Condition of the people.

With reference to the condition of the people in these different chiefships, much has been said by various writers; and I would have willingly passed it unnoticed, did not the means of observation, which I enjoyed for so many months, lead me to dissent from some of their opinions. The Sindians are passionate and proud; and all of them would be considered deceitful, in so far as they praise and promise without sincerity. Their passion proceeds from their savage ignorance, and their pride from jealousy: their deceit does not deceive each other, and, consequently, ought not to deceive a stranger. I found those in my employ most honest and faithful servants, and passed from one extremity of Sinde to another without any other guard than the natives of the country, and without losing a trifle, though our boats were boarded by crowds daily. The Sindians are governed by their princes, after the spirit of the country; and if they could discern how much the advantages of civil life, and the encouragement of industry and art, rise superior to despotic barbarism, we might look upon Sinde and her people in a different light: but these rulers, who seized it by the sword, must be excused for so maintaining it. Where the principles of honour are not understood (as has ever been too much the case in Asiatic governments), men must be ruled by fear; and it is only as the subject gets liberal and civilised, that he can appreciate the advantages of free institutions, and deserves such or any share in the government of his country. The inhabitants of Sinde are miserably poor, both in the towns and villages; for when we except a few Belooche chiefs, and some religious families, who are attached to the court, there is no distributed wealth in the land but among a few Hindoo merchants. The people of that tribe share no greater evils than their Mahommedan brethren, and enjoy as much toleration and happiness as in other Moslem governments. If they were formerly treated with rigour, the age of fanaticism has passed; and the Hindoo Dewans of Sinde now transact the entire pecuniary concerns of the state, while the Shroffs and Banians, who are also Hindoos, pursue their vocations without interruption, marry off their children, when they attain the prescribed age, to inherit, after their demise, the substance which had been realised by commerce.

Its extent of population.

It is difficult to fix the population of Sinde, and I bear in mind that I have seen the fairest portion of the country in my progress through it by the Indus. The large towns are neither numerous nor extensive: Hydrabad, the capital, has about 20,000 people, but it is exceeded by Shikarpoor: Tatta, Currachee, and Khyrpoor have 15,000 each; Meerpoor, Hala, Sehwun, Larkhana, and Roree (with Sukkur), have each about 10,000; Muttaree, Ulyartando, and Subzul, with five or six others, have 5000 each; which gives a population of nearly 200,000 souls. The number of people in the delta does not exceed 30,000; and the parts away from the river, both to the east and west, are thinly peopled, for pastoral countries are not populous. The villages within reach of the inundation are, however, large and numerous; and, including the whole face of the country, there cannot be less than a million of human beings. One fourth of this number may be Hindoos; and the greater portion of the Mahommedans are descended from converts to that religion.

CHAP. IV.
ON THE MOUTHS OF THE INDUS.

The Indus.

The Indus, like the Nile and the Ganges, reaches the ocean by many mouths, which, diverging from the parent stream, form a delta of rich alluvium. At a distance of sixty miles from the sea, and about five miles below the city of Tatta, this river divides into two branches. The right arm is named Buggaur, and the left Sata. This separation is as ancient as the days of the Greeks, and mentioned by the historians of Alexander the Great.

Two great branches forming its delta.

Of these two branches, the left one, or Sata, pursues nearly a southern course to the ocean, following the direction of the great river from which it is supplied; while the right, or Buggaur, deviates at once from the general track of the Indus, and reaches the sea, by a westerly course, almost at right angles to its twin river.

The Sata.