one more plain, this time absolutely
covered with low palm trees. From this plain we began to rise in order to
cross the hill range that stood before us, and here there were
innumerable sand hills and sand banks, the latter facing north.

Near Mirui one found one's self among strange-looking mountains, some
like huge waves of sand, debris, and shale; one to the left, a huge
flat-topped mass in horizontal well-marked strata, while further on was a
third, a most perfect cone. Behind this to the south lay a mass of lower
pointed conical sand hills.

Mirui being one of the more important stages on the road, a most
comfortable large bungalow has been erected here, like the one at Robat,
with four rooms and four bath rooms, kitchens, etc. The water is very
good at this place; there is a shop with the usual supplies for caravans,
and a staff consisting of a _jemadar_, a _duffadar_, one postal moonshee,
seven _sawars_, four _hasildars_, one _havildar_. The bungalow at Mirui
is most picturesquely situated among the quaint mountains, and the
six-roomed _thana_ some little distance below, against the mountain side,
looks quite formidable. It not only has high towers at the corners of the
wall, but possesses an additional watch tower erected on the top of the
mountain, commanding a fine view of the country around. Before it,
surrounded by hills, spreads a valley from north to south, which the
track crosses in a south-south-west direction among palms and plentiful
high tamarisks.

The bungalow stood at an altitude of 3,500 feet, the valley where the
_thana_ was situated was one hundred feet lower (3,400 feet), and the
steep although not high pass by which we left the valley 3,550 feet.

A short zig-zag led us into a second valley with a sand bank barring our
way directly in front to the south-east (125 deg. b.m.), the direction of the
track. For a change we had high precipitous cliffs on the north and a low
range of sand hills extending from north-north-east to south-south-west.
Two very lofty isolated peaks broke the monotony of the horizon line to
the north-east (to 70 deg. and 80 deg. respectively). Having crossed a third and
a fourth plain, two barren, the other at the foot of a sandbank with
plenty of tamarisk, the track, which for a short distance went east,
turned suddenly to the north-east (70 deg. b.m.).

We had now a great expanse of open country before us with abundant
tamarisk, palm trees, and _eshwark_, which made