|Repeat Map No. 27.| Sind was conquered by Sir Charles Napier in 1843. The Sindi population is for the most part Musulman, and engaged in agriculture, but the significance of Sind has altered since it was first added to the directly ruled British territories. At first communication with the Punjab was relatively difficult, for the Indus is not navigated with the same ease as is the Ganges. In the days before railways it was therefore natural that the new province should be administered from Bombay by means of sea communications. To-day, however, with the construction of the North Western Railway from Karachi up the river Indus, the commercial relations of Sind have come to be with the Punjab, of which Karachi is now the great port, although it is still subordinate to Bombay for purposes of government.
It is interesting and significant to observe that the coastline of all India is now under direct British rule, except for the little States of Cochin and Travancore, in the far south, near Cape Comorin, and the peninsula of Kathiawar and the island of Cutch, which are divided among a multitude of petty chieftains subordinate to the Government of Bombay. Thus the larger Native States, being isolated from the sea, there is little fear of foreign intrigue in India such as we had to contend with during the French wars. There are a few diminutive scraps of territory belonging to the French and Portuguese Governments, but these are too insignificant to break the general rule, and moreover they are engirt landward by directly ruled British territory. The largest of them is at Goa, on the west coast, south of Bombay, the last remnant of the great Portuguese dominion in the Indies.
LECTURE VI.
RAJPUTANA.
THE FEUDATORY STATES.
|1.
Map of India, Distinguishing Rajputana.| In the centre of northwestern India is a group of large native States known as Rajputana, of the greatest historical interest. These States are inhabited by ancient Hindu Aryan tribes, collectively known as Rajputs, which literally means “of princely descent.” They represent the purest and most ancient Indian stock, and here, almost alone of the larger native States, the Chiefs belong to the same race as their people. Rajputana suffered much from the Musulmans, but was never completely conquered by them, a fact in part due to the physical character of the country.