We passed the river on the 28th, and went twenty c. to a small village named Pettoallee.  The 29th we passed another great river by a boat, and came that same night to a small river called Lacca, where we found the caravan we wished to overtake.[151] We presented the caravan basha with a mirror and knife, when he directed us to pitch our tent near his own, that we might be more immediately under his protection.  This caravan had been here ten days, and remained till the 2d of June, waiting for an escort of cavalry to convoy them to Chatcza,[152] a small fort in the mountains, having received information that a former caravan had been injured by the mountaineers.  The 2d June we resumed our journey, and travelled twelve c. entering into the mountains, where we were much distressed for want of fresh water, what water we met with being brackish.  The 3d and 4th we travelled all night, climbing high mountains, and following water-courses with various turnings and windings, insomuch that in travelling twelve coss our direct course did not exceed six c.  The 5th we again followed the bed of a water-course or river, full of large pebbles, travelling eight c.  The 6th we rested.  The 7th we went four c. still along the water-course, the 8th eight c. the 9th twelve c. and the 10th three c. when we came to Chatcza, [Chatzan] a small fort with mud walls, inclosed with a ditch, where the Mogul keeps a garrison of eighty or 100 horse, to scour the road from thieves, yet these are as great thieves as any, where they find an opportunity.  The captain of this castle exacted two abacees for each camel in the caravan, though nothing was legally due, as he and his troops have their pay from the king.  In the whole of our way, from the river Lacca to Chatzan, we found no sustenance for man or beast, except in some places a little grass, so that we had to make provision at Lacca, hiring a bullock to carry barley for our horses.  The Agwans or Afgans, as the people of the mountains are called, came down to us every day at our resting place, rather to look out what they might steal, than to buy as they pretended.

[Footnote 151:  The great river passed on the 29th must have been the Sinde, Indus, or Nilab, and from the circumstance of falling in next day with the Lacca or Lucca, Pettoallee in the text may possibly be what is named Joghiwallah, on the east side of the Indus, almost opposite the mouth of the Lacca.—­E.]

[Footnote 152:  Chatzan, a town or fortress in Sewee, or the country of the Balloges; to the west of a ridge of rocky mountains, described as consisting of hard black stone, which skirt the western side of the vale of the Indus, and on the north join the mountains of Wulli in Candahar.  Chatzan is in lat. 31 deg. 3’ N. and long 69 deg. 42’ W. from Greenwich—­E.]