Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3) / Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833

by Sir Alexander Burnes

THE RUN.

Run of Cutch.

In the course of my observations on the Indus, I found myself drawn into many inquiries regarding the Run of Cutch, to which that river adjoins; for if the alterations in the river afforded room for remark, there was also much to be said on the Run, which is a tract, I believe, without a counterpart in the globe. In length, the Run extends from the Indus to the western confines of Guzerat, a distance of about 200 British miles. In breadth, it is about thirty-five miles; but there are, besides, various belts and ramifications, which give it an extent of about 7000 square miles. It is accurately delineated in the map. The whole tract may truly be said to be a “terra hospitibus ferox;” fresh water is never to be had any where but on islands, and there it is scarce; it has no herbage, and vegetable life is only discernible in the shape of a stunted tamarisk bush, which thrives by its suction of the rain water that falls near it. It differs as widely from what is termed the sandy desert, as it differs from the cultivated plain; neither does it resemble the Steppes of Russia; but may be justly considered of a nature peculiar to itself. It has been denominated a marsh by geographers, which has given rise to many erroneous impressions regarding it. It has none of the characteristics of one: it is not covered or saturated with water, but at certain periods; it has neither weeds nor grass in its bed, which, instead of being slimy, is hard, dry, and sandy, of such a consistency as never to become clayey, unless from a long continuance of water on an individual spot; nor is it otherwise fenny or swampy. It is a vast expanse of flat, hardened, sand, encrusted with salt sometimes an inch deep (the water having been evaporated by the sun), and at others, beautifully crystallized in large lumps. So much is the whole surrounding country corrupted by this exuberance of salt, that all the wells dug on a level with the Run become salt. The depression of the Run below the level of the surrounding country at once suggests the probability of its being a dried up lake or sea.

Mirage of the Run.

Nowhere is that singular phenomenon, the mirage or surab of the desert, seen with greater advantage than in the Run. The natives aptly term it smoke[35]; the smallest shrubs at a distance assume the appearance of forests; and on a nearer approach, sometimes that of ships in full sail, at others that of breakers on a rock. In one instance I observed a cluster of bushes, which looked like a pier, with tall-masted vessels lying close to it; and on approaching, not a bank was near the shrubs to account for the deception. From the Run, the hills of Cutch appear more lofty, and to have merged into the clouds, their bases being obscured by vapour. The wild ass[36] is the only inhabitant of this desolate region; they roam about in flocks, “scorning the multitude of the city, and make the wilderness and barren lands their dwelling.” Their size does not much exceed that of the common ass, but, at a short distance, they sometimes appear as large as elephants. While the sun shines, the whole surrounding space of Run resembles a vast expanse of water—the appearance it commonly assumes—and which is only to be distinguished from real water by those who are long habituated to such visionary illusions. When the sun is not shining, the Run appears higher at a distance; but this has been remarked of the sea, and other extensive sheets of water, and is also to be accounted for in the deception of vision.

Traditions regarding the Run.

The natives of Cutch, Mahommedans as well as Hindoos, believe that the Run was formerly a sea; and a tradition is in the mouth of every one, that a Hindoo saint, by name Dhoorumnath, a Jogee[37], underwent penance by standing on his head for twelve years on the summit of Denodur, one of the highest hills in Cutch, which overlooks the Run. When his penance terminated, God became visible to him, the hill on which he stood split in two, and the adjacent sea (the present Run) dried up; the ships and boats which then navigated it were overturned, its harbours destroyed, and many wonderful events happened. There is no race of people who have recourse to supernatural agency in their chronicles, more than the natives of India; and, to those accustomed to enquire into them, the circumstances just recorded will appear as the graft of one of their tales on some real event which has actually occurred, and is thus transmitted to posterity. Considering the frequent occurrence of earthquakes in Cutch, the volcanic appearance of’ its hills, and the lava which covers the face of the country, it is to a convulsion of nature, in all probability, that we are to attribute the foundation of such a tradition.

Concurring traditions.

The natives, however, carry their traditions beyond the vague legends of a saint, and point out at this day different positions, said to have been harbours, in the Run of Cutch. At Nerona, which is a village about twenty miles NNW. of Bhooj the capital, and close to the Run, there is said to have been a sea-port, which is thus described in the poesy of the country:—

“Nerona nuggartur

Judhee Goontree Chitrano.”

In other words, that Nerona was a sea-port (tur), when Goontree (an ancient city in Cutch) flourished in the neighbouring district of Chitrano. At Charee, a village westward of Nerona, and on the Run, there is also a like tradition. The people of the Puchum, the largest island on the Run, have similar traditions, and speak of boats having been wrecked on the hills of the island; also that there were considerable harbours near them, called Dorut, Doh or Dohee, and Phangwuro, which are yet pointed out to the westward of Puchum. Bitaro, a small place on the high road to Sinde, between Cutch and “Ullah Bund,” is also said to have been a sea-port, and I could point out several others. Nor are the traditions less concurrent on the Sinde, or northern side of the Run: Veego-gud, near “Ullah Bund,” is said to have been the principal sea-port, and its brick ruins are yet visible. Vingur and Ballyaree, which lie eastward, claim likewise the same privileges. This sea had the name of “Kiln;” nor do I believe that the testimony of so many people, regarding it, can be discredited, informed as I was of these traditions by different persons, who had no communication with one another.

Effects of a late earthquake on the Run.

The effects of the earthquake of 1819 have been already mentioned, in so far as relates to the country adjoining the Indus; but occurrences of an equally singular nature happened farther eastward. It made numerous cracks or fissures in the Run; and I state, on the authority of eye-witnesses, that immense quantities of black, muddy water were ejected from these openings for a period of three days, and that the water bubbled out of the wells of the tract bordering on the Run, called Bunnee, till it overwhelmed the country in some place with six, and even ten feet of water. The shepherds with difficulty saved themselves and their flocks. During this time numerous pieces of iron and ship-nails were thrown up at Phangwuro, the sea-port before mentioned; and similar things have been since found in the same neighbourhood while digging tanks. I give this fact on the authority of respectable men at Nurra, who also assured me that nothing of the kind had ever been discovered before the earthquake of 1819.

Flooding of the Run.

The grand Run of Cutch is that part which lies between Sinde and the islands of Puchum and Khureer, the other parts being but ramifications of it. It has a communication with the sea both on the east and west, by means of the Gulf of Cutch and a branch of the Indus, and it is flooded from both these openings as soon as the south-westerly winds set in, about April each year. When local rain falls and moistens the Run, the sea enters with great rapidity, and insulates the province of Cutch for some months; but even without rain the greater portion of the Run is annually flooded. The level of the Run is obviously higher than the sea, since it requires strong winds to blow the waters of the ocean over it.

Configuration of the Run borders.

We must now attend to the configuration of the Run. In the north-eastern extremity of Cutch, it will be observed that a chain of hills overhangs the Run at Bheyla: they are about 300 feet high, and terminate abruptly. The islands of Khureer and Puchum lie due west of this range, and are not only composed of the same sort of ironstone as the Bheyla hills, but have similar ranges running through their northern extremities, which terminate, particularly at Khureer, in a bluff and abrupt outline towards the Run. Khureer is six miles westward of Cutch, and Puchum is about sixteen from Khureer; westward of Puchum there are a few low and sandy islets on the Run, and south of it lies the Bunnee, an extensive tract of grassland, of greater elevation than the Run, but not sufficiently so to yield grain. It has many wells, and is inhabited by a pastoral race. South of Khureer there are also many islands, the largest of which is Gangta, and covered with rocky hills. Between Guzerat and Cutch the Run is narrow; at Addysir it is but a mile and a half wide to the island of Chorar. Here there is a deposit of shells and marine matter, a carbonate of lime mixed with other substances; it has a red and yellow petrified appearance, takes on a tolerably good polish, and from which some members of the faithful pretend to read Arabic words, or letters of the Koran. It was used in the mosaic works of all the Moghul emperors, and is commonly called Dookur-warra marble by Europeans. North of the Bheyla hills lies Parkur, a district peninsulated by the Run, having the lofty hills of Kalinjur, of a formation differing from Cutch, where they are almost all sandstone. They are primitive rocks, rising in small cones one upon another, as if they had dropped from the clouds; the summit is composed of trap, which extends for about a third of the way down, and the base is red granite, which rings when struck. These hills are separated from Cutch by a low tract of the Run, upwards of thirty miles broad, without an intervening bush. The whole northern face of Cutch, from Bheyla on the east to Lucput on the west, presents, with a few exceptions, either a rocky or an elevated bank. From Nurra to Lucput the rocks terminate abruptly, and form what would be called capes, cliffs, and promontories, if the water washed under them. When the immediate vicinity of the Run is not of this description, it stretches inland, exactly as water would do when not resisted.

Run supposed to have been an inland sea.

The sea is receding from the southern shores of Cutch; and I believe it is a generally received conclusion, that there is a depression of its level throughout the globe, though in some places it has risen. We may, therefore, suppose the ocean to have receded from the Run of Cutch, and that that tract was at one time a navigable sea. That the natives should attribute so great a change in a part of their country to the influence of a Jogee, is not wonderful. A body of these persons has been long settled in Cutch. They are a philanthropic and hospitable body of men, who permit no one of any persuasion to leave their door hungry, and they are blessed with plenty. Like the monks in Europe in former days, these Jogees are the repository of history and traditions, and it may be their careful preservation of them, which has given rise to the belief that the alterations in the Run were accomplished in the time of Dhoorumnath, the founder of their order. In proof of this, they have a tradition that the ancestors of the present rulers of Cutch were once a class of poor shepherds from Samee (Tatta), in Sinde, and fed their flocks, till patronised by the Denodur Jogees, who raised them to be Rajahs of the country. So far is this true, the Rajpoots of Cutch did come from Tatta, and did tend herds of cattle in Cutch; but they were certainly not raised to their present elevation by the intercession of some Hindoo monks; yet such is the alteration which a story undergoes, in the course of four hundred years.[38]