Burnes, Alexander: Travels into Bokhara: containing the narrative of a voyage on the Indus from the sea to Lahore, ... and an account of a journey from India to Cabool, Tartary and Persia ; performed by order of the supreme government of India, in the years 1831, 32, and 33 (Band 1) (London, 1835)

chap. ii. RETURN TO THE SEA COAST.

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sequestered place, and often extend their journey
to an island called Seetadeep, not far from Bunder
Abbass, in Persia. They travel in caravans of a
hundred, or even more, under an " agwa," or spi-
ritual guide. At Tatta they are furnished by the
high-priest with a rod, which is supposed to partake
of his own virtues, and to conduct the cortege to its
destination. In exchange for its talismanic powers,
each pilgrim pays three rupees and a half, and
faithfully promises to restore the rod on his return ;
for no one dares to reside in so holy and solitary a
spot. The "agwa" receives with it his reward;
and many a Hindoo expends in this pilgrimage the
hard-earned wealth of a whole life. On his arrival
at Tatta from Hinglaj, he is invested with a string
of white beads, peculiar to that city, and only found
on the rocky ridge near it. They resemble the
grains of pulse or juwaree; and the pilgrim has the
satisfaction of believing that they are the petrified
grain of the Creator, left on earth to remind him
of his creation. They now form a monopoly and
source of profit to the priests of Tatta.

We quitted Tatta on the morning of the 10th of
April, and retraced our steps to Meerpoor; a distance
of twenty- four miles, over roads nearly impassable
from rain ; thence crossed the Pittee by a ferry, at a
thriving town called Bohaur, to Vikken. We did not
again visit Darajee. I observe, in "Hamilton's India,"
that this country is sometimes without rain for three
years at a time; but we had very heavy showers
and a severe fall of hail, though the thermometer