194 OVERLAND TO INDIA CHAP.
dry ; at the town, Summiani, slightly brackish well water ; provisions and fodder in abundance. The 2 1st : sandhills, swamp formed after rain ; a camp, a thicket, a village with cultivated land ; from the Poor Ali river to the village Buddo, where the camp was pitched, sweet water in
abundance and of good flavour ; after heavy rain the Poor ~
Ali overflows its banks.
December 23. Jungle, grass, and river water ; sandhills ; sufficient pasture for camels. The 24th : a well, a dry bed ; at the camp fodder for horses and camels and brackish water from a river-bed. 25th : thriving cultivators and cattle-owners. " Nor did their cattle appear to want food or water." " The supplies of water from the hill streams must give fertility to the valleys ; if not in grain cultivation, at least in grass and fodder." At the camp a well with insufficient water, but good water at a distance of two or four miles. 27th : sandy level ground ; good grazing for horses ; three dry river-beds, one of which was 18 feet deep and 5o feet broad. 28th : sandhills and erosion furrows from the hills ; at the camp plenty of water from the Hingor river ; sufficient fodder and grazing ; provisions obtained from an Indian merchant living here. On the 31st camped again on the Hingor river.
January I, 1862. " Narrow ravines and valleys, more or less decked with vegetation." But the road on this day's march was very bad. " It is quite certain that this zigzag winding route would be wholly impracticable for troops, except in continued fair weather. Heavy rain would be fatal to the progress of an army, and commissariat and ambulance arrangements, to be effective, would demand ari enormous retinue of followers." The camping-ground was called Shir Koomb or the " sweet water basin," where the water was good and plentiful, but fodder and grass barely enough.
The next two stages were fair. Sometimes what the country supplied would not have sufficed for a larger party than Goldsmid's force. On the 4th the Gorud river was crossed with 4 feet of water on the farther side and swamp on the near side ; sandhills everywhere. The camp was pitched that day at Ormara, a small town of 300 houses
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