ome difficulty in passing; it is much more spread out
and subdivided, and from this circumstance, will occasion difficulty in
tracking up. The banks are low and generally within reach of inundation:
scarcely a village is to be seen; and _Jhow_ is the most uniform feature.
Yesterday evening saltpetre was visible in abundance on some of the
higher banks, and on these _Phulahi_, _Jhow_, a Composita, and Salsola?
or Chenopodium were observed. Since the 10th, the few boats seen are of
different structure from those to which we had been accustomed; they are
flat, less wide, and much better fastened together, elevated at both
ends; they are propelled as well as guided by the rudder, which is
curved, so as to bring it within reach of the helmsman, who is on a level
with the bottom of the boat. Very little cultivation: Tassin's Map of
but little use, as few of the names are recognised by the boatmen or
villagers.

Paukputtea was passed to-day; it is the shrine of a _fakeer_, and one in
great repute, as passing through a particular gate is supposed to
authorize one to claim admittance into Paradise. The Moulavee
consequently has proceeded there in full faith and extravagant joy: with
natives of the east such absurdities are to the full as much believed by
the educated as by the uneducated; indeed the former are much the more
bigoted of the two. The _fakeer_ alluded to, not only lived for years on
a block of wood carved into the likeness of a loaf, but subsequently
suspended himself for several years in a well, without even the wooden
loaf. He is then said to have disappeared, and is no doubt now enjoying
all the pleasures of a Mohammedan paradise. We were detained by strong
winds at a small village opposite Paukputtea, which is situated on rather
high ground, as far as could be judged from the distance.

_13th_.--The cultivation round this village consists of wheat, radishes,
a sort of mustard cultivated for its oily seeds, and the Mehta of
Hindoostan. Among the fields I picked up a Melilotus, a Melilotoid, and
a genuine Medicago, which is also found at Loodianah, both these last are
wild, and their occurrence is as curious as it is interesting; the latter
being a decidedly boreal form. In connection with these annuals I have
to observe, that most flower about January or February, at which time the
mornings and nights are the coldest: also observed Lathyrus cultivated, a
Chenopodium was also found, Calotropis, a large Sa