CUTCH, including the Runn, extends between lat. 22° 47' and 21° 40' N., and long. 68° 26' and 71° 45' E., and in 1871 had a population of 487,305. It is bounded to the north by the Great Runn, beyond which is the Thur or Little Desert ; to the S.W. and S. by the Gulf of Cutch and the Indian Ocean ; to the E. and S.E. by the district of Gujerat ; and to the N.W. by the eastern branch of the Indus and Sind. Its extreme length is 180 miles, and breadth 50 miles. Its area is 6500 square miles, while that of the Ruun and its islands is 9000 square miles. All between the Aravalli mountains and the Indus, from the Sutlej or Hysudrus on the north to near the sea on the south, is a waste of sand, in which are oases of different size and fertility, the greatest of which is around Jeysulinir. Cutch intervenes as a narrow strip of land between the desert and the sea, and makes a sort of bridge from Gujarat to Sind.
South of the Indus, the land becomes sandy-. gradually sloping to the sea, first as a plain covered with a series of billows of sand, then as the level Runn up to the mountains of Cutch, the extent being from 500 to 600 miles in length, a,ml varying from 70 to 150 miles in breadth, on which a considerable population dwells. The Runn itself is 150 miles from east to west, and about 40 miles broad ; but there is a prolongation of the Runn towards Ahmadabad, and a very narrow line to the Gulf of Cambay. It is ahnost level, and a little water, from the banking up of the sea by the Sirmunur, converts it into a very shallow lake of a foot or two deep, and 40 to 60 miles broad ; but in the dry season its saline sand and clay soil are hard like a slate billiard-table, and the mirage is so incessant as to deceive ordinary travellers. None but experienced guides can travel there.
The Put district, immediately north of the Runn, is less saline, and is cultivated. The district north of the Runn, extending from 500 miles up to the rivers Indus and Sutlej, is called the Tur or Thur, on which are billows or hills of sand 400 to 500 feet high above the sea-level, and 200 to 300 feet above the plain. Sir B. Frere alludes to
these as of volcanic origin. The other part of Cutch is an irregularly hilly tract, completely isolated by the Runn and the sea. On the southern coast the country is a dead flat, covered with rich soil, but the northern part has three distinct ranges of hills running from east to west. The central of these ranges consists of sandstone, limestone, and slate-clay, with beds of coal; the hills north of it have numerous fossils ; and those on the south, and all the face of the country near them, are covered with volcanic matter.
In 1819 Cutch was devastated by an earth quake. A dyke was thrown up, 50 miles long, 16 broad, and 18 feet high, which has been named Allah Band, the dyke of the Lord. Denodur, the largest and highest bill in Cutch, is situated near the shores of the Runn. It is an extinct volc,ano ; its crater is still apparent, and in the north side is a large gap. It is said to have been active during the earthquake of 1819. On a level spot near the village of Wage ka Pudda are several small craters, circular spaces surrounded by basalt. And several other small basins have been blown out in the surrounding table-land, forming inverted cones about 15 or 20 feet in depth. Numerous fossils occur in the sedimentary rocks. The land at Mundavee, Moondrah, Budraseer, and other sea ports, up to the Gulf of Cutch, has been gaining on the sea. Some of the creeks and inlets pene trate 6 or 7 miles from the coast, through a tract covered for miles in extent with shrubs. At low water these plants are exposed to the roots, but at high tides merely their upper branches are visible, so that the boats sail through a marine forest, the sails and yards frequently brushing against the boughs of tho trees, and the sailors have often to force their boats throne] the upper branches. Tho stems and branches aro covered with erustacea and mollusea, whilst numerous waterfowl occupy the higher branches.