mountains of Súliman, Girwan, and Kynakán,” which is certainly an immense kingdom, embracing, indeed, nearly the whole of the north-west frontier on and beyond the Indus, and comprising a great portion of Guzírat. The whole country is subdivided into districts, in most of which is a small fort, constituting the principal point in such district: here the revenue servants of government, or the chieftains in feudatory state, take up their abode. The revenue divisions of Sindh are also in many parts guided by the canals and other outlets of inundation from the river, such means of fertility giving titles elsewhere only applied to Pergunnahs or districts.

Roads communicate with Sindh from Cutch at various points across the Runn of Cutch and Thurr, or little desert, travelled by the merchants who trade in ghee between the two countries; - from Sonmiani by the small pass through the mountains westward of Karrachi, a distance of about 50 miles, used by the Kilat traders, as Sonmiani is the road to Lus, Beila and Kilat. From Jeysulmir across a desert tract eastward from Khyrpúr in Northern Sindh, distance about 150 miles; by this route also the traders between Pali in Marwar and Sindh carry on their traffic; from Candahar through the Bolan pass across the deserts of Catchi to Shikarpúr; this immediate means of communicating with the upper country, or as it is styled in general terms Khorassan, gives a particular value to Sindh :

at no other point can this be effected with a land carriage of only 250 miles. There is also a road to the Indus near Sehwun or Larkhana from the Upper Bilúch country through the Gundava pass. From Mittunkot, Múltan, Dhera Ghazi Khan, and Dera Ismael Khan, Lahore, and the whole of the ports or marts on the Indus, or Punjaub, by the banks of the stream. From Bhawulpúr by way of Khanpúr and Subzulkót, these latter land routes are used during the inundations when tracking against the stream is a lengthy and tedious operation: at other times the river Indus or the five streams, its tributaries, is the line of communication with Sindh from all places to its north, north-east, and north-west, accessible by their means.

CHAP. III.

Classification of the Inhabitants of Sindh.

Jutts and cultivating Tribes. Bilúchi military Class. Feudatories.Obedience to Chiefs.- Costume. Women.Arms. Character. Music and Nautch Women.

Seyuds

or Holy Men.—Probable Jewish Origin of Bilúchis.—Passion for Field Sports.- Expense of preserving Game. - Names of Bilúch Tribes in Sindh. Míani Fishermen and Boatmen on the Indus.

UNTIL the conquest of Sindh by the Mahommedans in the year of the Hejira 93 (A. D. 711), the government and country was purely Hindú, but its fanatical invaders, after expelling the aboriginal inhabitants from their principal cities, either compelled them to embrace the faith of Islam, or drove them to seek shelter among the fastnesses of the western mountains.

The inhabitants of Sindh under the late rule of the Amirs may, as in India, be classed Mahommedans and Hindús of the former are Bilúchis, Jutts, and other peaceable classes, the warlike and the agricultural, or the industrious and the predatory, the aggregate being Mahommedans; for although a very considerable number of Hindús are to be

found in the principal towns and all over Sindh, they are naturalised foreigners, induced to settle in the country by its commerce, their wealth giving them the sufferance of Government; at the same time they are tyrannically oppressed both religiously and socially.

The principal of the cultivating and pastoral classes in Sindh are the Jutts, who in all probability are the aboriginal Hindú inhabitants converted to Islamism.

The Jutts, like all the tribes in these countries, are divided into innumerable subdivisions called Koums, and are a hard-working oppressed race, occupying themselves in rearing camels, feeding flocks, or cultivating the soil.

They are invariably found in large communities, often living in temporary huts or Wands, and migrate all over Sindh and its confines as shepherds in search of pasture. Where this is not the case, they are farming servants either of the Bilúchi chiefs or wealthy Zamindars, who repay their labour with a modicum of the produce.

In some few instances only throughout Sindh does this class obtain any distinction, and then it is as considerable farmers and cultivators.

The Jutts are a quiet inoffensive class, and exceedingly valuable subjects to the Sindh state, but have hitherto been much depressed. Their women are throughout the country noted for their beauty and, to their credit be it also spoken, for

their chastity. They work as hard as the men, and the labour of tending, driving home their flocks, milking the cattle, &c. is fairly divided. The Jutts are very numerous, and form a large division of the population of Sindh, though seldom found in the towns, but dispersed over the whole face of the country, particularly eastward to the desert tract which separates Sindh from Cutch, known as the Runn on which this tribe rear large flocks of camels. There are other pastoral and peaceable classes besides the Jutts of Mahommedan persuasion, such as the Khosas in Upper Sindh, Seik Lobana in the Delta, and emigrants from the Punjaub, who have in many instances become amalgamated with the people of the country. The Khosas become a predatory tribe on the eastern confines of Sindh, verging towards the Cutch territories, where they are very troublesome. There are also on the eastern boundaries Rajpúts located as wandering herdsmen. The Daodpútras who inhabit generally the country of that name in the north are to be met with in various parts of Sindh. The Sumahs are Jutts, though they are generally known by the former title. Such are also the Machis and numerous other subdivisions of the Jutt tribes.

The Jutt is as inseparable from the camel throughout Sindh, as the Arab from his horse in Arabia; they are invariably camel drivers and feeders, and are consulted on every occasion where