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weight, and the Khirwah then decreases to about

600 lbs. only.

Land is measured by the cubit, gundha, and jurib.

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and enclosing a square space of 22,500 feet. The currency in general circulation is the Company's legalised rupee, known as the kuldar. The sohrab and shujavulli in Upper Sindh: the former 1 per cent. and the latter 2 less in value than the Company's. In Lower Sindh are the korah and kassani rupees: the former 25 per cent. less in value, and the latter about half a rupee, than that of the Company's.

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CHAP. XV.

First Connection of British with Sindh.-Immunities granted by Ghúllam Shah Kalora.-Connection dissolved. -Commercial Mission, 1799.-Expulsion of British agent.-Mr. Smith's Mission of 1809.-Treaty of 1820.-Force of Observation assembled in 1825.-Mission to Sindh under Col. Pottinger, 1832-Satisfactory Result.-Commercial Treaty of 1834.-Scale of Tolls on Boats.-Lieut. (Sir A.) Burnes' Voyage up the Indus to Lahore.—Permission granted to survey Delta and Sea-coast. Steamer sent to Hyderabad.—State of Matters with Sindh, politically and commercially, up to 1838.

THE connection of the British Indian government with Sindh had its origin in A. D. 1758, when Ghúllam Shah Kalora on the 22d of September of that year granted a perwannah or order, to Mr. Sumption of the Company's service for the establishment of a factory in the Sindhian territories, with a view to the encouragement of trade between the Indian territories and Sindh; and added to this permission certain immunities and exemptions from customs which were in those days considered of great value; and which certainly prove, on the part of the Sindhian ruler an earnest desire to cultivate friendly relations with the British in India. The various officers and customs of revenue throughout the country are directed in these documents to

charge no more than one and a half per cent. duty above the market price on all goods purchased by the British agent for export, and to levy on importations only one half of that paid by other merchants: no officers, farmers, &c. are to demand more; and they (the English) "are to be allowed to carry on their trade unmolested." In case of not disposing of their goods, no duties are to be paid on such as are returned, and all the supplies for the ships to be duty free. And should Mr. Sumption wish to buy or build a house or warehouse at the bunder (port) or at Tattah, the subjects of the country are instructed to give him every assistance, so that the cost may be reasonable; "and he is to have all the encouragement for carrying on his trade, as it will be an advantage to the government; but no other Englishman is to have a house or any encouragement. And as it is necessary I should encourage and please the English, I hereby order an entire compliance may be shown to this, without demanding a new order every year."

Such is the purport of the first document passed to the British by Ghúllam Shah Kalora. Subsequently, on the 11th of December, 1758, a further order was issued by the same prince to the same gentleman, Mr. Robert Sumption, remitting all unjust duties, but those of export to be paid as usual. A further clause intimates a wish that Mr. Sumption would send some person to choose an eligible spot for the erection of a house or factory

at Shah-Bunder; and it was on condition of his taking up his abode at this latter place, that the remission of duties was granted. A factory was subsequently built at Tattah, and the commerce was confined to the export principally of saltpetre, woollen cloths being imported with the object of supplying the Candahar trade, whence it was supposed to find its way to Persia. On the 22d of April, 1761, Ghúllam Shah issued a further perwannah, or order, on the occasion of the arrival at his court of Mr. Erskine, as resident in Sindh for the affairs of the Company. This document ratifies all former advantages, and excludes all other Europeans but the English from trading with Sindh: the former duties are still to be paid, and particular reference is made to saltpetre, which in those days, when it had not become so general in Bengal, was of great value. Nothing can be stronger than the friendly disposition evinced in this document; and it ends with the following terms:-"Should it happen, (which God forbid) that any of their ships, boats, &c. (English) should run ashore or be wrecked, either on our bars, coasts, or without our rivers, our officers in such places are to assist them; and whatever effects may be saved belonging to such vessels, whether rigging, necessaries belonging to the crew, or other goods, are to be delivered, to the smallest item, to the Resident aforesaid, he paying reasonably for the labour and pains of those who may assist in saving them. Should the afore

said Resident choose to build a brick house at Shah-Bunder, or make a garden for his recreation on any spot of ground he may like, he is to receive all the assistance possible for doing it quickly; and whatever former demands they have received are to remain in full force, and not to be objected to or disputed on any account. It being our pleasure to satisfy the said Honourable English Company, therefore the above must be strictly observed, and no new perwannahs demanded. Dated the 16th of Ramazan, 1174; or 22d of April, 1761."

This commercial connexion continued uninterrupted until the year 1775, when, during the reign of Sirafraz Khan Kalora, the political excitement and revolutions of Sindh offered so little security to the Company's factory, that it was withdrawn — under what particular circumstances, however, does not appear.

Towards the end of the 18th century, in 1799, the Bombay government appear to have agitated the question of establishing commercial relations with Sindh; and it was deemed in every way highly politic to do so, with the ostensible object of furthering trade, but in reality to counteract the then highly dangerous and spreading influence of Tippú and the French, and to interrupt the growing ambition of Zeman Shah, the Cabul monarch, whose views seemed to threaten the peace of India. The negotiations for this renewal of relations with Sindh were opened with Futteh Allí

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