Travels into Bokhara (Volume 3 of 3) / Being the Account of A Journey from India to Cabool, Tartary, and Persia; Also, Narrative of a Voyage on the Indus, From the Sea to Lahore, With Presents From the King of Great Britain; Performed Under the Orders of the Supreme Government of India, in the Years 1831, 1832, and 1833

by Sir Alexander Burnes

Towns.

In a tract peopled by a pastoral race, there are few permanent towns or villages. When we except Darajee, Vikkur, Shahbunder, Mughribee, and one or two others, the inhabitants reside in temporary villages called “raj,” which they remove at pleasure; their huts are constructed of reeds and mats made from rice straw; each house is surrounded by a grass “tatty” or fence, to exclude the cold wind and humid vapours which prevail in this low country, and are considered noxious. These are the houses of which Nearchus speaks, and are, I believe, peculiar to the river Indus. They very much resemble the huts of tumblers in India.

Population.

It becomes a difficult matter to form any correct opinion as to the number of inhabitants in such a country, where the body of the people are wanderers, and not confined to narrow limits: huts are, however, to be seen every where, and, excluding the city of Tatta, the population of the Delta cannot be rated at less than 30,000 souls; of this estimate, one third may be composed of those who reside in the fixed towns. This census gives seven and a half to the square mile.

Tribes.

The erratic tribe, in the Delta of the Indus, is called Jut; these people are the aborigines of the country; they are a superstitious race of Mahommedans, and exceedingly ignorant. The different banks of the rivers are peopled by watermen of the tribe of Mooana; they are emigrants from the Punjab, and are employed in navigating the boats, or fishing in the sea or river. There is also another tribe from the same country, called Seik Lobana, whose occupation it is to make reeds and mats. They also kill wild animals and game, but are held in no estimation by the rest of the people. Jookeas or Jukreeas, an aboriginal race from the mountains over Curachee, are to be found, but they are not numerous. Some of their chiefs have land assigned to them. There are also a few Beloochees. On the fixed population there is little to remark; it is chiefly composed of Hindoos, of the mercantile caste, who carry on the foreign and internal commerce of Sinde. They do not differ from their brethren in India.

Jokeea tribe.

The only tribe which calls for further comment, is that of Jokeea. These people are the descendants of the Suma Rajpoots, who governed Sinde in former years. They became converts to the Mahommedan faith when the Hindoo dynasty was subverted, and still retain the Hindoo name of their tribe, and claim consanguinity with the Jhareja Rajpoots of Cutch. They are mountaineers from the west bank of the Indus, not very numerous, and little favoured by the government. They can bring 2000 men into the field.

Fisheries.

The fisheries in the river, and out from its different mouths, are extensive. They are chiefly carried on by hooks, and some of the fish caught are of enormous dimensions. One species called “Kujjooree” is killed for its sound, which, with the fins of small sharks that abound near the Indus, form an article of export to China. The river fish are likewise abundant; of these, the most remarkable is the “Pulla,” a kind of carp, delicious in flavour, and only found in the four months that precede the swell of the river. Another species, called the “Singalee,” and about the size of a small haddock, likewise abounds. On the approach of the tide, they make a noise under the ship, louder than a bull frog. They have a large head, and are very bony. They exist in all the rivers of Western India, and are not peculiar to the Indus.