The Shekhawuttees owe tribute and military service to the Raja of Jypore; it was by the assistance of that government that they were enabled, at no very remote period, to wrest their present territory from the Kyaunkhaunees, a tribe of converted Hindoos.

A few miles beyond the Shekhawuttee border, we entered the territories of the Raja of Bikaneer. This Raja is perhaps the least important of the five princes of Raujpootauna. Those of Jypoor and Joudpoor, are at the head of considerable states; the reduced power of the Raja of Oudipoor is kept from insignificance by his high rank and the respect which is paid him; but the territories of the Rajas of Jesselmeer and Bikaneer, are merely the most habitable parts of the desart, and, consequently, have little to boast in population or resources. The Raja of Bikaneer's revenue only amounts to £50,000, but, as his troops are paid by assignments of land, he was able to keep up 2000 horse, 8000 foot, and thirty-five pieces of field artillery, even after the defeat he had suffered

twigs, which terminate in bunches of the same material, but still softer and fuller of sap. It bears clusters of flowers, which are eaten by the natives, and has its seed in a pod. It is the favourite food of the camel, whom it in some measure indemnifies for the long privation of water which he is often obliged to suffer in the desart. It was first seen to the west of Canound, and continued throughout the whole of the sands.

previous to my arrival at his capital. The style of his court also was very far from indicating the poverty of his government. His frontier

place towards the Shekhawuttee, and consequently the first part of his territories which we approached, was Chooroo, which may be reckoned the second town in his dominions. It is near a mile and a half round, without counting its large but mean suburbs; and though situated among naked sand-hills, it has a very handsome appearance. The houses are all terraced, and both they and the walls of the town are built of a kind of lime-stone, of so pure a white, that it gives an air of great neatness to every thing composed of it. It is however soft, and crumbles into a white powder, mixed here and there with shells. It is found in large beds in many parts of the desart. The chief of Chooroo is a dependent rather than a subject of the Raja of Bikaneer.

The Shekhawuttee country seems to lose its title to be included in the desart, when compared with the two hundred and eighty miles between its western frontier and Bahawulpoor, and, even of this, only the last hundred miles is absolutely destitute of inhabitants, water, or vegetation. Our journey from the Shekhawut frontier to Pooggul, a distance of one hundred and eighty miles, was over hills and valleys of loose and heavy sand. The hills were exactly

like those which are sometimes formed by the wind on the sea-shore, but far exceeding them in their height, which was from twenty to one hundred feet. They are said to shift their positions, and to alter their shapes, according as they are affected by the wind; and in summer, the passage of many parts of the desart is said to be rendered dangerous by the clouds of moving sand; but when I saw the hills (in winter), they seemed to have a great degree of permanence, for they bore a sort of grass, besides Phoke, and the thorny bushes of the Baubool, and the Bair, or Jujube, which altogether gave them an appearance that sometimes amounted to verdure. Among the most dismal hills of sand, one occasionally meets with a village, if such a name can be given to a few round huts of straw, with low walls and conical roofs, like little stooks of corn. These are surrounded by hedges of thorny branches stuck in the sand, which, as well as the houses, are so dry, that if they happened to catch fire, the village would be reduced to ashes in five minutes. These miserable abodes are surrounded by a few fields, which depend for water on the rains and dews, and which bear thin crops of the poorest kind of pulse, and of Bajra, or Holcus Spicatus, and this last, though it flourishes in the most sterile countries, grows here with difficulty, each stalk several feet from its neighbour. The wells are often three hun

dred feet deep, and one was three hundred and forty-five feet. With this enormous depth, some were only three feet in diameter; the water is always brackish, unwholesome, and so scanty, that two bullocks working for a night, easily emptied a well. The water was poured into reservoirs lined with clay, which our party drank dry in an instant after its arrival. These wells are all lined with masonry. The natives have a way of covering them with boards, heaped with sand, that effectually conceals them from an enemy. In the midst of so arid

a country, the water-melon, the most juicy of fruits, is found in profusion. It is really a subject of wonder to see melons three or four feet in circumference, growing from a stalk as slender as that of the common melon, in the dry sand of the desart. They are sown, and perhaps require some cultivation, but they are scattered about to all appearance as if they grew wild.

The common inhabitants are Jauts. The upper classes are Rathore Raujpoots. The former are little, black, and ill-looking, and bear strong appearances of poverty and wretchedness. The latter are stout and handsome, with hooked noses, and Jewish features. They are haughty in their manners, very indolent, and almost continually drunk with opium.

which last are kept in numerous herds, and are used to carry loads, to ride on, and even to plough. Of the wild animals, the desart rat deserves to be mentioned for its numbers, though not for its size; the innumerable holes made by these animals where the ground is solid enough to admit of it, are indeed a serious inconvenience to a horseman, whom they distress even more than the heavy sand. It is more like a squirrel than a rat, has a tuft at the end of its tail, and is often seen sitting upright, with its fore-feet crossed like a kangaroo. It is not unlike the jerboa, but is much less, and uses all its feet. It is not peculiar to the desart, being found in most sandy places on the west of the Jumna. Antelopes are found in some parts, as is the goorkhur, or wild ass, so well depicted in the book of Job.* This animal is sometimes found alone, but oftener in herds. It resembles a mule rather than an ass, but is of the colour of the latter. It is remarkable for its shyness, and still more for its speed at a kind of shuffling trot peculiar to itself, it will leave the fleetest horses behind. The foxes may also be men.

* Who has sent out the wild ass free? or who has loosed the bonds of the wild ass? whose house I have made the wilderness, and the barren land his dwellings: he scorneth the multitude of the city, neither regardeth he the crying of the driver. The range of the mountains is his pasture, and he searches after every green thing. Job, xxxix. 5, 6, 7, and 8.