rance, having kept us waiting about five weeks, and on
the day after their arrival we marched into Kurrachee where we found her
Majesty's 40th regiment.

Kurrachee is situated on the Coast of Belochistan, and its natural
advantages entitle it to the rank of a first rate sea-port town. It
possesses a fine harbour, in which a seventy-four gun ship may ride in
safety, and which is protected by the batteries of the town, and the
guns of a fortress occupying an island about midway between the mainland
and the promontory which forms the harbour. On our arrival at Scinde,
instructions had been forwarded to Commodore Pepper, by the
Commander-in-Chief, to invest the place, and we accordingly found it in
possession of our troops on our return.

The town is large but irregularly built, and is surrounded by walls and
bastions, on which we saw some pieces of cannon, but they were of small
calibre, and of the worst possible construction. To the north of the
town we observed a superb banyan tree, which extended its foliage to
such a distance, that it formed a pavilion capable of containing a small
stone mosque for the accommodation of a number of Faquirs or priests. Of
the many curious specimens of this class that I have met with in Asia, I
have seen none so utterly degraded and isolated from every thing like
humanity. Their bodies were thickly coated over with ashes and red
paint, and their hair clotted with filthy moisture. They were surrounded
by every sort of abomination, and howled and whined like a set of wild
beasts. That they had not reduced themselves to this savage state
merely from fanaticism we had abundant opportunities of discovering, for
we saw the inhabitants of Kurrachee daily pouring into the temple with
rich presents and offerings, and propitiating their good will by
sacrifices of their most precious and valuable effects. To the left of
the Mosque lies a tank, or reservoir, about fifty feet long by thirty
broad, in which we saw a number of live alligators, which are carefully
fed by the priests, and held in the greatest possible veneration and awe
by the deluded votaries who repair there.

The feast of the Mohurrum had commenced a few hours before our arrival,
but we were in time to witness the greater part of it. A short
description of these singular rites may not be uninteresting to the
reader. A hole being dug in the ground to the depth of about six or
eight feet, fire is placed in it, and the devotees dance ro