I N D I A . 127
eaftward. In. thefe hills I found confiderable qyartiesTI/red
free-ftoUe,: the fame with’ thaf of which the fortj;6f Agra., is
built. • The ground wasyery little cultivated iri.thefe parts s'
the foil is'loofeand light.
I fO'Usnd the heat about this time excefiive, and it',was
foon much increafed by the felting ih of the hot wipas from
the weft ward. The water through the whole of this part- o f
the country is verjt'bad, from the ialt-ipet-re.
On the 23d we encamped near the town qf Futtypoqr
Sicri. The country here refembled, in moft;relicts, j^iat
which we had juft paft. It is an immenfe plain, bqunded
to the fouthward by a range o f hills; not a ihrub was--to be
feenj and the heat ftill continued to increase.1 The ,foil, I
obferved; was light, and almoft ak fine as hair-powder. It is
impoffible to defcribe the diiagreeable effects which this .cir-
cumftance produces, when this fine duft is- taken up by the
hot winds’from the weftward: the indifferent water too, with
which the whole country abounds, muft neceflarily render the
fituation unhealthy.
I was much entertained, during our feveral marches, by
the variety o f characters I faw : the people of the bazaf .(the
market) with their wives and children; 1 the cavalry, who
were continually manifeftjng: their dexterity, in the oriental
manner, by. fetting off ’ their horfes in full fpeed, firing be*
V