In the evening we had a parting interview with Bhawul Khan. I gave him a handsome percussion gun; and assured him, what I felt most sincerely, that we should long remember his kindness and hospitality. He embraced us on our leaving him; and intreated us to write to him and command his services. The courtiers and people were as polite as their chief.
We left Ooch on the following morning, and pitched our camp at the junction of the Chenab with the Garra, or united streams of the Beas and Sutlege.
Mountains of Sooliman.
The country about Ooch is flat and exceedingly rich; there are many signs of inundation between the town and the river. The dust was most intolerable; but it always cleared up towards evening, and we saw the sun set in splendour behind the mountains of Sooliman across the Indus, eighty miles distant. They did not appear high, and were not distinguished by any remarkable peaks. It is a little below the latitude of Ooch that they assume a direction parallel to the Indus, which they afterwards preserve. We lost sight of the range on our voyage to Mooltan the day after leaving Ooch.
Embouchure of the Sutlege.
On the morning of the 7th we passed the mouth of the Sutlege, and continued our voyage on the Chenab to the frontiers of Bhawul Khan, which we reached on the evening of the 8th. The Chenab receives the Sutlege without turmoil, and appears quite as large above as below the conflux. The waters of either river are to be distinguished some miles below the junction by their colour: that of the Chenab is reddish; and, when joined by the Sutlege, the waters of which are pale, the contrast is remarkable. For some distance the one river keeps the right, and the other the left, bank; the line of demarcation between the two being most decided. The nature of the soil through which the Chenab flows, no doubt, tinges its waters. This peculiarity is well known to the natives, who speak of the “red water,” but none of the ancient authors allude to the circumstance. The nature of the country between Ooch and the Indus has been mistaken, as it is never flooded. Several decayed canals, if cleared, would yet lead the water of the Chenab to the Indus, and may account for Major Rennell’s conducting that river into the great stream, so many miles above the true point of union, until the geographical error was rectified by the mission to Cabool.
The Mihmandar.
We parted with our Mihmandar, Gholam Cadir Khan, before passing into the Seik territory. We had seen a great deal of him, and found him well informed on all such subjects as he could be supposed to know. He carried four or five historical works with him, among which was the Chuchnamu, or History of Sinde, to which I have alluded, one or two books on medicine, and some volumes of poetry: yet he made a most particular request, at our last interview, that I would tell him the secret of magic, which he was certain we possessed. I assured him of the error under which he laboured: “But,” said he, “how is it that you have had a favourable wind ever since I met you, and performed a twenty days’ voyage in five, when a breath of air does not sometimes stir in this country for months?” I told him that such was the good fortune of the English. When the Nawaub found me wanting in the black art, he whispered that he himself was a dealer in spells and magic; but very sensibly added, that he had no faith in his own incantations, high as they stood in the opinion of others; though it was not his part to say so. He begged I would give him some medicine to prevent him growing fatter; but neither regular exercise, nor vinegar, which I prescribed, seemed to suit his taste. What a whimsical creature man is. In Sinde, every person of rank seeks for rotundity to support his dignity; and but a few miles from that country, the “martyr to obesity” is considered unfortunate.
There is little cordiality subsisting between the Seiks and Bhawul Khan; and it was with the utmost difficulty that I prevailed on the Nawaub to let us proceed to the Seik camp, a distance of six miles, in the boats belonging to his master. “The Seiks,” he said, “are my master’s enemies, and no boat of ours shall cross their frontier.” He at last assented, on my becoming answerable for the return of the vessels.
Runjeet Sing’s country.