'The Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society. From January 1865 to December 1867. (Edited by the Honorary Secretary.) Volume XVIII.' [‎94] (121/268)

XC1Y
PROCEEDINGS OE THE
12 feet a vast lake being formed, extending far away inland, and not Unfre.
qnently, when the rivers are mnch swollen, connecting itself with the Null to the
south, converting Kattyawar for the time being into an island.
9 Captain Grant, in writing of the Runn in his very able papers on the
Geolooy of Kutch, dated 31st December 1836, describes it as "perhaps un-
paralleled in any known part of the globe, as it may be said to be placed on a
level between land and water/’ and certainly it appears to me that the chief
peculiarity of the Runn is that it thus retains its level, year by year, considering
the sea of waters that so continually sweeps over it, entering and flowing off
as we can easily conceive with no insignificant force.
10 As far as m y observations have enabled me to determine, I am decidedly
of opinion that no perceptible change has occurred in the actual level of the
Runn for many years, and that the supposed subsidence, which has atti acted
the notice of the writer The lowest of the four classes into which East India Company civil servants were divided. A Writer’s duties originally consisted mostly of copying documents and book-keeping. in the Bombay Saturday Review, is merely the result
of changes which have occurred, and which must occur at the entrance of the
Runn from the annual scour to which it is exposed.
1 1 . From interrogating the inhabitants I am satisfied that no depression,
at least on the southern side of the Runn, has been observed by them.
12. It appears to me that were a gradual depression taking place over the
entire Runn caused by volcanic action, we might expect to find evidence of such
changes in the interior of the Runn, and large lakes would remain after the
subsidence of the flood, which would increase in extent from year to year.
13. Many such lakes have from time immemorial existed in the Runn, but
in spite of the strictest inquiry, I have heard of no instance of these lakes being
materially increased or fresh ones having been formed; on the contrary
some of them have, if anything, become diminished.
14. I directed minute inquiries to be made with a view of ascertaining
whether the level of water in the village wells near the coast, is approaching
nearer the surface or not; as this appeared to be a practical mode of ascertaining
whether the neighbourhood of the Runn is undergoing depression; and the
result of these inquiries satisfied me that such is not the case.
15. Failing therefore to discover any foundation for the statement that the
Runn was undergoing a yearly depression, I directed my attention to the Gulf of
Kutch and entrance to the Runn, and here it was apparent that many of the
creeks and channels had undergone considerable change.
16. The whole coast of Kattyawar in the Gulf of Kutch, north of Nowanug»
gur, is formed by thick banks of mud and marsh, and mangrove swamps, washed
up, and accumulated from the, at all times, muddy waters of the Gulf; over these
marshes the tide is continually ebbing and flowing, and they are subject to the
changes noticed before as occurring in the Runn from the sea being forced up
by the south-west wind.
17. It is not therefore to be wondered at that the inhabitants, who five near
the coast, have observed no particular changes, and when questioned merely state