extensive savannahs of grass so characteristic of Toorkisth[=a]n; many
horses were feeding in the distance, and the vale, flanked by low
hills, was bounded only by the horizon. We were told that it extended
in a right line upwards of thirty miles, and that it was frequently
used for horse-racing, the customary length of the course being
upwards of twenty miles. We were now in the territories of Meer Moorad
Beg, a chief of notorious character, but, trusting to the continuance
of the good fortune which had hitherto attended us, we did not make
ourselves uncomfortable about him. We could not much admire his town
of Ghoree, which, with his fort, was situate on the edge of a morass
extending from the limits of the savannah to the foot of the hills--I
should think that the fever so prevalent in these districts must be in
a great degree attributable to the absolute want of drainage and the
decomposition of vegetable matter. Its position was most insalubrious,
for the marshy swamps commenced at the very base of hills, and thus as
it were encircled the savannahs with a belt of miasma.

The ague, which is usually accompanied by fever, is of a kind very
difficult to shake off, gradually weakening the sufferer till he sinks
under its influence; the natives themselves are by no means free from
its strokes, to which attacks every stranger who remains for many days
in the vicinity of the marshes is liable. Though a veil of mystery
still covers the particulars of poor Moorcroft's fate, it seems more
than probable that he fell a victim to the fever of this country,
though the seed that was sown did not mature till some time after he
had quitted it.

The fort of Ghoree has great strength, being on a level with the
adjacent country and surrounded by a wet ditch thirty feet wide and
very deep; its stagnant water teemed with fish of a large size, but