If the reader will be good enough to cast his eyes over a map of India and run them down its western coast, he will find that the north tropical line cuts a district on the seaboard, which, from the peculiar nature of its landward boundaries, possesses a distinct and insular character.

This is the small province of Cutch, which may be roughly described as somewhat in the shape of a strung bow ; the arc of which, to the west and south, is bounded by the Indian Ocean and Gulf of Cutch, while the cord is formed by that singular, uninhabited, desert tract called the " Runn."

Cutch, therefore, may be regarded almost in the light of an island. Indeed, at certain seasons a large portion of the Runn is under water, and there can be no doubt that it was, at no distant time, once an arm of the sea.