'Transactions of the Bombay Geographical Society, from September 1850 to June 1852. Edited by the Secretary. Volume X.' [‎282] (415/458)

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REPORT ON THE HEAVY
push their cultivation to the utmost. The rain has been most
beneficial also in filling the tanks and wells. Kinjur and Jhol lakes
which have been dry for years are filled to overflowing, and the
quantity of grass produced is a great relief to the cattle, which have at
times suffered latterly much privation.
4 . —The towns and villages built as they are of mud, and in no way
adapted for such a contingency, have suffered severely. The Govern
ment Bungalow at Gharrafell, and the town was well nigh swamped ; the
road and the greater part of the country between this and Tatta was
submerged. At Tatta 300 houses fell, and the whole town was more or
less injured. The exertions of the inhabitants saved a considerable
portion of it from being altogether washed away, for the water could
not find an outlet, and accumulated in an alarming quantity :—about 500
houses fell in the different villages of the district around it. The
merchants suffered much loss in their granaries, but I have not heard of
any remarkable loss in other respects.
5 . —In the Seree district the Lallung Bunnas were carried away, and
the Mookans of Lallung, Dufferance, Tara Ameedanee and Baroch were
swamped ; the people were obliged to take refuge in the hills, and
a great number of goats were swept away. Further north, the whole
country between Jurruck and the Barun river, a distance of about
fourteen miles was a sheet of water, all the villages sustained more or less
injury while the encampments and cultivation were all destroyed. The
town of Kotree appears to have suffered comparatively little, and indeed
from what I can ascertain the rain was far less, nor have I heard of any
particular loss of property at that place. The towns of Mahajunda
and Noorpore were in great danger of being destroyed, as the rain
water which came down from the hills were confined by the embank^-
ments on the margin of the river, and collected in large quantities
These embankments gave away, and extensive repairs to them will be
necessary in consequence.
6. —The extraordinary season was preceded by a period of distress-
ingly hot weather, such as I have never before experienced in Scinde.
An arid wind, accompanied by a depressing feeling in the atmosphere,
created a good deal of sickness ; the cholera appeared in a virulent form,
and it was such weather altogether that people could not be persuaded
to leave their houses* The rain was therefore very beneficial for the