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Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3): Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833 — John Shaqi

History

Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3): Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833

Name: Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3): Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833
Author: Burnes, Alexander, Sir

Burnes, Alexander, Sir

Afghanistan -- Description and travel; Asia, Central -- Description and travel; Bukhoro (Uzbekistan) -- Description and travel; Burnes, Alexander, Sir, 1805-1841 -- Travel; Indus River Valley -- Description and travel

Pull, oh! pull!            Use your strength,
    Raise your shoulders,      By the favour of God,
    Press your feet.           By the Saint’s assistance
    The boat will sail,        She is a pretty boat:
    The steersman’s a warrior. The water is deep,
    The mast is tall.          She will reach in safety.
    Beat the drum              Of King Acbar,
    The port is attained       By the favour of God.

Another specimen runs thus:--

    Peer Putta!                Jug ditta,
    Nuggur Tatta!              Panee mitta.
    Julla kejye,               Tanee lejge,
    Tan tumasha:               Bunder khasa,
    Bundur koochee.            Murd Beloochee.
    Bundur maryo,              Rub dekkaryo.
    Moolk Hubeebee.            Rub a rubbee.


_Translation._

    Hail, Peer Putta!          Who has seen the world,
    Hail, city of Tatta!       The water is sweet.
    Pull together,             Pull at once,
    Pull for joy.              The port is good,
    Tho’ the harbour is small. The men are Beloochees.
    Behold the harbour tower,  Which God has shown us.
    The country is God’s,      By God we came.

As we discovered the mosques of Sehwun, the boatmen in their joy beat a
drum, and chanted many of these verses, which had a pleasing sound on
passing the base of the Lukkee mountains, that present a rocky buttress
to the Indus on approaching Sehwun.

~Sehwun, its antiquity.~

The town of Sehwun stands on a rising ground, at the verge of a swamp,
two miles from the Indus, close to a branch of that river called
Arul, which flows from Larkhanu. It has a population of about 10,000
souls, and is commanded on the north side by a singular castle or
mound of earth. Sehwun is sometimes called Sewistan, and is a place
of antiquity. There are many ruined mosques and tombs which surround
it, and proclaim its former wealth; but it has gradually gone to decay
since it ceased to be the residence of a governor, who here held his
court in the days of Moghul splendour. As it stands near the Lukkee
mountains, I believe it may be fixed on as the city of Sambus, Raja
of the Indian mountaineers, mentioned by Alexander. The Sindomanni
cannot refer to the inhabitants of Lower Sinde, which is always called
Pattala, and its ruler the “prince of the Pattalans.” Sindee is the
modern term for the aboriginal inhabitants.

~Pilgrimage of Sehwun.~

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