CHAP. IV.
THE COUNTRY OF BHAWUL KHAN.
Quit Bukkur.
On the 21st of May we set sail from Bukkur, having exchanged our boats for another description of vessel, called “zohruk,” not in use in Lower Sinde. They are of an oblong square shape, rounded fore and aft, and built of the talee tree, clamped with pieces of iron instead of nails, an operation which is performed with great neatness. Some of the vessels exceed eighty feet in length, and twenty in breadth. They are flat-bottomed, and pass quicker through the water than the doondee, though they have but one mast. By the description of boats in which Alexander transported his cavalry, I understand the “zohruk,” which is well suited for the transport of troops. Arrian describes it “as of a round form,” and says that they received no injury on leaving the Hydaspes, when the long vessels were wrecked. Their peculiar build has doubtless arisen from the occurrence of such rapids as the Macedonians experienced at the junction of the Acesines and Hydaspes.
Curiosity of the people.
The curiosity of the people on the banks of the Indus was intense. One man in the crowd demanded that we should stop and show ourselves, since there had never been a white-face in this country before, and we were bound to exhibit, from the welcome which we had received: he had seen Shah Shooja, he said (the ex-king of Cabool), but never an Englishman. Need I say we gratified him and the crowd, of which he was the spokesman? “Bismilla,” “in the name of God,” was their usual exclamation when we appeared, and we daily heard ourselves styled kings and princes. The ladies were more curious than their husbands. They wear ear-rings of large dimensions, with turquoises suspended or fixed to them; for these stones are of little value in the vicinity of Khorasan. Among the women, I should note the Syudanees, or Bebees, the female descendants of Mahommed: they go about veiled, or rather with a long white robe thrown over their entire body, having netted orifices before the eyes and mouth. They are all beggars, and very vociferous in their demands for alms: one set of them, (for they go about in troops,) when they found I did not readily meet their demands, produced a written paper from the shrine of Lal Shah Baz, at Sehwun, to hasten my charity! Father Manrique, in his journey by the Indus some centuries ago, complains “of the frail fair ones” who molested him by the way. In the present age, the dress of the courtezans, who are to be met in every place of size in the country, would give a favourable idea of the wealth of Sinde; and it is one of the few, if not the only, amusements of the inhabitants to listen to the lascivious songs of these people. They are a remarkably handsome race, and carry along with them a spirit of enthusiasm in their performance unknown to the ladies of Hindoostan.
Beloochees of Sinde.
Three days after quitting Bukkur, we came in sight of the mountains of Cutch Gundava, distant about a hundred miles from the right bank of the Indus; the most remarkable peak was named Gendaree. We here entered a country inhabited by various Beloochee tribes, long addicted to piracy and plunder; but their spirit has been destroyed by the growing power of the Khyrpoor chiefs. They offered no opposition or insult; and many came to pay us a friendly visit. Their manner of saluting each other, which indeed prevails among all the Beloochees, is somewhat peculiar. On approaching, they seize the stranger’s hand, and touch the right breast with the right shoulder, and the left with the left, and follow up the words “welcome” with half a dozen such sentences as, “Are you happy? Is every thing right? Are all well, great and small, children and horses? You are welcome.”
Sinde frontier, farewell letters.
A very few days brought us beyond the reach of these Beloochees, and the dominions of Sinde; for we anchored thirty miles north of Subzulcote, the frontier town, on the evening of the 26th, on the line of boundary between the Khan of the Daoodpootras and the Ameers of Sinde. Our progress had been exceedingly rapid; for we had a favourable breeze, and often followed the lesser branches of the Indus to escape the violence of the stream. The boats sailed with celerity; for we came one hundred and twenty miles by the course of the river in six days against the stream. We here had a farewell feast from the Khyrpoor Ameer and Meer Nusseer Khan, the son of the principal Ameer, who had shown us marked civility throughout the journey. After the people had fared sumptuously, our boats were crowded like sheepfolds. I addressed valedictory letters to both the Ameers and their chief ministers, besides several replies to other persons; for the “cacoethes scribendi” seemed to have beset the nobles of the land; and I had received, in one day, no less than six letters. These productions were full of metaphor and over-strained expressions of anxiety for our health and safety, with trite sayings about the advantages of friendship, and a letter being half an interview. There is no difference between the manners of Europe and Asia so striking as in correspondence. The natives of the East commit the writing and diction of their compositions to a native secretary, simply telling him to write a letter of friendship, congratulation, or whatever may be the subject, to which he affixes his seal, sometimes without a perusal. If the signet is not legible, one may often try in vain to find out his correspondent; for he never names himself in his letter. In my epistles, I told the Khyrpoor chief that his friendship and kindness had brought us without an accident, and with unprecedented speed, against the mighty stream of the Indus; and I thought it as well, for the edification of the Hydrabad Ameer, to add, that the Indus was a navigable river from the ocean, and had abundance of water every where! I did not quit Sinde favourably impressed, either with his character or policy; but we should not try such a man by an European standard, and he doubtless opposed our choice of the route by the Indus on sufficiently good grounds. I parted from our Khyrpoor friends really with reluctance; for their hospitality and kindness had been great, and it was with difficulty that I was permitted to reward the boatmen. The Mihmandar said that he had been ordered to prohibit it; and his master only desired to please the British Government. This person was very inferior to our former companion the Syud; but, if less learned and intelligent, he had the more sterling qualities of sincerity and honesty: his name was Inayut Khan Ghoree.
Sindian escort.