A Narrative of a Visit to the Court of Sinde; A Sketch of the History of Cutch, from Its First Connexion with the British Government in India Till the Conclusion of the Treaty of 1819 and Some Remarks on the Medical Topography of Bhooj (Paperback)

Purchase of this book includes free trial access to www.million-books.com where you can read more than a million books for free. This is an OCR edition with typos. Excerpt from book: REMARKS ON ALEXANDER'S ROUTE. Appended to the copy of the narrative, which I had lately the honour of forwarding to government, were several memoranda respecting the Indus and my route after I left its banks; but, as most of these appear to me neither interesting nor important, I deem it unnecessary now to transcribe them. The following crude observations, or rather fancies, which were hastily committed to paper, during my passage down the river, I shall allow, however, to remain, not only from the natural desire which every person who visits Sinde must feel to say something regarding the Indus, but also as they may assist some other gentleman who may be disposed to prosecute so interesting an inquiry as the geography of Alexander's route. It will be seen that my opinions are founded chiefly on the supposition that the river is now nearly the same as the Greeks found it, above two thousand years ago; than which, I need scarcely say, nothing can be more uncertain. I felt a strong desire to collect a number of facts regarding the Indus; and during my stay in Sinde, as well as since my return, I have examined several natives on the subject; but all I can gather from them are accounts of its inconstancy, and of the many and sudden changes it has undergone, even in the short period of their personal experience. A very intelligent young native of Khorasan, whom I brought with me from Hyderabad, where he had resided many years, in explaining to me this peculiarity of the river, said, it was so little to be depended on, that a person embarking at any of the higher stations with the intention of proceeding by a particular stream to the sea, could not be certain of finding the branch below Tatta he proposed tonavigate, and of the existence of which he had been assured a few days previo...