'Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde; accompanied by a geographical and historical account of those countries, with a map.' [‎160] (202/476)

150 WILD BEASTS.
The total of this day's journey, by my computation, was thirty-two
miles, and the medium of our course the same as the preceding
one. The river bed, as well as the plain at the southern extremity
of it, bore all the traces of being visited by violent floods. Logs oi
wood, stones, and rubbish, were, in the serpentine mazes ot the
former, heaped together of extraordinary size, and 1 observed
grass and weeds entangled in the upper branches ot tiees, twelve or
fifteen feet from the earth, in such a form, that it was evident
they had been lodged there by the subsidency of water. In the
course of the night we were serenaded by the mingled bowlings of
wolves, hyenas, jackalls, and other animals, that kept a long
from us, but would no doubt have approached much nearer, had they
not been intimidated by the hooting and shouting of the villagers,
who were on the alert in expectation of the wild hogs paying their
wheat fields an unwelcome visit. These voracious animals are very
plentiful in this part of the country, and particularly partial to such
junguls as I passed through in the forenoon, whence they sally forth
in droves of thirty or forty, and will grub up some acres in a very
short time. The natives, most erroneously, deem hunting them
Huram or forbidden, so that they take no steps to destroy the
breed, which is said to be multiplying incredibly fast, and will most
likely continue to do so, until the people discover the absurd error
they lie under. *
Our friend, the Kabool Fakeer, separated from us this day, to take
the road to one of the sea-ports of Mukran, whence he meant to
* It is usually a received, though very erroneous, idea, that a Moosulmau cannot
touch pork; and many of our servants in India take advantage of their master's ignorance
or (rood nature on this head, and refuse to remove a plate from table, off which it has
been eaten. I should be sorry to interfere with any strict religious prejudices of any
class, but I certainly never would retain a servant who declined doing so, as it only
requires (even in the strictest sense) that he should wash his hands. W hen I w as at
Bussorah in 1811, I saw Arabs cut open a wild boar that one of the gentlemen had shot,
take out the inside, cleanse and wash it, and afterwards carry the animal on their
shoulders to the boat, while a parcel of low caste, ignorant Indians, looked on and
refused to assist. These very men would have been happy to have had their descent
from the Arabs believed ! !