KARACHI or Kurachee, a. seaport town of Sind, in lat. 24° 51' 0" N., and long. .4' 15" E., at the extreme northern end of the Indus delta, near the southern base of the Pabb mountains in Baluchistan. It is the chief town in the province of Sind. It was a mere fishing hamlet until occupied by the British about 1840, but in 1881 its population was 8922, extensive com merce, splendid harbour works, and numerous flourishing institutions having sprung up since the introduction of settled administration. The supply of water is mainly derived from wells, tapping a subterranean bed of the Layari. Karachi district stretches from the mouth of the Indus to the Baluchi boundary. It possesses a hilly western region, lying in the subdivisions of Kohistan and Karachi. Large forests of babul and other trees fringe the river banks, the Habb forming the western boundary between Sind and Baluchistan. The Manchhar lake, in the Sehwan subdivision, forms the only considerable sheet of water in any part of Sind. The hot springs of Pir Manglio, situated about six miles north of Karachi town, among some very barren and rocky hills, gush up from a clump of date trees, which covers the extremity of a craggy limestone knoll in a pretty valley enclosed by considerable heights. A swamp close by is famous for its immense number of crocodiles. Hundreds of them bask lazily in the sun by the side of a green, slimy, stagnant pool, or move sluggishly about in search of food. The greater pond is about 300 yards in circumference, and contains many little grassy islands on which the majority of the crocodiles (Crocodilus palus tris) bask. Some are to be seen asleep on its
slimy sides, others half-submerged in the muddy water, while now and then a huge monster raises himself upon his diminutive legs, and, waddling for a few paces, falls flat on its belly. The water in the pool feels cold, although fed from two hot springs, one of which is of so high a temperature that a visitor cannot retain the hand in it ; yet animal life exists in it, for where the water bubbled up from its sandy bottom, and in the little lade running to the tank, there is abund ance of a species of small black spiral shell, which Mr. Woodward reported to be very like Melania pyramis, an allied species of which frequents the river Jordan. The crocodiles dig deep in the sand under the neighbouring date trees, and there deposit their eggs. Quantities of deciduous teeth of various sizes are strewn along the slimy sides of the pond. They seized their food with the side of the mouth, and tossed the head backward, in order that it might fall into the throat. Extensive salt deposits occur in Shahbandar sub division, on the Sirganda creek, a branch of the Indus accessible for small craft of from 50 to 60 tons burden. Karachi harbour is the most westerly port of India, and it is the only land locked harbour between Bombay and the Persian Gulf. Though it is a bar-harbour, it has 17 to 18 feet at high water of ordinary tides, and from 20 to 221 feet at springs. It is easy of access to large ships, by night or day, even during the monsoons.—Adams.