannot omit to obferve, in this place, how exactly the pofition and defcription of the haven, named by Nearchus, the port of Alexander; and which had an island near it, named Crocola; agrees with that of Crotchey: and proves inconteftibly, by the circumftance of the proximity of the mountains to the fea coast, when the fleet had advanced only 150 ftadia from the mouth of the Indus, that Nearchus failed out of the western branch of that river. However, one might conclude, from Arrian's account of Alexander's voyage down the two branches below Pattala, that he fixed on the easternmost branch, for Nearchus's fleet to proceed through, to the ocean; as Arrian calls it the left branch: but the circumftance of Alexander's landing, with a party of horse, and proceeding three days along the coaft, in the direction that his fleet was to fail, that is, weftward, overthrows fuch a fuppofition entirely: for no one will fuppofe that he chofe to march a party of horse three days, along the coast of the delta, where he must have been continually interrupted by deep rivers and creeks. CORRECTION of the COAST of ORISSA, in the MAP. THE arrival of Capt. Ritchie in England, has enabled me to correct that part of the coaft, between the mouth of the Kannaka river (on the north of Point Palmiras) and the most southern branch of the Mahanuddy, or Cattack river; from a tracing of that coast, made by Capt. Ritchie, by order of Mr. Haftings. From this chart it appears, that Point Palmiras is further to the eastward, in refpect of Jagarnaut and Balafore, than is warranted by the materials, |