'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from January 1847 to May 1849. Edited by the Secretary. Volume VIII.' [‎362] (471/496)

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are entirely composed of mud and sand, which I imagine are chiefly held
together by the roots &c. of the mangrove and peloo bushes.
10. North of these Islands the sea at this season of the year extends
to the coast of Wagur and the Runn: it is generally shallow, and at a
distance of two or three miles from the land there is seldom more than a
foot or two of water, and often only as many inches ; and during the
months of November, December, January, and February, it is nearly or
quite dry, and carts and camels cross without much difficulay, though
owing to the prevalence of quicksand, called by the natives of Cutch
veetroe, great caution and a good guide are necessary, as it is reported
impossible to extricate any animal that may once have got into one.
Many strange stories are told of carts, camels, and bullocks, having been
swallowed up in these quicksands. At other seasons of the year small
boats heavily laden carry on the trade across this portion of the Gulf,
the bottom of which being very level and muddy, if the wind is fair,
the boats glide over it with considerable velocity: the only difficulty
appears steering the boats, but which the boatmen manage by the
sail, as the rudder is useless.
11. —In crossing the Runn from Mali?a in Katteewar to Sheekarpoor
in Cutch, in the month of February 1848, I was particularly struck by
these quicksands, which on the northern or Cutch side were frequent. The
ground which these quicksands occupy is known, either from water appear
ing on the surface of the ground or from small patches of green grass. I
examined a good many of them, and in each appeared a low stunted
dead bush or a small rising patch of green grass, and around this the
ground was so treacherous that any animal attempting to gain the grass
would sink, or be extricated with difficulty and only by manual assis
tance. These spots were of no great size, and as far as I could judge from
personal observation, were caused by springs of water rising through the
strata beneath and causing the soil, which is a black sandy clay, to be so
saturated as to become a quagmire.
12. —This opinion of the origin of these quicksands is founded on the
fact of a very extensive one, with an overflowing spring, rising in the
Runn south-west of Jinjoowara, and causing a swamp very similar to the
quicksands I have described. This overflowing spring, the water of
which though brackish is drinkable, issues from a square stone reservoir
—built it is said in ancient days by the famous Sudrajee Jeysung, one of
the kings of Anhulwarra. A rude stone causeway, formed of slabs of a