The 21st we marched over the Pass to Schwun, the largest place in Sinde
next to Tatta. The Pass was not half so bad as we expected, so we filed
over it very easily. On our arrival at Schwun we heard that Sir H. Fane
had just passed down the river, with his staff, _en route_ for Bombay,
and was laying at anchor about five miles down the river, where Sir J.
Keane went to meet him; so that here ended my last chance of meeting
Col. Fane, and giving him Arthur's letter. Sir H. Fane will remain at
Bombay, which is to be the head quarters of the Indian army while this
business lasts. We only halted one day at Schwun; I rode in to look at
the town, which was nearly desolate, as the inhabitants of every place
invariably remove with their families on our arrival. There was,
however, a fine old castle in ruins, which was well worth seeing, and
must have been a place of some importance in former days; and a very
superb mosque in the centre of the town, in which was a tame tiger. We
left Schwun on Saturday, the 23rd, crossing the Arrul river, which flows
round the town into the Indus, on pontoons, and commenced our first
march in Upper Sinde. This day's march was delightful, and the only
tolerable one we have had, all the rest being through a dismal, dusty
desert, with sometimes no path at all, and the dust generally so thick
in marching that you cannot see an inch before you.
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