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SIND EEVISITED: WITH NOTICES OF
THE ANGLO-INDIAN AEMY; EAILEOADS;
PAST, PEESENT, AND FUTUEE,
ETC. BY
EICHAED F. BUETON.
IN TWO VOLUMES.
YOL. II.

LONDON :
EICHAED BENTLEY AND SON,
NEW BURLINGTON STREET.
^ublisfjers in ©rliinars to Wt ITOajestg tfje ©uetn.
1877.
{All rights reserved.)

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CONTENTS,

CHAPTER XVII.
Lectures and Preachments

PACK I

CHAPTER XVIIL
We prepare to quit Hatderabad ... ... ... ... 23
CHAPTER XIX.
Eeelections on the Field op Mitani ... ... ... 33
CHAPTER XX.
Down the Phul^li River to Suddeeah's Column — The Step
mother ... ... ... ... ... ... 64
CHAPTER XXL
A Ride to Mir IbeahIm Khan Talpue's Village ... ... 90
CHAPTER XXn.
Mir Ibrahim Khan Talpur ... ... ... ... 109
CHAPTER XXIIL
A Beloch Dinner and Tea Paety .. ... ... ... m
CHAPTER XXIV.
The Mimosa Band ; its Giant Face — Sindia Petrj^a— The
Beloch Muse ... ... ... ... ... ... 150

iv Contents.

CHAPTER XXV. PAGE
The LAEKf Pass, and its Evil Spirit— S^wan, its Beggars
AND its "Alexander's Camp" ... ... ... ••• 171
CHAPTER XXVI.
Lake Manohab — Sanitaria — Laekhana the Pretty, and
MahtAb, the Donna of LaekhAna ... ... ... 19*
CHAPTER XXVII.
The Picturesque "Sakhar, Bakar, Rohri" ... ... ¦¦¦ 211
CHAPTER XXVIII.
ShikAepue — its BAzae — its HiNDt5s, AND its Future ... 237
CHAPTER XXIX.
Sibi, or Siwi (Northern Sind) — DuruAni Heroism — The Dyke
OP Aror — Sentiment ... ... ... ... ... 258
CHAPTER XXX.
The Return — Down the Indus to Kotri ... ... ... 27G
CHAPTER XXXL
The Railway — Return to KabAohi — Final Reflections — Sind
MARRIED TO THE PaNjAe — ShOET AdIEUX... ... ... 307

SIND EEVISITED.
CHAPTER XVIL
LECTURES AND PREACHMENTS.
" Reading maketh a full man, conference a ready-
man, and writing an exact man," — is a time-honoured
maxim to which we now discount credence at sight.
Certainly it is a serious thing to oppose one's
opinion to that of Bacon, the Paragon of Utilitari
anism, the Apostle of Common Sense. But, eminent
doctors of the mind differ on this subject at least
as widely as they do upon others ; as they do upon
all, in fact, whenever an opportunity for " differing
in opinion " presents itself.
Regarding the fulness produced by reading,
you, sir, can oppose to him of Verulam an adequate
rival, the sage of Malmesbury, who opines that " if
he had read as much as other men, he should
have been as ignorant as they." I may back you
with a pithy Arabic proverb, which assures the
world that those who dabble deep in manuscript
are like asses laden with many books.
VOL. II. 23

Sind Revisited.

One of the first things the Eastern traveller
remarks, is how palpably inferior we are, and we
ever have been, with all our boasted science and
knowledge, in general astuteness, private intrigue,
and public diplomacy, to the semi-barbarous peoples
with whom we have to deal. History shows us that
we have been outwitted by the Hindus ; that we
have been cosened by the Afghans ; that the
Persians, to use their own phrase, have "made us
asses," and that even the by no means subtle Sindi
has more than once proved himself the better man
in contests where the wits alone were allowed to
work. Had we, be sure, contended against the
Orientals with their own weapons, our cunning of
fence would never have won us a foot of ground
in the Region of Spices. Fortunately, our strong
Northern instinct carried us through all difi&culties.
When fairly entangled in the net of deceit and
treachery, which the political Retiarius knows so
well to cast, our ancestors, Alexander-like, out with
their sturdy sabres, and, not having time, nor
patience, nor skill to um-avel the complications,
settled the knottiest of questions in a moment,
infinitely to thek own convenience, and as much
to the discomfort of their opponents. They undid
by power of arm and will, by bull-dog heart, that
" Stolidum genus
Bellipotentes, magi' quam sapientipotentes," i
all the blunders of their Boeotian heads.
1 As old Ennius said of the jEacidaj, little thinking how re
markably applicable it was to the Ennian tribe, his own com
patriots.

Eastern Savoir-Faire.

Having noticed a phenomenon, it remains to us
to ferret out the cause. Our inferiority of " politikfe "
to the Oriental, is certainly not owing to want
of knowledge of the people among whom we live,
nor to ignorance of their manners, customs, and
languages. The Macnaghtens, the Burneses, and
generally those who devoted their time and energies,
and who prided themselves most upon their con-
versancy with native dialects and with native
character, are precisely the persons who have been
the most egregiously outwitted, the most fatally
deceived. This is a trite remark, but it cannot
be too often repeated, too forcibly dwelt upon.
Does it not strike you that the uncommon acute
ness of Oriental wits may be simply the result of
their unlearnedness ? Instead of dulling their brains
with reading and writing ; arithmetic and the
classics ; logic, philosophy and metaphysics ; history,
divinity, and mathematics, they apply themselves,
Yankee-like, to concentrating their thoughts upon
one point ; upon the business of life, its advance
ment, its struggles, and the terminus which it pro
poses to reach. Must not this sharpen the intellect
— -sharpen it to an almost preternatural sharpness ?
Instead of collecting a mass of heterogeneous and
uselessly valuable book-matter, in the shape of
second-hand lessons and scraps of knowledge, " Orient
pearls," when grains of wheat are wanted, they read
the Life-volume from its hard realities, endured,
pondered over, and thoroughly digested, till each
lesson and its corollaries come to be part of their

Sind Revisited.

mental organization. Actual experience, you know,
is, to most men, "like the stern-light of a ship,
which illuminates only the track it has passed ; "
by taking thought it may be made to throw a
long ray before and around, as well as behind.
When mentally discussing a subject, they view it in
all its lights, even in the most improbable and im
possible ; when debating upon it, they leave no
phase nor issue neglected. Instead of pinning their
faith upon a chapter of Thucydides, or a leader in
the Times, they, having no Thucydides, and no Times
to do their thinking, are forced to think for them
selves, to form their own opinions about passing
events. They learn no wisdom fi-om the Sir Oracles
of county or coterie. They trouble not their mental
digestion with those modem sciences which may be
fitly represented by a grain of common sense deep
hid in the normal peck of chaff ; for instance. Political
Economy. And, instead of distracting themselves
with the pros and cons of a dozen differing pam
phlets, they work out each problem as it presents
itself, by the power of inference with which know
ledge of the world has provided them. Must not
all this hard work acuate the mind ? At any rate,
the observable result of it is, that each man becomes
as worldly-wise a Son of Mammon as his capacity
permits him to be.
So, parenthetically to return to our starting-
point ; reading (by which I understand our modern
civilized European way of reading) may make a full
man, more often makes an empty man by the opera-

Eastern Weahiess.

tion of a mental lientery, and as frequently it makes,
for practical purposes, a foolish man.
Nature, however, has set a bar, and a peculiar
one too, to the progress of worldly wisdom amongst
Orientals ; the obstacle being their inability to
conceive what "honest" means, to enter into even
the lowest sense of the apophthegm, " honesty is
the best policy." Nothing poses, puzzles, oppresses,
and perplexes our Eastern fellow-creature, reason
able and reasoning being as he is, half so much
as absolute fair dealing. For instance, you tell
him a truth ; he mechanically sets down your
assertion a falsehood ; presently he finds that you
have not attempted to deceive him ; he turns
the matter over in his mind, hitting upon every
solution to the difficulty but the right one. He
then assigns another and a deeper motive to your
conduct; again he discovers that he is in error.
Finally, losing himself in doubt, he settles down
into a distressing state of confusion. You may
now manage him as you like, bien entendu that
you do not always employ the same means. Truly
said Lady Hester Stanhope, a shrewd woman,
although a prophetess, that " amongst the English,"
she might have said amongst Europeans, " there is
no man so attractive to the Orientals, no man who
can negotiate with them so effectively, as a good,
honest, open-hearted, and positive naval officer of
the old school."
On the other hand, if you attempt any finesse
upon the Asiatic, to volpeggiare colla volpe — to fox

Sind Revisited.

the fox — he makes himself at home with you at
once. He has gauged your character. His mind,
masterly in Reynardism, knows what your dull
dishonesty will be doing, probably before you know
it yourself. He now has you on his own ground ;
he is sure of victory.
Thus you see how it is that many of our eminent
politicals, men great at Sanskrit and Arabic, who
spoke Persian like Shlrd.zis, and who had the circle
of Oriental science at their fingers' ends ; clever at
ceremony as Hindus ; dignified in discourse as Turks,
whose " Reports " were admirable in point of dic
tion, and whose "Travels" threatened to become
standard works, turned out to be diplomatic little
children, in the end which tries all things. They
had read too much ; they had written too much ;
they were a trifle too clever, and much too con
fident. Their vanity tempted them to shift their
nationality ; from Briton to become Greek, in order
to meet Greek ; and lamentably they always failed.
So much for active dealings with natives.
When passively opposed to them, that is to say,
when they are dealing with me, I would act as
follows. If they assert a fact quietly, I should c6n-
tent myself with believing it to be a falsehood;
were they to asseverate, I should suspect it to be a
falsehood with an object; and if they swore to its
truth, I should feel and act upon the conviction
that the falsehood is accompanied by mahce pre
pense, dark and dangerous. But I should content
myself with standing en garde; I would rarely

What Forbes Said.

attempt feinting at them; and finally, I would
never try to penetrate into their secret motives,
well knowing that there I should be overmatched.
And after long dealing with new races, I should
learn when to trust them, to detect the one pearl
of truth in the foul heap of untruths.
All this may be unpalatable to many ; parti
cularly to those who have lived long enough in
the West after a return from the East, to remember
only what they wish to remember. Some have-
gone so far as publicly to express their opinion that
the word of a Hindu is generaUy as good as that of
a European, What a pungent, pregnant little satire
upon progress and education, civilization and
Christianity ! The unprejudiced author of it, who
was, by-the-by, a Scotchman and a Bombay banker,
certainly deserved to be avatar'd at Benares, or to
be shrined in effigy over the gateway of Jagannath !
The distinction one may safely draw between
Westerns and Easterns in matters of morale, is this :
among the former there are exceptions, many in
the North, in the South a few, to the general rule,
that "all men are liars:" there are who would
not deceive, even with the certainty of self-aggran
dizement, and in security that the world would never
know the fraud. Amongst Orientals, though it
would be unjust and unwise to assert that such a
type exists, you may, I can assure you, live for
years, and associate familiarly with all ranks and
aU classes, and both sexes, too, without meeting
anything but a brUliant exception or two.

Sind Revisited.

" Charity, good sir, charity."
It is a great virtue, Mr. John Bull, but a very cum
brous and expensive one for a traveUer or a politician.
Before we start from Haydard,bd,d, I must pre
pare you, by a short lecture upon the manners of the
natives, for mixing with them a little more familiarly
than we have hitherto done.
As every thing in the world has not yet been
written about, printed, and published, in the East,
we have nothing like " Hints on Etiquette, by a
Lady of Fashion," or Manuel de la Politesse, to
learn from. You must not, however, conclude that
ceremony in the East is an unimportant study.
Very much the contrary.
The first thing Oriental peoples, who regard the
person, not his accidents, ask about you, whatever
you may be, soldier, sailor, or civilian, is, "Does he
speak our words ? " If the answer be " No," then
you are a Haywan, a brute beast, or a Jangali, a
sylvan. If it be a qualified " Yes, he can, but he
won't," then, by the rule of Omne ignotum, etc.,
you are a real magnifico. To shuffle over this
difficulty, in your case, as you will not have time to
learn Sindi, I must represent you, when we enter
the wUdest parts of the ProAdnce, to be a Turk or
Tartar, or some such outlandish animal, and declare
that you are very learned in Ottoman literature, for
which, by-the-by, may I be pardoned ! Whenever
any thing is said to you, you wiU be pleased gravely
to stroke your beard with the right hand, for good
ness' sake ! to frown a little, wag your head slowly

Manners.

with a heavy consequential roU, and to ejaculate,
syllable by syllable, Alhamdu '1-ilMhi, " Praise be to
Allah," apropos de rien. When a man shows you
any thing admirable, such as his horse or his son,
you wiU perform the same pantomime, and change
your words to M^shdlUh, or " What AUah pleases,"
{sahaudi, "be done.") Mind, if you do not, and
if any accident happen to the thing praised, your
commendation wUl be considered the cause of evil.
Whatever action you undertake, such as rising from
your seat or sitting down ; calling for your pipe or
dismissing its bearer ; beginning or ending dinner ;
in fact, on aU occasions, over which Janus or
Ganesha presides, you must not forget to pronounce
BismilMh, " In the name of Allah," with as much
pomposity as you can infuse into your utterance.
By this means you will be considered a grave and
reverend personage ; au reste, by the Burleigh nod,
by looking dully wise, seldom smiling, and above all
things by strictly following the Bishop of Bristol's
"First Rule of Conversation," you wiU, for a
stranger, do remarkably weU.
The next question our Oriental puts concerning
you is, " Does he know Adab, or politeness ? " here
equivalent to ceremonial, and nishast a barkhdst,
literally (the art of) sitting and rising. You would
scarcely believe how much these few words involve.
It is, I believe, almost always in the power of
a European diplomatist sent on a mission to an
Eastern cqurt, by mere manner to succeed or to faU in
the object which his Government desires. Manners,

10 Sind Revisited.
literaUy speaking, still make the man here. Sir
John Malcolm well understood this when as Elchi,
or ambassador, to Teheran, he driUed his corps
diplomatique to their sald,ms as carefully and
regularly as a manager his corps de ballet. Orien
tals do not dislike our English brusquerie, our
roughness, if it may be called so ; but to please
them, indeed not to offend them in deadly guise,
it must be gentlemanly brusquerie, native and
genuine, sans malice et sans arridre pensee; it
must be " well-placed," not the result of ignorance,
and not "antipathetic." Otherwise, it is a dead
failure, and the consequences of such failures extend
far in the diplomatic field. For instance, we once
sent a brave, patriotic, and high-principled officer,
but ignorant, violent, and strong-headed, to settle
certain nice points with the most savage, revengeful
old chieftain that ever sewed up subject in a raw
cow's hide. What was the consequence ? Before
he had spent a week at the court he seated himself
in fuU Darbd,r with the soles of his feet diametrically
opposite Majesty's face, a position as appropriate to
the occasion as if he had presented his back, at a
levde, to his own sovereign : he engaged publicly in
a furious polemical discussion, and he capped the
whole by grossly insulting and abusing, in the
presence of the prince and his nobles, a minister
who, although decidedly the " most accomplished
scoundrel in Central Asia," was nevertheless a prime
favourite with his monarch. That envoy never
returned to England.

Bad Manner's. 11

Even in our humble capacity of traveUers, sir,
we must, if we wish to be comfortable, attend a
little to what we ought to do, and what we ought
not to do, in society. If we would not be thought
" peculiar " (Orientals hate that almost as much as
Englishmen), we must not "walk the quarter-deck,"
and set every one around us ejaculating —
" Wonderful are the works of Allah ! Behold !
That Frank is trudging about when he can, if he
pleases, sit still!" So the Italians say, or said, "It
is better to walk than to run, to sit than to walk,
to lie than to sit, to sleep than to lie, to die than to
sleep." We must not gesticulate when conversing, other
wise we shaU see a look of apprehension on every
countenance, and hear each man asking his neigh
bour whether we be low fellows, or labouring under
a temporary aberration of intellect, or drunk. The
French lose all respect by this habit.
Standing up, we must not cross our arms over
our chest ; in Europe this is a la Napoleon, in the
East it is the slave's posture. When walking, never
swing the arms ; it is advisable to place one hand, not
both, upon the hip ; or we may carry a five-feet-
long ebony staff shod with ivory : this patriarchal
affair provokes respect ; a switch or a horsewhip
would induce the query :
" Are they keepers of dogs ? "
Sitting down, Turkish or taUor fashion, the most
easy and enduring of Oriental attitudes, we must be
careful to remain quiet for a decent space of time ;

12 Sind Revisited.

if we move about uneasily every ten minutes, we
shall not fad to hear the observation,
" Wallah ! They have no dignity ! "
And if musically inclined, we may hum a little
in a low voice, and with a solemn manner. We
must, however, avoid whistling ; the main error of
a great explorer, Burckhardt. Our native friends
have no name in their dialect for the offensive
practice, which the Arabs call " El-sifr," but the
greater part of them, being superstitious, would
probably consider it the peculiar modulation of the
voice in which a white-faced man is in the habit of
conversing with Sathanas.
Above all things, I say it emphatically, never
let the word " woman " escape your lips. It is
vulgarity, it is grossness, it is indecency.
Now briefly to describe the way of receiving
visitors : premising that I divide them into three
orders, my superiors in position, my equals, and my
inferiors, for each of which there is an own and
special formula.
Here comes Fath Khan Talpur, a grandee and a
very polite old gentleman, with a silver beard, a
sweet voice, a soft look, and a graceful bow. He
sent, half an hour ago, a confidential servant, to in
form me that he would " do himself the pleasure of
calling." Had the bearer of the message been a man
of no importance in his master's household, I should
have resented the slight with no little asperity;
this is unpleasant, but it is absolutely necessary.
AU, however, was en regie, and, after ascertainino-

Visiting. 13
from my Munshi the good Khan's fortune and rank,
I prepared everything for his reception. To have
been "not at home," you must remark, would have
been an insult ; nothing offends Orientals more pro
foundly than denying one's self. When the halting
of horses warns me of the guest's arrival, I perform
Istikbdl, in other words, advance a few paces
towards the door, to meet him as he dismounts. I
then lead him into the sitting-room, allowing him
time to shuffle off his slippers — to enter a room
with them on would be like wearing one's hat in a
London saloon — all the while repeating —
" Peace be to you, Mr. Khan ! — you are welcome !
— are you in health I — is your brain all right ?^ — quite
in health ? perfectly in health ? — And your family ?
— All your people ? — All well ? — praise be to Allah !
Really I am joyful ! But are you sure you are in
health ? "
To w^hich he replies by smiling lustily, by look
ing violently amiable, and by putting exactly the
same questions, interspersing them with such ejacu
lations as,
" By your goodness ! — thanks be to Allah ! — May
you be preserved ! — I pray for you !^ — May you ever
be well ! "
I seat my visitor upon a Diwd,n, or sofa, spread
at what is caUed the Sadr of the room, namely, the
side opposite the entrance, and place myself by his
side. Then both of us, again seizing each other's two
hands in our own, and looking lovingly, recommence
1 Meaning simply, " Are you in good spirits ! "

14 Sind Revisited.

the same queries, and reply with the same ejacula
tions. And be it observed, during the whole length
of the visit, which, 0 horrible thing ! seldom lasts
less than an hour and a half, whenever conversation
flags, I approach my face to his, or he his to mine,
and inquire anxiously,
" Are you certain that your brain is all right V
So also, whenever the guest's eye wanders over
the assembly of our united domestics, who are squat
ting upon the ground in semicircles, each on the side
of the room where the master sits, exchanging
politenesses, and at times slipping a few words into
our dialogue, the individual looked at joins his palms,
cants his head over one shoulder, and puts the same
question with every appearance of Sindi bonhommie.
Presently occurs a long hiatus in the discourse.
I make a sign to a servant, who disappears bowing
and noiselessly, then immediately returns preceded
by my visitor's pipe-bearer, a part and parcel of the
grandee's dignity. When only one pipe comes in, it
causes a most tiresome Mandarin-like luxuriance of
ceremoniousness ; probably five minutes wUl elapse
before the guest can be induced to do what must be
done at last, take precedence of the host. We begin
inhaling at the same time, when there are two, with
polite bendings of the body, and we eschew the
vulgarity of converting ourselves, as the Persians
say, into Hammdms — men who pour forth volumes
of smoke are compared to the chimneys of hot baths.
After a few puffs I wipe the mouth-piece with the
right hand, the servant raises the Chillam, or top.

The Visit. 15

in which the tobacco is, blows down the tube so
as to expel any of the smoke that may linger
about the water, and then carries it round to the
members of the assembly that occupy the floor.
The pipes appear every ten minutes.
During the process of inhaling, guest and host
have been collecting materials for more conversation.
The language is Persian, Sindi not being " fashion
able," consequently, half the listeners do not un
derstand a word we say. Moreover, Fath Khan,
though a well-educated senior, is not quite at home
in the foreign dialect, which cramps his imagination,
and limits his ideas to the one circle in which they
are wont on such occasions to rotate. And this is
an effectual barrier to the " flow of soul."
Observe a few small formalities :
Whenever my guest looks at and admires any
thing, I say, " Pishkyash " ^ — "It is a gift to you ! "
This is a polite act ; to offer an Oriental anything,
even a flower, is deemed not only a particular com
pliment, but an earnest of friendship. However, he
never accepts anything of value, simply because it
is customary to send in return a present of much
higher value.
Whenever the visitor sneezes, you remark, he
says aloud, "Praise be to AUah, the Preserver of
the Worlds ! " To this I respond, also in gurgling
Arabic, "May the Lord have mercy on thee!" an
expression of benevolence which he acknowledges
by a "May your kindness never be less ! "
'Not " Peshkash," the horrible Indian pronunciation.

16 Sind Revisited.
Another uncomfortable pause. This time I send
for a little fruit, although I know that my guest's
notions of propriety are too strict to admit of his
eating it. However, he condescends to chew a few
cardamoms, and perhaps he drinks a drop of sherbet.
" There are no three ideas which we associate more
strongly with the two great portions of the East,
than tea with the Chinese, and coffee and smoking
with the Turks and Persians." So Leigh Hunt. I
would amend the associations thus : tea with the
Chinese and Moroccans, coffee with the Arabs,
Egyptians, and Turks, and sherbet with the Per
sians and the Sindis. Many Persians will not touch
coffee on common occasions, because it is drunk at
funerals, and thus they learn to dislike it.
I am careful, you observe, to help myself first :
poison probably made this practice a rule of Eastern
courtesy, from which deviation is impossible. You
must never ask your friend to eat anjrthing without
setting him the example, nor show him into a
strange place without preceding him. So also,
when he puts the cup down, I do not forget to
exclaim, Hania,^ or " May it be good to you ! " He
bows and returns, " May Allah be your preserver ! "
Presently, stifled yawns and vacant looks become
the order of the day, conversation appearing in fits
and, as Barry Cornwall hath it,
" The voice of Silence, sounding from her throne,"
' This is the Arabic word ; the Persians say, Afiyat hdshad —
" May it be health to you ! " or Nush-i-jdn, " May it be a drink
of life ! "

The Visit Ends. 17
with imperative accents. Then my friend thinks it
time to conclude his visitation. The first sign of
our deliverance is one final sally of —
"Are you convinced that your brain is aU
right ? "
He shuffles off the sofa, seizes my hand in his,
and begins a series of compliments which must be
answered by a repetition of the same. All his suite
in the mean time start up from their squatting
position, and follow as I lead him to the door. The
camels or horses are brought up to be mounted,
my head-servant holding the guest's stirrup. And
I, after a final conge, retire into solitude for the
purpose of recruiting spirits after so uncommonly
severe a draw upon them. But I have my reward ;
I have won the old Khan's heart. At this moment
he is confidentially informing his confidant, who ere
long will as confidentially inform mine, that I am
an Adami, a " descendant of Adam ; " in a word,
a "man," in contradistinction to every Frank yet
spawned ; they being Jdnwars, Haywdndt, "beasts,"
and sons of beasts.
Politeness, as explained by " benevolence in smaU
things," is aU but unknown in the comparatively
civihzed parts of the East ; as signifying mere court
liness of manner, it is simply perfect. No SicUian
marquis of the ancien regime could bend a more
graceful bow, or turn a more insinuating compli
ment, than a common Indian Munshi at Rs. 20 per
mensem: there is something so exquisitely soft,
polished, and refined in the fellow's voice, gestures,
i- VOL. II. 24

18 Sind Revisited.

and words, that he forces admiration upon you.
No Italian ex-Prince, with his weU-assumed chival
rous bearing, surpasses a Persian noble in dignified
deportment and transcendental ease. These two,
Persia and India, possessing Imperial courts, have
ever been the head-quarters of ceremony. At the
same time, there is much to admire in the manly
simplicity of the Arab's manner, and even the
martial roughness of the Afghan is not without a
certain charm. Of all, perhaps the Sindi's demean
our is the least agreeable. He wears a flimsy
garb of courtliness, a second-hand thing too, and
a poor copy of the original Iranian manufacture :
his natural coarseness is eternaUy peeping through
the disguise ; he is uneasy in it at aU times, and
not rarely he is ridiculous.
There is an essential difference between the modes
of receiving a superior and an equal. In the case of
the latter you advance towards, not to, the door ;
you address him in the second person plural instead
of aUuding to him as " he," the more polite and
ceremonious address, and you carefuUy exact a fuU-
weight return for every compliment you address
to him. Odious is the necessity of being, from
Calcutta to Teherdn, perpetually " upon your dig
nity." Your visitor, despite his graceful saMms, his
charming phrases, and his imperturbable apblomb,
is ever striving to exalt himself and to debase
you by some nice and guarded sUght. The inso
lence of a Persian and the impertinence of an
Indian, if you once give them the rein, know no

Eastern Rudeness. 19
bounds. As for coercing them European fashion,
it is quite impossible. After a tirade of insults you
send a " hostile message ; " what is the other party's
reply ?
" Wallah ! they are miracles, these Franks ! The
foal of an ass {Kurreh-hhar) tells me to come and
be killed ! 0 his mother ! Could he not have cut
me down at once without any danger to himself ? "
And the whole town will deride your outlandish
ways in many odes.
If, guided by a siUy old saw, you do in Persia
as the Persians do, when you have been grossly
affronted, you maintain a bland and pleasing de
meanour, affect not to comprehend what has been
done, and show your friend a little more than usual
civility when taking leave of him : a wink at your
bravo does the rest. Not many years ago an
English offlcer nearly lost his life, in consequence
of wittingly or unwittingly insulting his enter
tainer, a Moslem of high rank and nice sense
of honour, by stepping over his hukkah-snake.
When not desirous of proceeding to these extremes,
you summon a stout " horsekeeper," and direct him
to insult your insulter in the way you deem most
advisable. Should temper faU you, there is no objec
tion. Orientally speaking, to your starting up and
seizing your visitor's beard, when, having him at
your mercy, you may pummel him to your heart's
content. This proceeding, impossible in European,
is held venial, nay, commendable, under certain
circumstances, in Persian, Afghan, or Sindi society.

20 Sind Revisited.

The world wiU say nothing about it beyond com
mending you, and perhaps advising you to look
out for a matchlock-baU when you take your
evening's ride.
By proper management these unseemly and
ferocious scenes may always be avoided. If the
people know or suspect you to be deep read in
their language and manners, they will be chary of
offending you, because they expect a return in
kind. Whenever anything like a liberty is at
tempted, you check it in exordia : as old Sa'adi
says, ' ' One may stop the fountain's mouth with a spade.
If allowed to run, it will bear away an elephant."
The best way to close yom- friend's lips is to reply
by some ultra-satirical remark, or to look at him
as if you would bite him, or, if other things fail,
to bring a forbidden subject upon the tapis.
In these countries the only social pleasure man
reaUy enjoys is in "low society." You have no
trouble in receiving your inferiors ; you only arise
from your seat or half-rise, or move as if to rise, or
simply bow your head as they enter. You may air
your hair, unslipper your feet, stretch your legs,
yawn before them ; in a word, do what you please.
You may drink with them : in the presence of a
superior or an equal, such proceedings would sub
ject you to a loss of reputation, and to the proba
bihty of disagreeable consequences. If your inferior
happen to lose self-respect, or to fail in deference
towards you, you take down your horsewhip ; his

"Low Society.^' 21

mind at once recovers its equilibrium, he bows his
head, owns that he has eaten dust, and forgets aU
about it, except that he had better not do it again.
If you leave him unchecked, his next step will be
to play at leap-frog with you, or to break in wag-
gishness a long-necked decanter upon your head,
" Low society " in the East has few or no disad
vantages. Your Munshi may be the son of a sea-
cook, stUl he is quite as polite and well educated as
the heir of a Prince, He bathes, he mangles no
aitches, he has no radical opinions, and if he spits
you kick him. The feUow may be, and ten to one is,
a spy : he repeats to you aU the scandal he can col
lect, with the zest of a Parisian perruquier, and he
displays considerable powers of invention in supply
ing you with tales which would keep a mess in a con
stant roar. He is in all men's secrets, according to
his own account ; everything, court intrigue, poUti-
cal events, and private "gap,^" he knows. Listen to
him and laugh : only recollect that he makes scant
distinction between the dicendct and the tacenda,
and that as he does to yon, so he wUl assuredly do
of you. It is amusing enough to watch the laboriousness
of the common Sindi's politeness. When he meets
a friend he embraces and kisses him like an Italian
of the old school. Then succeed a long shaking of
1 An expressive Indian word, long ago naturalized in the Anglo-
Indian vocabulary, meaning chit-chat, tittle-tattle, small news or
flying reports ; concerning which the " Madam " puts her first
qiiestion in the morning to her Ayah, the " Sahib " to his barber or
pet bearer. Don't write " gup," or some wUl pronounce it " goop."

22 Sind Revisited.
hands and a profuse shower of inquiries concermng
health and property ; the cattle and the camels
generally coming in for a reminiscence before the
children and the famUy. To see and hear that pair
before our windows, you would think they were
friends of ten years' standing at least. Ask one
who the other is, as soon as his back is turned : the
reply wiU probably be "Bacho Thd,in," or some
other such name, a " great eater of forbidden things "
(i.e., rascal).
After this short study you understand, sir, the
insolence of a Turkish Pasha who sits alone. Sultan
like, upon the central sofa, whilst he places the
Representative, or Mis-Representative, of a first-
class European Power upon a chair, like a servant,
by his side. Own that when you looked at the
" lUustrateds," you did not detect this little-great
matter.

( 23 )

CHAPTER XVIII,
WE PREPARE TO QUIT HAYDArIbAD,
The cold weather is now fairly set in. To-morrow,
Mr, John Bull, we start for a trip towards the
south-east, down the Phuleli river. We were com
parative strangers when we first passed the grim
portals of the Fort : now we say " How d'ye do 1 "
to, and shake hands with, every soul stationed in
and around it : this circumstance seems to call for
a little prosing.
You England-English do still, in one sense of the
word, deserve the gibe
" Britannos hospitibus feros "
with which the polished pagan branded you. Let a
strange man, a married one wUl be the best subject,
betake himself to a little town in the old country,
some Spa or watering-place in which "highly respect
able people " congregate, and where there is no regi
ment to keep the minds of the community in active
order. The social atmosphere around him seems
torpid, frozen, dead. The famiUes, to whom he has

24 Sind Revisited.

letters of introduction, number a hundred names a
head on their visiting lists ; consequently they are
not anxious to " extend their acquaintance," Those
to whom he has not been formally recommended
require a score of questions to be put, and satis
factorily answered, before they open their doors to
him, even though he be a bachelor. Is he a mem
ber of the club 1 Does he live in a fashionable
street ? What kind of looking person is he ? How
many horses does he keep ? To what county does
he belong ? Is he related to the Smythes of
Smythe Hall, or is he the son of the opulent
button-maker ? and so on.
The residents, for reasons best known to them
selves, have determined to consort with residents
only, and imperatively demand, from all candi
dates for admission to their " circle," a term of
three seasons' stationary-solitude at the Spa, The
visitors, after enlisting a sufficient number of com
panions in misfortune, bewail their exclusion and
rail at the exclusives ; but they will be by no means
hasty to extend the hand of fellowship to others in
the same predicament as themselves.
The only chance the stranger has is to keep a
dozen hunters, to sing Italian bravura songs, or to.
dance a dozen or so consecutive rounds and squares
at each of the soirees dansantes to which he has
"had the honour" of being invited. Then things may
change ; dowagers may become polite, daughters
agreeable : the father may invite him to dinner, and
the brother favour him by " dropping in to smoke

Sociability in India, 25
a weed," But if his purse, his lungs, or his legs be
not capable of such exertions, he will probably find
the provincial Britons very fierce indeed. Every
bow will be equivalent to a bite, every look present
a mild form of outrage : an affectation of fashion
able supercUiousness and a guindS attempt at ex
clusiveness are so painfully apparent that nothing
but an ultra-lymphatic or phlegmatic constitution
could support them for the continuance of the
trois saisons de rigueur.
In India how antipodical the change ! Who
would believe that we are the same race ? Quite
in the style, " Come to my arms, my slight acquaintance,"
we seem to revel in our emancipation from Spa-
tyranny and Watering-place-oppression, English
man or foreigner, in the Service or not, with 200
or 2000 rupees monthly income, a sub-Ueutenant
or a major-general, here you have nothing to do
but to pay your round of visits when you arrive
at a place, and you know every one at once. If
you stumble upon an old acquaintance, he puts his
house at your disposal ; you become an honorary
member of his mess ; you join the club and the
hunt, or not, as you please ; briefly, you are as much
at home in a week as if you had been a year there.
But Hospitality is, you know, pre-eminently
the barbarian virtue. Not that she exists every
where, very much the contrary ; but civilized spots
certainly know her not, and care not to know her.

26 Sind Revisited.

Hotels and clubs,^ the circle and the position, have
ousted her from the places where the polite herd
gathers, have driven her to rusticate in country seats,
and to hold her courts in the semi-barbarous districts
of the Emerald Isle, and the wUd parts about Green
land, In India the poor thing is now relegated to the
"out-statiqns," At the Presidencies you wUl meet her
about as often as at New York, at an English Spa, or
an Italian metropolis. Only, Young India does re
member the day when the famUy had a wide-spread
reputation for keeping open house, and for other
similar cUsplays of semi- civilized magnificence. More
polished by furloughs and propinquity to home
than the rough and ready senior, his sire, he has no
longer the will, perhaps he does not quite see the
way, to keep up the honourable and honoured cus
toms of the last century, StiU he feels, and stiU he
shows, a little shame at the contrast between the
" flourishing young gallant," himself, and a certain
"old worshipful gentleman." That is to say, he
does not desire you to make his house your home,
but he generally has the grace to apologize for not
doing so, and to show exceUent reasons which pre
vent his indulging what you will please to believe
the bent of his incUnations.
A few years ago we might have traveUed dressed
partly as natives ; now Young India, by which I
1 Mrs. Maria Graham, writing in 1809, says, " There is but one
tavern in Bombay, and as that is by no means fit for the reception
of ladies, the hospitality of the British inhabitants is always
exercised towards new comers, tiU they can provide a place of
residence for themselves."

Native Dress, 27
mean young Anglo-India, would certainly wax very
violent if he saw us, and disclaim grandiloquently
against our " morbid propensities " and our " con
temptible sacrifice of nationality in aping Asiatics."
At the same time he knows by tradition that his
grandfather, who, to say the least, was quite as good a
man as himself, thought the thing no disgrace. I have
learned by experience how largely one gains in point
of comfort and convenience by widening the panta
loons, and by exchanging the beaver for a tarbiish.
Peasants did not run away when I rode through the
fields, nor did the village-girls shrink into their
huts as I drew near them : the dogs forgot to deafen
me with their barkings, and the cattle to fly in
terror at my approach. Finally, when halted, I
escaped the plague of being invested by a host of
howling beggars and pertinacious petitioners, who
insisted upon the fact that such dresses as the
European's can belong to none but a Plutus or a
Grand Justiciary.
You wUl, however, remove that strip of stunted
hair which garnishes each cheek ; where did civUi-
zation go to find such ridiculous disfigurement?
Your beard is neither black, nor long, nor glossy,
but as it is, so you must wear it. If you carry
. only moustachios, every one will be singing of
you, " The boy of fifty scrapeth his chin ; "
equivalent to remarking that you are a ci-devant
jeune homme, and bien coquet. Fortunately, it is

28 Sind Revisited.

not the withered, sickly -looking affair that con
cludes many of the European faces which we see
about camp : henna and indigo, oil and comb — you
must not use a brush of pig's bristles here — wiU
soon make this important part of you presentable.
And now, a few words concerning the beard,
which even in Frank attire must be respected
You should not wear it too long ; the people have
a proverb about long beards and short wits. The
Sunnat, or Custom of the Apostle, directs it to
be cut after two hands and two fingers' growth.
Moreover, a brush reaching the waist is a more
troublesome companion of travel than a sick wife, a
ladies' maid, or a daughter in her teens, requiring
black silk bags to protect it from the dust and
sun, oils of all kinds to prevent its thinning, dye
every three days, and so on. You must not clip
it too short, on peril of being a " fast " man. You
must not dye it red, like the brick-dust coloured
beard, " In cut and hue, so like a tile,"
of our old Sindi Munshi : he is a quiet old
gentleman, with a leaning to clerical pursuits, and
his chin shows it. And only the natives of Kachh
(Cutch) wear blue, sky-blue, beards.
In conversation you must caress your beard with
your right hand. If you wish to be emphatic,
swear by it. Be careful in what sentence you
aUude to it ; if you speak of anything offensive and
your beard in the same breath, you wUl have com-

The Beard. 29

mitted a ridicule which men will not soon forget.
And when you promise by your beard, recollect that
you have pledged your honour.
In society mind to maintain the social status of
your beard as jealously as you would defend your
" principles " or your political opinions in England,
If a man speak of it broadly, impudently, without
circumlocution, or in connection with entities which
nature did not connect with it ; tamely endure these
things and you lose caste for ever. If a man seize
your beard in anger, you are justified, paganly
speaking, of course, in clutching your dagger and
sending your insulter to " kingdom come " with
out benefit of clergy. In Persia it is an offence
punishable by law ; even in the lowest ranks a man
would be fined for plucking another by the beard.
The canaille in large cities seldom grow the appen
dage long for fear of rough handling.
If, on the contrary, a woman, or even a man, in
aU the humility of suppUcation, apply the tips of
trembling fingers to the " antennae of your compas
sionate feelings," grant, if possible, the request for
the " name " of your beard.
Never apply the word Kiiseh (scant-bearded) to
yourself, or to others, unless hankering for a quarrel,
and avoid calling anyone B%-rish (beardless), as
nothing can be more offensive than the insinuation.
When a foreign substance, a straw or a grain of rice
for instance, sticks in your friend's beard, do not
teU him of it bluntly, or puU it out, but look mean
ingly at him, stroking your own the whUe ; so

30 Sind Revisited.

will he take the hint. Always exact a like cere
moniousness from him.
As regards the mustachios ; if you would live in
friendship with the Sunnis, or (self-named) orthodox
Moslems, trim the centre level with the highest
part of the upper lip, and allow the tips to grow
long on both sides beyond the mouth. Should
you desire an appearance of piety, clip and thin
these ornaments till they are about the size of
your eyebrows. If you would be intimate with
the Shi'ahs or schismatics (so-called by their ene
mies), allow your mustachios to rival the girth of
a broom-stick, in token of your intense abhorrence
of the false sect that so vilely curtails them. If
you wish to appear a fighting-man, turn the ends
up to your eyes, like a Kurd or a Spaniard of the
old school, and be sure to twist them as you
engage in combat. That is the wagging of the
lion's taU. If you would pass quietly through life,
let the ends meekly depend.
I make no apology for the length of this lecture
on beards. The man who travels in the East with
the object of mixing with Orientals without know
ing its use and abuse, is rushing rashly into many
a rare trouble.
Even in these PhUister days we are permitted
by " PubUc Opinion " to exchange the black tUe, the
" father of a cooking-pot," as the little boy said to
old J, Silk Buckingham, for the fez or tarbiish. We
may also stow away our hateful collars ; let me
assure that, personally, there is nothing in wUd

Dress, 31
travel which comforts me more than to get
rid of " gills " and ties ; and I believe that diph
theria and sore throats would almost disappear if
we never used these poultices except in the coldest
weather. In winter we may wear over our shooting
jackets a Kurti or a Nim-tano (a vest made of any
stuff, from cloth of gold to cloth of frieze), padded
with cotton, and sleeved to the elbows. Or we may
prefer the Afghan Chogheh, a robe of fine camel-
hair, somewhat resembling a Carmelite's frock. In
very chilly weather we can don Postins,^ body coats
lined with sheep's skin or Astracan wool. Hand
some furs are very much admired, even by Euro
peans, in these regions ; the expense confines them
to the upper classes. Your cloak may cost you £40
or J645 : however, as
" Tou have a Mrs. Bull at home, and many little Bulls,"
it is sure to be useful for the second generation
when it ceases to be used by the first. For riding,
I can find you a pair of top-boots — not exactly the
dainty things that accompany "leathers" in Eng
land, but far more useful — a chaussure of soft
, yellow cordovan covering the overalls, and extend
ing to the knee.
Pray remove that useless circlet of base metal^
1 These articles are made throughout Afghanistan ; the largest
may weigh from twenty to twenty-five lbs., and the lightest two lbs.
The leather worn outside is tanned to a state of wonderful soft
ness, and then intricately stitched and embroidered. The best cost
from 6J. to 81. ; the coarse imitations made in Sind seldom fetch
more than 8s. or 10s, They are still universal in Slav-land.

32 Sind Revisited.

called jeweUers' gold, from your third finger, and
supply its place with this ring of pure ore, upon
whose silver slab appears Jan Bul,
the Orientalization of your respectable name. Now,
your left hand upon the ivory hilt of your scimitar
slung to its belt, a little forwards, please, by way of
hint; your right caressing the puce -coloured^ honours
of your chin. So, Mr, John Bull, you might now
travel even through Wahhd,bi-land as comfortably
and as safely as Colonel Pelly did,
^ It often happens, when the henna and indigo are not properly
mixed and applied, or when they are used for the first time, they
communicate a fine brilliant cimex-colour to the hair, j' more
remarkable than ornamental.

( 33 )

CHAPTER XIX.
EBPLBGTIOKS ON THE FIELD OP MIYInI.
Next to the arrival at, nothing more uncomfortable
than departure from, a " station,"
We ordered our camels to be here yesterday
evening. They arrived this morning, and in what
a state ! One is sick ; your dromedary has hurt
its leg ; two have torn their noses, and all have
lost or injured their furniture. The Sarwdns, or
drivers, are as surly as "bargees;" they look, and
doubtless they feel, as if they could murder us.
Not one of our Portuguese yet sober ! They
were invited to dinner by the messman of the
"TraveUers' Bungalow," a compatriote; the result is
that none can walk, one can waddle. The Moslems
have, with all possible difficulty, torn themselves
away from the b^zd,r-sirens. And the Hindus are
in a terrible state of indigestion, the consequence of
a farewell feast of curry and rice given in honour
of them by their fellow caste-men.
It is a chUly morning. All our people, except
the Afghans and the HiU-men, look coUapsed with
VOL, II, 25

34 Sind Revisited.

cold. The miserables have encased their bodies
in Postins, become Macintoshes by dint of wear ;
they have doubled their head-gear, and have folded
the ends of their turbans round their jaws, but
their legs are almost naked, their feet quite so.
Such is the custom throughout the East, Our
Pdrdesi^ horse-keepers crouch upon their heels in a
wretched state, or glide about like unhappy Shades
o'er the mournful fields by Acheron, wrapped up
in their dripping blankets, half-paralyzed, and
wretched beyond power of description. It will
never do to leave them by themselves, or they
will work hard to die of torpor. The only way to
cure them is compulsory labour ; make them saddle
the camels, hoist the boxes, tie the SalUahs,^ and
trudge along the road as fast as their legs wiU
carry them.
The first rainy day we have had in Sind, But
a year ago, sir, how you would have grumbled at
the prospect of this inky sky, at the depressing
effect of the slow drizzle which descends with inde
fatigable perseverance, and at the damp, " shiver "-
gendering blast which scours the gloomy earth!
See the wonderful Might of Contrast, You now
think the weather delightful : you reUsh the rain as
much as a Persian, particularly the southern Persian,
who enjoys nothing so much as a ride or a stroU
1 Pdrdesi, the " foreigner," is a name generally given in these
parts of the world to the natives of Hindostan Proper.
2 The SalUah is a canvass-sheet used to contain the articles
composing the camel's load. In cold weather it is converted into a
blanket.

Climate. 35

during a shower which would clear the streets of an
Italian town in five minutes. The murky prospect,
so reminiscent of the old country, here raises
your spirits ; even the chill and gloom have their
deUghts, after six or eight wearisome months of
eternal azure and gold sky, and an atmosphere
which feels as if lukewarm water were being con
tinually poured over you.
Talking of cold and climate, I may hazard a few
remarks about the strictures passed upon Quintius
Curtius, an ancient who wrote a history of Alex
ander's reign, by " one Rooke : " excuse the style
of designation ; it emanated from the Conqueror of
Sind, and it presently became classical in the pro
vince.^ Curtius had indulged himself in describing
the heat of Mekrdn, on the shore of the Persian
Gulf, as very hot : whereupon the learned gentleman
who translated Arrian remarked tout bonnement,
" that the sun should scorch so much in a country
so distant from the tropics, where its rays faU so
obliquely, is incredible,"
I can show you by an experiment what the
glow is hereabouts, even in the wintry month
of November, Stand in the open air, with your
shirt-sleeves tucked up for only half an hour ; after
a day or two the skin wUl peel off, as if it had
been scalded or burnt. During the hot season you
may broU a steak, or roast an egg upon the desert-
sand in a few minutes. Listen to an account of
the sufferings endured by a party of Sepoys march-
' " One Hogg," {Yek Su'ar) however, was the original.

36 Sind Revisited.

i'ng, in the heat of the day, through Upper Sind, by
the pen of a well-known traveUer :
"A detachment of the — — regiment of N. L,
escorting treasure from Shikarpore, were passing
the desert in the night, when they mistook the way,
and wandered the greater part of the next day in
search of the track without meeting with any water
to moisten their parched throats. One after one
they dropped, until two officers and twenty- one
Sepoys were lost. The remainder, many of them
delirious, found the track and a stream of water in
the evening."
Afghanistan lies many degrees north of Mekrd,n,
yet the sun kills you there. Southern Persia and
Maskat are situate within the same paraUels as the
country about Kech, the capital of the "Ichthyo
phagi : " about Bushehr (Bushire), you find a
burning wind fatal as the Simiim of Arabia; and
the inhabitants are obliged to fly from Maskat to
Matharah during the summer seasons. Thus much
for the heat of "countries so distant from the
tropics." Again, the Rooke faUs foul of poor Curtius for
his account of the cold in the land of the Arachotoi.
"What reader, by such a description, would not
imagine them to have been under the North Pole
indeed ? I can assure mine they were very far
from it, being then in a country which Ues between
the 84th and 40th degrees of latitude ; and, of con
sequence, it could not be much colder than Greece
or Italy." That consequence is a decided non

Climate. 37

sequitur. Hear Dr, Burnes about the winter, as it
sometimes is, in Central Sind :
"While I was at Hyderabad, in January, 1828,
rain fell in torrents for many days, attended with
a sensation of more piercing cold than I had ever
experienced, even in Europe," The Rev, Mr. Allen,
in Upper Sind, found the day "so bitterly cold,
that he appeared at dinner in his Postin." And our
soldiers were frost-bitten and frozen to death in
the Afghan passes, whUst the Russians perished in
numbers about Khiva ; both countries being "about
the latitude of Greece and Italy ; " but not, con
sequently, so genial in point of climate.
The ornithologist " A, 0, H," says of Sind : " The
contrasts presented by this small province are most
striking. Stick to the central inundation-subject
tracts, where broads of cultivation divide with canals
and irrigation-channels the length and breadth of
the land, and — at any rate, if your trip be made in
the cold season — you will be ready, specially if either
ornithologist or sportsman, to aver that Sindh is
the pleasantest of aU our Indian possessions ; a
climate that is simply perfection: cool, dry to
a degree, bracing ; waving fields, picturesque-look
ing viUages, beautiful lakes or lakelets in every
march ; the sun always bright, the sky ever blue
and cloudless, lovely purple hills closing every
landscape in the far distance, and such wUd fowl
and snipe (and in places black partridge) shooting !
But stray outside the Umits of the tracts, above
all, wander a little amongst the 'lovely purple

38 Sind Revisited.

hUls,' to which ' distance,' and only a very con
siderable distance, can lend 'enchantment,' and
you must either be a geologist or more than mortal
if you do not, after a week or so, conclude that
Sindh is the most ' god-forgotten-hole ' on the face
of the globe. " ' " A. 0. H. " does not love the Desert,
The field of Miydni. There it lies before us, a
broad plain, through whose sUty surface withered
stumps and leafless shrubs, rare and scattered,
protrude their desolate forms. It is divided by
the broad, deep bed of the old PhuldU, and it
is bounded on the right by the high wall of the
Shikd,rgdh, or hunting preserve, still loopholed as it
was by the Beloch, and on the left by Miyd,ni, the
wretched fishing village,^ to which capricious Fate
hath given a lasting name in the annals of the East.
Sundry attempts were made to detract as much as
possible from the brUliancy of Sir Charles Napier's
victory,^ His despatches, somewhat too popularly
written, were received at first with credulous admi
ration : in course of time they came to be considered,
• Stray Feathers, etc., 1873, p. 48.
« " Miy^ni," in Sind, is the general name for the little settlements
populated chiefly by the fisherman caste. Murray's Handbook says
(p. 488) : " The battle ought to have been named from the Got, or
village, of Zdhir Bdhirchi, rather than from Miydni, which is the
name of the whole district between the Phuleli and the Indus, and
not of any village or place in particular." I believe this to be an
error. 3 EspeciaUy by the late General Waddington, C.B., whose plan
and "only correct account" will be found in Mr. Eastwick's "Dry
Leaves from Young Egypt " (p. 346). The secret history of this
Report will, I hope, soon be published in the memoirs of Mirzd.
AU Akbar, K.B.

Miydni- Fight. 39

to be compared with other public and private ac
counts, to be questioned, to be disputed. It is true
that the few present at the action confirmed their
General's assertions; but, en revanche, the many
who had not that fortune found out all kinds of
disenchanting detaUs, The Princes were compeUed
to fight against their wUl ; bribery and clannish
feuds made our opponents more hostUe to one
another than to the common foe; the enemy was
a " vast mob ; " his infantry was half -armed ; his
cavalry (" riders without the slightest discipline or
knowledge of military movements, mounted on
wretched ponies ! ") was commanded by a scoundrel
in our pay, and his artUlery was worse than useless,
"wretched 6-pounders," with most of the wheels
secured by cords. Then the editor, the late Dr,
Buist, dashed into the arena. He told the world :
" One square — one charge — and the whole business
was settled." He remembered that, at the time of
the news reaching England, the late Adjutant-
General remarked, " the struggle could not have
been very fierce, seeing that our loss was so very
trifling," He concluded the flourish by informing
mankind, that he " had no idea of the way in which
the business was managed," and made his exit ex
claiming that Sir Charles Napier had "earned
27,000Z, of prize-money with wonderful facility,"
What delighted every mUitary man who did not
allow himself to be black-hearted with envy, was
the way in which the brisk little affair was
fought. Sir Charles Napier dressed his line at

40 Sind Revisited.

11 a.m., unUmbered his guns, and began, not with
charging cavaby at masked batteries, nor with
pushing a column of " murdered men " over a level
plain, swept and scoured by hundreds of cannon,
but by silencing, as a common-sense man would,
the enemy's guns. An advance en Echelon of
regiments ; a fierce m^lee, no quarter asked or
given, on the river's banks when line was formed ;
a dash or two of horsemen, and at 1.30 p,m,
the battle ended. It showed once and for all
time how to fight an Indian battle: to shake
the enemy's line with a hot fire of artillery ; to
charge home with infantry and, when slight symp
toms of hesitation begin, to throw all your cavalry
at the opposing flanks. True, the General's loss was
only — kiUed 62 (6 officers), and wounded 194 (13
officers), out of 2800 odd: decidedly not severe;
discipUne and tactics prevented its being so. But,
in other hands (it would be invidious to specify
them), the affair would probably not have presented
the suspicious appearance which at once caught the
Adjutant- General's critical eye.
The epoch at which the battle was fought set it
off in surpassing lustre. It was, to use a hackneyed
phrase, the "tail of the Afghan storm," and most
disastrous had been that storm to the lives and pro
perty of our countrymen, to the Revenues of India,
and, most of all, to the confidence of our conquests.
The commanders of our armies seemed determined
to demoralize the mass of them, the Sepoys, by
giving every work of danger and difficulty to the

The Conquest of Sind. 41
European regiments ; at Ghazni, for one instance
of many, four European regiments composed the
storming party. The Sepoys, on the other hand,
convinced of the little trust reposed in their courage
and loyalty, and worsted, not wholly through their
own fault, in many a badly -fought battle, had lost
all that prestige of victory which makes the soldier
victorious. Discouraged by their chiefs, they appa
rently resolved to merit discouragement.
Then came the battle of Miydni, bursting upon
the Indian world like the glories of Plassey, the
brilliant achievements of Sir Eyre Coote, and other
dashing deeds which distinguished past from present
generations. Once more 2800 thrashed 22,000
men, as they ought to do, greatly to the disappoint
ment of certain old field-officers, landers of days
gone-by, grim predictors, who " prayed to Heaven
that India might not be lost to us " : much to the
deUght of those who felt, as most soldiers did, that
our fighting fortunes had been under a cloud,
that the cloud was at length dispersed, and that
the sun of victory was once more glancing gaUy
and gladly upon our bayonets.
The battle of Miydni, and Dabbd, another no less
brUliant affair which foUowed it, threw Sind into
our hands. It is the only one of the Transindine
Provinces that now remains to us,
A modern writer' on India remarks: " Our
power, which since the days of Lake had remained
inactive, like some huge Colossus, heavy with its
1 The talented author of "Dry Leaves from Young Egypt."

42 Sind Revisited.

own bulk, had suddenly made a stride which planted
us in Central Asia," But the unhappy Colossus in
question soon found Central Asia, metaphorically
as well as literally speaking, too hot for him.
He remained there for a whUe, blind as Poly
phemus, and blundering as pitiably ; at length,
finding that the new position had neither pleasure
nor profit in store for him, he made the movement
retrograde, blustering loudly enough as he went,
but faUing to conceal from his brother Brobdigna-
gians, and even from the LUliputians who had
worked him such sad annoy, that he knew the
retreat to be by no means the thing one boasts of.
We should have held Afghanistan for at least a
year before abandoning it, and even lately we made
the same mistake in African Ashanti.
Then followed the conquest of Sind which,
being an unpalatable measure to Anglo-Indians and
Indians generally — for who likes to live in a
mSlange of the desert, the oven, and the dust-hole ?
— was attacked on all sides. Every man with a
tongue or a pen had his hit at it.
The principal objections to the victor's policy
numbered two. Firstly, it was urged that the act
itself was an " atrocious one," that a quarrel had been
forced upon the Native Princes, and that their eject
ment and imprisonment were utterly unjustifiable,
even when measured by the elastic rules of political
morality. Secondly, it was asserted that the act
was unwise, and consequently that it should be
remedied by being undone ; in other words, by

The Conquest of Sind. 43
restoring the plundered property to the lawful
owners of the estate.
With the first question I have nothing to do,
being ignorant of the law of nations, little read in
political morality, and detesting nothing more than
political discussion, of aU things, next to polemics,
the most unprofitable and impossible branch of the
science Eristik^, The second point is more in my line.
The old warrior who conquered Sind was never
a popular man in India. He made himself hateful
to the CivU Service, then a powerful body be
cause connected with the Court of Directors. He
spoke of politicals as "sharp young men who
know Persian. He accused both civilians and
politicals of unutterable things ; he nicknamed them
" Cutcherry Hussars," and only the prestige of his
name and the terror of his iUustrious brother. Sir
WUUam Napier, prevented his being recalled like
Lord EUenborough. He held up Sind as a pattern
before the eyes of jealous India ; he insisted upon a
huge garrison, and he made it a costly acquisition,
without counting his own £7000 per annum. To
the Indian press, his pecuUar style of personalities
rendered his name distasteful in the extreme. So
editors, especially the " blatant beast of the Bombay
Times," as his brother-Scot caUed him ; and party-
writers, many of them knowing little or nothing
about what they were discussing, but aU cunning in
the art of appearing to do so ; attacked the Con
queror in his tenderest point, his maiden conquest.
Every blow aimed at it they felt would come home

44 Sind Revisited.

to him, consequently they entered the arena de
termined to plant as many " stingers " as possible,
and careless of fair play, provided they could make
any play whatever against him. The favourite hits
here again were two.
In the first place, " Sind continues to cost, as it
has cost us every year* since its conquest, some
three quarters of a million annually ; whereas the
Panjdb promises henceforth to yield from a quarter
to half a mUlion a year of free return." So much
for the contrast between a conquest made, in the
former case, without pretence of justification, and
one, in the latter, which was forced on us. The
beauty of ad captandum arguments, as they are
termed, is that, somehow or other, they do win the
herd's heart. Secondly, that instead of preserving
the Indus, "the natural boundary of Western
India," as our frontier, we have deliberately tossed
away all its advantages, and have placed ourselves,
our Sepoys, and our stores, in a false and dangerous
position, Sind is an Unhappy Valley, a compound of
stone, sand, and silt. The Desert cannot, the
alluvial plains which it contains can, be fertUized.
The country cam.e into our possession battered by
foreign invasion, torn by intestine dissensions, each
of its two dozen Princes being the head of a faction,
1 " This (1851) is the first year since 1841 in which the income
of British India has exceeded its expenditure ; the balance of from
half a milUon to a miUion and a half, which for ten years past has
annually stood against us, is now transformed into one of a quarter
of a milUon in our favour," Such was the assertion after the Con
queror left.

The Value of Sind. 45
and almost depopulated by bad government. It is
therefore an exception to the general rule of our
Eastern conquests. Experience in the Indian penin
sula has taught us not to expect the full amount
of revenue raised by the native Princes, our prede
cessors ; here we may hope, if I mistake not,
eventually to double it. True, our wants are not
trifling : immigration on an extensive scale is hardly
the work of a day ; irrigation requires time and
expenditure of ready money ; and, flnally, the
influx of hard cash, which the country must have
to thrive upon,* is an outlay of capital which rulers
are apt to make grudgingly. Something has been
done ; more remains to be done ; and much, I am
confident, will be done.
The regenerator of Sind is the Indus, As yet it
has been the fate of that politically hapless stream
to suffer equally from friend and foe. Lieutenant
Burnes, its discoverer in modern days, magnified the
splendour of its advantages to an extent which raised
expectation high enough to secure disappointment.
He made light of the " snags," easUy remedied the
" sawyers," and found that the disadvantage of
having no ports for shelter, nor harbours accessible
to vessels of burden, was " more imaginary than
real." An " Indus Steam Navigation Company " was
formed in England, and an agent was despatched
to Bombay for the purpose of settling prehminaries :
1 That the agriculturists may not pay their rents in kind— a system
of raising revenue the most unsatisfactory of all, on account of its
being open to certain embezzlement.

46 Sind Revisited.

there operations ceased. The public felt the reaction
from enthusiasm and speculation to total apathy.
The disappointed, and they were not few, de
preciated the value of the "noble river" with all
their might and main, as a vent to their Ul-humour,
But apathy and ill-humour both had their day.
Presently it was suggested that the little steam-tugs
employed on the Indus were incapable of developing
its resources, and it was proposed to substitute for
them the large river-boats after those which had
been adopted on the Ganges, And, lest the march
of improvement should halt at the river, it was
resolved to improve the ports, to lay out lines of
road, and to erect caravanserais for the benefit
of travellers. The " Indus Steam Flotilla " was
a long step in advance, and the raiboad, when
finished, as it soon must be, will be a longer — we
shall see them both on our down-march. Such
measures lead to prosperity, especially when under
taken, not with a Conqueror's fitful energy, but
with the steady resolve of an Indian administra
tion ; even the deadly climate must eventually
yield to the effects of drainage and to the proper
management of the inundation. The Unhappy
VaUey will, I venture to predict, in the course of
years lose its character ; and in the evening of its
days become the " Happy VaUey,"
As regards our position being weakened by
passing beyond the Indus : Sind is, in the opinion
of every sensible man, exactly the frontier we require.
What can be more favourable than an open plain for

The Value of Sind. 47
the evolutions of a disciplined army ? — what more
imaginary than the existence of "natural boun
daries ? " — more fanciful than the advantages to be
derived from a deep river, a line of mountains, or
any of Nature's works as frontiers ?
The occupation of this Province should act
beneficially upon our Eastern rule, in two ways,
actively and passively.
Lower Sind forms an exceUent base for warlike
operations, should they be required, against the
turbulent people to the west and north-west. Con
sidering the question commercially, Karachi, like
Aden, has long eclipsed all the petty harbours which,
studding the neighbouring coast, once formed so
many inlets for our commodities into Central Asia.
Should we, in future years, imitating the wise and
politic conduct of the early Portuguese, establish
detachments in forts and strongholds, acquired by
purchase or conquest, along the southern shores of
Mekrdn and the Persian Gulf, where the Euphrates
Valley Railway must run, it will be in our power
to regulate the stream of trade in whatever way best
suits our convenience ; meanwhile, we content our
selves with diverting it into our own channel.
Karachi lies on the direct route from England to
the Panjdb and the North- Western Provinces of
British India. It has not yet been made a dep6t
for the reception of mUitary stores destined for that
part of the country, but the measure has long been
proposed, and wiU doubtless eventually be carried
into execution.

48 Sind Revisited.

The passive advantage we secure by the posses
sion of Sind, is simply that we have crushed and
ousted a hostUe power, which might have been,
although it never was, dangerous to us, its neigh
bours. The fierce, hardy, and martial barbarians of
the Beloch mountains and Eastern Persia can no
longer consider Sind their general point de reunion :
unsupplied with the sinews of war by the lords of
the low country, and scattered by the want of a
leader to head them, a single regiment of irregular
cavahy and the British name have already sufficed
to check their predatory propensities.
Another good which Sind did us. Every few
years, Mr. Bull, you and your household suffer
from a kind of disease, an intermittent fever called,
Russophobia and, during the attack, you become a
haunted man. A skeleton sits before your roast-
beef, robbing it of all its zest ; direful visions, partly
the spawn of distempered fancy, partly the deformed
exaggerations of a real danger, abstract from your
usually heavy slumbers half their normal quiet.
At times you start up, dreaming of bankruptcy :
you rush to the window expecting to see, strange
portent ! a wolf at your very door. Such is the
nature of the fit : when it passes off it is succeeded
by the usual revulsion ; you laugh at your fears, you
make light of the ghost, and you prose out many
sound and sober reasons, all proving the phantasm
to have been an " airy nothing."
But Russophobia was not based upon nothing.
Russia then contained the elements of the power if

The Value of Sind. 49
not the actual and present capability, to do all that
Napoleon predicted she would do. She intended
also to do it. It was not without reason that she
directed the whole of her influence against the self-
sufficient semi-savages and barbarians of Central
Asia, that she toiled to supplant us in Persia,
that she overran Afghanistan Avith spies, and that
she lavished blood and gold upon the pathless
steppes that stretch eastward from the Caspian
Sea. Russophobia, I repeat, was in those days no
dream : it was a distorted vision of possibilities.
You open the map, Rawlinson's or Gordon's.
You produce and fix on your spectacles. You
bend over the page, and pass your finger slowly, very
slowly, along the ten, once twenty- five, degrees which
still separate the nearest Umits of the two Empires.
You pause here and there, especially when a streaky,
caterpiUar-like Une, which means a mountain, a
huge white space dotted with atoms to denote sand,
or the frequent words, " Great Salt Desert," attract
your eye.
True, sir, mountain and salt-plain, river and
desert. He in the way, but what earthly obstacle is
impassible to genius ? Nddir Shah, an uneducated
barbarian, with a few thousands of undrUled Per
sians, marched from his capital ; forced the terrible
passes of the Afghan ; subdued aU the ferocious
tribes that met him, and reached Delhi, the core of
India, how triumphantly, his loss, some hundred
men, may teU you. What Nddir could do, others can.
The possession of Sind did much to calm your
9R
VOL, II. ^'^

50 Sind Revisited.

fears, and to prevent their reacting upon the people
of India. You recognized the value of an outpost
which would close to the enemy aU but one route,
that through Afghanistan and the Panjdb, There
he would have been compeUed to meet us upon a
plain country, where his savage auxUiaries could
avail him little, and where your men are, to say the
least, as good as his. You feel that every year, as
artillery and projectUes become more ponderous, the
value of the Indus, at once a moat 650 direct
mUes long, and a line of transport which can
carry 100-ton guns as easUy as the enemy his
12-pounders, greatly increases. Your invader can
no longer occupy the lower VaUey of the Indus ;
he can create no division by a flank movement on
Kachh, and your war-steamers secure you against
danger from the Persian Gulf, Briefly, we have
blocked up all but the most trying and perilous
entrance to India, and we have placed ourselves
in the most likely position to debar our assailant,
should he enter India, of aU chance to return.
And now, a third of a century after the con
quest of Sind, I marvel, and, moreover, I am
ashamed, to hear of India being threatened by the
Muscovite, Afghanistan has lost all power; the
Panjdb is in our hands ; Kashmir and Nepdl are
mere dependencies. The one line, open in the days
of Ranjit Singh, is cut off. And the course of Russian
conquest since the Crimean War is whoUy against
her troubling India, With the necessity of growth
which belongs to young communities, as well as to

The Value of Sind. 51
individuals, she has grown eastwards when she
could not grow southwards. She has committed the
fatal but inevitable error of forcing her dominion
upon the most fanatical tribes of the Moslem world.
She is ever advancing her frontier to meet that of
China, and when the rival-cousins do meet, war
will never cease. Truly we have no reason, for half
& century at least, to feel fear of Russia. The
Russophobists are, for the present, men of the
past, except that Europe seems suddenly to have
discovered that half of her area is held by the
Slav race, and to be much startled by her own
discovery. The short and bloody page which our ill-judged
invasion of Afghanistan has inserted into the annals
of India under the English, reads a lesson as to
the peril of " territorial aggrandizement " in that
direction. It is now an old, old story; but its
enduring interest is that, as the thing happened
once, so it may happen again. Would it irk you,
sir, were I to waste a few words upon the dangers
into which we heedlessly rushed, and which over
whelmed us, because we were unprepared for them ?
" So don't do it again, dear," as the maternal
parent is wont to conclude a domestic lecture, wUl
be, bien entendu, the gist of my garrulity.
In ruling peoples like the Afghans, the Per
sians, or the Arabs, we have three great difficulties
to contend against: the action of their national
faith, the social position of their women, and the
nature of their penal code.

52 Sind Revisited.

Except in history, or in a few scattered tribes,
there is no such thing as patriotism in Central Asia ;
its locum tenens, as a bond of union, is reUgion or
bigotry. The Persian will openly tell you that he
cares not one iota whether Kajar or Frank walk the
streets of Teheran, provided that, firstly, his MulM,
secondly, his wives, be respected. Popular writers
on Eastern subjects are prone to err in this par
ticular.* With much poetical feeling they institute
a comparison between El-Islam and the Dead
Knight of the medieval legend who, when slain by
a bolt, was carried by his charger over the field,
causing as much confusion to the foe as if the rider's
arm were still doing, as wont, the work of death.
This is strength of simUe, deficiency of sense. They
universalize from the individual instance which par
ticularly comes within the range of general Euro
pean observation, the un-Sublime Porte, and they
blunder grossly, as observers who adopt such style
of deduction do, and must ever do. El-Islam is
still in all its vigour, fervent and deep-rooted in the
hearts of men — I am speaking of the mass in Central
Asia, not of corruptions in Syria and elsewhere —
1 See Mr. W. C. Taylor's "The History of Mahommedanism "—
pubUshed by the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge.
That author's simile, and many of his subsequent assertions as
that "the spirit and vitality of the Mahommedan's faith have
departed," .... " the very Mussulmans themselves confess that
their faith is in a rapid process of decay," etc., etc., are intended to
show off by contrast, " the recuperative energies "of Christianity,
and its " principles of restoration within itself." This is injurina
the cause of Christianity. False, partial, and specious pleading
fails in the closet, though it may succeed in a court of law.

Modern Islam, 53

as it was when it first sprang, Minerva-like, in
panoply from Mohammed's brain : that it retains
the ardent activity of youth, together with the
settled strength of mature manhood, its system
atic propaganda in Africa may prove. During the
early part of the present century the Wahhdbls
of Eastern Arabia made a movement which would
not have disgraced the days of Umar. They arose
with the same intention of spreading their Faith
over a plundered world : they faded, not for want
of energy or wUl, but because they lacked the
means of success. Nations are now better guarded
against these human typhoons : the war-canoe
and the bow are not likely to do much against
the Iron-clad and the Woolwich-infant, But
there is nothing easier than to preach a Jihdd,
or Holy- War, in Central Asia,
The position of strangers and infidels in lands
teeming with bigotry and fanaticism must be fraught
with danger ; the countless prejudices of the Mos
lems are so many rocks upon which the current of
events could not fail to dash us. In the presence of
British equity the Mussulmd,n Sayyid and the
Hindu sweeper stand on the same footing ; but let
the latter strike or insult the former at Candahar,
a.nd what is the result ? * The Moslem returns
home, tears his beard, dashes his turban to the
ground, assembles his friends, threatens, cabals, and
agitates, tUl he raises a tumult which, if cireum -
^ I quote this instance because many remember its taking place
in Afghanistan.

54 Sind Revisited.

stance favour it, may end in rebellion and massacre.
Most of these Levites might, it is true, be con-
cUiated, bribed, and converted into spies upon their
flocks. But what a degrading position for the first
Asiatic nation in Christendom to place itself in, to
rule by sufferance and by purchased obedience !
Many of them, moreover, like the Irish priest, are
out of the reach of douceurs, because money is
no object, and the rank which they hold amongst
their countrymen would be lowered rather than
raised by the favour and countenance of their anti-
religionists. These men are the most influential,
therefore the most dangerous, part of the sacred
community. Offend one of them and, if events
favour it, there wUl be a " Holy War."
To meet the occasions for which Koranic reve
lation, in this matter like many others, forgot to
provide, Rasm, or the established "country-custom,"
is virtu aUy. admitted throughout the world of El-
Islam to an equality with Holy Writ, The inspired
ordinance upon the subject of adultery, for instance,
has been found by experience worse than useless :
but it is inspired ; it cannot therefore be altered,
although it may be transgressed. So, in all purely
Moslem nations, men are allowed to take the law
into their own hands, and summarUy to wash out
with blood an affront offered to their honour,
A few months after Sir Charles Napier had
conquered Sind, he issued an order promising to
hang any one who committed this species of legal
murder. Abstractly just, it was uncommonly

Eastern Honour. 55
tyrannical. It was as if the Allied Army at Paris
had denounced duelling and, in spite of all the
prejudices in its favour, which made the proceeding
become a practice, had systematically shot every
man convicted of an " affair of honour," The san
guinary custom of the Moslem world overwhelms
with ignominy the husband or son of an adulteress
who survives the discovery of her sin ; he is taboo'd
by society ; he becomes a laughing-stock to the
vulgar, and a disgrace to his famUy and friends.
Even the timid Sindis every now and then were
driven to despair by their dishonour ; a few cases
might be quoted in which, with the rope round their
necks, they avenged their outraged " shame," and
died, rather than drag on a scandalous existence.
The greater part of the community amused them
selves with shrugging up their shoulders at the
Frank's outlandish ways, and, discontented with our
new punishment of blacking the offender's face,
shaving her head, and leading her, seated a Venvers
on an ass, through the hiziv, to be pelted and
hooted by boys and beggars, made prevention their
motto, the bolt taking the place of the sword.
Such conld not be done in many parts of Central
Asia. The nature of the subject, Mr, BuU, forbids
its being approfondi : suffice it to say that, for
many reasons, were the fear of the scimitar removed,
the scandalous scenes certain to occur would pass
description. Then th.^ finale, "the Shame of the
Moslem is broken," and " AUah wUl aid in the good
Fight against these Accursed," The murder of

56 Sind Revisited.

M. Griboedoff, the Russian Envoy to the Court of
Teheran, resulted from the misconduct of his suite :
the teterrima causa being, as usual, at the bottom
of the affair. And in Afghanistan, next to the
dissatisfaction produced by our diminishing the
salaries of the chieftains who held the passes ; and
the intrigues of the worthless despot Shujd,', who,
with an eye to finings and confiscations, incited his
nobles to rebeUion ; ranks high, among the causes of
our disasters, the universal discontent excited in the
breasts of the people by the conduct of thefr women
under the new rule. The grievance was taken up
by the class which in El-Islam represents the priest
hood ; ensued a Jihdd, whose objects were plun
der and revenge ; and then, as the Moslems say,
" what happened, happened."
Our punishments, too : how contemptible they
must appear to the ferocious barbarians that incur
them ! The Afghan is detected stealing ; he looks
to have his right hand chopped off : we lodge him
in what he considers a luxurious retreat, where he
can eat, drink, doze, smoke, and abuse the Frank
in plenary animal satisfaction. He appropriates his
friend's spouse : instead of perUling life or limb, he
knows that these benevolent fools, his rulers, wUl
hang the husband who harms him. Overheard
blaspheming, a crime for which he would be stoned
to death amidst the ferocious exultation of his
fellows, he now can laugh : under our rule sacrilege
is not a capital offence. He commits murder, and
is detected ; he expects nothing but a horrible

Easte7-n Punishments, 57

death, to be suspended by the ankles, and
chopped in two like a sheep hung up in your
butcher's shop, or to be flayed alive, one of the
most excruciating tortures that human ingenuity
ever devised,* He smUes when he is told that
he is only to dangle for an hour at the gallows,
without the prospect of being left there to feed
the crows; or that he is simply to be shot with
out the preliminary of being bastinado'd tiU sensa
tion by slow degrees is expeUed his form. And,
finaUy, the mere fact of a True Believer being
put to death by Infidels, always suggests the
Palm of Martyrdom.
The natives of Central Asia are to be con-
troUed by strange and terrible punishments. In
the early part of the present century, that mighty
soldier of fortune, Mohammed, or as you learned to
call him, Mahomet AU, of Egypt, defeated the
Wahhd,bi Crusaders, and made himself master of
El-Hejaz, the Arabian Holy Land, Immediately
after the decisive victory at Bissel he began the
work of intimidation by slaughtering three hundred
prisoners who endured the disgrace of surrender
with the hope of saving life. But he was careful
not to put them to death in a common way ; he cut
some to pieces literally by inches ; many he impaled,
and he blew others from the mouths of his can
non, so as to render anything like a decent funeral
1 They begin by separating, with a kind of scraper, the skin at
the soles of the feet, and then tear it upwards by strips tUl the
sufferer expires with agony and the shock to the nervous system.

58 Sind Revisited,
impossible. The brave and sanguinary Ibrahim
Pasha succeeded to the office of Executioner-General,
and in 1833 the Sublime Porte added to the famUy,
with other investitures, the command of the Red Sea
ports, and the privilege of conducting the Hajj, or
PUgrim-caravans, The Egyptians, however, found
difficulty in holding the newly-conquered country :
they were abominated by the wild inhabitants be
cause they shaved their beards, spoke a strange
tongue, and freely indulged in military license.
Assassinations became of daUy occurrence, massacres
of small outposts was the next step in advance, and
the victors were beginning to fear that a rise en
masse would conclude the scene,
A bright thought struck the old man. He knew
that it was conferring a favour rather than otherwise
upon a Bedawi murderer to behead him ; to hand
the carcass over to its friends, and to allow every
little villain to be embalmed in memory as a mar
tyred saint on earth, and to become a blessed spirit
in heaven, carried about in the crop of a green bird.
He had tried impaling upon a small scale : he
resolved to extend his operations and to see the
effects of the novel and horrible punishment.
Perfect success attended the attempt. Even
Ishmael's spirit quailed at the sight of the stake.
The wUd Arab could endure the death ; he could
not the idea of its consequences. The body of
every malefactor was doomed to the hungry dogs
and vultures ; no holy rite could be performed over
it ; a last resting-place in this world was denied to

Eastern Policy. 59

it, and what might not happen to it in the next ?
The stake triumphed,
I believe, Mr, BuU, it would be in the power of
any military commander to reduce an Afghan, Per
sian, or Turkoman province to perfect submission,
to " turn " as their phrase is, the " tiger into a little
goat," Thus : A village, I will suppose, refuses to
pay its tax, and the headman sends you a polite
message inviting you, dog of a Frank, to come and
take it. You bluster a little, to give your part
vraisemblance, at the messenger with the bold
broad face ; you make a few preparations for attack
ing the rebel, ostentatiously as you can ; presently
something happens ; you allow the project to die in
embryo. You keep your secret to yourself and you
smUe alone at the altered manner of those around
you. When the arrogant headman has determined
that you are a Nd-mard, " a no man," a coward, one
fine night, as the moon is rising, you find yourself
with a few hundred horsemen quietly jogging on
towards the village of Shaykh Mohammed, You
reach it in due time, you post a reserve for fear of
fugitives, and you carefuUy set fire to half-a-dozen
huts in as many different directions. The wretches
try to run away, you kiU all the men ; the women,
who would pick out your eyes with their coUyrium-
needles, and the children you make "Bakhshish" to
your soldiers. You conclude by levelling the place
with the ground, and by walking your pet charger
with the high-sounding name over and across it, that
the world may say, " Verily, he rode Ghurrawn over

60 Sind Revisited.

the homes of the Sons of Yiisuf ! " And, finally, you
erect, in memory of the exploit, a Kalleh-mun^r,*
a round-tower of stone with regular lines of heads,
perhaps with live bodies of prisoners, cemented by
lime into the outer courses of the masomy: the
Shaykh, I need hardly say, occupying a position
more elevated than his clients. After which, believe
me, you wiU be pronounced every inch a Mard
(man), soldiers will swear by you, subjects will be
proud to obey you, not a ivalad but wiU consider
you a hero ! " Did he not kUl one hundred men
in one night and burn their fathers^ in quicklime ? "
It is needless to say that no British officer could
be found to commit such enormities, and that, were
one found, a worse than the fate of Haynau would
await him at your hands. But, hating cruelty, your
taste verges towards the other extreme — an unwise
clemency, far more cruel than wise severity. Some
claptrapping journalist never fails to catch and dress
up for your taste a sorry tale about the horrors of
the last siege, or the acts of violence which soldiers
wUl commit during and after the excitement of battle.
You read and believe it : it is re-told and re-read tUl
' Literally, a "minaret of skulls."
^ This expressive phrase literally means that the progenitor
is in the place of Eternal Punishment. If a man's corpse has been
cremated instead of inhumed, the opprobrious term " sons of
burnt fathers " would descend and adhere to the third generation
with admirable confusion of the literal and metaphorical. When
you say, " I will burn thy father," you threaten to make the
individual addressed laugh the wrong side of his face ; and so
on. The phrase is not only expressive, it is also various -in its
expressiveness.

Managing Easterns. 61
the General, if "he be Aveak enough to regard " Public
Opinion," in the form of press-cant, or an ignorant
public's credence of it, is deterred from doing his
duty, from acting as he knows he should act. This
has happened so often, that the very Asiatics
have learned to shape their conduct by its pro
bability. When a refractory feoffee gives up his
sons as hostages to an Indian rajah, he feels that
the matter is earnest, for he is not capable of such
Roman virtue as to sacrifice his children for the
good of his people. To us, on the contrary, he
sends them with a light heart. The boys Avill be
fed and cared for ; possibly they may be educated
to make useful spies: in the meantime the father
takes the field against us, as soon as he finds it
convenient to do so.
Mind, sir, I do not want permission to erect
minarets of skuUs, or to hang my hostages. But I
think we may claim, and that you should concede
to us, some sUght relaxations of prejudice; for
instance, free leave to modify and proportion punish
ment to the wants of a newly conquered people, as
long as we avoid such barbarities as torture and gene
ral massacre. Where you imprison I would always
flog the poor and fine the rich, I would never
hang a Moslem without burning his corpse with
some solemnity and, when sounded about the proba-
bUity of my taking a hostage, I would reply by a
gesture, mutely eloquent, which questions the possi
bility of discovering a certain tint in my organs of
sight. And in military executions I should always-

62 Siiid Revisited.

prefer blowing from a gun ; it is far more humane
than hanging or shooting, and now you know its
use, Allons, let us retire to our tent and indulge in
the natural somniferous consequences of reflections,
preachments, lectures, and all sermons. You see
where it is pitched : the Aveeds are of a brighter
green, and the shrubs are a little taller than their
neighbours : some hundreds of our fellow-creatures
are thus doing their last duty by the Old Parent,
We wUl not mention this fact to our servants, if
you please, otherwise the fellows Avill be seeing
ghosts ! — 0 that I could catch sight and have
speech of one ! — and hearing goblins the livelong
night. How the jackals astonish you after a month's
escape from their serenade. The moon shines
bright and the air is pure and cool, a state of things
apparently much to the satisfaction of the Canis
Aureus, If you peep out of the tent-door you wUl
see the graceful scavengers now scampering over
the plain, then stopping for a moment to bay, then
again bounding off, springing playfuUy as kittens
over one another's backs. Yon greyish senior has
taken up a position close to our canvas-home, the
better, I suppose, to oblige us with a " Charivari,"
The cry resembles, according to some, the scream
ing of a human being in agony ; others liken it to
the loud waUing of grief ; in fact, there is no end
to the unlovely simUes which it has provoked from
the sleepless and justly irritated traveller. The

The JackaVs Serenade. 63
French, if I recollect right, produced a series of
mono- and dis-syllables which, strung together, were
supposed to give an idea of the nightingale's note.
Take these words :
Wah ! wah ! ! wha-a ! ! !
I smell the body of a dead Hindu ;
Where 1 wha-re ? ? wh-a-a-re 1 \ 2
Here ! hee-re ! ! he-e-re ! ! !
Pronounce the first and second lines as rapidly as
your lips and tongue can move, Mr, Bull, emphati-
cize the " where " and the " here " by aspirating the
" ll " as an Irishman does when he threatens to whip
you, dwell dolefully upon the medial vowel, and
after a little practice you will pass for a jackal
before Billy, your son. And at last you will enjoy
the jackal's serenade, which connects itself with the
memory of moonlit nights, of cool crisp air, and of
the illimitable freedom of the glorious Desert.

64 Sind Revisited.

CHAPTER XX,
DOWN THE PHUL:6lI EIVEK TO SUDDEEAN's COLUMN,
THE STEPMOTHEE.
We must start betimes this morning ; sixteen miles
before we reach breakfast, and fourteen more ere we
come to Sudderan's Column, dinner, and bed. Our
road lies along- the channel of the Phuleli : I must
caU your attention to this watercourse ; it is interest
ing in more points than one. There are two of the
name, the old and the new ; both part from the left
bank of the Indus, between Miydni and Unnarpiir ;
the former, now scanty of water, beginning north of
the latter. The length is some forty miles ; the mean
breadth is about 350 feet, here widening to nearly
double, there shrinking to half that size, while the
winding reaches seldom exceed a mile in length.
The turns are sharp, and sometimes close together,
acting as natural locks to impede the progress of a
volume which, flowing uninterruptedly, would draw
off half the water of the Indus ; possibly, despite all
precautions, some day it may become the Great
River, The stream impinges upon a waU of stiff.

The Phuleli. 65

thick clay ; the opposite bank is as shelving as the
other is abrupt, and the bottom, of hard, caked sUt,
was once covered, where the channel broadens, with
long and large holms of light sand drifted by the
eternal winds. Deep pools of stagnant water, some
of them a mile round and more, then studded the
bed ; and during the season for the Kharif, or
autumnal crop, there was scarcely a puddle Avithin
convenient distance of the bank which was not made
subservient to the purposes of agriculture,
Sind, like India, has two crops. The Rabi'a, or
vernal (sown in autumn and reaped in spring), com
prises wheat, barley, and gram (Dolichos bijlorus),
sugar and tobacco, vetches and vegetables. The
Kharif (soAva in spring and reaped in autumn)
produces rice, holcus, and the various panicums or
millets ; the chickling vetch, cotton, indigo, and
other dye-plants, as safflower and madder; condi
ments, as fennel, mint, coriander, red pepper, and
cummin-seed ; inebriatives, as hemp and opium ;
medicines, especiaUy senna; greens, onions and
garUc, carrots and turnips, egg-plants and sweet
potatoes ; spinach and fenugreek ; country-sorrel
and oil seeds, with the exception of the ricinus
which is perennial. It is hardly necessary to note
such minute divisions as the Pishr^s, or first-fruits,
in June to February, for cotton and sugar, or the
Adhdw^, in AprU to August, for Juw^r [Sorghum
vulgare), here the- staff of life, and for Mung
(Phaseolus mungo). As .in other Moslem countries,
the peasant's year is divided into Rabi'a, lasting
VOL, II, 27

66 Sind Revisited.

from October to AprU, and Kharif, the " balance "
of the year: thus they escape the inconveniences
of the lunar computation, which goes round the
solar seasons.
In some places, where the fertUizing fluid lies
far beneath the surface of the country, sets of two,
three, and even four Persian-wheels, garnished Avlth
coarse pots, have been erected to raise and distribute
it over the thirsty soil.
This part of Sind is Old Egypt in person. The
river banks, even at this dry time of the year, are
everywhere comely. The fields are for the most
part parched like those of the Dekhan (Deccan), and
cultivation is not extensive, but the number of
Shihdrgdhs, or hunting preserves, gives the scene an
appearance of fertility ; whilst the frequent viUages
and cultivators' huts enliven it to eyes fuU of
the desolate loneliness which haunted us on the
Kardchi-Kotri march. About the middle of May
the inundation extends to the very tail. The first
rise sweeps a body of water through the head, a
signal for the peasant to wake up and be stfrring.
In a week the bed becomes a deep and rapid river
which in Europe would claim the first rank, and
on both banks the cultivators begin eagerly to make
the best use of the time aUowed for irrigating their
lands. At the height of the flood the wonderful
capability of the soil becomes apparent ; the crops
seem to grow under your eyes, and the plants rise to
a gigantic size. The country is covered, even where
cultiA^ation extends not, AA'ith a coat of emerald

The Phuleli. 67

verdure, and the river-gardens, so celebrated for
their fruit, bloom with double beauty. The green
fig (the purple variety is rare) would repay care ;
the tamarind is found wUd and cultivated, as is the
dwarf-palm, which thrives amazingly ; the mulberry
grows well, and might be tried along the canals
and other places where water is close at hand ; the
Phulsa (Grewia Asiatica, L.) is almost eatable ; the
plantain, generally inferior to that of India, stUl
makes nourishing and wholesome food ; the apple
is poor and tasteless, resembling the " summer apple"
of England ; and the grape cannot be compared
with the produce of the cold hUl-countries to the
North, There are sour limes and sweet limes, but no
oranges ; the custard-apple and the shaddock (pom-
pelmoose, or pummelow), are found only in the
gardens planted by the Haydar^bM princes, and
the guava and rose-apple are almost equaUy rare.
The cocoa-palm has lately been introduced; it
might, perhaps, be profitably cultivated on the salt
soUs near Karachi, The fruit of the wood-apple
(Feronia) is eaten, and the rind is made into snuff
boxes. The list concludes with pomegranates (bad
and stony), varieties of the Sepistan or Cordia, and
the jujube (Zizyphus vulgaris). Of these, the
mango, good but requiring more care, is the only
important item which enters into the diet of the
people. Everywhere you hear the monotonous creaking
of the Persian- wheels, a sound pleasantly associated
with visions of peace and plenty ; and the shouts of

68 Sind Revisited.

the peasants goading their cattle, or hooting away,
and slinging clay-pellets at, hungry flocks of im
pudent birds. Again the Nile ! Near the toAvns
and vUlages, the banks of these streams during the
inundation are remarkably picturesque. From every
eminence rise lofty, domed, and gUttering tombs,
shrined in little emerald casings of mimosa, acacia,
and jujube. Here and there idle groups, dressed
in the gayest colours, are sitting upon the bank and
watching the crowds of male and female bathers
that people the waters ; busy throngs are to be
seen at every ferry, and morning and evening long
herds of cattle wade the fords.
The Phuleli is the main artery of Wicholo, or
Middle Sind. It has been asserted, principaUy, I
beUeve, on the authority of natives, that it was
one of the proAdsional beds of the Indus during the
migration of that stream from East to West. But
the history of these shiftings has not yet been
investigated, and, en passant, I may remark that
if every broad and deep channel in this part of the
country be allowed to claim the honour of having
once contained the " Classic," we shaU see ample
reasons for supposing that our river must some time
or other have flowed through almost every league
of Sind. Perhaps it did.
You see yon long forest fenced round with mud-
walls and strong thorn-hedges, over which appear
the tufted tops of many trees, tamarisk, mimosa,
and poplar being the chief varieties. There is no
Umit between it and the River ; and every flood

Hunting Preserves. 69
encroaches upon it, as you may perceiA^e by the
large trunks which, loosened from the banks, have
sunk into the bed, and noAV lie like scattered frag
ments of Cyclopean chevaux defrise.
These Shikdrgdhs, literally meaning in Persian
" hunting places," or preserves, the Beld of the
popular tongue, form a peculiar feature. They
generaUy line , the margin of the river or of some
Avide branch, whose waters are dispersed through
them by a network of drains, cuts, and ditches ;
thus they engross the most fertile and valuable soil
in the province. The Amfrs calculated that every
head of deer killed cost them J680, and our authori
ties consider this no exaggeration, duly estimating
the loss of revenue occasioned by foresting valuable
land. All the Shikdrgdhs were and are govern
ment property. The rulers' absorbing passion for
field-sports, a taste with which you should sjrmpa-
thize, induced them to laAdsh large sums upon them,
and to preserve them with pecuUar care. " We
value them," said one of the lords, "as much as
our wives and chUdren," a blunt truth which has
been recorded by every writer that hath Avritten
upon the subject of Sind, as proof -positive of the
desperate state in which those lords' minds, morals,
and domestic affections must have been. Stripping
the dictum of its Oriental exaggeration, you wiU
come to the conclusion that the good Beloch, like
English country gentlemen, attached, peradventure,
a trifle too much importance to the inviolabUity of
their covers, and that, not unUke an angry duke

70 Sind Revisited.

in the North-country, they were disposed actively
to resent trespassing. True, they were sometimes
barbarous in their endeavours to deter Robin Hoods
and Little Johns from playing pranks beneath the
greenwood tree. If you blame them, sir, you have
only to turn over a page or two of your famUy
records. Probably you have not forgotten, for it
is within your memory, that a " learned " judge, a
Christian and a civUized man, hanged an unhappy
poacher, because he happened to cut a keeper's
hand with a knife drawn in a sudden fray.
Unfortunately for the Princes of Sind, these pre
serves were as odious to us as they were dear to
them. We found that " snags " came not from the
mountains, but out of the Shikdrgdhs, We required
" a clear belt of twelve yards wide between forest
and river," to form a pathway for trackers. We
determined that our steamers must be supplied with
fuel, and that fuel was to be procured only from the
hunting-forests. The OAvners refused, objected, and
wrangled, declaring that we were about to ruin their
covers. We pointed out to them the Finger of
Providence tracing the course of events, whereby
was meant that we must have what we wanted ;
moreover, that this was the punishment for taking
Shikdrgdhs to their bosoms instead of wives, laying
waste vUlages to make Shikdrgdhs, and so forth.
The men in possession again refused, objected, and
Avrangled, and yielded; your steady resolve, as
usual, carried the day.
You never admired battues, sir, and Avhat is

Sindi Sport. 71

more, you never will admire them. You — I par
ticularize the word, for your Cornish and Cymbrian
kinsfolk will occasionaUy fall, like Frenchmen or
Italians, in bodies of twelve upon one, and your
Hibernian neighbours show a little too much gusto
in "potting" an enemy from behind a hedge — are
the only human being in whom the principle and
practice of Fair Play seem to be innate. You limit
it not to affairs between man and man, you extend
it even to feathered bipeds and to quadrupeds ; con
sequently, you look upon the battue, fashionable,
foreign, and even German though the diversion be,
with no favouring eye.
For the same reason you wUl not admire the
Sm.d Amfrs' sportmanship. The animals were driven
out of tbe thick covers which concealed them, by
a gradually narrowing circle of yeUing beaters and
yelping dogs, into a square or parallelogram, care
fully staked round and hedged with Avattles to
prevent escape ; this inclosed space was divided
into irregular triangles, by narrow alleys cut through
the bushes and copses in every direction, aU con
verging to the grass-hut under which sat the Prince,
habited in a green gown and mounted on a low
platform. There, in complete safety, he awaited
the droves of wild boar and hog-deer (Pdra), black-
buck, and antelope, thronging down the open lanes,
and jostling one another in thefr terror. The sport
was mere slaughter, firing into a mob of beasts ten
or twenty yards off. The only chance of a miss
was when some frightened brute, bounding high in

72 Sind Revisited.
the air, requfred a snap-shot to bring it down before
it dived out of sight into the cover. Often, before
a grand hunt, the supply of water was cut off for
a few days and, after the guns had been stationed
in positions commanding the courses, these were
opened to herds that rushed doAvn to slake their
thfrst and be butchered.
The Amfr enjoyed aU the pleasures of the field :
his followers had aU the disadvantages and the
dangers. His son or nephew was expected to stand
by him, not shooting, but exclaiming " Bravo ! " at
every shot the senior made. When told to fire, a
rare honour, he never dared ascribe success to his
own matchlock : * it was his father's or his uncle's
buUet, stiU in its barrel, that had kUled the animal.
On the rare occasion when a tiger was started,
the Beloch huntsman, instead of leaving it to be
dealt with by his Prince, pressed forward with his
trusty hound, and armed Asdth only a sword and
shield, or possibly a bamboo-spear, never hesitated
to attack the beast, and, if he slew it, to accord
to his liege the honour of the deed. Often the poor
fellows lost their liA^es in these gallant, unequal en
counters ; torn and gnawed, they dragged themselves
to die at thefr master's feet, expending their last
breath to praise his prowess, A paltry shawl thrown
over their necks was their sole, at the same time
their sufficient, reward. When an accident hap
pened it was sure to be followed by another : one
fool makes many, and the people only loved the
^ Matchlocks were generaUy, EngUsh rifles rarely, used.

The Battues. 73

Prince the more for thus permitting his subjects to
die for him almost gratis. Yet the Amfrs were not
all Cockney-sportsmen, Some of them would have
been considered first-rate shots, even in England.
Ali Murdd, of Khayrpiir, on one occasion gallantly
killed with his Persian blade, single-handed and
from horseback, a full-sized tiger. These beasts,
rare in Central and Lower Sind, were common in
the North, where they strayed down from the jungly
forests that line the banks of the Upper Indus.
The battues were the rcA^erse of blessings to the
country. The Amfr would sometimes spend weeks
at the rural palace adjoining a favourite preserve ;
and, as in the royal progresses of our early kings,
his retinue, which resembled a small army, quartered
itself upon the villages around, of course never
paying a pice for board and lodging. The peasant
who ventured to complain was very likely to lose his
ears : even had he deserted his home, the ultima
ratio pauperum in these regions, the step would
have been considered high treason. So the Avretches
stuck to thefr hearths, and looked calmly at desola
tion gathering about them. Like a Persian soldier,
the Beloch or Sindi retainer would never hesitate to
pull down a house if he wanted a stick, to kUl a
cow for a steak, or to slaughter with his horsewhip
aU the inmates of a hencoop tiU he found a fat
chicken. The " Ryots " were made to act beaters in
hundreds, no matter how urgently their presence
might be required elsewhere. The Hindu was forced
from his shop, the Moslem from his plough : they

74 Sind Revisited.

received no remuneration, and when thefr legs were
ripped up by a boar, or their backs gored by a
buck, a trifling present was expected to pay for all
damage. These " progresses " also acted as active
diffusers of debauchery. After hunting, the Amfr
would amuse himself with listening to story-teUers,
bards, musicians, and Ndch-women, and the scenes
enacted by his dissolute followers were most pre
judicial to the simple peasantry, their spectators,
and often thefr imitators.
Seven miles to Husri, a large straggling vUlage
on the left bank of the PhuleU, interesting to us
for no other reason than that we break our fast
there : Sindis value it for its mine of Met, or wash
ing clay. We find an attempt at a Traveller's
Bungalow, a mud-house in the usual style, two
loose boxes for rooms, and a verandah, the whole so
securely walled round that you feel yourself in a
long home uncomfortably large. Most English
men in the East delight thus to isolate themselves
from the sable and tawny members of their species,
"Remote, unfriended, melancholy, slow."
I prefer to be where one can be giggled at by
the young, and scowled at by the old, as they pass
to and from the well ; where one can throw sugar
plums to, and watch the passions thereby called
into being from, innocent and artless childhood ;
where we can excite the men by sketching them
and showing the caricature ; startle the greybeard
by disputing his dogmas ; and wrangle about

Security. 75
theology with the angry beggars. In these coun
tries all mendicants, Moslems as weU as Hindus,
may be looked upon in the light of "holy limi-
toures," for they invariably have a smattering of
divinity, they belong to some religious order, and
they idle away thefr time in the name of AUah,
Consequently they are professionally bigoted, and
impatient of contradiction.
Our Tarbiishes preserve us from the dignified
uneasiness that besets the hatted head. The people
easUy perceive by our tents, hog-skin saddles,
English bridles, the chairs upon which we sit at
meals, and our using such ridiculous implements as
forks, when Nature supplied us with fingers, that
we are strange men. StUl, we do not startle them.
They are beginning to feel easy in the presence
of European-aping natives from Bombay ; of dark
officers, who wear white kid gloves when pro
menading, and shake hands with the ladies ; of
Munshis in Pagris (turbans) and Angarldids, or
white cotton coats, above, British pantaloons and
patent-leathers below ; and of half-castes who hope
lessly imitate the ruling race by a beUowing voice,
short hafr, and a free use of milk of roses. To these
hybrid offsprings of civilization and barbarism they
are, I repeat, so accustomed, that they look upon
us only as some hitherto unseen variety of the
species ; and in their curiosity they press forward
eagerly, as you have done, sir, to find yourself face
to face with the first hippo,, or with an ourang-
outang marvellous for hideousness. As we pass

76 Sind Revisited.

out of the stifling bungalow towards the Rduti,
the servants' tent-shed, pitched by order under the
shady jujube-trees, remark, if you please, the want
of windows and doors in the " hostefry " — how
typical of the state of a country, which has been,
if it is not now, governed by a ready and vigorous
hand. When A\dll you be able to live at home and
dispense with lock and chain ? When do you think
we shaU again enjoy that luxury in districts which,
like Bengal Proper and other places, you have dis
ordered with your CIaoI Codes and High Courts ?
About the advent time of the Greek Kalends !
Listen, whilst I must repeat to you a very old
truth, A military government is the only form of
legislature precisely adapted to these countries.
Well, sir, I know it ! You hate a rule of
Soldiers, You would be upon the verge of insanity
were a Red-coat to arrest you : you only grumble
at the arbitrary bullying of a "Blue- bottle," You
are to be managed by the Chob (stick), which you
caU a " staff ; " a sabre would drive you mad. If a
Field-Marshal shoot a man by mistake, you cry,
" murder : " if a Judge hang the Avrong individual,
you call it a mistake. You are furiously prejudiced
on this point, and you have a right to your pre
judices : you can administer your own household
affafrs according to any whim, called system, which
obtains for a whUe over its fellows. But when you
thrust your "enlightened institutions," the growth of
slowly rolling centuries, upon the semi-barbarians

Military Government. 77
of the Ionian Isles, and the rugged ruffians of
Afghanistdn, then you pass the fine limit of things
proper. Then you act like a professed philan
thropist, very benevolently, and, in my humble
opinion, very unwisely, very mischievously.
But of what use all this iteration ? It has been
said to you a hundred times over, and in vain.
You are of a ticklish age just now, Mr. BuU, like
a " frisky matron " on the verge of forty-five.
You will extend the principle, amongst other wild
fancies, of laying down a raifroad where the neigh
bourhood requires a footpath ; you are determined
to carry out in politics, as in topical improvements,
this system of end-without-beginnmg. If India
were placed under Soldiers, what is to become of
the Civil Service ? — what of the Briton's pet boast
that, all the world over, his Law is one and the
same ?
These puzzles I cannot solve : stUl I venture to
believe that one of these days, as the nursery phrase
is, India will be ruled by miUtary government.
The Russians, who hate to be caUed semi-Orientals,
and yet who owe tp the mixture of the East with
the West their highest national qualities, and
notably their power of dealing with Easterns, have
long ago discovered the use, I wiU not say the
blessing, of soldier-rule. Confine your CivU Codes
and your High Courts within a few mUes of your
great Capitals in India ; place soldier-coUectors and
magistrates in your Provinces. ReAdve the " Pan-
chdyat," or native jury of five, which dated in the

78 Sind Revisited.

Peninsula long before the days of Alfred the Great,
and regulate it by placing a military man as Presi
dent, In fact, labour to bring out the capabUities
of your subject races, not to Anglicise them. And,
above aU things, economy without cheese-paring, and
honesty which does not lavish public money on a
pet caste, caUed " Civilian,"
Now, as you are beginning to look intensely
surly, we wUl, — as ancient matrons say when they
have succeeded in making a conversation thoroughly
distasteful, — " change the subject,"
Some years ago, when surveying the country
about this Husri, I had an opportunity of reading a
lecture to a gentleman about your age, sir : hear
how politely he received it, without ever using the
word " dogmatical," or making the slightest allusion
to "forwardness," I was superintending the shampooing* of a
fighting-cock, about as dunghiU and " low-caste "
a bird as ever used a spur, but a strong spiteful
thing, a sharp riser, and a clean hitter Avithal,
Bhujang,^ the " dragon " had sent many a brother
biped to the soup-pot. Ere the operation of rubbing
' As Orientals generally fight their birds without spurs, they
pay extraordinary attention to feeding, training, and exercising
them. They are sweated and scoured with anxious care, dosed, in
my poor opinion, a great deal too much, with Masdld (spices and
drugs), and made to pass hours in running, flying, and leaping.
The shampooing is intended to harden their frames ; it is done
regularly every day, morning and evening. A fair course of training
lasts from three weeks to a month, and the birds are generaUy
brought out in excellent condition.
= Game-cocks, like chargers, are always called by some big and
terrible name.

The Game-Coch. 79

him down ended, in walked an old Moslem gentle
man, who had called in a friendly, unceremonious
way to look at and chat with the stranger.
Cocking, you must know, was not then the
" low " diversion you have been pleased to make it,
and, for the Ufe of me, I never could understand
why you hate the good old classical sport and yet
cleave to Hurlingham pigeon-shooting.
There was a humorous twinkle in my Adsitor's
sly eye as it fell upon the ungainly form of
Bhujang, and the look gained intensity when,
turning towards me, he salam'd and courteously
ejaculated, " Mdshdlldh — that is a bird ! — the
Haydardbdd * breed, Sdhib, or the Afghan ? "
I shuffled off the necessity of romancing about
my dunghill's origin, and merely replied that, struck
by its many beauties, I had bought it of some
unknown person ; I did not add for eightpence,
" What Allah pleases ! — it is a miraculous
animal ! You must have paid his weight in silver !
Two hundred rupees or three hundred ? " ^
Many people are apt to show impatience or
irritability when being "made fools of," whereby,
methinks, they lose much fun, and show more folly
than they imagine. My answer to the old gentle-
1 The game-cooks of Haydardbdd, in the Dekhan, are celebrated
throughout India for their exoeUenoe and rarity. So difficult is
it to purchase birds of purest blood, that I have heard of a rich
Moslem visiting the Nizam's capital for the purpose of buying
eggs, and succeeding in buying them boUed.
2 The usual price of a first-rate cock is, or was, 31. to 4Z.
My friend was indulging his facetiousness when he named 201.
or 301.

80 Sind Revisited.

man's remark was calculated to persuade that most
impertinently polite personage that the Frank, with
all his Persian and Arabic, was a "jolly green,"
Thereupon, with the utmost suavity, he pro
ceeded to inform me that he also was a fighter of
cocks, and that he had some birds, of course im
measurably inferior to that splendid animal there,
which perhaps might satisfy even my fastidious
taste. He concluded with offering to fight one
under the certainty of losing it — the usual wager
is the body of the bird kiUed or wounded — but any
thing for a little sport. Again he gauged me Avith
his cunning glance, salam'd, and took his leave,
¦ In the evening, before prayers, Ahmed Khan,
slowly sauntered in, accompanied by his friends
and domestics ; a privileged servant carrying in
his arms a magnificent bird, tall, thin, gaunt, and
active, with the clear, full, fierce eye, the Chashm-
i-Murwdrid, the "eye of pearl," as the Persians
caU it ; short, thin, taper head ; long neck, stout
crooked back ; round, compact body ; bony, strong,
and weU-hung wings ; muscular thighs, skanks
yeUow as purest gold, and huge splay claws — in
fact, a love of a cock,
I thought of Bhujang for a moment despair
ingly. After a short and ceremonious dialogue, in which
the old gentleman " trotted " me out very much to
his own satisfaction, and to the amusement of the
company, terms were settled, and Bhujang was
brought in struggling upon his bearer's bosom.

The Coch-Fight.

kicking his stomach, stretching his neck, and
crowing with, an afr as if he were the Sans-peur
of all the cocks. " There's the animal for you ! "
I exclaimed, as he entered. It was a treat to see
the goguenard glances around.
Countenances, however, presently changed, when,
sending for a dozen Indian cockspurs,* like little
scimitars, I lashed a pair to my bfrd's toes, and
then politely proceeded to perform the same opera
tions to that of my friend, Ahmed Khan looked on
curiously. He was too much of a sportsman, that
is to say, a gentleman, to hang back ; although he
began to suspect that all was not so right as he could
have wished it to be. His thoroughbred's natural
weapon was sound, thin, and sharp as a needle, low
down upon the shank, at least an inch and a quarter
long, and bent at the correctest angle ; mine had
short, ragged, and blunt bits of horn, the most
inoffensive weapon imaginable. But the steel
leveUed all distinctions.
We took up the champions, stood a few yards
apart, the usual distance, placed them on the ground,
and when the " laissez aller " was given, let go.
For some reason, by me unexplainable, the
game cock, especiaUy in this country, when fighting
with a dunghUl, seldom begins the battle with the
1 The Indian weapon differs essentiaUy from ours. It is a
straight bit of steel varying from two to three and a half inches in
length, with a blunt flat shaft, sabre-Uke blade, and a handle, as it
were, by which it is lashed to the bird's middle toe and shank.
Every cockflghter has scores of these tools, made in every variety
of size and angle to suit the cocks.
VOL, II, 28

82 Sind Revisited,

spfrit and activity of its plebeian antagonist. Pos
sibly the noble animal's blood boiling in its veins at
the degrading necessity of entering the fists against
" that snob," for a moment confuses it. However
that may be, one thing is sure, namely, that it
generally receives the first few blows.
On this occasion Bhujang the ATilgarian, who
appeared not only to be destitute of respect for
ancient lineage and gentle blood, nay, more, like an
Engfish cad, to be ineffably delighted at the pros
pect of soundly " thrashing " a gentleman, began to
spring and kick with such happy violence and
aplomb, that before the minute elapsed one of the
long steels was dyed Avith the enemy's heart's-blood.
Politeness forbade, otherA\'ise I could have
laughed aloud at the expression assumed by the
faces that witnessed this especial " seU," Ahmed
Khan, at the imminent perU of a wound from the
triumphant dunghill, which excited cowardice now
made vicious as a fiend, raised his cock from the
ground, looked piteously for an instant at its
glazing eye and drooping head, bowed, and handed
it over to me with a sigh.
Then, like the parasite of Penaflor after dinner,
I thus addressed him :
" Ahmed Khan, great is the power of AUah !
Did not a gnat annihUate Namriid,* the giant king ?
1 Nimrod, represented to be a cruel tyrant, who, attempting to
martyr Hazrat Ibrdhim (Abraham), was slain by a mosquito, sent
to eat into his brain, probably for the especial purpose of pointing
many a somnific Oriental moral.

Sudderan's Column. 83
Could Rustam, the son of Zdl, stand against a pistol
bullet ? or 'Antar against an ounce of aquafortis ?
Have you not heard of the Hikmat,* of the Frank,
that he is a perfect Afldtiin (Plato) in wisdom and
contrivance ? Another time, old sir, don't conclude
that, because our skins are white, we are the sons of
asses ; and if you will take my advice, don't pit
your valuable cocks against the obscure produce of
a peasant's poultry yard,"
" Wallah ! " replied my visitor, all the cunning
twinkle out of his eye, " I will follow your counsel !
your words are sharp : they are the words of
wisdom. But," here obstinacy and conventionalism
obscured Ahmed Khan's brighter qualities, "your
bird is a wonderful bird, Mdshdlldh ! may he win
many a fight, even as he has done this one ! "
At last Nurdi, near Sudderan's Column,
A great grievance to the weary wayfarer, in this
part of Sind, is the ever-increasing length of the
standard measure. Accustomed to consider a mile
a mile, one does, especially when tired or hungry,
feel that the term " German mile " is a kind of
insult to one's understanding. So with the Sindian
kos. In India it is, when paJckd, about two miles
long : here the measure varies greatly ; short in the
north, in the south and south-east it becomes about
double the common distance. Moreover, this people
appears to possess either a strangely inaccurate eye
for determining distance, or an unexact tongue for
' Philosophy, science, political cunning, king-craft, etc., a
favourite word for head-work in Moslem Asia.

84 Sind Revisited.

declaring it. If you ask a wayfarer how far the
next village is, he probably replies, uthe, " there,"
i.e., close by, which means, scarcely within rifle-
reach ; or it is Sadda-pandh, a shout's length, by
which you must understand that you have nothing
less than four good miles before you.
We pass the night on a plain close to the spot
where the Phuleli faUs into the Guni River, or
rather where its lower course, after the Gajah fork,
takes the name of Guni. This, to judge from the
large area covered with broken bricks, and with the
ruined foundations of large buildings, was once the
site of a flourishing city, doomed, like many of its
fellows, to display " the havoc of the East." As
usual in Sind, a few domed tombs, converted into
pigeon-houses, are the only melancholy survivors
of former magnificence ; a modern mud-mosque,
humbly built to accommodate the sparse population
of the neighbouring villages, contrasts strongly with
the thought of the things that were. This line of
country was the route of the celebrated Madad
Khan, a ruthless and successful soldier, who boasted
that where he found a rose-garden he left salt
earth. About the close of the last century, the last
invader of Sind was despatched by Shah Taymur,
the Afghan monarch, with an overwhelming force,
to restore Miydn Abd el Nabi, the Kalh6ra tyrant,
to a throne from which he had been driven by his
military vassals, the Talpur Beloch. The general's
conduct during the expedition was shamefully cruel,
and therefore effective in the highest degree.

Sudderan's Column. 85
The locale is not without its interest. Sudde
ran's column, which does not remind you of Trajan's,
Pompey's, or Nelson's, is the resort of Hindu
pilgrims, who flock here every year in the dark half
of the month Waisdkh (April-May). The devotees,
after shaving thefr heads, first perform Pradakh-
shina, or circumambulation, with the right side
always presented, in honour, to the object circum
ambulated, thrice round the column ; after which
each casts seven clods or brickbats * at the neigh
bouring tomb, accompanying the action with remarks
the reverse of complimentary to its tenant.
When darkness faUs upon us, and we return to
take our ease in our closed tent, enjoying ourselves
over our homely fireside, a hole dug in the ground
and filled with burning braise, I will recount the
tale to the music of the village dogs' monotonous
hayings, the bubblings of our water-pipes, and the
spiteful lamentations which the jackals vent upon
the subject of our pertinacious vitality.
Before the time of the Rasiil (Apostle), a Hindu
date, popular on account of the latitude it affords,
this plain was covered by a noble city which ex
tended its limits over the distant fork of limestone-
hills. And Rajah Rdm, the ruler of that city, was
a prince renowned (as many Eastern monarchs are
in story-books) for valour, justice, and generosity ;
moreover, he had a fine large family, for which it
appears he had to thank the practice of polygamy.
1 Possibly a rite derived from the Moslems ; this is the number
of stones tlirown at the Shaytdn in the Valley of Mimd, near Meccah.

86 Sind Revisited.

It so happened, that when Sudderan, the eldest
of Rajah Rdm's cohort of sons, arrived at the age of
puberty, his mother, the favourite wife, died ; and
the afflicted widower, his father, speedily filled up
the void which her demise had created in his heart
and home, by taking to his bosom another of the
fafrest damsels in his dominions.
All the world over stepmothers are, it is said,
ever in extremes, either running into over-regard
for thefr step-sons, or, what is far more common,
busying themselves in embittering the hours of their
husbands' children during his life, and in appro
priating their goods and chattels after his death.
The young Rdni conceived a passionate affection
for the Prince, whose noble qualities, moral and
physical, were, the original relator affirms, not I,
Mr, Bull, such as almost to excuse the ecart.
One day, as Sudderan was practising archery in
the palace garden, he missed his mark, and shot
an arrow into his stepdame's drawing-room. The
young man thoughtlessly ran upstafrs to recover the
missUe, when. Oriental ladies are naive in thefr
declarations, to his horror and astonishment, the
queen began to be very bold and forward. This
Hindu Joseph, briefly remarking that he considered
her in the fight of a mother, left the room as speedily
as he was aUowed to do.
Rajah Rdm was out hunting during the acting
of this dreadful scene. No sooner did he return
than, as you or any other man could guess, his wife,
determining that her hate, if not her love — the

The Legend of Sudderan. 87

sentiments are sisters — should be gratified, de
nounced Sudderan, upon the false charge usual on
such occasions, and insisted that his wickedness
deserved the severest chastisement.
Like red-hot steel, as also might be expected,
burned the uxorious old Rajah's wrath, which
nothing but blood could extinguish, HastUy calling
together a few trusty followers, he left his Avife's
apartment, determined, with utter disregard to the
best and most hackneyed bit of advice that ever
issued from old Justice's prosy lips, audi alteram
partem, upon the instant destruction of his son.
Meanwhile Sudderan, who was still amusing
himself in the garden, saw his father and the slaves
hurrying towards him with armed hands, and Avith
countenances upon which malice prepense was
legibly written. When it was too late, he attempted
to fly. Rage winged the old Rajah's steps ; already,
sword in hand, he was close to his victim, when the
good Sudderan, to save his sire from the sin of
filicide, prayed for immediate death.
He disappeared, and a pUlar of earth rose
from the spot, so near Rajah Rdm that he ran
against it, whUst a Beth-Kol, a loud and terrible
voice, not the produce of human lungs, declared that
Heaven had listened to the prayer of the innocent.
The old king's mind was enlightened by the
mfracle. He returned home with a listless afr;
gave careless dfrections for the decapitation of his
would-be Parisina; died shortly afterwards of
want of appetite and that general derangement of

88 Sind Revisited.

the digestive organs popularly caUed a " broken
heart," and was buried in yonder tomb, to be pelted
and abused by many a generation of pUgrims.
The Thiil, or piUar, unconnected with the
romance, is a puzzle. It is a truncated cone of the
mud used in Sindi buddings, about sixteen feet
high, and seventy-one in circumference round the
base. It stands upon a mound of the same material,
and the whole covers a natural platform of lime
stone-rock, EasUy climbing to the top by one of the wide
clefts which rain has dug in the side of the tumulus,
I found a shaft sunk to the foundation. Below
the base was a tunnel, into whieh I penetrated,
despite the fiends and dragons, the cobras and
scorpions, with which my native friends peopled
it : it was about seven or eight feet in length,
and it led nowhere. These diggings, I afterwards
heard, were the work of Ghuldm Ali Talpur, one of
the late Princes, who, suspecting, as an Oriental
always does, that treasure was to be found in,
under, or somewhere about the mysterious erec
tion, took the most energetic and useless steps to
discover it.
Sudderan's pillar cannot be ancient, unless, at
least, it is indebted for preservation to the active
hands of the devotee ; the very dew would melt it
away in the course of a century. Similar remains
are not uncommon in this part of Sind ; they are the
Round Towers of the land, but not belfries ; aU of
them are pegs for tradition, and possibly, at some

The Round Towers. 89
future time, will be material for archaeological
discussion. On the Gdnjah hills, about three mUes
from Sudderan's Thiil, there is another tower,
similar in all things to this, except that it is now
in a ruinous state. The people have named it Kut-
tehdr, after a dog whose superior sagacity discovered
the spot in which thieves had buried his owner's
property. Like Sudderan's fate, the poor animal's
runs in the established groove ; it lost its Ufe by
the master's hasty choler, and, in due time, that
is to say when too late, the master discoA^ered his
mistake, repented his conduct, and erected this
monument to the memory of his Kutto. When
steaming down the Indus I shall tell you another
tale of a Sindi " Gelert."

90 Sind Revisited.

CHAPTER XXI.
A EIDE TO MIE IBeIhIm KHAN TALPUE's VILLAGE,
Cheistmas Day !
Without intending to string together a series of
sentences which aim at the sentimental and which
hit the mawkish, I must draw your attention, sfr, to
what, perhaps, you are feeling, Avithout being willing
to clothe the sensation in words, namely, that of all
the melancholy, suicidal times, none so bad as a
birthday, an old festival, or any other time con
nected Avith the memory of the past, coming round
upon the sojourner amid the sadness of a strange land.
To-day, for instance. It is eleven o'clock. Part
of you is riding in semi-heathen garb, spear in hand,
over a scorched plain, or down a sandy canal, chiUed
by the sharp cold of morning, burned by the noon
ing sun, and with breakfast in posse not in esse.
You jog along, cupo concentrato, as the Italian hath
it. Suddenly you draw rein ; your eyes fixed ;
your mind is in your ears. That joyous caroUing
of distant church-bells, whence can it come ?
Whence ? whence ? you puzzle over the question.
How wonderfully true it is ! now full and sonorous,

Christmas Day. 91
as if the breeze brought every pulsation of sound
dfrectly to your senses : then soft and meUowed by
distance, till scarcely heard in the hum of the day.
You can scarcely persuade yourself that, like the
light-chaos which appears in the dark, a false crea
tion, proceeding from the heat-oppressed brain,
deludes you ; that it is the twanging of some over
excited nerve-fibre or filament, a mere revival of an
obsolete and long-forgotten impression.
Again ; the sun sets : darkness drops upon you
like a shroud, instead of delicately encfrcling you
with the several shades and graduations of twiUght.
You return from your absent and disconsolate even
ing's stroll to your lonely, ill-lit tent ; you prepare
for your dinner, a boUed barn-door, with a bifteck
of goat. What Adsions are causing your black valet
to wonder at your moodiness, whUe you discuss the
unpalatable morsel 1
Finally you retire : you turn your face towards
the tent wall and — weep ? No ! or sleep ? No !
The frown of night and the sUence of solitude
deepen the gloom about your heart. For hours you
lie awake, roUing restlessly from side to side, as
if each new thought left a sting in you. You think.
Your eyes have another sight ; your ears a hearing
which scarcely belongs to them ; even your material
nose becomes spfrituaUy affected. In a moment
you are severed from yourself, miraculously, I should
almost say, by such lands and such seas ! You
annihUate time as you do space : you are Jack,
Johnny, Master John, and Mister John BuU, all

92 Sind Revisited.

in the twinkling of an eye. The scenes of by-gone
days are rehearsed with a vividness which startles
you. Again you hear the dear famUiar voices of
family and friends ringing upon the tympanum of
your soul ; again there are smUes and frowns for
you, and words of greeting and words of rebuke.
The very roast-beef and plum-pudding of former
days appear to you with all their accidents.
Then you start up with an impatient yearning,
a longing to be where you cannot be. Where you
cannot be, you repeat, and yet you feel that had
you wings they would be too slow for you. The
truth weighs you down ; you sink back, mournfuUy
acknowledging that you are and must be where
you are. At last you fall asleep ; you are in Dream
land : your mind leaves your body, that is, your
brain loses its balance, and for a moment or two
you enjoy your desire.
We have all heard and read of preternatural
appearances of persons to persons, of shadowy forms
meeting, it is believed, the eye of sense. Are these
spectres mere delusions ? Or, is there some yet
unexplained law in the world of nerve which permits
WiU under certain conditions to perform a feat
savouring of the supernatural ; that is, the natural
misunderstood, or not understood at aU. May we
not reasonably believe that when the whole force of
man's thought has been concentrated upon some
object, however distant, his cerebral action may
assume the subjective guise of a " real presence " ?
I must presume that something of the kind can

Christmas Day. 93

and does take place ; without such explanation we
travellers cannot understand how belief in the
phenomenon has become so natural to all nations,
instinctive to the universal world.
Enough of metaphysics. At all times they are
a labyrinth of words ; an intricate way leading
roundabouts to nowhere; a Chinese puzzle, admi
rably calculated unprofitably to perplex one. The
moralist must be slipped at you, sfr, Anent these
repinings, he Avill assure you solemnly that you
are bound to consider what is happy, not what
is unhappy, in your lot ; for instance, that on
this Christmas Day you are not reduced to dining
on white ants, and to quenching your thfrst by mas
ticating a musket bullet ; that you are not " floored "
by a fever, or that some tiger-like Beloch is not
sawing away at your windpipe with his long knife ;
and severely sententious does he become when you
ironically laugh out something about gratitude and
small mercies. The reUgionist, with reverend coun
tenance, after entering into the general history of
Christmas Day, will admonish you — -
What ? a snore !
It is time to be stirring, sir. Mount your
horse ; turn its head in a south-east direction to
wards the Guni River ; and use your spurs, or we
shall be well-nigh famished ere we reach the vUlage
of Mir Ibrdhim Khan Talpur,
In that preserve, the Haran Shikdrgdh, as it is
called, occurred to me one of those small adventures,
generally comical to aU but the actual actor, and

94 Sind Revisited.

comical even to him after that it has become an
occurrence. A friend and brother-officer in the
Sind Canal Survey, Lieut. Blagrave, and I, attended
by a host of " beaters," with loud lungs, long poles,
and all the appurtenances of that Eastern species
of the pointer-cum-retriever, had been passing a
happy day in firing round after round at the wUd
fowl that tenant the ponds and pools. Never
before did I witness such a monster-meeting of
feathery bipeds ; they darkened the surface of the
waters, and when they arose the noise of their wings
was, without exaggeration, like the growling of a
distant thunder-cloud. Col, Hawker himself could
not have desired better sport ; only he would pro
bably have remembered a duck gun (No, 8 bore,
carrying 2 oz. A.A., fatal at fifty yards), and he
would have knocked up for himself some kind of
punt, both which desiderata we neglected.
Towards the conclusion of the day, as we were
preparing to beat a retreat, we came in sight of a
little Jhfl (lake), upon which thousands of the prey
were cackling, feeding, swimming, fluttering, and
otherwise disporting themselves. It was agreed,
nem. con., that, as an afterpiece to the tragical
work, we should settle as many of them as six or
eight barrels could.
" Creep over to the other side of the JhU,"
whispered my friend, "blaze into 'em sitting, and
send 'em over this way — I'll drive them back to
you." " Very well, old fellow ; keep the beaters here."

Half-Drowned in a Ditch. 95
My solitary path lay across a kind of ditch that
connected two ponds. Thinking to wade it easily,
I never thought of leaping it, and in a surprisingly
short time I found myself head over ears in mud
and water intimately mixed, the latter ingredient,
however, preponderating.
Sir, with large jack-boots and wide Turkish
trowsers, with oil-cloth hare-pockets, and a double-
barreUed gun in hand, it is, I may observe, by no
means an easy matter to swim. Generally, the
harder you strike out, and the more vigorously you
would spring upward, the deeper and the more rapidly
you descend. Unwilling to lose my " Westley-
Richards," I still kept firm hold of it, hoping with
the disengaged fingers to scramble upon the side.
It was catching at a straw ; the soft slimy bank,
instead of affording any purchase to my clawings,
yielded as if it had been butter in the dog-days.
Things were beginning to look serious ; it was
impossible to shout, as my mouth would not
keep above water; down fell the gun totaUy for
gotten, and a gulp or two of thick beverage was an
earnest, as it were, that Kismet, after convejdng me
safely half round the globe, had set her heart upon
drowning me in a ditch. With one last frantic effort
I dug my nails deep into the greasy bank, and hung
on grimly as did Quasimodo's victim to the roof's
edge ; when suddenly, with a crash and a splash, I
went deep under the water once more. My friend
had caught sight of my predicament and, eager to
save me, he had rushed up to the rescue. In the

96 Sind Revisited.

ardour of his anxiety, somewhat overrating his sal
tatory powers, he had charged the brook, faUen
short in his spring, and had taken the only means
of saving himself a " ducking " simUar to mine, by
alighting upon my shoulders and by vigorously
scrambling up the back of my head.
However we were not drowned, Mr, Bull : I
take notice of your looks. Here the adventure
ended. The beaters rushed up shrieking with
terror ; they expected to be hanged, at least, if
either of us had lost our lives, I was puUed out by
the collar, a mass of mud and water-bags ; the gun
was recovered by diving ; and half-an-hour after
wards two individuals in shfrts and terminations,
regular Anglo-Indian wilde Jdger and spectre hunts
men, were gazed at, shuddered at, and exorcised, by
the startled peasantry as they dashed at full gaUop
through the twUight in fearful anticipation of a bad
cold. We are now in the provinces inhabited by the
Jats. Your eye has scarcely grown critical enough
in this short time to discern the tweedle-dum-and-
tweedle-dee-Uke difference between their personal
appearance and that of their kinsman, the Sindis ;
nor can I expect you yet to distinguish a Jat
Wandh (vUlage) from a Sind Goth (Adllage). You
are certain to take some interest in a race which
appears to be the progenitor of the old witch in a
red cloak, whose hand, in return for the cunning
nonsense to which her tongue gave bfrth, you once
crossed with silver ; and of the wiry young light-

Jats — Gipsies. 97

weight, whose game and sharp hitting you have, in
happier days, more than once condescended to
admire. Our authors* are probably right when they
suppose the Jat to be the aboriginal Hindu of Sind
converted to El-Islam, Native historians and thefr
own traditions, however, concur in assigning to
them a strange origin ; their language, to this day
a congener of that spoken throughout the Indine
provinces of the Panjdb, gives support and value
to the otherwise doubtful testimony. But they do
not speak one tongue, even in Sind : the tribes
about Umarkot, for instance, are not intelligible to
their brethren in Ldr, It is probable that, com
pelled to emigrate from their own lands by one of
the two main causes that bring about such move
ments in the East, war or famine, some of the Jat
tribes of Sind travelled southward from the Panjdb
about the beginning of the eighteenth century of
our era. Popularly they are supposed to have
appeared in Europe early in the fifteenth century,
when the Amfr Taymfrr and his Tartars had caused
^ See Captain Postans' "Personal Observations on Sind,"
Chapter IIL I have already referred to the Jat, a word to be
pronounced Dyatu, in my "Sindh and the Races," etc. (AUen,
London, 1851). Since the pubUcation of the Grammar of the
Jdtaki or Jat tongue, begun in 1844, and printed in the Journal of
the Royal Asiatic Society, Bombay (January, 1849), the identifica
tion has excited some attention. The learned Professor Pott,
author of the "Zigeuner in Europe und Asien," 2 vols., vet.
Halle, 1844^45, had partially adopted the identification ; and the
ItaUan linguist, Professor AscoU, of Milan, incUnes towards this
dialect of Sindi, wlulst M. Paul BataUlard has done battle with
me upon the priority of discovery,
VOL. II. 29

98 Si7id Revisited.

a stampede in Hind and Sind ; but there are reasons
for believing that either the Jats or congener-races
were settled in the West many centuries before that
date, and that, possibly, the true Gipsy is only the
latest wave of emigration.
Under the quasi-ecclesiastical Kalh6ra dynasty,
when Sindis composed the aristocracy as weU as the
commonalty of the country, the Jats, in consequence
of their superior strength, their courage, and their
clannish coalescence, rose to distinction. The chiefs
of tribes became nobles, officials, and ministers at
court : they provided for their famUies by obtaining
grants of land, feofs subject to certain military
services ; and for thefr foUowers by settUng them as
tenants on thefr broad lands. But the prosperity of
the race did not last long. They fell from thefr
high estate when the Beloch, better men then they,
entered the country, and began to appropriate its
profits : by degrees, slow yet sure, they lost aU
claims to rank, wealth, and office. They are noAV
found scattered throughout Sind, generally pre
ferring the south-eastern provinces, where they earn
a scanty subsistence by agriculture ; or they roam
over the barren plains feeding thefr flocks upon the
rare oases ; or they occupy themselves in breeding,
training, tending, and physicking the camel. With
the latter craft their name has become identified, a
Jat and a Sarwdn (camel-man) sounding synonymous
in Sindi ears.
The Jats, in appearance, are a swarthy and un
comely race, dirty in the extreme ; long, gaunt.

The Jats. 99

bony, and rarely, if ever, in good condition, Thefr
beards are thin, and there is a curious Gipsy-like
expression in thefr eyes. They dress like Sindis,
preferring blue to white clothes ; but they are taller,
larger, and in appearance more un-Indian. Some
few, but very fcAV, of thefr women are, in early
youth, remarkable for soft and regular features ;
this charm, however, soon yields to the complicated
ugliness brought on by exposure to the sun, by scanty
living, and by the labour of baggage-cattle. In Sind
the Jats of both sexes are possessed of the virtues
especially belonging to the oppressed and inoffensive
Eastern cultivator ; they are necessarUy frugal and
laborious, peaceful, and remarkable for morality in
the limited sense of aversion to intrigue AAdth mem
bers of a strange Kaum.^ I say, in Sind ; this is by
no means the reputation of the race in the other
parts of Central Asia, where they have extended, or
whence possibly they first came. The term " Jat " is
now popularly applied to a low and servile creature,
or to an impudent viUain ; and despite the Tohfat el
Kirdm,^ a Beloch would consider himself mortally
affronted were you to confound his origin with the
caste which his ancestors deposed, and which he
despises for having allowed itself to be deposed.
The Brdhuis, Afghans, and Persians, all haA'^e a bad
Avord to say of them.
¦^ In the language of the Jat, a clan.
' The author of this well-known Persian History of Sind
asserts that the Jats and the Beloch are both sprung from the
same ancestor.

100 Sind Revisited.
Fourteen or fifteen miles from Sudderan's
column to Ibrdhim Khan's village. At this time of
the year sand-storms begin about ten o'clock a.m.
One's only chance of escaping them is to rise early
in spite of the dry, searching, uncomfortable cold,
and to reach the halting-place before their hom\
The country hereabouts, you see, is irrigated by
a number of water-courses, large and smaU, derived
from the big branches filled with water by the main
trunk during the inundation. What affects one with
surprise is the great and useless number of these
works. In some places, three deep trenches, perhaps
twenty feet broad, run parallel with and close by
one another, for mUes and miles through the land.
You will not, however, be astonished by, when you
hear the obvious reasons for, the pecuUarity, Each
canal was dug by and belonged to some native
chief, whose estate lay upon the bank ; and an
attempt to borrow water without leave would have
excited a storm of wrath. So, where we are now
riding, for instance, the northern channel is the
property of a Chandiyo Beloch, the southern of a
Changiyo, whilst the central bed conveyed nourish
ment to private and to Government lands lying
beyond reach of the other two.
You may also remark that the heads of these
canals were usuaUy so placed that the drift of sand
carried down the main stream choked them up as
quickly as possible. The rise and fall of ground
were calculated by the practised eye, spirit-levels
being things unknoAvn : consequently the line of

Canals, 101

dfrection was, in one case out of ten, chosen for the
best. The banks, instead of being disposed at a
convenient angle, were made either perpendicular or
projecting, so as to be readUy undermined by the
current, and to occasion as much work and loss of
time to the excavators as even the latter, gainers by
the loss, could desfre. The prodigious tortuousness
of the bed may appear to you the result of calcu
lation, an attempt to make natural locks : this is
partly so, but also the abrupt and expensive wind
ings Avere, in many cases, intended to get over the
difficulty of some trifling rise.
This is the dead season in Sind. The fields,
smaU and rare amongst the luxuriant masses of
Nature's plantations, in form of Jdo, Kdrel, and
JhUl,* are covered over with a stratum of white,
shiny clay, with isolated stubbles projecting from
it, like the stray hafrs on a certain unperuked scalp.
The water which remains in the river-beds below
the banks is even more offensive than that of Father
Thames ; the trees are Avithered and scraggy ; the
straggling A'iUages are surrounded by heaps of
dried-up thorn and brushAVOod, Nothing but the
sunshine seems to flourish : nothing abounds but
dust and glare.
The labourers, or rather the lucky part of the
labouring population, are at work, if that English
term be allowed, on the canals. In winter they
wUl do anything to save themselves from semi-
1 Various wood-like shrubs, which being interpreted by hard
Latin words, become as unintelligible after translation as before.

102 Sind Revisited.

starvation ; yet observe their characteristic apathy.
The head-man, who receives from Government £2
per hand, in consideration of his gang of 150 head,
lies dozing-drunk under a sheet stretched between
two giant bushes. Although the work is done by
contract, and for every rupee a cubit in depth by
one in breadth and eighteen in length must be
excavated, at least half the diggers are squatting
torpidly on thefr hams, looking at the different pits,
which at this stage of their labours are dug in the
clayey deposit of the inundation. The few who are
not sitting or standing lazUy scrape up the cake
with dwarf hoes, and, a plusieurs reprises, transfer
it to the shallow baskets of wicker-work, Uttle bigger
than soup-plates, with which they load their heads.
Then, groaning under the weight of five pounds,
they sloAvly toil up the steps cut out in the canal-
side, and throw down their burdens to save trouble,
upon its edge, thereby annuaUy adding a few cubic
feet to the spoU-banks that encumber it. Such toil
requiring reflection, they sit down for a minute or
two under the mimosas which spring where mul
berries ought to grow, gazing Ustlessly upon the
scene and the society of their toils ; then, risino-
again, with the usual half-grunt, half-groan, they
crawl doAvn the steps, slowly and unwillingly as
schoolboys wending thefr way to the "seminary."
Another favourite occupation is to stand by the
bars, or bench-marks left in the canal-bed for con
venience of measuring the work, and to whittle the
short parapets of sUt into mathematically accurate

The Navvy. 103

right-angles. Every half hour all smoke, and at
a certain time each man applies himself to the
" Bhang," of which he has been dreaming all the
morning. This is the way during the cold season.
As the year advances, the navvies avUI refuse to
work between the hours of 11 a.m, and 3 p,m.,
because labouring in the heat of the sun does not
suit the fragUity of their constitutions ; and when
the inundation approaches all will run away, if
not allowed to depart in peace, for the purpose of
preparing thefr fields. And yet the Sindi peasant,
fike the Fellah, is a born nawy,
A European officer, it is true, superintended each
district. But he had probably 300 canals to look
after, and by the condition of his nature he could
not be ubiquitous. The evU result of the natives'
indolence was, that a bed thirty feet broad would
in the course of a few years, contract to half its
original dimensions, tUl at last a deep cunette,
measurable by inches, was all that remained of the
canal, the rest of it becoming a footpath for travel
lers human and bestial. The tail of the channel, of
course, shrank miserably in length, because the
trunk had not been sufficiently excavated, probably
an inch per annum having been deposited upon the.
sole. When there was water, some noble feoffee
would take the liberty of throwing embankments
across the bed, and monopolize it for his Persian-
wheels, By abundant actiAdty and attention, the
European overseer often discovered a fiagrant abuse ;
such as a canal reported cleared out, but never

104 Sind Revisited.
touched: at the same time, the amount of undis
covered rascality, smaU, but by degrees becoming
uncomfortably great, was amply sufficient to hinder
the improvement of the country.
Sind, Mr, John Bull, was an Eastern Ireland on
a large scale. The idlers, her male children, would
not work; they almost preferred starving: the
women and infants declared they could not work ;
all chose rather Avant with ease than wealth Avith
industry. Had you relieved their necessities, Hiber
nian-like, they would but have cursed the niggard
hand that only feeds and clothes them. The sole
chance of reclaiming the country, apparently, was
to provide peculiar facilities for immigration, or to
raise the dull mass of natives by a leaven of the
manly races that tenant the neighbouring moun
tains. The latter experiment might, even in these
days, be easily and profitably tried. The eight or
ten shillings a month which an able-bodied man
can earn at this work, would induce thousands of
Brdhuis and Belochs from the Kelat HUls to spend
the cold season on the plains, with the express
proAdso of being allowed to return for the summer
to their families and homes, A single little High
lander would do the work of three Southrons,
But note also that a quarter of a century has
modified matters. The " Sind Canal Department,"
under Colonel Le Messurier, is efficiently organized :
Major Smith, R,E,, for instance, superintends the
Eastern and Western Ndrd, Superfluous lines are
left to Nature; the main branches are provided

The Noble's ViUage, 105
with sluices and gauges. Order, in fact, has re
placed disorder, and in this matter Sind is fast
approaching the condition of Egypt.
We are near the village, our halting-place, as
sundry signs and symptoms show. An unfortunate
tracksman meets us and, these people are powerful
at hoping, warmed by the sight of our uncoloured
countenances, comes out with a long grievance con
cerning a lost camel, whose foot-prints he swears
by all the saints in his calendar lead dfrectly to
Ibrdhim Khan's gate. The cultivators stand at the
doors of their huts, howling that they have not had
a drop of water over their fields for the last two
years ; and the Hindu Banyans, quitting thefr shops
to catch hold of our stfrrups, offer us all the
blessings of Heaven if we wUl only induce thefr lord
to pay his lawful debts. For this case I have very
little pity ; it is rascal versus rascal. When we left
Haydardbdd, the price of w^heaten flour was one
shilling for 16lb, : here we can get only lOlb. for
the money, and our servants, who requfre at least a
sfr (2lbs.) a day, find it difficult to exist upon their
eight or ten rupees per mensem, I rather envy
Ibrdhim Khan's facilities for fleecing these with-
holders of corn from the poor. The traders are now
all occupied in buying grain, and plastering it up
in large conical heaps : they are causing a factitious
famine in order to raise the value of the article as
the inundation approaches, and the material for
sowing is required by the peasant. The poor
tracksman and the Ryots we must privately pity

106 Sind Revisited.

and publicly reprove for presuming to appeal to
us against the " sacred rights of property."
A Sawdri, or retinue, comes forth to meet and
gTcet the distinguished strangers. The leader, our
host's nephew, a lean, ill-visaged, beetle-browed,
thin-lipped Beloch, habited in a cap of green and
gold cloth ; in a long, quilted, gaudy-coloured
chintz coat and blood-red Sutt'han; apologizes at
uncomfortable length, with the usual toUsome
politeness, for his uncle's apparent rudeness in not
being " present in our service : " the Sarddr, or
head of the house, I gather from his hints, is en
gaged in his favourite pastime, hawking. More wUl
be said of this neglect anon ; at present you may
remark that a native cortege is anything but a
pleasant honour. Our friends are mounted on fat,
fidgety, high-fed Nizdmdni mares, that wince and
prance, curvet and dance, like so many Florence
hacks when meeting a party of ladies. The pace,
a confused amble, half-trot half-canter, though good
in its proper place, is quite the rcA^erse of agreeable
in these processions ; if the weather be cold, you
freeze for want of exercise ; if hot, you pant and
fret yoiu'self and your horse into a foam from over
exertion. Every noAv and then, as our fellows
exchange the friendUest greetings with perfect
strangers, and almost throw themselves from thefr
saddles to shake hands, a neigh, a scream, a
whisking of the tail, and a kick succeeded by a
shower of the same, occur to vary the excitement of
the scene. It is useless to beg for a little room, or

The Arrival. 107

to glance helplessly at our legs ; honour is done to
us by crowding around us : the more we decline it,
the more sedulously it is thrust upon us. The only
chance of escaping it is to explain that we Franks,
as a nation^ never ride at any pace but a full gaUop,
We may thus get rid of our troublesome friends ;
most of them will be run away with by their restive
nags, and the rest AviU be left far behind, drumming,
with vicious but harmless heels, the ragged sides of
their galloways.
There lies the village, a collection of huts and
gardens clustering round a tolerable-sized house, the
facsimile, in outward semblance, of a quondam-
royal abode at Haydardbdd. The cortege, I gather,
expected that we should at once enter the " palace,"
where, in all probability, we should find the Sarddr,
who is out hawking, sitting in State to receive us.
We must do no such thing ; to-morrow wUl convince
you that a Sind visit is too soporific an affafr to be
ushered in by a long weary ride. Besides, as the
Khan did not put himself out to come and meet us,
we shaU display useful " dignity " by not showing
too much haste to meet him. This a part of the
greater consideration that he would insist upon our
becoming his guests; whereas our tents, pitched
und^r a clump of sweet evergreens, wUl be far more
comfortable than a flea-ridden Sindi palazzo. We
have also a little travelling business to transact at
this our first halt. The camel-courier, who fetches
our papers and pickles, hams and beer, from Hay
dardbdd, has levanted, beast, cargo, and aU, a fact

108 Sind Revisited.

which caUs loudly for a report to the police-office.
Our nags are footsore with the heat of the sand, and
more than half-blinded by the glare of the sun : we
must blister thefr eyes with garlic,* and cold-water-
bandage their legs.
Also, before Ave meet the Talpur chief, Mfr
Ibrdhim Khan, we must elicit from our Munshi all
the scan-mag current about him and his famUy;
and we must number congees, weigh out com
pliments, and measure the distance Ave should
advance towards the door.

^ This operation is generally performed by drawing a circle of
garlic juice or the mUk of the fire-plant {Euphorhia) round the eye ;
it is a desperate remedy, as it marks the skin indelibly. The people
also boil the leaves of the Nim tree, and bathe the injured organ
with the hot water every hour or so during the day, and every half-
hour about sunset.

( 109 )

CHAPTER XXII,
MlE IBRAHIM KHAN TALPUE.
Whilst I am conversing with the Munshi, sir, it
might be as well if you would take up a book and
be engrossed with its contents: there is nothing
that a native dislikes more than the open eye,
unless it be the attentive ear of a thfrd " party,"
Enter Mr, Hari Chand, a portly, pulpy Hindu,
the very type of his unamiable, ungenial race, with
a cat-like gait, a bow of exquisite finish ; a habit of
sweetly smiling under every emotion, whether evoked
by a bribe or a cuff; a softly murmuring voice, with
a tendency to sinking ; and a glance which seldom
meets yours, and when it does, seems not quite to
enjoy the meeting. How timidly he stands at the
doorway ! How deferentially he slides in, salams,
looks deprecating, and is at last induced to sit
down ! Above all things, how well he listens ! Might
he not be mistaken for a novel kind of automaton,
into which you can transfer your mind and thoughts,
a curious piece of human mechanism in the shape of
a creature endowed with all things but a self.
You would start could you read his thoughts at

110 Sind Revisited.

the very moment that you are forming such opinions
of him, " WeU, Hari Chand (after the usual salutations),
and pray what manner of man may be this Mfr
Ibrdhim Khan — Talpur, is he not ? "
" Wah ! wah ! ! What a chieftain ! — what a
very Aniishfrdwdn for all-shading equity ! — a Hdtim
for overflowing generosity ! — ^a Rustam  That
is to say, always considering that he is a Beloch,"
smUes Hari Chand, perceiving by the expression
of my face that his opinion requires considerable
modiflcation, " For a Beloch ! The Sdhib's exalted
intelligence has of course comprehended the exact
fact, that they are all dolts, fools, asses. But this
Ibrdhim Khan, saving the Sdhib's presence, is not
one of them. Quite the contrary,"
" You mean he is a rogue ! "
" The Sdhib has the penetration of an arrow — a
rogue of the first water ! " —
Remark, Mr, BuU, that the native of India and
the adjacent parts of Central Asia parcels out his
brethren into two great bodies, knaves and fools ;
and, what is wiser stUl, he acts upon this conviction.
The division, you must own, is remarkable for its
pregnant simpficity, and its eminent adaptation for
practical purposes. With that little talisman ever
hanging round his neck, to be consulted on aU
occasions where he has dealings with another, the
Oriental manages to "get on" as if he carried a
decoy-dollar in his hand or an old woman's blessing
upon his head. Of course, in hot youth, he makes

The Munshi. Ill

mistakes. Sometimes he is deceived by the foolish
look of a knave, or by the knavish look of a fool.
Occasionally he is puzzled by one of the cross
breeds,- to which the blending of the psychologic
extremes gives birth. But he begins early in life
the business of life ; he works at the " gospel of
getting on " with admirable singleness of purpose,
and, by that malignant labour which conquers aU
things, he seldom fails to become master of the
subject, as far as it goes, before one hair of his beard
turns grey.
— " A rogue of the first water ! He won the
wealth of Bokhdrd and Samarkand by the sunshine
of the countenance of the Honourable Company, to
whom he sold camels at six pounds a-head, after
compelfing his subjects to receive two pounds for
them. Ah ! well said the poet —
"'I would rather be a companion of devils.
Than the Ryot of an unjust king.'
"He almost doubled the size and resources of
his Jdgfr (feof), by the friendship of certain Sdhibs
who — (here we must stop Hari Chand's tongue with
a look) ; and when the Valiant Company aUowed him
twenty-thousand rupees to excavate his canals and
improve his land, he — Allah bless him ! — expended
half, and lay by the other moiety in his coffers."
" But," pursues Hari Chand, delighted that we
aUow him a reasonably free use of his subject, " has
not the Sdhib seen with his own eyes what a
prodigious thief he is ? Did not the poor Sindi
complain yesterday that his camel had been stolen

112 Sind Revisited.

from him?- and the peasants that they are starving?
and the Hindus that they are ruined ? Every
man, to be sure, may cut off his own dog's taU I
It were well, however, if nothing Avorse could be
said about this Ibrdhim."
Now Mr, Hari Chand's countenance assumes
that deep mysterious expression which courts the
operation of "pumping." After which, chuckling
internally at haAdng secured for himself the acute
gratification of being able to tear a man's reputation
to shreds, he resumes, in a low, soft tone of voice, as
if the tent-walls had ears :
" He murdered his elder brother ! Yes, Sdhib,
before the battle of Miydni, Ibrdhim was a sorry
fellow, a poor cadet who was not even aUowed to
sit in the presence of the great. But
" ' The world is a water-wheel, and men are the pots on it.
Now their heads are beneath the stones, now they are raised
high to heaven.' "
The " scorpion," as your London mothers with
daughters to sell used to caU the pauper member of
a rich family, flourishes in the East as in the West,
But with us, probably by reason of the frigid
climate and the artificial existence of the animal,
his sting, though sometimes troublesome, is rarely
dangerous. Here it is often fatal,
— "At the battle of Miydn ia matchlock baU
pierced the occiput of Ibrdhim's elder brother, and
the clan, seeing their chief bite the dust, ran away
like sheep, headed by this Khan, the beU-wether of
the fiock, who ran a little faster than the rest.

The Munshi. 113

When the fort of Haydardbdd surrendered, one of
the first persons that gave up his dangerous sword
to the General Sdhib was Ibrdhim Khan, who had
the address to oust his nephew from the inheritance,
and by plentiful fox-play took all the carcase from
the tiger,"" And now," continues Hari Chand, anxious to
improve each fleeting minute, " Ibrdhim, who some
years ago was not allowed to show his mouth at
court, sits on a chair before the collector and pays
visits to the ' Madams,' * the ' harems ' of the English,
He has ventured to boast that one of them is
desperately enamoured of him (this, says Hari Chand
to himself, will irritate the fools, ourselves, sir,
beyond all measure). He drinks curagoa and brandy
like a Sdhib, He has become proud. Yesterday,
for instance, instead of coming out for mUes and
miles to meet the Sawdri " —
I knew we should end here. Envy, hatred, and
malice are the seeds which the Oriental loves to
scatter about as he passes over life's path, not for
sheer diabolicality, but with the slavish instinct of
cunning weakness, " When thieves fall out, honest
men slip in," says our trite proverb, " When two
thieves contend over a bone, a third finds an
opportunity of carrying it off," thinks the Eastern
phUosopher. Now observe how carefully Hari Chand
applies the lucifer to a certain fuel which he
supposes every heart to contain :
" The Sdhib is a servant of the Kaysar-i-Hind ;
1 The general name, in Sind as in India, for white women.
VOL. II. 30

114 Sind Revisited.

long be her prosperity ! Whose dog is Ibrdhimii,*
that he should dare to treat the "Lords of the
Sword and the Pen " ^ in this disgraceful way ?
that he should send that owl ^ of a nephew to
greet them with his hootings, and venture to be
absent Avhen they arrived at his grave ? * Had
Smith Sdhib, the coUector (now I have that red-
coated infidel on the hip, thinks Hari Chand), been
coming with his writers, and his scribes, and his
secretaries, and his guards, and all his retinue,
Ibrdhim would have been present to kiss his feet.
And why ? Because Smith Sdhib is a  good
easy man, who allows the bandit to do what he
pleases. Ah, well said Nizdmi,^
" ' The joys of this world ! — Ah ! asses have engrossed them.
Would to AUah, Nizd,mi had been an ass ! '
"But, perhaps," pursues Hari Chand after a
short pause, during which his mind had been almost
preternaturally active, " it is not so much Ibrdhim's
crime as that of Kdkii Mall."
" And who may Kdkii MaU be ? "
" Kdkii MaU ? The Sdhib does not know who
Kdkii MaU is? Ibrdhim's head Munshi, a Khu-
' A diminutive and decidedly disrespectful form of the proper
name. ^ A high title in Persia, terribly prostituted ia Sind and Hind.
^ The bird of wisdom in Europe, in Asia becomes the symbol of
stupidity : mee versa, the European goose is the Asiatic emblem
of sageness. ^ A metaphor, by no means compUmentary, for his house and
home. ^ A first-rate Persian poet, equally celebrated and popular for
satire, morality, and gross indeUcacy.

Kdlk^ Mall 115

ddbddi Banyan of a fellow (our man, Mr, Bull, is a
Sehwdni, a Green instead of a Brown), and one of
the most unscrupulous ruffians that ever carried
inkstand in belt"
Thereupon a fierce worrying of Kdkti Mall's
character. In common charity I would draw our
man off, only that most probably Kdkii Mall is
about this time abusing us and Hari Chand to
Ibrdhim Khan, just as violently as Hari Chand
abuses Ibrdhim and Kdkii Mall to us,
"He wUl, I would swear, do his best that your
honours may not be treated Avith the courtesy
due to your rank, and that I, your servant, may be
insulted," " Very well, Munshi, we will look after him.
You may go. At eleven we start for our visit. Be
ready to accompany us ; and don't be afraid of
Kdkti MaU."
" Under the shadow of your eagle wings," replies
Hari Chand, with a lovely bow, "what have I to
fear from the puny talons of these carrion crows ? "
We mount our horses, still in half-European
dress, and cross the village, our Munshi ambling by
our side, and a few ferocious Afghan servants, whom
we have just engaged, bringing up the rear, much
to the astonishment and quite to the alarm of its
inhabitants. We reach the court-yard gate of the Talpur 's
dwelling. Three ragged rascals, with sheathed
swords in thefr hands and daggers in their belts,
headed by another nephew, rush up to us as if thefr

116 Sind Revisited.

intention were to begin by cutting our throats.
The young chief, seizing our hands, chatters forth a
thousand congratulations, salutations, and messages,
nearly drags us from our saddles, and enqufres
about our happiness in tones which rise high
above the whooping and yeUing of his followers.
One feUow rushes away to pass the word " they
come." And out pours a whole rout to witness the
event, and, by their presence, to communicate to it
all possible importance.
After jostUng and being jostled through half-a-
dozen narrow gateways, we arrive opposite the
verandah, under which stands Mfr Ibrdhim Khan
Talpur, I see this reception is to be a poor attempt
at court ceremonial.
We dismount, twenty men pressing forward at
the same time to hold our stfrrups, and the whole
party shouting " BismiUah ! " as our feet touch the
ground. Then Ibrdhim Khan, pressing forward,
seizes our hands, wrings our arms as if trying to
tear them from thefr sockets, and, oh compUment
with which we might have dispensed ! clasps us
to a glorious "corporation," and appUes a rough-
bearded chin consecutively to the upper portions of
both our shoulder-blades.
We are led in with our boots on : our host has
not removed his slippers. Another volley of in
quiries, and another series of huggings, as we are
led up to the sUken Divdn, upon which he, the
chief, and his eldest nephew are to sit, whilst a
motley crowd of relations, friends, acquaintances,

The Reception. 117

dependents, and any one who happened to be
passing the house at the time, presses in, looking
curiously at us and fearfully at our retainers. All
arrange themseh^es with the noise of a troop of
jackdaws upon the floor.
Observe, sir, in the corner of the room, how Hari
Chand and Kdkii Mali, almost weeping with joy,
throw themselves upon each other's bosoms, and
murmur mezza voce thanks to that Heaven which
hath thus permitted the tree of Hope to put forth
green leaves and to bear sweet fruit. Charming,
this choice blossom of true civilization amid the
desert of barbarism around it ! Had a violet or a
forget-me-not appeared to us in the centre of
Ibrdhim Khan's unclean court-yard, the sight would
scarcely have been more suggestive. What memo
ries it revives !
Now for a survey of our host and the State apart
ment in which he has been pleased to receive us.
Instead of bare stuccoed walls, a floor but parti
ally carpeted with a Persian rug or two, and a single
settee at the upper part of the room, here we have
an Oriental imitation of an English saloon; the
tables, chairs, framed prints, panel'd doors, and glass
windows, forming salient points of resemblance. As
usual, there is an intense grotesqueness in the general
appearance. Liqueur-bottles and a large pipe lie
upon rosewood dxessing-cases ; a French clock, with
its erect Bayard, stands in sUent majesty upon a
shelf hollowed in the AvaU ; several landscapes are
huno- upside down, a thermantidote is placed in a

118 Sind Revisited.

corner carefully beyond reach of the Avind ; a
feminine glove, treasured as a great curiosity, peeps
from the folds of another great curiosity, a pafr of
"leathers ;" and a noble goshawk perches upon the
back of a well- wadded, crimson- velvetted bergere, et
cetera. Had we called early in the morning, we might
have found our noble entertainer sitting in a
coloured cotton waistcloth, pour toute toilette, his
hair plastered over with clay, and his palms fuU of
Kusumbd. I have described Kusumbd, and have
only to add that it is the name here given in
good society to the solution of opium which the
natives extensively use. Now, however, he is in
grand costume. A cylindrical cap of gold brocade
covers his curly black locks, which are gathered into
a knot upon the poll of his head, and flattened out
upon his temples, as if the " bands " had been
ironed : beautifully accurate is his beard, and of
his mustachio not one hair passes another, nor
wanders from its proper place. His vest is of the
crimsonest satin, richly embroidered with startling
silks in intricate patterns ; around his waist a fine
Thathd shawl supports his ivory-hUted poniard :
a pair of loose trousers, azure-blue, the favourite
Beloch colour, faUing over yellow-cordovan slippers,
concludes a costume which, with the exception
of the cap and the "gingerbread work" on the
coat, is at once manly and magnificent. He has no
gems about him except the large emerald which
glitters upon the hilt of his "dangerous sword," and

Mir Ibrdhim. 119

no ornament but a gold hoop with a silver slab on
his fore-finger : it is like yours, a signet-ring for use,
not for show. He wUl inform you, if you ask him,
that he does not write himself, but that he keeps
a Munshi who is celebrated for calligraphy, Ibrdhim
Pasha in London was loath to confess that he could
not scrawl his name in the Royal album : Ibrdhim
Khan in Sind manifestly takes pride in parading
his ignorance of the unchivalrous art.
Remark his portliness, or rather obesity of person.
In this, as well as in other parts of the East, beauty,
.male and female, goes by the hundred- weight. Nasfr
Khan, the late ruler of Haydardbdd, was considered
one of the handsomest men in the country, chiefly
because he could hardly walk, and had great trouble
in finding a horse to carry him. When doomed to
a foreign jail, he was succeeded in part of his func
tions by a gentleman whose person rather resembled
his ; and the public of Sind remarked with grateful
ness that their pet Prince was but half lost to them,
since the Company had sent so ample and portly a
ruler to succeed him. Thinness, you must know, is'
considered not only a personal defect, but also a sign
of poverty ; and the Sind Jackal, like the British
Lion, instinctively snarls at the appearance of one
who wants. The natives of the nearer East are like
dogs in this particular: feed them, and invariably
you fatten them, "Haven't you enough to eat,
that you are so lean ? " is the natural question put
to a sub-lieutenant who in these hot latitudes out
grows his strength.

120 Sind Revisited.

"Haw! haw!! haw!!!" How pleasant are these
loud, plethoric, healthy laughs, after the vUlainous
sounding cachinnations in which the Hindu and
Hindi famUy indulges. Our fat host's jolly face
(judging by it you would swear that he is the
warmest-hearted fellow in the world) beams with
broad smiles ; and at the end of every sentence, no
matter the subject, he puts in a hearty haw ! haw ! !
What irresistibly tickles his fancy is our semi-
Oriental dress : he has told me twenty times
already, that it becomes us beautifuUy, and wonders
lustUy why all Franks do not throw away thefr
scarecrow habiliments as we have done.
" Will you drink opium, since you look so like
us ? haw ! haw ! " cries the host, with a voice which
can do nothing but shout, the normal Sind and
Beloch organ, and infinitely amused by the facetious
ness of his OAvn question,
I will accept, sfr, and save you from what
would be an infliction, by the ready excuse that you,
being a man of peculiar temperance and strictness of
conversation, allow no intoxicating preparations to
pass your lips — in public. Our host thinks, like a
commissaire de police, that there must be a screw
loose in an Englishman qui ne se grise pas. So my
friend, the Brazilian magistrate, when receiving a
report concerning a newly-made prisoner, whom the
constable called un Inglez bebado, a drunken
Englishman, could not help exclaiming " What a
pleonasm ! " However, the Beloch has delicacy
enough to ponder and wonder in the depths of his
own head.

Opium. 121
The opium, country grown and by no means a
despicable article, is brought in by the head-servant
of the pipes, who places it before us with a wine
glass, and a Lota, or pipkin, full of coldish water,
Ibrdhim Khan, as master of the house, dispenses
it, after cutting up the mass into little square bits,
about the size of a large piU : he wUl take at
least four of these to himself : I, not being so
habituated an Afimi,^ content myself with one.
By the good aid of our fingers, we dissolve our por
tions in the palm of the hand which holds exactly
enough fluid for a dose. We strain it through any
cloth that comes to hand, in order to get rid of the
adulterating matter, some of it none of the cleanest ;
and then each man, holding his wine-glass, says some
thing poUte to somebody, and swallows its contents
with an air jocular from fashion, not for a reason.
The " old hands " may be known by the lover-like
looks which they bestow upon the sherry-coloured
draught, A few mouthfuls of sweetmeat, or bits of
Misri (sugar-candy), are swallowed, to bring out
the effects of the drug, and the pipes are pensively
smoked, to while away the tedious interval that
precedes inebriation.
Opium, in Sind, is never inhaled, and is rarely
eaten. Drunk, as you have seen it, the drug is a
favourite with the rich and the great, or rather, Avdth
all who have money to spend upon it. It is the
best stimulant these countries afford. Many an
8 An eater of Afim, opium, from the Greek iiaov, and the
Romaic, ajpiivi -, hence the Chinese, yar-fu-yung.

122 Sind Revisited.

exaggerated tale about its terrible consequences
has, I know, been poured into your ears, Mr. BuU.
The Celestials, who, in horror of losing their Sycee
silver in smoke, systematically denigrated the object
of the foreign traffic, can claim the honour of having
planted the prejudice in your stubborn mind. Even
in the year of gTace 1876, a deputation waited upon
the Secretary of State for India, and requested him
to sacrifice to its ignorance and prejudice a trifling
matter of eight millions sterling per annum. And
the last piece of pretentious folly has been to
establish an " Anglo-Oriental Society for Suppres
sing the Trade in Opium."
Of late years, men who haA'e passed their lives
in opium-eating lands, as Gujrdt and Mdlwa, have
raised their voices, striving to modify the romantic
exaggeration of your opinions upon this subject.
They own that to some constitutions it is a poison,
like fermented and spirituous liquors ; moreover,
that it is impossible to predict from its effect upon
one person how it wUl affect another. They admit
the truth contained in the latter half of an oft-
quoted Arabic proverb : " Afim is the healer of aU
ills, and itseU of all diseases the evilest ; " meaning
that the drug is dangerous, because the dose requfres
to be increased. At the same time I assert that
this may be said, with equal truth, of aU stimulants
falsely called intoxicants, and that opium taken in
moderation is not a whit more injurious than wine
and spirits. But with the "Confessions " as a warn
ing, and with De Quincy and Coleridge as examples,

Nonsense about Opium. 123
neither of them, by-the-by, cases in point, when wUl
you listen to me ?
Opium taken even in large, but not increas
ing, quantities, acts beneficially upon some con
stitutions, I recollect an old Persian Munshi,
who used regularly every day to swallow three
big boluses, and yet I never saw in the East a
more hale or hearty veteran of sixty. There is, I
have told you, a popular idea in Sind, as in other
Oriental countries, that opium is a " brave drink,"
It certainly quiets the irritable nerves, and produces
a peculiar stubbornness of purpose and suUenness
of temper, moods invaluable to the Eastern soldier,
whose battles are a succession of single combats.
" Bhang," on the contrary, for reasons already
detaUed, is the poet's, the phUosopher's, and the
mystic's favourite.
Such are the reflections which naturally occur
during the silent quarter of an hour devoted by our
society to smoking themselves " screwed." At the
end of the time the host motions away his pipe, and
prepares himself to converse and haw ! haw ! with
renewed vigour.
" Were you at Nasfr Khan's fight ? " — so the
battle of Miydni is caUed by the Sindis, as
opposed to Sher Mohammed's fight, the battle of
Dabbd. We reply m the negative, and suspect that we
are in for one of our noble host's stock-stories.
" Haw ! haw ! that was an affair, 0 Allah !
AUahu Akbar ! was ever the like of it before ? "

124 Sind Revisited.

" Then you were present, Mir Sdhib ? " *
" I — yes, indeed I was, I went out with all the
vassals of my poor brother (a broad grin), whom
you killed. Look at his son, my nephew, there
(pointing to the lean scowler sitting by his side).
Well, you killed his poor father. And haw ! haw !
you would have kiUed me," pursues Ibrdhim, highly
amused by the idea, " but I was a little too sharp
even for the Frank,"
We stimulate him by an inquiry,
" How ? " he vociferates, " why, when we went
out to attack you, we started to hunt the deer.
Some carried swords, others spears, and many
sticks, because we wanted to thrash you soundly
for your impudence, not to kill you, poor things !
My brother (now Allah illumine his grave !) was
a simple-minded man, who said, ' What can the iron
of the Angriz do against the steel of the Beloch ? ' ^
" We drew up in a heap, eager for the onslaught.
Presently some guns of yours appeared ; they un
Umbered ; they began to fixe. So did ours ; but
somehow or other we shot over you, you shot into
us.^ I was on the other part of the field, so of
course I didn't care much for that. But, a few
minutes afterwards, what did we see ? a long red
' The poUte address to one of the blood royal — ^Your Highness.
^ An allusion to the boasted superiority of what is erroneously
called Damascus steel over oin- Sheffield cutlery. So, before the
battle of the Pyramids, the saddle and accoutrements of a French
dragoon were laid before the Mamliik Beys in Darbdx, and convinced
them that they were sure of victory.
3 The Sind artillery was commanded by one Chotd, Kh^n, alias
Mr. Howell, who was too well-bred to injure his countrjrmen.

The South of Miydni. 125
line, with flashing spikes, come sweeping over the
plain towards us, like a Simiim,
" 'AUah, Allah, what are these dogs doing ? They
are not running away ?' All my poor brother's men
put the same question,
" Then bang went the great guns ; phit the
little guns ; the Franks prayed alou.d with a horrible
voice to the Shaytdn, we to Allah, What a Mos
que full of MuUds it was, to be sure ! * Who
could fight ? We howled defiance against them.
Still they came on. We stood and looked at them.
StUl they came on. We rushed and slashed at
them, like Rustams, StUl they came on, the White
fiends,^ And, by Allah ! when we ran away, stiU
they came after us. It was useless to encounter this
kind of magic ; the head-magician sitting all the
time on the back of a little bay horse, waving his
hat in circles, and using words which those that
heard them said sounded like the language of devUs.
I waited tUl my poor brother feU dead. Then I cried
to the vassals— 'Ye base-born, wiU you see your
chieftain perish unavenged ? ' and, having done my
best to fight like a soldier, I thought I had a right
to run like one — haw ! haw !
"But now teU me— you are EngUshman — is
there any chance — of the Amfrs ever returning to
rule over Sind ? "
1 As we should say, "What a bear-garden !" Two MuUfe in
one Mosque are sure to quarrel.
« One of Rustam's great exploits was slaughtering the Div-f-
Sapid, or AVhite Demon, a personage, say the Persians, clearly
typical of the modern Russian.

126 Sind Revisited.

This, Mr. Bull, has been our host's great bug
bear, the fear lest his kinsmen should come to their
own again. In truth, it is an inteUigible subject of
apprehension ; Ibrdhim Khan's head and shoulders
would assuredly part company the day after our
departure. The disastrous consequences of siding
with the British in Afghanistdn, the tortures and
death awaiting the traitors who, after we left,
remained in their native country, and all the
miseries of exile, poverty, and neglect, pressing
heavily upon those that followed our steps; these
things, I fear, did much in their day to disperse
throughout India a pernicious suspicion that the
English are not staunch friends ; that they wiU
use a man when they want him, and are then
ready to cast him off, heedless as to what becomes
of him, Ibrdhim Khan cannot conceal his fear
of such fate being in store for him. Double-dyed
murderer though he may be, I am glad, for the sake
of our " name," that he has escaped the revengeful
sabres of his kinsman.
The assembly, after being convulsed with laughter
during the chief's account of his prowess at the
battle of Miydni, for there are "toadies" in Sind as
elsewhere, was breathless, whUst he awaited our
answer to his question,
" No, Mfr Sdhib, there is none. The morning of
prosperity has at length dawned upon Sind, It
leads to a day that knows no return of night ! "
"AUah Tuhdr — the Lord be thy Preserver!"
There was no laugh as Ibrdhim Khan uttered this
short prayer.

The Visit Ends. 127

And now, having " produced an impression," we
wUl prudently withdraw before the opium takes
full effect, I see a little horseplay commencing in
different parts of the room ; and our fat friend's
pleasantries are beginning to verge upon the
boisterous. Besides, the act of leaving at this
moment will produce a beneficial result. Ibrdhim
Khan has quietly but decidedly assumed the great,
the very great man. He expects that we should,
according to custom, await his signal for ending
the visit. Therefore we will do nothing of the
kind, and he will respect us so much the more.
"Mfr Ibrdhim Khan Talpur AviU be happy to
have the company of Mr. John Bull and his com
panion at dinner to-day, about four o'clock."
You must not confound this gentilezza Avith one
of your Western iuAdtations. Our host intends to
dine at our tents, only he will send the number of
fat piUaws, hot Kabdbs, messy curries, greasy dishes
of vegetables, and cakes of unleavened bread, which
he himself intends to consume. We wUl not refuse :
a Beloch dinner party may be new to you.
We rise ; so does every man in the room.
Vehemently are we pressed to stay. Vehemently
do we apologize for departing. Then there is a
rushing to the doors, a whooping for horses, a jostle
of the animals, madly kicking and plunging, because
ten hands are holding each bridle : the chief accom
panies us as far as the main gate of his palazzo,
shaking hands, laughing Adolently, and catechising
us about our healths and brains : he repeats his

128 Sind Revisited.

deUght at having made friendship with us, and, as
a conclusion, he again clasps us to that develop
ment which would not disgrace the fat fame of a
Falstaff, I wish, Mr, John Bull, that you would not look
so sheepish when being kissed. Positively, you
blushed this time as deeply as your boy BUly
could have done. Can you not accommodate
yourseU a little more readUy to these habits and
customs of " foreign parts ? "

( 129 )

CHAPTER XXIII,
A BELOCH DINNER AND TEA PAETY,
"A TEA-PAETY," — What horrible goblins of the past
are conjured up by these short syllables !
The first object that meets our glance, as we
near the tents, is a line of Beloch drawn up behind
a row of earthen pots, in shape and hue by no
means unlike monstrous turnips. These, the
turnips, contain a present of choice confectionary,
coarse sugar, rice, fiour, spices, and clarified butter,
always sent in token of friendship or favour.
There are ten pots full for you, the " great gentle
man," eight for me, the thinner man, one for our
Munshi, who looks a profound disgust at not
having received two, and the rest for the servants.
The latter wUl get, although they cannot claim,
possession of the whole, and the result wUl be a
general indigestion, which nothing but a certain
preparation of Tartar can remove : half a pound of
the mixture would place our lives in immirient
perU, Another uncomfortable effect of the ceremony
is that in this case, as on all occasions when an
Oriental sends you a present, a return is expected,
and the amount is supposed exactly to show the rate
VOL. IL 31

130 Sind Revisited.

at which you value yourself We must give vaUs
to all the fellows, otherwise we shaU be caUed " fly-
suckers," i.e., skin-flints — a reputation which you, in
your own country, and in these days, seem rather to
court than to avoid, sir ; but the East is not suffi
ciently enlightened to appreciate your new "fad,"
We must also despatch a " token " to the noble
giver of the sweetmeats ; if we withhold it, he avUI
not be too shamefaced to apply for it in person.
I remarked that, during the visit, he repeatedly
admfred your English ring, a bloodstone, with the
family crest, a lion rampant, upon it. Send it to
him, with an epigrammatic compliment, which I
wiU impromptu for you, and you wUl earn, as the
natives say, a "great name."
" WeU, Hari Chand, how progresses the Amfr ? "
" The Amfr ? Your exalted inteUigence wiU
understand most prosperously, only he has robbed
his Ryots of all their camels, and now he is quar
relling with the neighbouring Jdgfrddrs (country
gentlemen), in order to get thefrs to cheat the
Government with ; he has depopulated the land of
smaU birds to feed his twenty hawks; he has
been to Haydardbdd, and has returned stark-staring
mad, swearing that he drank two Sdhibs under
the table, and made love to every ' Madam ' in the
place (Hari Chand is determined to excite our
ghayrat, or jealousy, on that point, by perpetually
hammermg at it) ; he has married another wife,
although people say he has five * already ; the new
' Four wives are aUowed by law and reUgion, but if a man

Hari Chand Again. 131
one, being a Shaytdnah (devil), fights with aU the
old ones, who try to poison her ; and his eldest
daughter, when on a visit to the capital, ran away
with a mounted policeman. Wah ! AA^ah ! Verily,
it is a noble famUy, as the poet said of the people
of Kdbul :
" ' Of a truth a distinguished race are they.
The men can't say yes, nor the women nay.' " '
" And Kdkii MaU ? "
" Oh, Kdkii Mall ! He is making a fortune by
sedulously practising all kinds of iniquities. Praised
be AUah ! what a scoundrel he is ! It would take
hours to sketch his viUainies, even for the high
intellects of your honours to comprehend them.
But one of these days Kdkii must and wiU come to
a bad end, a very bad end, which may be a warning
to all mankind."
This prediction is simply the result of euAy on
the part of Hari Chand, who would give one of his
eyes for the unlimited power of doing evil, that
good (to himself) might come of it, which he repre
sents Kdkii Mall to enjoy. Of course, he alludes
piously to the vengeance of the gods ; but the
reference is habitual; the heart knows nothing
about what the tongue speaks, and, after all,
" Ut sit magna, tamen certe lenta ira deorum est,"
a sentiment familiar to the Eastern as well as to the
marry half-a-dozen or so, it is considered a peccadiUo, not a
felony. ' AVhich, by-the-by, is borrowed from the Arab saying concern
ing the city of Wdsit.

132 Sind Revisited.

Western would-be criminal. These people theoreti-
caUy own the idea of certain retribution in this life ;
practically, they act as if sure to evade it. An
unseen, an uncertain punishment has so little effect
when threatened from afar ! Offended Heaven may
so easily be propitiated by vain oblations, and by
equaUy vain repentance. And, after aU, celestial
vengeance so often comes too late, a man may enjoy
himself so many years before the blow descends !
Thus they never neglect to threaten one another
Avith the ira deorum, and they always sin in the
teeth of it themselves.
Here is the Sawdri, the retinue, Mfr Ibrdhim
Khan, all crimson and gold, alights from his steed,
a handsome Beloch mare, whose bridle and head
gear are covered with grotesque sUver ornaments,
and stands a moment patting her, to show off
her points and equipments. The saddle is richly
mounted, though far inferior to those used by some
of the petty Indian princes, whose led horses are
decked in harness plated with precious metals
studded with diamonds ; and there is no deficiency,
at the same time there is no particular attraction,
in the abundance of girth, housing, martingale and
crupper, with which a gentleman's animal in this
part of the world must be lumbered,
Ibrdhim Khan prepares for dinner by dismissing
aU his attendants but one, Kdkii MaU, who remains
to "toady" his highness; to swear the truth of
every falsehood the great man tells, to supply him
with an idea or a word whenever conversation does

Drinking before Dinner, 133
not flow glibly; and to be chaffed, buUied, and
insulted, tour a tour, as the ill-humour or joviality
of his chief prevails. The Amir's quick glance has
detected that we' have nought but ale and . cognac
to offer him ; that point settled, he recreates his
mind by feeling the smooth insides of our Avine-
glasses ; by taking up the spoons, avoiding their
handles ; by producing brown facsimiles of his
thumbs upon the white surface of the salt ; by
converting the mustard-pot into a scent-bottle, and
by correcting any little frritation of the epidermis
with our only corkscrew.
" Will you take a glass of the water of life, Mir
Sdhib?" Perhaps, Mr, Bull, you expect our visitor to
drink a few drops of brandy, as the French take •
un petit verre d' absinthe pour ouvrir Vappetit.
If so, a quarter of an hour will convince you of your
mistake, Ibrdhim Khan hands his gold-hUted sabre to the
Afghan servant, who receives it at a distance, as if
it ' bit, with a sneering smile for which he shall
presently receive weU-merited correction ; sees it
deposited in the corner of the tent, and then, seating
himself heaAdly upon the edge of the cot of honour
opposite the dinner- table, he clutches a tumbler,
blows warmly into it, polishes the damped interior
with his pocket-handkerchief, and prepares to attack
the liquid part of his meal.
We must join him, if you please. In Sind men
drink before, in England after, dinner. At home.

134 Sind Revisited.

the object, we say, is to pass an hour pleasantly
over a glass of wine ; here, they honestly avow that
they drink to get drunk. The Eastern practice
is admfrable for securing the object proposed ;
every one knows that half-a-bottle upon an empty
stomach does the duty of two under converse cfr-
cumstances. Moreover, the Sindis declare that
alcohol before meals whets the appetite, enlivens
the spfrits, and facilitates digestion. Habit is,
however, everything. I should advise you, sfr, to
follow the Mfr's example at an humble distance.
The dinner passes off rapidly, Ibrdhim Khan
eats quite as much as he drinks. Not contented
with scooping up in his palm masses of boiled rice,
hard eggs, and unctuous stews, now and then
stripping a Kabdb-stick* Avith his fingers, and
holding up a large bone to his mouth with both
fists, he proposes, after our example, to practise the
knife and fork. With these articles, the former in
the left, the latter in the right hand, he attempts to
dissect a roast fowl, which flies from him, as if it had
vitality, far over the damask, to the tune of loud
haw ! haws ! Again he tries : again he fails, although
he prefaced the second attempt by a BismiUah,
" Heathen dog ! " he cries to Kdkii MaU, " is the
soul of thy father in this thing ? " for which gross
insult ^ the Hindu mentally fines his lord a thousand
^ Bits of roast meat with onion between, fastened together with
a skewer, and notto be caUed " Cabobs.''
^ Fowls are considered impure in the extreme by high-caste
Hindus.

Sindi Cookery. 135

rupees, to be cheated at the first opportunity.
Finally, desperate by the faUure of many efforts,
he throws away the fork, transfers the knife to his
right hand, and grasping the bird's drum-stick with
his left, he tears it piecemeal with a facility which
calls for another loud explosion of mirth,
I never yet saAV an Oriental laugh at himself
so readUy. Generally speaking, these people are,
chUd-like, nervously and uncomfortably sensitive to
ridicule of all kinds. Nothing offends them more
lastingly than a caricature, be it the most good-
natured, A writer of satire in Persia rarely dies an
easy death ; and the present race must be numbered
amongst things that were, before a man could edit,
at Kdbul, a number of "Vanity Fair," and live
through the day,
Sindi cookery is, Uke the country and its
natives, a link between the Iranian and the Indian.
Central Asia is pre-eminently the land of good
living and of masterly artistes, men as truly great
in their exquisite craft as Paris or Naples ever
produced : it teems with enjoyment to the phUo-
sophic bon vivant, who will apply his mind to
naturalizing his palate. Amongst the Hmdus, like
the Jews, the materiel of the cidsine is too Umited ;
consequently, there is monotony in the succession
of rice-dishes and vegetables : moreover, the bUious
Ghi, or melted and clarified butter, enters into
almost every preparation; the sweets are cloying,
and the profuse spices annoy the tasteful palate.
In Sind there are dawnings of culinary )ight, which

136 Sind Revisited.

would in a happier moral clime usher in a brUliant
day. You have seldom eaten anything better, I
will answer for the fact, than a salmi of black
partridge, with a garnishing of stewed bengans or
egg-plants. The repast ends more abruptly than it began.
The Sindi, like the boa-constrictor, is always torpid
after his ample meal, and he holds to the apothegm
of the Salernitan school,
"Post prandium est dormiendum."
You may observe our guest's fat heavy eyeUds
Avinking and drooping with progressive .somnolency
as the time for his siesta draws nigh. He calls for
a cup of lukewarm milk, here the invariable and
offensive conclusion to dinner, he apologizes for
leaving us, he must go to his prayers and attend to
his guest-house,* promises a return to " tea " in the
evening, caUs for his horse, mounts it, and retfres.
Now that he is gone, perhaps you also, sfr, may
have " letters to Avrite,"
" Ibrdhimii was so fuU of wine," remarks Hari
Chand, "that with these eyes I saw him almost tumble
over his animal. He go to pray I he went to prepare
for the evening's drink. As for his guest-house, it
is called by aU the poor around, 'Home of Hunger,'
Your honours, I hear, gave him only beer and
brandy. You wUl see him presently return with
' Wealthy nobles in Sind generaUy support an establishment
caUed the Mehmdn-khdnah, in which they receive and entertain
poor travellers and strangers.

Sindi Children. 137
a camel's load of bottles. And I am told that he is
going to bring his eldest boy ; ah, your honours
must button up your pouches now ! "
Here, after a three hours' sleep, comes the Amfr,
with some additions to his former escort, a little
brown boy five or six years old, a minstrel, and a
servant carrying many a magnum.
In few parts of the world do you see prettier
chUdren than those of the higher class in Sind,
Their features are delicate and harmonious, the
forehead is beautifully bombS, the fuU rounded
cheek shows a light olive-tint by the side of the
silky black curls, and there is an intelligence and
a vivacity which you scarcely expect to see in their
large, long, lustrous black eyes. Their forms equal
thefr faces : for symmetry and finish they might
serve as models to the well-provided MuriUo or
Correggio, And the simplicity of the dress, a
skuU-cap, a little sUk frock like a nightgown, con
fined with a waist-shawl in which sticks the tiniest
of daggers, and a pafr of loose slippers, contrasts
advantageously with the dancing-dog costumes with
which Mrs, John BuU invests her younger offspring,
or with the unsightly jackets and waistcoats con
ferred upon BiUy when breeched. If you like their
dress, you wiU also admire thefr behaviour :¦ the con
stant habit of older society makes them companion
able at an age when your progeny is fit for nothing
but confinement in a loose box caUed a nursery.
The boy here stands before his father, or sits with
him when ordered, more staidly than one of your

138 Sind Revisited.

adults: he listens with uncommon gravity to the
conversation of his seniors, answers pithily and
respectfully when addressed, and never requires to
be lectured upon the text, "Little children are
made to be seen and not heard." At eight years
of age he is master of the usages, he wiU receive
you at the door in the absence of his progenitor ;
hand you to your proper seat in the room ; converse
with you ; compliment you ; caU for pipes ; offer
you sweetmeats ; invite you to dinner, and dismiss
you, without failing in a single point. As a boy he
is a little man, and his sister in the harem is a Uttle
woman. To this you may object on the score of
taste ; say that it robs childhood of its chief charm,
the natural, the innocent, and all that kind of thing.
At any rate, you must own that it also preserves
us from the very troublesome displays of the said
charm in the form of pertness, selfishness, tur
bulence, and aU the unlovely detaUs comprehended
in your " naughtiness," the Irish " bouldness."
Our admiration of their children is reciprocated
by the Orientals, I have heard of a Hindu chief
travelUng many mUes to see the fair face and flaxen
hair of a " Europe baby ; " and " beautiful as a
white child " is almost a proverb amongst the dark-
skinned Mardthds.
We treat Master Ibrdhim, I beg his pardon,
Mfr Jdn Mohammed Khan Talpur, as he senten-
tiously names himself, Avith especial attention, a
mark of poUteness to his father ; we insist upon his
sitting down, upon the highest seat, too ; inquire

Sindi Children. 139
with interest after his horse and his hawk ; look at
his dagger, and slip in a hope that he may be as
brave a soldier as his father. But we must not teU
him that he is a pretty boy, nor ask him his age,
nor say anything about his brothers and sisters,
otherwise we offend against the convenances. And
when we wish him to be sent home, for that vener
able maxim, " Maxima debetur puero reverentia,"
is stUl venerated in the East, we give him a trifling
Tohfeh, or present, a pocket pistol, or a coloured
print, and he will feel that the object of his mission
has been fulfiUed. In Central Asia, a chUd's visit
is mostly a mere present-trap.
You admire the row of our fat friend's bottles
displayed upon the table, two dozen at least of
champagne and sherry, cura9oa and noyau, brandy
and gin, soda-water and seltzer. You wUl wonder
stiU more when you see Ibrdhim Khan disposing of
their contents recklessly, mixing them, after con
sumption, by tumblers-fuU ; intoxicating hunself
with each draught, and, after twenty minutes'
interval, becoming, by dint of pushing his cap off
his brow, scratching his head, abusing his Munshi,
ahd concentrating aU the energies of mind and body
upon his pipe, sober as judges are said to be,
A faint "twang-twang," draws your attention
to the corner of the tent. As in the ages precedmg
Darius, so since his time the soiree of Oriental Kay-
sar or chief never ended without sweet music.

140 Sind Revisited.

Remark the appearance of the performer. He is
a dark chocolate-coloured man with a ragged beard,
an opium-look, sharp, thin features, and a skin that
appears never to have known ablution, A dfrty,
torn cloth wrapped round his temples acts as
turban ; the rest of the attire, a long shirt of
green cotton, and blue drawers, is in a state which
may be designated disreputable. In his hand is
his Surando, the instrument of his craft, a rude
form of the violin, with four or five sheep-gut
strings, which are made to discourse eloquent
music by a short crooked bow that contafris half
the tail of a horse. He is preparing to perform,
not in the attitude of a Paganini, but as we see
in old Raphaels, and still occasionally in the byways
of Italy ; the instrument resting upon his lap
instead of his collar bone. Before the preliminary
scraping ends, a word or two, sotto voce, about the
feUow and his race.
The Ldngho is politely and accurately termed
Manganhdr, or " asker ; " * and his particular caste
is the most peremptory and perscA^ering of men
dicants in Sind, Anciently, aU the great clans
had thefr own minstrels, whose duty was to pre
serve thefr traditions for recital on festive occa
sions and, like the Highland piper, to attend the
chief in battle, where they noted everything with
' To caU a man "beggar "may not sound poUte in EngUsh,
but it does in Sind ears. An Oriental would generally prefer being
under any kind of obligation to his superiors, than lack connection
with them.

Tlie Bard. 141

an eagle's eye, praising those that fought, and
raining showers of curses, taunts, and invectives
upon all who fled. This part of their occupation
is now gone : they subsist principally by the
charity of the people, and by attending at the
houses in which thefr professional serAdces, at
marriages and other ceremonies, are requfred
They are idle as well as fond of pleasure, dfrty,
immoral, and notoriously dishonest. Largesse to
a Bard being a gentlemanly way of wasting one's
substance in Sind, those that employ the " asker,"
are provoked to liberality tiU either the will or the
way faU, In the meantime, the Ldngho spends
every rupee, with aU the recklessness of a Western
artiste, in drinking, gambling, and the siUiest
ostentation. He is not expected to live long,
and none knows what becomes of him in his lost
old age.
Our friend the Amfr has, I am told by Hari
Chand, suffered so much from these men's sneering
encomiums upon his v^alour and conduct in the
Conquest-war, that he once tried the experiment
of paying them liberally to avoid his palace.
Finding that the revenues of Persia would be in
adequate to carry out the scheme, he has altered
his tactics, and now he supports half a dozen, on
the express condition that they never aUude, in his
presence, to the battles of Miydni or Dabbd.
And now, as Ibrdhim Khan looks tfred of
attempting to converse with our surly Afghans,
and of outraging the feelings of his Munshi, we

142 Sind Revisited.

wiU lend an ear to Music, as the heavenly maid
springs upon us in grimly guise from the head of
Aliido, the minstrel.
The singing will commence with a favourite
rhapsod -theme, the murder of the great Lord
Bahrdm, the ancestor of the Talpur Princes, by
order of Sarfardz, the recreant Kalh6ra ; and with
the deadliest accuracy will it detail how an
individual of lowly birth but brave, Shah Bdhdro,
a Sindi, when ordered by the despot to do ^the
deed, refused, saying, " I wUl fight the Beloch
like a man." How Sarfardz made light of Shah
Bdhdro's chivalry, asking, "Where is Mohammed
the Prophet of Allah, and where is MusayUmah
the liar ? " * How Shah Bdhdro responded with
great temper and a prodigious quantity of good
advice, the major part of which was d propos of
everything ; how Sarfardz cosened and flattered
till he found a wUUng bravo in Ismd'il Mombiydni
the Sindi ; how the said Ismd'il, being a left-handed
man, cut down the valiant Bahrdm from behind
with a SAVord which he held a little higher than
usual, and drew it along the murdered chief's
shoulder ; how Ismd'U, after the assassination, cut
off the noble Bahrdm's head ; and, finaUy, how
Sarfardz looked at it, and gave utterance to un-
Christian-like sentiments.
^ A false, i.e. an unsuccessful, prophet, contemporary with
Mohammed. The phrase is classical amongst the Moslems ; it is
much used when drawing odious comparisons. The Hindus say,
" Kahdn Eajah Bhoj ; halidn Oangd teli ? " " AVhere is King Bhoj
(the Great), and where is Gangfi the oilman ? "

Music. 143
All the terrible minuteness of a French novel of
" character " or of an Italian historical romance !
The sounds that accompany are more remarkable
than the words of the song. Each fresh verse is
ushered in by a loud howl, so strikingly discordant
that every nerve starts at it, and so prolonged
that anticipation wearies of looking forward to its
close. Then follows the aria, a collection of sharp
chatterings and screams, in a key strained at least
two notes above the voce di petto, which, never
theless, must be forced up to the mark, falsetto
being unknown : and, lastly, comes the conclusion of
the phrase, a descent into the regions of the basso
tUl the voice, vaguely growling, dies away lost, as
it were, and unable to emerge from the depths
into which it sunk. Then the howl, the chatter
ings, the soprano-saceam, and the &asso-growl over
again. Half an hour of this work goes to the
formation of a Sindi melody.
Melody !
Well, yes, melody ! You see, sir, aU around
you are ecstatized ; consequently there must be
something in the performance to attract admiration.
Of aU the arts, music is the most conventional.
What do you think Orpheus would have thought
of Wagner : Wagner, of Orpheus ? The traditions of
aU ancient people, Egyptians, Phoenicians, Assyrians,
Hindus, Persians, Greeks and Romans, teU of min
strels who worked miracles by the voice, the lute,
and the lyre. The music of the Greeks and Romans
is almost beyond our reach ; that of the Hfridu and

144 Sind Revisited.

the Persian is still, in its old age, much the same, I
suppose, as it was when first bom. Accustomed
to his own system, the Eastern cannot derive the
least pleasure from ours : the noisiness of the major
clef confuses him, his ear cannot detect a phrase,
and he is ignorant of its harmony as he would be
insensible to discord : he wonders greatly how it is
that the European, so superior to him in arms and
arts, can be so far behind in this one science, and
he turns with eagerness to the strain. famUiar to his
ear ; not to the " Hindostanee melodies," which
are composed in London, as are the "nigger
melodies" in New York, but to an honest, genuine,
downright bit of barbarism, like that we have just
now heard.
After my description, you will be astonished to
hear that I ever did anything but suffer during
the endurance of the minstrel's song. At first aU
was pure torture. Presently, the ear, in its despair,
began to make friends with the least harsh sounds,
as prisoners do with rats or spiders. Then, as a
note or two became famUiar, the utter strangeness
wore off, and a sensation of grotesque enjoyment,
novel and unexplainable, struggled into existence.
At last, when a few years had thoroughly broken my
taste to bear what you have just heard, I could
listen to it, not only without the horror you now ex
perience, but also with something like gratification.
Possibly I liked it better for the disgust it provoked
at first. So the Highlander learns to love his
screaming, wheezing bag-pipe; the German his

An Ode. 145

putrescent Sauerkraut; the Englishman liaut-goUt
in game ; the Frenchman his capered ; the Greek
his garlic ; the Italian his rancid olives, and all the
world their snuff and cigars, things which at first
they must, as they were human, have hated.
The songs generally sung by these Eastern
jongleurs are legends, ballads, certain erotic verses
which are very much admired by every class, and
mystical effusions which the learned enjoy, and to
which the unlearned, being utterly unable to com
prehend them, listen with the acutest sensations
of pleasure. The Homer of Sind is one Sayyid
Abd el-Latif, a saintly bard, whose Risdlo, or col
lection of distichs upon traditional themes of the two
passions. Love and War, has been set to different
musical modes, and is, by the consenting voice of
society, admitted to be a chef d'ceuvre, the pink of
perfection, I will translate one of the songs which Aliido
sings, a short satirical effusion, directed against the
descendants of the poetical Sayyid, by some Smdi
poet, who appears fond of the figure frony.
AN ODE TO THE HOLY MEN OF BHIT.^

Ye monks of Bhit ! whose only cares
Are fast and penance, wakes and prayers.
Your lips and eyes bespeak a love
From low earth weaned to Heaven above :

' Bhit UteraUy meaning a sand-heap, is a smaU town lying
four mUes east of HdM and noriih of Haydar^b^d. The word
is appUed to the place because the holy Abd el-Latif ordered his
VOL. IL ^2

146 Sind Revisited.

Your hearts have rent aU carnal ties.
Abjured all pomps and vanities :
Not mean will be your meed I ken
In Heaven's bright realms, ye reverend men !

And yet, they say, those tuneful throats.
With prayers' stem chaunt, mix softer notes ;
Those mouths wiU sometimes deign to sip
The honey- dew from maiden's lip :
And other juice than salt tear dyes
With purpling hues those heavy eyes :
Ah ! ah ! t-wice blest your lot, I ken,
Here, and hereafter, reverend men !
You have a small musical snuff-box, sir ; Avind it
up, put it in your pocket, and try the effects of a
polka or a waltz.
All are silent in a moment. They start, stare,
peer about the room, and look much scared by
the strange sounds. In another minute they wUl
run away from us adepts in the black art. You
see how many miracles could be got ¦ out of a few
such simple contrivances as a grind-organ, an
electrical machine, or a magic lantern. Now produce
the cause of astonishment, whUst I attempt to explain
the mechanism of the invention. The sight of
something soothes them ; thefr minds become com
paratively speaking quiet : still they handle the box
Avith constraint, as if it had the power of stinging as
foUowers to throw up a mound of earth as a foundation for the
habitations of men. The reverend subjects of the Ode, although
his descendants, lost reputation amongst the Bards, because they
ungenerously appropriated the' hoards entrusted to their charge by
the -wife of the dethroned KaUidra Prince. Perhaps, being very
wealthy, they are become, as might be expected, very niggardly,
and that would be the last and direst cause of offence.

" Tea." 147
weU as singing. All are vociferous in praise of the
music, probably on account of the curiosity of the
thing, as a civilized audience applauds a sonata
upon one string, at which it would yawn if per
formed upon four. Even the minstrel declares
with humble looks that the charm has fled his
Surando; that his voice is become like unto the
crow's. This, however, is his politeness, not his
belief. In what part of the habitable globe, or at
what epoch of the creation, did a painter, a musician,
or a poet, ever own to himself that he is a dauber,
a mar-music, or a poetaster ?
Ibrdhim Khan will by no means refuse a " dish
of tea," especially when offered to him during a short
account of the Chinese Empire ; the beardless state
of the Celestials and the poor old Porcelain Tower
being topics which will at once rivet his attention.
Orientals in thefr cups become inquisitive, scientific,
theological, and metaphysical. But he quafifies the
thin potation with an equal quantity of brandy, as
in his heart of hearts he has compared the first sip
to an infusion of senna disguised by sugar and milk.
The Beloch, unlike their neighbours the Persians
and Afghans, are not accustomed to the use of Chdhi.^
" Mir Ibrdhim Khan Talpur, listen ! The meet
ings of this world are in the street of separation.
And truly said the poet that the sweet draught of
friendly union is ever followed by the bitter waters
' In the Fo-Kien province T takes the place of Ch : hence the
English of Amoy . (Hea-Mun) called the beverage " Tea," and
the Portuguese of Macao " Cha," like'the Persian " Chdlii."

148 Sind Revisited.

of parting. To-morrow we wander forth from these
pleasant abodes, to return to Haydardbdd, My
friend Jdn Biil Sdhib is determined to feast his
eyes upon the Adens of Larkdna and to dare the
Jehannums of Shikdrpur,"
The chief rises steadUy, though in liquor,
" You are the kings of the Franks : you are
the best of the Nazarenes, and, by the blessed Mo
hammed, you almost deserve to be Moslems ! Swear
to me that you will presently return and gladden
the glance of friendship. What is life without the
faces of those we love ? Wah ! Wah ! I have
received you badly. There are no dancing- women
in my villages : I would have seized a dozen of the
Ryots' wiA^es, but Kdkii Mall said — -didn't you, you
scoundrel ? "
" Certainly, great chief ! "
"How can the Hay wans,* the Sindis, venture
to show thefr blackened^ faces in the presence of
those exalted lords ? If I have faded in anything,
forgive me,"
The tears stand in Ibrdhim's eyes. No wonder.
He has finished nearly six bottles. He grasps our
hand at every comma ; at every full stop he vigor
ously embraces us. Yet he is not wholly maudlin.
To water the tree of friendship, as he phrases it, he
stuffs my cheroot-case into one pocket, and a wine-
^ In Arabic, "anything that hath life:" popularly used to
signify a beast as opposed to a human being, or a human being
that resembles a beast.
^ Blackened, Inen entendu, by certain unquenchable flames.

Adieiix. 149
glass into the other, I must give him your musical
box as Avell as your ring, and as equivalent (I don't
wish him to go home and laugh at our beards), you
gently extract his handsome hunting-knife from his
waistband and transfer it to your own, declaring that
with that identical weapon you will cut the throat of
a poetic image called Firdk, or Separation,
Now the adieux become general. The minstrel
raises his voice in fervent prayer: he has received
five rupees and a bottle of fiery gin. All the
followers thrust their heads into the tent to bless
us, and to see if we have anything to give them-
The Amfr, convinced that there are no more presents,
prepares to depart, accompanied by his secretary,
when Hari Chand, determined upon a final scene,
raises the tent-fly and precipitates himself into Kdkii
Mall's arms.
Ibrdhim Khan pressed us to accompany him on
his next trip with the falcons and hawks : unfor
tunately you care little about the noble sport, even
about the use to be made of round- winged birds ;
and I have already said my say upon the subject,*
There is nothing in the south-east of Haydardbdd
which we have not seen before ; a silt flat, some
times sand, overgrown with desert shrubs, and here
and there cultivated ; huge heaps of ruins, long
lines of water- courses, and channels which become
rivers during the inundation, and which widen into
estuaries as they approach the Arabian Sea,
' " Falconry in the A^alley of the Indus," London, Van Voorst,
1852.

150 Sind Revisited.

CHAPTER XXIV.
THE MIMOSA BAND; ITS GIANT FACE — SINDIA
PETE^A — THE BELOCH MUSE.
Another month has passed away in grateful ease —
doing nothing.
I Avould Avillingly lead you off to the quondam
UniA^ersity of Matidri, and there lecture you on the
present state of science and education in the Moslem
world generaUy, and the Sindi in particular. I
should like to accompany you to Nasarpiir and
point out why some believe it to be the Mansifreh
of the Arabs, and why some believe as bUndly that
it is not Mansiireh.* I might even, had I my own
way, start off with you to the eastern desert and,
amidst the mud-walls of Umarkot, expatiate upon
the romantic events, such as the bfrth of Akbar the
Great, its celebrity as a treasury, and its surrender
without a shot to the British army, which have, or
ought to have, given it a name in Universal History.
Only I fear the habits of yaAvning, of setting down
your neighbour a monomaniac, and of complaining
^ Mansiireh is also supposed to have been witliin a short distance
of BrahmandbM.

The Start, 151
that your expectations have been unwarrantably
raised to be dropped — all which, dear sfr, allow me
to say, are now become highly natural to you. I
must, however, as your guide, insist upon your
accompanying me across the river westward to a
certain spot called the Babbur Band or Mimosa
Dyke, in order to show you the prospect of the
baldest desolation which our Unhappy Valley
affords. Two routes lead from Haydardbdd northward.
The Ddk (post) and riding line, the shorter, is on the
east of the river, and the marching line for troops lies
to the west. The former has its interest.* It passes
•^ You will find the stations described in Murray's Handbook,
pp. 490 — 492. The following is a list of the sixteen places given by
the Gazetteer (pp. 874 — 876) between Haydardbd,d and Rohri : —
Miles. Furlongs.

1.

Haydardbdd to MiyiS,ni

7

0

2.

Miydni to Matidri ...

9

0

crossing the un-
bridged PhuldU.

3.

ToHdld 

19

0

deputy-coUectorate.

4.

Sayyida-jo Goth (Sayyiddbdd)

11

0

5.

Sakarand or Sakrand

14

2

in Naushahro de
puty-coUectorate.

6.

Kdjia- (Kazi-) jo Goth

16

1

7.

Daulatpiir

16

6

opposite the Lakki
HiUs.

8.

Moro

11

6

road bad and dusty.

9.

Naushahro

15

4

once a place of im
portance.

10.

Lakha

12

0

11.
Bheldni (others Hdldni)
9
5
12.
Hingorjo (in Khayrpiir)
11
0
crossing the un-
bridged Bheldni
hollow.
13. Rdnipiir  7 0
Carried forward 160 0
152 Sind Revisited.

close by the field of Miydni, near the ancient
University of Matidri, and through Hdld town,
famed for Persian tiles and Sind lacquer- work. You
can diverge a few mUes to the east of Shahdddpiir
and visit the Bambre-jo Thiil (Tower of Bambrd),
generally known to history as Brahmandbdd, The
latter is evidently the title given to the capital of
Central Sind because it was founded by the Brahman
dynasty of Aror, somewhat before a.d, 622, The
old Hindu name is utterly forgotten ; Bambrd is
only a modern generic term for ruined cities, and
Brahmandbdd is half Persian, The enceinte of this
Indine Pompeii, traced by curtains and toAvers or
bastions, measures four miles, and it is said to have
contained 1600 minarets. There are also remains
of the Wazfr's city, " Depur,"
We haA'e been ferried over the Indus, and we
are travelling by easy stages northwards, along the
right bank of the great stream. Our two marches are,
1 , Badhd, nine miles from Kotri ; 2. Unarpiir,
12 mUes from Badhd — Sindi viUages and "that's aU."

Miles. Furlongs.
Brought forward 160 0
14. Masti Khdna-jo Tando ... 14 0 {formerly camped
at Lukmdna-jo
Tando, one mile
from Khayrpiir.
16. Rohri (English) ... ... 15 0
Total ... 198 0
In 1843 Sir Charles Napier led his army from Rohri to
Haydardbdd in seventeen marches. There are now Travellers'
Bungalows at all the stations except in the Khayrpiir territory.

An Unlovely View. 153
We now strike off nearly due west, through a
wild country, into one of the rugged Uttle ranges
of hills that extend like spiders' legs from the
main body of our Alp, the Beloch mountains, the
Kohistdn and Kfrthdr, miscalled, you remember,
the " Hdld " by older writers. Our two halting-
places are : — 1, Lakrd, twelve miles from Unarpiir ;
2, Sibt, eight miles from Lakrd — ^wells in the desert.
The rough and precipitous path zigzags un-
artfuUy up, over, and down the nakedest of stony
ridges. The rocky face of the country suggests the
idea that it is suffering under a complex attack of
cutaneous disease. Here, a gigantic blotch, black
leprosy, stretches many square miles Avithout a
shrub, much less a tree, for the bfrd of the wild to
perch upon. There, we come, after a long canter,
upon a port-wine mark, a bit of ferruginous plain,
most unlovely in its rustiness to all but the minera
logist's eye. There, again, signs of white leprosy
appear in flakes of gUttering gypsum and selenite,
washed doAvn by the torrents from the declivities
of the hills. The gangrenous hue of copper then
attracts the eye. And lastly, though anxious to
avoid any more of these unsavoury comparisons,
you cannot but see an eternal jaundice in the rood
after rood scattered over with ton upon ton of dirty
yellow sulphur,
A propos of this sulphur. Some years ago an
enthusiastic seeker of mineral and other wealth, who
penetrated into these savage hills, gathered promis
ing specimens of it, and forwarded them to the

154 Sind Revisited.
officer cornmanding at Kardchi, as a hint that the
mines might be worked to advantage. But, unfor
tunately, that high authority was a Scotchman and
colonel of the 78th Highlanders : he resented the
offer with a viciousness which strangled the project
at its birth. How many schemes for benefiting
mankind have been rendered abortive by a similar
little accident of unskilfulness on the part of the
¦ operator !
As we advance, we enter a long, wide, winding
valley, bounded by a sandstone-wall, whose crest
Time has cut into peaks and clefts of singular irre
gularity. The gently-sloping sole and the general
appearance of the ravine suggest that the waters of
some deluge must have forced a passage through
this pass, from the plateau above to the plains lying
below the hills, A Fiumara threads with frequent
bends the deepest part of the declivity: you can
see its character in its aspect. A few wUd plants of
the liveliest green spring from the margin of the bed ;
the course is strewed with blocks and boulders,
immovable except by tremendous violence, and
down its centre (there has been a shower amongst
the highlands) already gushes an angry, brawling
stream. On both sides of the channel, where its
waters extend not, the furious summer-heats have
gashed the ground with many a gaping earth-crack :
and, except a straggling Une of stunted mimosas,
rough and wUd-looking as the land that bears them,
there is nothing but the " shadow of the great rock,"
as the Hebrew has it, to protect the traveUer's

The Giant Face. 155
throbbing head from a sun which even at this season
glows like a globe of living fire.
You will not be astonished to hear that this is a
haunted spot. The legends of the country inform
us that it is tenanted by a Giant Face, the remains
of some pagan magician whose head was spared,
whilst his form was consigned to the flames below.
Its terrible eyes, they say, are ever fixed upon those
of the wayfarer ; they are eternally before him,
whether he advance or retire, turn to the right or to
the left, lie supine or lie prone ; vainly he strives
to escape them.
We Unbelievers are not likely to see it ; yet,
uncouth as the fancy is, we own it, not in our com
fortable Avell-lit studies, but when wending our way
through the dim starlight of the scene, to be a
strong superstition, not strange, but rather based
upon a known foundation.
Did you ever when abandoned by your nurse
to the horrors of a big bed-room, see a grinning
face advance towards you. from the distant apex of
the huge cone of darkness, visible and palpable,
which lay before your closed eyes ; advance gradu
ally, but unavoidably, tiU, despite your struggles,
its monstrous features were so close to yours that
you could feel them ; then, almost suddenly, start
back from you, flit away, diminish till nothing but
the back eyeballs remain in sight, and disappear,
presently to return with all its terrors? If you
did, you understand what I mean by calling this a
strong superstition.

156 Sind Revisited.

We wUl say nothing, if you please, about the
Giant Face before our servants. It is sufficient to
frighten the boldest Afghan half out of his wits.
There are men and women, you would hardly
believe it, on these stones : the heaps of natural
slabs, pUed up against the hill-sides, are their graves.
And although your unpractised eye cannot detect
them, I can here and there catch sight of the tall
limber spear of some herdsman, sheltering himseU
under a ledge of rock, or concealed behind a Une of
rising ground. The people are partly Sindi, partly
Beloch : both are equally savage and ferocious. We
now travel, however, under the formidable escort of a
name, the Devil's Brother, as H. E. the flrst Governor
was dutifuUy called by his subjects, being stUl our
protector, A generation ago we should have re
qufred twenty or thirty horsemen to force this pass ;
and then we should not have succeeded without a
a little " sniping " at every spot favourable to the
unpleasant sport. As it is, our men, most of them
born plunderers forcibly reclaimed, are talking about
a fortalice of camels. This barbarous manner of
field-works is formed by seating the animals in a
circle, with their heads inside, their quarters placed
to stop the balls, and their knees tied and tethered,
to obviate the danger of a breach being made in the
curtain or parapet, by part of it leaping frantic-
aUy from the ground ; Avhile the defenders are
ensconced behind the inner round of loads and
packsaddles which forms the baUium. Such precau
tion, however, thanks to the memory of our old
General, is quite unnecessary.

The Mimosa Dyke. 157
Two miles beyond Sibt is the Mimosa Dyke, or
rather the place where it used to be. It was a line
of earth and stones thrown across the narrow neck
of the valley, causing the rains and torrents to
inundate the plateau instead of fioAving doAvn the
Ndi, or Fiumara, directly to the Indus, The rent
which last spring made in its side is nearly two
hundred feet long : the foundation is so narrow,
and the thrust so great, that there is little chance of
repairing it with permanent success.
You see, Mr, John Bull, a Beloch family of the
noble house of Rind : quite a different people, as
their looks tell, from the half-Sindi porpoises, like
Ibrdhim Khan, settled on and about the Indus,
Thefr features, though comely in youth, are strongly
marked and unpleasant in mature manhood and age ;
their figures are unexceptionable, straight, muscular,
and symmetrical ; as for their dress, it is the same
as that worn amongst the wild Arabs before the
days of Noah, a long wide robe of unbleached
canvas, buttoned at the throat ; they twist a fold
of cotton round the temples to guard them from the
sun, and to confine the long grisly bushes of black
hafr which cloak their shoulders AAdth wUd curls ;
under-garments they have none, and the only pro
tection afforded to their feet against the fiints of the
hUl and the thorns of the vale are slippers made
with the leaves of a dwarf palm.
The men show little fear, the women less shame,
in our presence ; they have heard that we are not
likely to harry their goats, asses, and ponies, and

158 Sind Revisited.

they have nothing to lose besides these and them
selves. Had they been Sindis, they Avould have
fled from their own Avell in terror. But, as they
wUl tell us, they are "sons of the Beloch," that is
to say, of thieves and soldiers: so, Avith a fellow-
feeling which we cannot reject, even though we might
object to it, they wiU sit with us under the thicket
in the Fiumara bed ; admfre us whilst we eat
breakfast ; tempt us to knock over a butcher-bfrd
or two flying ; consider us a low order of demi-god,
and assist in pitching our tent with the honourable
regard for the distinctions of " mine" and "thine "
said to flourish amongst members of the good old
profession, A glass of gin wiU bribe them to return
in the evening and help us to pass it by means of a
Sdringi and a song. Look at thefr homes, a clump
of little low awnings of black felt upon a dwarf
gaUows of three poles. Travellers are wont to
chronicle their lusting to see, and their heart-j limp
ings Avhen fijst seeing, these " black tents." You
remark that it is A^ery like a gipsy's encampment :
Mr. Bull ! I feel almost inclined to leave you
plante. The Beloch, according to his OAvn account, is an
emigrant from Halab (Aleppo) and the adjacent
provinces of Northern Syria, Asiatic ethnologists
derive him from the Arabs of El-Hejaz ; but his
language is of the Indo-Persian family, although
some linguists suspect in it a " substratum of
original tongue," and his appearance bears little
resemblance to that of Ismd'il's descendants. The

The Beloch, 159

eye is the full, black, expressive Persian, not the
small, restless, fiery Arab organ ; the other features
are peculiarly high, regular, and Iranian ; and the
beard, unerring indicator of high physical dcA^elop-
ment, is long and lustrous, thick and flowing. The
race occupies a large portion of these mountains
and the contiguous provinces to the West, as Mek-
ran, Kermdn, Sistdn and others ; it has spread far
and wide over the different parts of Central Asia,
even as far south and south-west as Maskat, not
Zanzibar ; while the reputation of being brave and
faithful soldiers seldom leaves these Switzers of the
Indian East destitute of honourable employment.
As regards character, the hill Beloch has all the
nomadic virtues of morality, hospitality, simplicity,
strong affections, fidelity, stubborn courage, and
a bigoted attachment to the faith of his fore
fathers. At the same time, he has, in equal pro
portion, the usual nomadic vices ; sanguinary
ferocity, barbarous ignorance, the AvUdest passions ;
an insane spirit of revengefulness, and a love of
plundering which knows no bounds. The vendetta
was as actively at work in these mountains when
we took them as in the wUds of Arabia : even Sir
Charles Napier found difficulty in persuading a chief
to forgive him an indefinite man owed by the head
of a rival tribe, A turban knocked off would cause
a blood-feud which lasted for generations. Such is
their inborn lust of robbery, that, in the good old
times, the Avealthiest Sarddr would sometimes take
to the highway in disguise, merely for the sake of

160 Sind Revisited.

adventure. Their women are theiv facsimiles only,
as usual, a little more instinctive and a little less
reasonable, more prone to excess and less capable of
comprehending what "golden mean" signifies. The
Beloch has learned better than to foUow the
traditionary precept attributed to his Apostle,
" Shdviruhunna wa khaUfuhunna.-' "
He treats his wife in every way as his equal, and
he readUy owns that much more vUlainy can be
perpetrated with, than without, the able assistance
of feminine Avits, Whereas his brother on the
plains, who has picked up a fcAv sentiments from
Hdfiz and Sa'adi, in his unaffected contempt for, his
perfect atheism in, the "rights of woman" and the
"purity of the sex," matches any Hindu Pandit
that ever sat down to overwhelm the daughters of
Eve with the weight of defamatory Sanskrit verse
and prose.
The Beloch emigrated to the low- country about
the middle of the last century, in consequence of
an invitation from the Kalh6ra Prince of Sind,
who, like an aged husband, chose the very intimate
he should have avoided. He has had time to de
generate. To many of his old defects, ignorance,
violence, and brutishness of manner, he has added
new and worse. He has learned to lead a life of utter
indolence, and to consider aU the animals around
' "Take counsel of them (feminines), and then do exactly the
contrary of what they advise you to do." Certainly, the son of
Abdullah had a habit of saying strange and sometimes very sharp
things.

Sind-Beloch. 161

him, wife, children, and fellow-creatures, created to
serve him. He has lost the merriment and appre
ciation of " wut," of a joke, which his mountain-
kinsman has : none of his contempt for any art
higher than the training of a horse, or the flying of
a falcon. Stupid and apathetic to the last degree
he delights in inebriating preparations, and he
wallows in the mire of debauchery, which accom
panies the free use of stimulants in the East, As
a soldier, he will boast invincibly, fight pretty well
under the influence of opium, and run away as
readily as do those whom shame and not "game"
drives to fight. He is without skill in the use
of arms : as a matchlockman inferior to the Afghan,
as a swordsman to the Arab, as a spearman to
the Hindu ; and of the Persian and Sjrrian Jerid
(javelin-play) he knows nothing. Yet it would be
hard to find a match for the swaggering ferocious
ness of his gait, heightened and set off by the small
armoury of weapons, sabre and misericorde ; match
lock and pistol, spear and shield, belt and ball-pouch,
powder-flask and primer, with which Bobadil pur
poses, single-handed, to do the work of a host.
Here they come, ladies and gentlemen ; the
former bestriding lean, ragged Ydbiis, like Shelties
or Icelanders, the favourite chargers. Mares are
preferred to horses, on account of their superior
endurance, thefr docility, and their not being in
the habit of neighing. Formerly, when the Chupdo,
or raid into the Low-country, formed the business
of a Highlander's Ufe, the quality of sUence was
VOL. II. 33

162 Sind Revisited.

not less valued than that of tractabiUty, It is
a favourite Beloch proverb, that a robber with
his saddle on a mare has his saddle on a horse,
whereas a robber with his saddle on a horse has his
saddle on his head,* The beasts are lean, ragged,
poor, and ill-favoured, especially when in training ;
but, in spite of their weedy-looking limbs, the eye
and the nostrils, the sUky coat and bunching muscles,
show that good and pure blood flows in their veins.
They are as tame as dogs to their owners, and they
possess, to a considerable extent, the courage and
presence of mind, if I may use the expression, which
the Arab holds to be the true test of the noble
quadruped. In perseverance they are indomitable.
Nothing can be meaner or more miserable than
thefr equipments, a bridle of cord with a jagged bit
of fron used for a snaffle, and a bare wooden saddle
whose seat reminds you of an obsolete instrument of
mUitary punishment. Few Europeans would reach
the end of a short stage, on a Beloch mare, vnthout
feehng the effects of it for a week ; the owner,
however, will travel sixty, seventy, or eighty mUes
on her back, under a burning sun, without a halt
or a drop of water, and consider the feat a mere
mornmg's ride. The pace preferred is the amble,
occasionally varied by a long, loose " loping " canter :
the beasts are accustomed to keep it up over the most
1 Meaning, that he wiU probably have to carry the saddle home.
In order to plunder a viUage you must dismount, and nine or ten
animals must be entrusted to a single pair of hands ; if they are
stalUons they are sure to fight, and to break away from the holder |
not so when mares.

Women Riding. 163

dangerous paths, and as for slopes and hUls, they
ascend and descend them more like goats than
horses. There has been Arab blood in Sind, despite
the desperately curling ears, and the Beloch pride
themselves upon their mares, which generally belong
to more than one owner, like those of the Ruwdld
Bedawln, I cannot say that I admire the Duchesse de
Berri style of equitation in that somewhat too simple
feminine attire. At the same time, Mr. Bull, I must
observe that, with aU its faults, it is less unsightly, in
my humble opinion, and certainly less dangerous,
than the habit of hanging half off the animal's side,
suspended on a peg, with a train ready to catch every
thing that comes in its way. Now, however, your
wife and daughters have associated their peculiar
seat, and their over-grown petticoats, with their
" modesty," so that a word against them will be a
personal reflection, to be met vsdth counter-person
alities. But perhaps your grand-daughter, when
she sees how truly becoming are a pair of large rich
Shalwdrs, or petticoat-trowsers, and when she feels
how safe the man's seat is, will,
— "all for new-fangledness of gear,"
discard her ridiculous habit, and once more ride as
nature intended her to do. Lady H, Stanhope tried
the experiment with success : I was told by an eye
witness that nothing could be more correct than
her appearance — astride. It is strange, when one
reflects about it, t^iat the European on horseback

164 Sind Revisited.

must preserve the only troublesome, unsightly, and
dangerous part of her dress, when she exchanges
her bonnet for a hat, wears a crav^at, and encloses
her bust in what much resembles a shell-jacket,
stUl more the upper garment of a "buttons."
The matrons and maidens avUI retfre to thefr
romantic, uncomfortable abode, the black tents:
they are not afraid of us, but " etiquette," odious
word ! forbids them to sit with the men. Our
only chance of amusement is from the Bhdt or
bard, that individual with fierce features, and eyes
rolUng in a fine frenzy, produced, I fear, by sundry
draughts of gin, with which our Afgan servants
have been privately plying him. His instrument
is a dried gourd, with a handle to form notes,
and three strings of brass wfre, which emit sounds
that twang like the whizzing of an angry hornet's
wings. Such is the TambUr of the hiUs.
The language of these mountaineers is the
Belochki, an unpolished cognate dialect of that
venerable and most beautiful tongue, the Persian,
It is easUy learned, as the vocabulary is meagre,
being confined to the names of things ; and the
grammar is even less compUcated than that of our
OAvn tongue. But it contains little or no literature ;
and the days are not come when "sharp young
men " who aspire to become " politicals " turn thefr
attention to it : so that, Avith the exception of two
or three enthusiastic linguists, we have heard it
spoken and recited for the last forty years without
attempting to grammar and dictionary it. The

The Beloch Legend. 165

effusions of our bard may not be uninteresting
to you : only you wUl excuse my not attempting to
fringe them with rhyme, or in any way to clothe
them in a poetical dress, for the best of reasons,
namely, that they are essentiaUy prosaic.
The first specimen is of a devotional nature, a
veridique histoire, usually impromptu'd d, loisir,
containing, as Oriental poetry is so fond of doing,
a moral or religious lesson, which at first sight
appears no lessoA at all. The apparent truism of
the following is, that the Almighty is almighty:
its inner sense I could explain in a Sermon by an
ex-Subaltern, if you would listen to it :
THE TALE OF BARI AND ISA-
Give ear, 0 ye sons of the Beloch,
WhUst I recount to you a true tale !
As Isd, the Prophet of Allah,
Was traveUing, Fakfr-like, over the earth,
Seeing its wonders and its wastes.
He came into a desert land
Where no river nor Kdriz was.
Nor green fields, nor waving crops.
Dreadful mountains rose on all four sides
Round a plain of sand and flint.
On which stood a stump (of tree) one cubit high.
And propped against it sat Bdri, the hermit.
Meditating with his shroud ^ over his head.
Upon the might of Rabb Ta'dld.^
Isd considered him awhUe,
Then, advancing, he touched his shoulder.
Saying, " Tell me truly, how dost thou live ?
What eatest thou in this grainless place,
And what drinkest thou where no water is 1 "
^ A memento mori, fashionable amongst Eastern devotees. So
the Icelanders provide their cofiins in middle age.
^ The Creator,

166 Sind Revisited.

Bdri raised his head from his breast.
He was old and stone-blind.
His knees were sore by continued kneeling.
And his bones, through fasting, pierced his skin :
Yet his heart was as the life of the seed
That dweUs in a withered home.'
He comprehended (the question) and thus replied.
Weeping and exclaiming, " Wd waUd ! ^
How can man doubt the Creator's might ?
Sit down by me for awhUe,
I show thee the power of Allah. "
Then the stump shot up tiU it became
A noble towering tree ;
At morning prayers it began to grow.
And (presently) shadowed the ground beneath ;
At mid-day berries appeared upon it,
Hanging in festoons like the young brab's fruit.
In the afternoon they became brightly red.
As the date when it falls from the tree :
Before the sun set they were ripe.
From each bough the bunches hung
Cool as water in a cavern.
Sweet as the sugar ^ in paradise,
Fit for Prophets and Martyrs to eat.
Then said Bdri, " Thou seest Allah's might.
How He can feed His children in the waste !
Fruits grew upon the (withered) stump.

' Meaning, that his heart in his withered bosom was as the germ
of Ufe in the dry seed — a true P3rthagorean, Oriental idea.
^ Wa WaUd ; " alas ! and alas ! " The Arabic exclamation is
put into Bdri's mouth on account of the sacredness of his character.
Saints, prophets, and sages, are always made to speak as SemLticaUy
as possible. ' In the days when sugar of any kind was a rarity, and conse
quently a delicacy, our English poets used the word with a certain
appetite in their comparisons. Now the metaphor is apt to offend
the sensitive ear, long accustomed to associate the word with
nursery discussions, or tiresome colonial grievances. But in
Persian, Shakkar (sugar) still holds its ground as a flt simile for
choice things; for instance, a "sugar-candy-chewing parrot" is a
compliment which may be offered to the daintiest damsel in the land.

The Beloch Legend. 167
Waters flow from the rugged rock.
All things obey the Lord of all.
It is (only) man that doubts and disbelieves."
As it happened unto him,
So, by my head ! may it happen to me.
Such is the tale of the Dervish ; ^
Gentles, my song is done !
Nothing can better Ulustrate the intensity of
clannish feeling amongst the mountaineers than the
few foUowing lines, which represent the Rind to be
lord and master of all the other septs, who, more
over, are described to be so low and worthless, that
the Rind's brother-in-law absolutely refused to take
them as his bride's dowry. Were we philosophical
(Scotch) Highlanders, Mr, Bull, some of these
people's ideas would be highly interesting to us :
The Kidds, the Gabols, the Gadhis, and the Pacholos,
The Talpiu-s, and the lawless Marrfs,'
Were all nought but ^ slaves to Chakar (the Rind).
He gave them to his sister Banddi
As her dowry, when she married Hddhiya ;
But the latter refused to take them.
The slaves were so vile, etc., etc.
To conclude with a "tale of true love," d.
I'Irlandaise so far, that the hero carries off the
heroine by main force, knocking, at the same time,
every one he can on the head ; a la Beloch in that,
amidst all the transports of clasping to his bosom a
charming bride, he by no means neglects to secure
all the transportable goods and chattels belonging
' The songs always conclude with some such formula as this.
' Names of Beloch clans.
3 The Belochki, or rather Persian, word is "durust," which our
language cannot render but by a periphrase.

168 Sind Revisited.

to her paternal progenitor. By the effect Avhich the
song will produce upon the audience, you Avill decide
that the bard has rightly chosen, and has skUfuUy
handled, his subject :
Endue my tongue, 0 AUah, with truth !
My love is a pigeon, a pea-hen in gait,
A mist-cloud in lightness, in form a Perl ; '
And her locks are Uke the tendrils of the creeping shrub.
Burned for her my heart with secret longing.
As the camel-colt, torn from his dam's side.
At length, when the taste of life was bitter on my palate.
Came the old minstrel carrying his guitar ;
In his hand was a token from that lovely maid ;
Then my -withered heart bloomed as the tree in spring.
And smiles of joy like the dawn lighted my brow.
" Come, come, my companions, ye lawless Beloch,
Whose fame for theft is great !
Bind on your high-priced swords !
Seize your pUant spears !
Loose your mares from their pickets and heel-ropes.
Let them prance while you bind on their head-gear,
And girth their saddles with the worked stirrup-irons !
Now ride we like ravening wolves
Towards the sheep-house, the Low-country ! "
I mount my steed, whose ears are like reeds.
And push on bravely through the night.
Till, without halting, we arrive before dawn
At the flourishing Raj,'' on the Pir-wdh,
Where lives my fairest of maidens.
Amongst lovely dames in the reed-huts.
I opened the curtains of her abode.
And crept in disguised in a beggar's blanket :
As the tree joys at the prospect of the blossom,
So expanded my heart with delight,
The torments of months left my heart.

' This word is feminine in all the Indian dialects save one, the
Multdni, wliich admits a Perd, or male fairy.
= The generic name for a Sindian vUlage in the -wUd parts of the
country, situated, we are told, on one of the one hundred water
courses bearing the name of Pir^wdh, or "Saint's-canal."

The Legend of " True Love." 169

Said my love, " How can I part from my mother.
For my father to heap curses upon her head 1 "
I wept raining showers of tears.
But her -vrill was hard as the hills of the Beloch.
Then I seized her pliant form in my arms.
And with the end of my turban I stopped her mouth :
She struggled like the kid in the tiger's jaw.
But soon she rested her head on my shoulder.
Then came out the players of the sword-fight,
Gulzdr, Sajalo, and Bahrdm the brave,'
With two hundred doughty men at arms.
Spearmen and bowmen, many a one.
We were sixty in all, thieves of reno-vm.
Whose names were terrible in the Low-country.
Quickly we mounted and wheeled our steeds.
And shouted " AUah ! " ^ and couched our spears.
And feU upon them smiting with our swords
The faces and jaws of the shielded foe,
TUl many had fallen, and the rest fled
From the sight of our bay-coloured snorting mares.
Then pushed we our beasts to speed.
And drove off all the camels and goats we could flnd.
That night the clouds refrained to rain,
The stars twinkled bright as maidens' eyes.
And the moon shone upon the stony path.
We came back unharmed to our resting-place.
Where drums beat gladly to see us again.
We cast lots with arrows and straws for the plunder.
My bride was pleased with none but me.
She has forgotten her mother, her playmates, and her
companions.
And walks with a dainty boy on her hip.
Such is the tale of the bard ;
Gentles, my song is done !
' The names of the opposing Sindi warriors.
° The war-cry ; these pious thieves never rob, save in the name
of AUah. Moreover, they casuistically justify theft by making it
a compulsory act of charity, demanding, for instance, your coat, and
reproaching you with hard heart for seeing unmoved a feUow-
creature's semi-nudity. Observe that when fighting is on the tapis,
the bard forgets aU about the maiden, who, poor thing, has probably
been thrown Uke a sack of corn across a Ydbii (pony), and driven off
to a temporary place of safety by some feUow that cannot fight.

170 Sind Revisited.

We will hang a red cotton shawl round the
bard's neck, in token of fuU approval, and dismiss
our friends to thefr affectionate AAdves, children,
and mares, Avith a few presents of cheap finery.
So shall the memory of our visit to these moun
tains endure for many a long year.
You need not hesitate to slumber in peace, sfr.
The felloAvs have eaten our salt, and they are as
true to that condiment as any Arab,

( m )

CHAPTER XXV,
THE LAKKf PASS, AND ITS EVIL SPIRIT — SEHWAN",
ITS BEGGARS AND ITS " ALEXANDER'S CAMP."
You may not be sorry to hear, Mr. Bull, that you
have now seen the worst of our Unhappy VaUey ;
aU that remains is the pretty and the picturesque —
in fact, Sindia Felix.
Three stages * from Unarpiir, along the right or
western bank of the river, stages so utterly unin
teresting that they hardly deserve a place in your
diary, lead us to Amiri, a large settlement with
wattle pent-roofs as weU as flat terraces. Here,
after a broad reach, the river forms a gut about 400
yards wide. North of the village, on the right
bank, is a mound of white silt, supposed to con
ceal classical ruins to which, of course, no one has
yet applied the spade ; and the narrow is supposed,
very foolishly, to be the crossing place of Alexander
' Namely, Gopang, thirteen miles; Mdjhdnd, fourteen; Sann,
twelve ; and Amiri, twelve. The last is a flourishing vUlage, backed
by the picturesque S^hwan Ridge, and here the raUs had been laid
down, and the troUy could work, in March, 1876. The stone blasted
in the adjoining hUls and used for bridges was very poor.

172 Sind Revisited.

and his Macedonians. Thence we make the Uttle
Lakki village near the Pass and the Ridge of that
name. The Range appears to be almost Avithin stone-
throw of our tent, but the clearness of the atmo
sphere takes from the distance : it is at least three
miles off. The dead alluvial flat of white sUt and
dirty-green tamarisk, the creation of the Indus,
sweeping up to the southern and the eastern base,
adds the majesty of height to their stature : they
are scarcely twelve hundred feet above the level of
the lowland, they seem to be three thousand. At a
distance nothing can be more beautiful than the
bluish-green tint, a mixture of air and Jawdsi
(the camel-thorn), which envelops them : nothing
grander than the forms of thefr knobby outline, the
knobbiest I ever saw ; of thefr fantastic peaks and
pinnacles, heads and caps ; the horizontal bands or
steps of darker hue ; the sombre ravines streaking
thefr huge flanks ; their precipitous slides and broad
slopes, here shelving into the plain, there buttres
sing the mighty wall against the encroachments of
the violent river. As we approach the foot, and
the colours fade into a dull and sunburnt isabelline
tint, we remark a disposition of the strata striking
the least geological eye. Huge layers of pebbles
appear pitched upon their edges, and dovetaUed
into one another, here in acute, there in obtuse,
angles, as if a terrible convnlsion of nature of
yore had heaved the original crust of earth high
up in the afr, and then breaking it into massy

The Lakki Hills. 173

fragments, had left it exposed to view, the memento
of her mighty sport. Hence, viewed from the River
southwards, where the Ridge appears to dam the
stream at right-angles, the peculiar wavy lines of
stratiflcation. The general appearance reminds us
of the driest and wildest parts of the Anti-Libanus,
We must visit the chief point of attraction in
Lakki Jebel, despite the trouble it wUl give us.
Our path leads towards a fissure, a split in the heart
of the mountain, vdsible from afar, and conspicuous
from the River as a kind of covered-way running
obliquely up the southern flank. The rocks on
both sides of the ravine raise their corresponding
forms, at this distance bleak and bare looking,
against the unbroken milk -blue of the firmament
beyond. As we near the gloomy place, our admfra-
tion of its desolation increases. We exchange the
road for a goat-path, dismount and toil slowly up,
threading our way through blocks and boulders,
which the action of the water has parted from their
parent- cliffs, and under impending masses, that
frown as if the least pretext would make them fall
and crush us. The dell narrows rapidly from two
hundred to fifty feet, and the taU sides become per
pendicular enough almost to exclude the soft light
of the setting sun, whose last smile is reflected by
the upper peaks with a lovely blush. Through the
bottom of this black gash runs a hot and dingy
rivulet, fiUing the air with closeness and fetid
steam, as it swfrls down its white chalky bed,
coated with yeUowish sulphureous deposit. We ap-

174 Sind Revisited.

proach its source, and the bubbling sound changes
to a roar, heightened by the echoes that surround
it, while the spray Ughts sensibly upon om- toiling
forms. Here the sick wash and become whole, a
form of mfraculous cure which we have seen else
where. This, you may discern by the many emblems of
its worship scattered about, is a place of Hindu
pilgrimage, Dhdra Tirtha, as they call it. The
Moslems also hold it a holy spot, the abode of that
reverend man Dhdran Pfr, The " Gentoos " have
a goodly superstition connected with the scene : in
the old time of Brahma's superiority, it was a
favourite locale for those acts of religious suicide
with AA'hich Pagan ascetics loved to conclude the
present form of existence. Whenever one of the
order wished to ascertain from the Deity whether
his time for emancipation had come, he ascended
to the source, and after ablution, prayer, and
meditation, he prepared to pass the night upon
that little platform of black rock. If terror de
prived him of sleep, it was a sign from Heaven that
the mortal coU was not to be shuffled off so
suddenly : if he slept composedly, the next dawn
was destined to witness his liberation from the
world of Matter, and the absorption of his soul into
the Self-existent whence it was parted. One severe
trial of the devotee's faith was a feminine appari
tion haunting the black cave, or rather hole, in the
rock-side opposite the platform. The ascetic who,
seduced by her beautiful form and harmonious

Legend of the Lakki Hills. 175
accents, accepted her invitation to a t^te-d-tete, was
fated to die, like the lovers of preternatural persons
in general, unpleasantly. On the other hand, when
Fate willed mercy, an unseen arm of frresistible
power arose to check him, as his body was toppling
down headlong into the deep and rocky bed of the
sulphur-stream. Stop, Mr, Bull, I am thinking of Vaucluse —
Nero's Baths — all manner of classicaUties. And,
entre nous, I am rapidly growing poetical ; so I
should advise you, no amateur of such things, to
leave me for a petit quart d'heure while the
paroxysm expends itself.

In awful majesty they stand.
Yon ancients of an earlier earth.
High towering o'er the lowly land
That in their memories had birth ;
And spurning from their stony feet
The rebel tides, that rush to beat
And break where rock and water meet.
Hoar their heads and black their brows.
And scarred their ribbed sides, where ploughs
Old Age his own peculiar mark
Of uneffaoeable decay ;
And high and haughty, stern and stark.
As monarchs to whose mighty sway,
A hundred nations bow — stand they.
Within the deep dark cleft of rock dividing.
Two giants taller than their kin,
AVhence the sharp blade of piercing torrent gUding,
Here flashes sudden on the sight, there hiding
'Mid stones all voice with crashing din ;
Where earth-born shade with skyUght blends,
A grot of grisly gloom impends
The fountain whence the wave descends.

176 Sind Revisited.

Upon its horrid mouth, I ween.
The foot of man hath never been :
The foulest bird of prey would shrink
To nestle on that noisome brink.
Now the warm cauldron's sulphury cloud upseething,
As fumes that Stygian pit exhales,
The cavern's pitchy entrance veils.
Then in the wind's cold breath the vapours -wreathing.
Dissolve — again the eye defines
The dripping portals' jagged Unes.

A glorious vision from that cave.
Glittered before my gazing eye,
A seraph-face, like one that beams
Upon his sight, when blissful dreams
Round holy hermit's pillow fly.
A form of light, as souls that cleave
The darksome dungeon of the grave.
When awful Judgment Hour is nigh.
And O, that voice ! Can words express
The fulness of its loveUness,
Its rare and wondrous melody ?
Ah, no ! no mortal tongue may be
So powerful in poesy !
Might I but gaze upon that brow.
Might I but hear that witching strain.
The joys that all the Seven Climes ' know.
The charms that all the Heavens show.
Were mine — but mine in vain.
A moment pass'd the sound away.
Faded the vision from my sight ;
And all was as it was before.
Vapour and gloom and deaf'ning roar.
Then soft arose that sound again —
Again appeared that form of light
Athwart the blue mist, purely white ;

' Moslems, I have said, count seven heavens ; they also reckon,
after the fashion of the Greeks and classical geographers seven
climates on earth; their "Haft-Iklim," therefore, means this
sublunary world. This is blending together two superstitions,
Hindu and Mussulman, but, n'importe.

The Legend of the Lakki Hills. 177
As from the main, at break of day.
Springs high to heaven the silvery spray.
She beckoneth to me.
And in that smile there is
Promise of love and bUss,
Enduring endlessly.
AiVhirled my brain, my heedless foot
Already left the verge,
AVhere the water-spirit pours
His bolts of feathery surge.
AVhere iron rocks, around, beneath.
Stand quick to do the work of death.
AVhen, swift as thought, an icy arm
Against my falling bosom prest ;
Its mighty touch dissolved the charm.
As suns disperse the mists that rest
On heathery mountains' de-wy crest.
I heard the angry waters rave,
I saw the horrors of the grave
That yawned to gulf its prey ;
And started back in such dismay.
As -wretch that, waked from midnight sleep.
Descries through shadows, glooming deep.
The ghost of murdered victim gUde,
In gory robes, his couch beside.
I looked towards the darkling cave.
No more the vision glittered there.
No music charmed the echoing air, —
That strain so sweet ! That face so fair !—
And, but for one shrilly shriek i
Of fiendish rage that smote mine ear.
And, but for one horrent thrUl
That seemed with ice my veins to fill,
WeU had I deem'd 'twas Fancy's freak.
That scene, whose vi-vid features Ue
On Memory's page typed durably.
It's aU over, Mr, Bull.
Our morning's ride from Lakki to Sehwan is
about thfrteen mUes, The first thfrd of the old
VOL, II. 34

178 Sind Revisited.

road lies across a plain, whose dimensions narrow
rapidly as we advance. Then commences a straight
corniche of some length, with the crumbling pre
cipitous bank of the rapid river on one side, on the
other a perpendicular rock rising abruptly seven or
eight hundred feet above our heads. A few years
ago, when Sir John Keane's force marched up by
this road, there was a long flat of alluAdal formation
covered with old and stately trees ; now the river
even attempts to undermine the rocky wall which
opposes it. In some places the ledge was so narrow
that our camels, marching in Indian file, looked
dangerously situated : it has been Avidened to
eighteen feet, and has its garde-fou on the outer
edge. Reaching the tip of this tongue of land
which, seen from the River, seems to fall into it, the
old road strikes abruptly leftwards, winding through
a steep and rugged cleft in the last spur of the
Lakki mountains. Unless we wish to break our
horses' knees, we had better again dismount and
lead them. There is also a Adew to look at ; and
you may be curious to see the miseries which our
unhappy beasts of burden endure, when compeUed ¦
to place the soft cushions of their feet upon the
roUing stones of the ascent.
Standing close to the police-station which, Avith
due allowance for latitude and longitude, reminds
me of many a little guard-house in that barbarous
region the Apennines, we command a prospect of
the plain below. The serpentine form of the
shrunken Indus, lying in its sandy bed, and un-

The Camels' Distress. 179
ruffled by the least breath of wind, here glows
crimson with the light of the rising sun ; there,
screened from his horizontal rays, flows like a line
of quicksilver, pale as the face of the morning sky.
Near, the dull green of the young tamarisks, Avhich
overgrow the plain, breaks through the veil of thin
vapour still floating over the dewy earth : in the
distance lies a mass of bold hiU, azure and gold
above and darkly purple below, where it unites
with the level ground.
Comical enough is the demeanour of those saga
cious animals, our camels. They measure the steep
and scan the path with a mingled expression of
curiosity and apprehension. The foremost halts,
roars, curls its ugly little tail, and wheels round so
abruptly as almost to cast the load : the rest of the
line is thrown into confusion ; box grating loudly
against box, and bag violently flattened by bag.
Ensues the usual scene. Nose-strings are spitefully
clutched and jerked ; quarters are unmercifully
poked and belaboured ; and a hundred curses are
chattered in half the time it would take you to pro
duce a dozen. As usual, the human brute wins the
day. The unruly Ships of the Desert, conquered
and dejected, with a s'il faut il faut expression on
every feature, come slowly clambering, slipping, and
tottering up the path ; roaring pitiably at the hard
necessity, and chewing the cud between whiles, Uke
hungry old matrons dining heartily in a state of
grievous affliction. I have elsewhere attempted to
show how inappUcable is the term "patient" applied
to the camel.

180 Sind Revisited.

And now, after descending, we pass over a
hillocky, sandy, rocky plain, about three nules in
length ; we descry a mass of houses clustered at the
base of a huge flat-topped mound ; and, in due course
of time, we find ourselves sitting in expectation of
our tents, under the hospitable jujube-trees of a
Sehwan garden,*
Sehwan, or, as the place is more grandiloquently
called, Sewistdn, is, we must own, a city of some
antiquity, disposed as our minds are by the exag
gerations of the archseologists to deny everything
deniable. It is mentioned by the natiA'e annalists
as one of the six forts which the Hindu rulers of
Sind were careful to garrison and repair. After the
thirteenth century of our era it rose to distinction
by the favour of a certain saint, to whose tomb we
shall presently perform the traveller's pilgrimage.
When our rule began the place declined in the scale
of prosperity. The river played it tricks : far
from being a " permanent water-way," it ran close
to the town in 1844 ; in 1870 it had edged off
seven or eight miles, and now it is returning vsdthin
four or five. Nothing could be more miserable
and dilapidated than the appearance of the
town : its aUeys and its bdzdr were filthy amongst
the filthy, and not even Coleridge himself could
define and generalize the genera and species of its
nauseous odours. Formerly, also, it was a place of
some military as weU as religious importance, com-
' From Kotri to Sdhwan, 90 miles = three days by camel ; from
Sdhwan to Sakhar, 140 miles = four days and a half.

Sehwan. 181

manding the passage of the Indus: now, as you see,
the river, its great stand-by, has gradually deserted
it. The climate was celebrated as the most dele
terious and deadly of this miasmatic land : in the
hot season it was a furnace ; one glance at the hap
less population was proof palpable of its effects upon
the body and mind of man. And, as is the case, I
believe, in all sacred places and holy cities, from
Rome to Meccah, the inhabitants are a very dis
reputable race. During the last quarter of a
century, however, it has risen, and as a railway
station it will regain its old prosperity.
Sehwan, when first occupied by us conquerors,
was not a pleasant place to visit, as you may judge
from the foUowing account of a trip to the tomb.
We were surrounded, as soon as sighted, by a
host of pauper cripples, the young and old of both
sexes : at every turn a knot of beggars, obstructing
our way, added a few units to the throng ; every
one was a mendicant ; the very babies looked im
patient to be old enough for begging. This gentle
man deserves your special notice. He is a Kalan-
dar,* or Calendar, as those dear old Frenchified
Arabian Nights do so delightfully confuse the word,
and an exceUent specimen of his class, the vagrant
saint, is he. His long, matted, filthy locks are
crumpled up under a calotte of greasy felt, formed
like a western fool's-cap ; his neck, arms, and legs
1 This Arabic word is properly applied only to a Siifi, or Mystic,
who works out his own salvation without the guidance of a spiritual
master : the effect of such independence of spirit is generaUy to
produce a reprobate of some distinction.

182 Sind Revisited.

are bare ; and a woollen cloth, of pepper and salt hue,
purposely fashioned like a shroud to show how dead
the scoundrel is to the pomps, vanities, et cetera,
covers his gaunt, angular carcase. In one hand he
carries a rosary, whose every bead is the size of a
boy's " taw ; " in the other the dried gourd from
which he pours forth libations to Bacchus, and in
which he receives the alms of the charitable : under
his arm is a huge black-wood bludgeon, not a bad
instrument for furnishing the long wide gabri, or
wallet, which loads his broad back. If the costume
be remarkable, the wearer is a real curiosity in point
of countenance and demeanour. I never beheld,
even amongst the horrid-looking devotees of India,
a face in which the man, the baboon, and the
fiend, so fearfuUy and so wonderfully blend. As for
the ugly individual's manners, you will soon see
enough of them.
He is aware that we are approaching : though
he neither moves from his seat, nor opens his half-
closed eyes, he shows consciousness by stringing his
rosary over his wrist, and by drawing forth the
horn of a wild goat, through which he begins to
too-too with lugubrious perseverance. He then
stretches out his cup, expecting alms,
" Give to me, men, give to me, d'ye hear me ?"
I will make him show off his politeness.
"Take this bounty, 0 Fakir ! — a rupee — and let
us have the benefit of thy prayers in return for it ! "
The fellow receives the coin in his gourd, rises
slowly from the ground, and retreats a step or two,

The Population of Sehwan, 183
keeping his fiery red eyes shifting between the pre
sent and our countenances. He is direly offended,
" Bounty ! — May Allah preserve you (with des
perate irony). Bounty ! it is my right — my due —
my daily bread — my God's gift, not yours I One
rupee ; 0, ye brothers of Hdtim ! * — one rupee !
Time was when men gave me a thousand. You
wear the Moslem cloak — ^ye crows dressed in parrot's
feathers ! — Corpses and eaters of corpses ! — whose
faces are blacker than yours ? There, go your
ways, A bad road and a curse to you,"
When visiting Holy Places, Mr, Bull, I always
make up my mind to eat some " dust," We might
order our Afghan servants, who, in spite of the
sanctity of Kalandarhood, look eagerly for the job,
to instruct the fellow in the bienseances. But he
would certainly use his staff; the dagger might
then appear, and the consequence would be serious.
Besides, he is a reverend whom the cloth protects.
It wiU be better to leave him a Roland for his OUver,
and to get through our pilgrimage as quickly as
possible. " Abubekr, Umar, and Usman be — confounded !
Go thy ways, 0 foUower of an infamous patron
saint ! "^
We leave him speechless with fury,
' Hdtim, the most generous of the Arabs, had a brother, who,
attempting and failing to imitate him, has succeeded in becoming
eternally celebrated for avarice and UliberaUty.
2 It is a deadly insult to abuse a man's " Pir " (spiritual guide).
So even the Maltese Christian says, "Yakrik Kaddfsak man
rabb-ak "—burn the Patron Saint who brought thee up.

184 Sind Revisited.
" Are bdp ! — 0, my father ! " cries a person of
flaunting dress and jaunty demeanour, standing and
staring at us as if she had been a snarer and netter
of Regent Street. " What men are these ? Are ye
going to pass through Sdhwan, fellows, without
engaging me for a Ndch ? Infidel Franks ! Blights
upon the land ! You ruling instead of Amfrs —
locusts that you are ! "
That mouth it will be impossible to close : we
find it " more bitter than death ; " our only way
to save our ears from the " cudgel of her tongue,"
is to get beyond its range as speedUy as we can.
I will not, however, neglect to leave behind a few
such " counter-checks quarrelsome " as " Thy locks
be shaved! — dame of all the dogs!"- — "May thy
nose drop off, eater of the pig ! " — " May the jack
ass that carries thee (i.e. in procession through the
bdzdr) be a big ass ! " — " May sweepers deposit their
burden upon thy corpse, 0 widow woman ! " — " 0
thy mother, 0 thy sister, female fiend ! "
We leave the person blowing off her wrath in a
long howl, varied and modulated by patting the
palm of her hand against the circular orifice formed
by her lips. This is the Indian and Sindian way
of doing what Mrs. BuU would effect by springing
a rattle, or shrieks of " Murder ! " — ^raising the neigh
bourhood. Everything in this place seemed to hate us.
Even the pet tiger, as he catches sight of our white
faces, shakes off the purring little cats that amuse
themselves with Avalking over his broad flanks;

The Patron Saint. 185
springs up, glaring at us with bloodthfrsty eyes,
and ears viciously flattened upon his back, and
walks round his cage as fast as his feet, lamed by
the retractile claws growing into the flesh, allow
him. The ferocious beast obtains almost religious
honours from the superstitious populace, Avho, by
some curious zoological process, connect him with
Hazrat Ali,* thefr favourite hero. His cage door
is scarcely fastened, and his refectory is most boun
tifully supplied. When he amuses himself with
tearing off the arm that offers him food, all predict
to the maimed one good luck and high honour in
this world and the next. He has lately been play
ing this trick. If you wish to irritate the crowd
around his box, you have only to propose, with a
serious face, what you think the savage brute most
deserves — sh ooting.
This quadrangle with dome and lantern is the
honoured tomb of Usmdn-i-Merwandi, popularly
called the Kalandar (honoris causa) Ldl Shahbdz,
or the Red Falcon of Merwand, his natal province.
He owes his curious ecclesiastical titles solely to his
own exertions. Having once sat for a whole year
in an iron pot placed upon a broiling fire, to imitate
Ibrdhim,^ his skin, when he issued from the place of
trial, had, as might be expected, exchanged the
paUor of sanctity for a deep rubicund hue. On
^ One of AU's titles being " The Victorious Lion of the Lord.''
^ Abraham, being unjustly accused of impiety by his father,
Azar the idol-maker, was thrown by the wicked Nimrod into a
fiery furnace, which forthwith became a bed of roses. So writes
Moslem Holy Writ.

186 Sind Revisited.

another occasion he assumed a winged form to
rescue a brother in AUah from the stake upon
which an infidel king had exalted his venerable
form. Hence he is called Ldl Shahbdz, a name that
at once embodies the heads of his exploits, and dis
tinguishes him from his fellows, scarlet hawks being
novelties in the animal creation. Heedless of this
nonsense, you wiU probably judge him kindly when
you hear that according to history he was a quiet,
harmless old gentleman, who, very like many a
Fellow of Christ Church and Trinity College, pre
ferred single blessedness ; became highly moral as
he advanced in years, and died, leaving behind him
a high reputation as a grammarian, a logician, a
philologist, and a divine. There are points of dif
ference in the comparison : the Kalandar, I fear, was
" Low Church," and probably never drank crusty old
port. Among the Hindus he is Rajah Bhartari.
The Mausoleum, one of the Seven Wonders of
the Sindian World, for magnitude as well as magni
ficence, would be a third-rate building in any semi-
civUized part of India. In order to view the shrine,
we must deposit our slippers at the threshold : then,
perhaps, the jingling of a few rupees in our pockets
may induce the surly, scowUng crowd to open a
ready way. En passant, remark if you please the
remains of splendour on the doors : anciently they
were plates of massive silver, with gold locks, pad
locks, and hinges ; now wood is more extensively
used. The interior is dark, dingy, and insufferably
close, fiUed in equal proportions Avith animal caloric.

The Shrine. 187

the fumes of rancid incense, and the heavy smoke
of long-wick'd oil-lamps. Under the dome is the
holy place, covered with a large satin pall, and hung
over with a variety of silken, velvet, brocade and
tinsel articles, shaped like your grandmother's pet
pincushion or the little hearts which you may see in
Southern Europe, The walls, dimly illumined by a
ray of light from door or lamp, are garnished with
votive offerings of every description : the darkness
and the dirt with which antiquity has overspread
them almost conceal them from our eyes profane.
The tomb is surrounded by crowding devotees of
all sexes and ages. Many people wiU travel from
Haydardbdd, a hundred miles or so, and even from
more distant places, for the mundane and post-
mundane benefits secured by the pilgrimage. Some
are sitting here supplicating His Saintship to inter
cede for them with Allah, bribing him with pro
mised dainties and rich clothes which, though he
wants not, his successors do. That hopeless cripple
wishes to take up his bed and walk ; the blind
beggar is determined to have his eyes opened ; the
pensive old "party" with the long beard is praying
for the ruin of a favourite enemy, and the wrinkled
middle-aged matron for a son and hefr, A few
grateful hearts are only thanking the good corpse
for past benefits, and many in whom the old Adam
is, I fear, very strong, are savouring in anticipation
the sweets of indulgenza plenaria, license to sin ad
libitum. The men in the large turbans, with stolid
faces, are the MuUds, or priests ; the half-clad atten-

188 Sind Revisited.
dants are the Mujdwfrs, whose duty it is to sweep
the floor and trim the lamps ; the stout ruffian with
the shaven head, beard, eyebrows, and moustachios,
is a promising young mendicant, who has just been
affiliated to the order ; and the two fellows sitting at
the doors in the airy costume now famiUar to your
eye, and wrangling with every one, male or female,
about the nature of his or her offering, are Murshids,
or Masters in the mystic brotherhood of beggary.
The latter, however, despite their dignity of free and
accepted, do not always have their own way. Some
times a swaggering Beloch, or a formidable-tongued
Sindi dame, wUl press in with no other present but a
promise, and take place amongst the throng, seated,
bowing and prostrating, groaning, mumbling, ejacu
lating, blessing and cursing one another round the
sepulchre. Should we stay here half an hour we are
sure to see a kind of fight, if, at least, grabbing of
garments and hauling of hair deserves that honoured
name, between the collectors of church-money and
the votaries of a cheap religion, an unpaid worship.
You smUe at these ridiculous altercations, Mr.
Bull. So do I, with dolce memoria of having been
similarly situated years ago, when opposed on the
threshold of an English chapel, at the ignoble colony
of Pisa, by an Italian servant who, having scant
faith in credit, and possibly recoUecting his own
proverb, passato il pericolo, gabbato il santo, re
sisted my attempts to take a seat as sturdily as
yon Fakir does, and, triumphant, sent me home to
fetch the forgotten pavolo for the Signor Padre.

"Alexander's Camp." 189
It is the time of evening prayers, as we learn by
the discordant clamours of half a dozen large brass
kettle-drums in the Naubat-khdneh^ hard by: this
Oriental Ave Maria only tells me that 'tis the hour
for a greater crowd to assemble, bringing with it
more noise, more anger, more perspiration. So, if
you please, we will leave our offering and a few
civil words with the old Khalifeh, the worthy upon
whom the prophetic or saintly mantle fell, — in com
pliment to our colour, he has attended personally
to do the honours of his raree-show, — and go our
ways. To furious bigotry has now succeeded a
manner of phUosophic indifference. The Mujdwfrs
will insist upon our unshoeing, and expect a rupee
or two ; that is all.
The centre of Sehwan attraction lies within a few
minutes' walk to the north-west of the town. It is
a large flat tumulus, evidently artificial, measuring
440 by 200 yards, based upon a natural eminence,
rising abruptly some 60 feet from the plain, sup
ported by the cohesiveness of its clay, and in some
places flanked by the remnants of good old brick-
walls, bastions, and circular towers, round which
gnarled Pipals (Ficus Religiosa) and knotty shrubs
of huge growth have coded their snake- like roots.
Mounting the side of this Kdfir Kila' (Infidel
Fort) by a natural breach, and striking into one of
the many footpaths that ramify over the mound,
we find the surface, Uke a similar feature at Syrian
' A Persian term for the room in which the kettle-drums are
placed and performed upon.

190 Sind Revisited.

Hums (Emesa), cut up by wind and rain, rent by
yawning sun-cracks, and occasionally mined by the
seekers of gold, silver, and ready-made building-
material. The level has evidently been raised by
the repeated faUing and burning of houses, A
glimpse from the brink of one of these cavities
shows that the brickwork runs down almost to the
level of the road that girds the clay hill, and the
excavators wUl inform us that, when they first
opened the ground, they discovered and destroyed
large arches of brick.
This is one of the many remains of what are
ridiculously termed by the Anglo-Sindian antiquary
"Alexander's Camp." Macedonia's great man, ob
serve, is still celebrated in Young as in Old Egypt,
but in the former by Europeans, in the latter by
Egyptians. Amongst our local savans he holds
the architectural office, assigned by you and your
brethren in the West, to the Devil or to Julius
Csesar, That is to say, whenever a tourist of in
quiring mind is shown a ruin about which that
venerable humbug, the " oldest inhabitant," knows
nothing, or will not know anything, he considers
himself justified in at once deciding it to be an
"Alexander's* Camp."
This Sehwan mound has suppUed Greek and
Bactrian coins, but of course such articles travel far.
^ The Sikandar Zii'l Karnayn (Lord of the two-horns, or the
Bast and the West), in Koranic and poetical literature, is e-vidently
a caricature of the great Greek. I see no reason to make him, as
some OrientaUsts have done, a different personage.

Alexander the Great. 191
It cannot, I humbly opine, be of Grecian origin,
for two reasons : the arches are Asiatic, and the
broken bits of man's handiwork scattered about in
its entrails are purely Oriental. If we are to
believe the chronicles, it was a Hindu castle, built
to command a favourite ford of the Indus : in the
lapse of years, as it was ruined and ruined over
again, the site rose above the level of the plain, till
at last it became conspicuous and, catching the
archaeologist's eye, it received from his ever-ready
hand the honours of an illustrious origin.
The natives of Sind, excepting only the few
readers of Persian poetry and history, had never
heard of " Sikandar Shah " (King Alexander) when
we first entered the country. Now they bid fair
to become almost as minute and clever in pointing
out the different stages of the Macedonian's progress
through the land as our savans have proved them
selves. So the Afghans, after one short year's
study of the British gobemouche, taught themselves
to imitate the rare Bactrian coins with a skill
which, considering all thefr deficiencies of means,
entitles them, I opine, to rank high in the scale
of ingenious rascality. When Lady Macnaghten
showed a peculiarly rare coin to one of these
forgers, and asked him how long it would be before
he could supply her with a simUar article, he boldly
answered, "To-morrow morning." Her suspicions
were aroused, and she asked him why he named the
next day. " Allah ! AUah ! " he rejoined, " you can't
expect me to make it in less than twelve hours ! "

192 Sind Revisited.
There are no traditions of consequence connected
Avith this old fort. The people, as usual, believe the
gloomy deserted place to be haunted, especially by
night, and it was some time before the deputy-
collector, who erected a bungalow, with naive
nationality, upon the summit, could persuade his
Sindi servants that they might sleep in it without
imminent peril of being eaten. Him they knew
to be safe. Franks are all magicians : any real
Oriental will inform you, that the reason why we
never see their legions of goblins is simply that we
are the "fathers of devils" — that is to say, fiercer
fiends than the general run of fiery creatures,*
When a Moslemah in Persia, or a Christian woman
in Syria, wishes to cast abomination between her
husband and a pretty Uttle rival wife, or quasi-wife,
she secretly rubs a bit of pork upon, or sews a
bristle into, the latter's dress ; and the good man
forthAvith conceives a violent loathing for the object
of his love. What think you must be expected
from a people who eat grilled bacon for breakfast,
and at times dine off sucking-pig ?
Before we leave Sehwan, Mr. Bull, I must "make
a clean breast of it," Many years ago, in my hot
youth, a credulous antiquary was digging here and
finding all manner of proof that it was the head
quarters of Alexander's host. In those days we
affected a now obsolete article called the "Athengeum
Sauce ; " and it came to us in a manner of pot
rudely imitated from a painted Etruscan vase. How
^ Fiends, say the Moslems, are made of fire, as man is of earth.

The "Sell." 193

thoughtless and reckless is man before the age of
twenty-five ! To smash that pot, to treat it with
fire and acid, and to bury it in the ground on the
line taken by the excavator, was the work of an
idle day. And it was duly unearthed, washed,
carried home, and presently shown to a number
of wondering friends as proof positive that the
Rasenna had their original homes in Sind, But
before the find was described in print, I owned my
offence and — I was never forgiven.
Again, when the ninth decade after A,D, 1500
was so busily employed in recoA^ering the " Lost
Tribes," a subject still not wholly devoid, of attrac
tion, I was travelling on the edge of Brdhuistdn,
the land of the Turanian Brdhuis, and my unhappy
sense of humour suggested another ugly practical
joke. To draw up a grammar and vocabulary,
stolen from Parkhurst, and proAdded Avith barbaric
terminations, was the work of an idle week, and
the Presidency rang for nine days Avith the
wondrous discovery. That " little game " also was,
as you may imagine, not to be condoned.
But I now repent in sackcloth and ashes, and
my trembling hand indites, Mea culpa! mea
maxima culpa!

VOL, n.

35

194 Sind Revisited.

CHAPTER XXVI.
LAKE MANCHAR — SANITARIA — lIrK^JSTA THE
PRETTY, AND MAHTAB, THE DONNA OP lIrKANA.
Open the map of Sind, sir, and listen to me.
A little north of Ldrkdna, on the right bank
of the Indus, you see a streaky line marked Ndrd
R. ; that is to say, the Snake Stream, a Sind Serpen
tine, evidently, at some age, the westernmost course
of the Indian NUe. It faUs into a long oval which
stands for Lake Manchar, flows through it, and
issues from the southern extremity under a fresh
name, the Aral. These — the Ndrd and the Aral —
form a loop of about a hundred miles from point
to point, and they have been excavated and cleared
tiU thefr tortuous courses present the appearance of
man's rather than of Nature's doings. The country
is so level that, when the Indus rises, the water flows
up the Aral, and vice versd when the main stream
faUs. Two days' journey * along the Aral from Sehwan
takes us to the lake.
' From S6hwan to Bdzdr, ten ; from Bdzdr to Drdbri, a fishing
vUlage on Lake Mdhd Manchar, eleven mUes. These places, Uke
many others here mentioned, will not be found in the Gazetteer
map ; such settlements are essentiaUy ephemeral.

The Great Lake. 195
At this season of the year you will admire
Mdhd Manchar, " Great Manchar," as the people
are fond of calling it ; especiaUy after / the arid
scenes of the Mimosa Dyke and the Beloch Hills,
It is formed by the western Ndrd, which I must
again warn you not to confound with the eastern
feature of the same name, the " old original "
Indus, You wUl hear more about the latter at
Sakhar, Its "broad," or reservoir, formed, in all
probability, by a migration of the main stream,
and disposed with the major axis from north-east to
south-east, is a sheet of crystalline blue, waved
with the tiniest ripple that zephyr ever ruffied
up : broken by little flat capes and green headlands,
and pigmy brown cliffs, it spreads far towards the
setting sun, indistinctly limited by a long curtain
of yellow ridge, Down the centre of its length,
whose maximum is 20 miles with an area of 180,
runs a line of deep channel, amethyst-coloured,
except where the fisher's canoe glides, whitening
the surface of the wave: all around, the lovely
lotus (one understands them that gave her for
gods and goddesses to handle) raises her pearly
head, and veils with her emerald cloak the pel
lucid nakedness of the shallower streams. The
banks are forested with sedge and rushes, thick
and shaggy as old Proteus' drying locks ; and
high above the rank thicket towers the knotted
Kdno-reed, Avith its tall columnar stalk and light
feathery top, some twenty feet high, gracefully
bending and bowing to the breeze.

196 Sind Revisited.
Nor is the prospect wanting in " figures " — a sine
qua non, methinks, in any but an Arctic or Sahardn
view. In some parts the water is almost concealed
from sight by the multitude of wUd birds, feeding
and floating, swimming and preening thefr plumage
upon the crystal flood. There is the Brahmani
duck (Anas Casarca), with its brUliant hues ; the
grey curlew and the king curlew, in black coat
and scarlet cap ; the flamingo, rosy and snowy
white; the pelican, little smaller than an ostrich;
the bittern (Botaurus stellaris), yeUow as to ruff;
and, queen amongst these nobles, the taU and
graceful Sdras-stork, clad in delicate blue, whose
head of brUUant crimson shades off, with the
sweetest gradations of red and pink, down her
long taper neck. Mingling with the patriarchs of
the afr, are the commonalty of different descriptions,
maUards and cormorants, snipes and snippets, dab-
chicks and ducks, all "chortling in thefr joy."
Above us, the pert and pretty black-beUied tern
wheels in butterfly -Uke flight ; and the kingfisher,
now poised aloft, twittering his sharp clear note
with his beak resting on his breast, then flashing
through the sunbeam Uke a handful of faUing gems,
as he tries his fortune in the depths below, claims
our greeting as an old acquaintance.
The human is almost as abundant as the lower
animal population of Mdhd Manchar, In some
spots the scene viewed from afar reminds you of
voyages and travels in China. At this moment we
see at least a hundred little black boats, moored

Mdhd Manchar. 197

against the reedy banks, or entangled in the lacus
trine vegetation, or pushing out into the thalweg,
where the fisherman may use net and lance, fearless
of tough stalk and tangled root. The favourite
style of driAdng is to form a cfrcle with a dozen or
two of canoes, and with cries and a Charivari of
pots and pans to force the fish into the circular
net-inclosure, which may measure thirty feet. The
spear is used chiefly by women to catch the shark
like siluroids.
The Mohdnd or Sindi fishermen are, we know
from their history, as well as from their swarthy
skins and Indian features, directly descended from
the aboriginal Hindus converted to El-Islam, The
change has not hitherto raised them high above
heathenism : they still pay a kind of religious
respect to their nurse, the element : they never
enter the water without begging it, by a Saldm, not
to be their grav^e just yet ; and thefr rice-offerings
and hymns addressed to the River-god savour rankly
of old idolatry. They are an athletic, laborious,
pleasure-loving, merry-hearted, and thoroughly
demoralized set of semi-savages. Women as well as
men all seem to be in a state of perpetual motion ;
whether this be the result of a fish diet or not, I
leave you, Mr, John Bull, to determine : certainly, the
contrast thefr activity offers to the general torpidity
of Sindism, deserves a little philosophico-physio-
logical consideration. Sturdy fishwives are seen
tugging at the oar or paddling at the stern, whUst
the spouse busily plies the net : the elder chUdren,

198 Sind Revisited.
in Nature's garb, dabble about like water-fowl, and
the Benjamin of the family lies consoling himself,
sucking his thumb, in a cot of network, that dangles
high in the afr between the mast and rigging of the
little craft. They eat, drink, smoke, and sleep on
board their vessels, these amphibious animals ; and
never quit them except to cure their prey, to dry
it upon the banks, and to sell it at the nearest
market village, or to exchange it for the necessaries
of life. They are equally celebrated for depravity
and devotion ; they seldom marry till. Orientally
speaking, old ; and they scrupulously spend every
pice they can secrete from the MuUd in bhang,
opium, and spirituous liquors, Thefr families are
remarkably large : in addition to the general activity
of thefr bodies, their tongues, especially the femi
nine, seem gifted with uncommon nimbleness, and
the proceeds, translated into our vernacular, would
be a novel and valuable addition to the vocabulary
of " Gate slang." Perhaps these also are the effects
of a fish diet. Withal, the Mohdnd are a laughter-
loving, light-hearted race, except when cold, or when
recovering from Katzen-jammer (nausea): they enjoy
a rude jest, only it must be very rude, almost as
much' as a glass of liquor, and they never seem to
quarrel with Fate, except when an embryo fisher
man sUps overboard and exchanges its cradle for a
watery grave. Little can be said in favour of their
appearance ; thefr skins are burned to a reddish-
black by searing winds and scorching suns ; thefr
features fearfuUy resemble the Homo Darwiniensis,

The Fisher People. 199
the developist's Ffrst Father ; and their dress con
sists of two unwashed cloths, one wound round the
head, and the other tightly wrapped about the loins,
and both blue-dyed, to hide impurity. Some of
the youngest damsels are pretty ; occasionaUy one
sees a face which may be pronounced handsome ;
but a hard life, in both senses of the word, induces
middle age at twenty ; and Macbeth never saw
such hags, even at the Lyceum, as you see in the
old Mohdni.
We view .Manchar at its very best time.
During the summer it is the most execrable place
in Sind ; and popular indignation has expressed
itself in a proverb, the purport of which is, that
while this exists, no other Pandemonium is neces
sary. Even at Sdhwan the heat is fearful, and
tradition records the remark of a corporal who
found his sentinel resting his elbows upon the butt
of his musket with the bayonet in the ground :
" Don't you do that, BiU, or you wUl let the fire
out ! " As the caloric increases, the almost stagnant
water, and the fat weeds, which spring from the
• black slime-bottom, send forth swarms of mosquitos
and sand-flies, gnats and dragon-flies, midges and
common flies, whUst Tertiana, Quartana, and all
the unholy sisterhood, hover like harpies over the
devoted shore. At times, too, the lake, now so
placid, chafes itself into aU the fury of Geneva
or the Mediterranean, A blast of Avind comes
howling over and stirring up the waters, which rise
to the summons of the Storm-fiend, as if some

200 Sind Revisited.

kindred devil were immured in them. Then woe
to you, voyager ! There are no waves to ride over,
nothing but a broken surface of short chopping sea,
black below, foaming above, every billow uncon
nected with its neighbour, and each roller caj)able
of swamping your little craft. If caught in one of
these hurricanes you have only to be prepared for
the worst — drowning in lukewarm water. Mooring,
from the nature of the banks, is impossible. You
must give your boat her head ; allow her to run
away with you wherever she pleases ; and congratu
late yourself, indeed, upon your good luck, if, when
"spilt" into a field of hedge-like sedges, you do
not sink into the mud deeper than the neck, before
the storm subsides and some fisher's canoe comes
off to your rescue.
About half-way between Sdhwan and Ldrkdna
we could turn westwards from Mehar and visit the
Kfrthdr mountains with their two sanitaria, the
Chdr Yaru and the Danna Towers ; unfortunately,
the road has been marked out only for about three
miles, and the rest, numbering forty-seven, is de
scribed as much like riding in Kesrawdn of the
Libanus, Few if any wUd animals affect the coun
try, save a kind of badger knoAvn to the natives as
Gorpat,* The range of New Red Sandstone, disposed
in three distinct and paraUel ridges, lying upon a
' Both places have been exceUently described by Dr. Lalor
of the Bo. Service ; and he is copiously quoted in the Gazetteer,
pp. 451, 495. The Danna Towers were begun by the Amfrs of Sind
as a safe retreat in case of invasion.

The Danna Towers. 201
meridian, was probably, during geological times, the
right or western bank of the Indus, Khara Takha
has been laid down as " 6000 feet high at least," and
the Dog's Tomb, on the apex of Kirthdr, at 7200.
In the pretty little valley of Herar are certain Kdfir
Kots, curious memorials of an age and a race long
since passed away : they are regular and artificial
ranges, Uke river-terraces, probably leveUed for tents
and huts. The popular belief is that the huge boul
ders around have been lifted into position by the
giants that were in those days. Dr. Lalor here made
the interesting remark that his " observations on
solar radiation show a different result from what
might haA^e been expected, and utterly opposed to
the modern theory which makes the calorific effects
of the sun increase as we ascend — -a theory doubtless
favoured by the greater clearness of the atmosphere
and the general absence of clouds. But the table
of Mr, Wright, apothecary in charge of the Mehar
hospital, plainly shows the statical effect of the
sun's rays on the thermometer to be much greater
in the plains."
To Ldrkdna, on an eastern influent of the
Indus,* eight stages.
We have now quitted Wicholo, and are within
the bounds of Siro — Northern Sind, The Egyptian
fertility of the soU commences : here you may calcu-
' The people pronounce the word " Lddkdno ; " and derive it
from its old o-wners, the Ldrak tribe. I retain the so-called
Arabic form. Our stages are, Chenni, ten miles ; Johi, fourteen ;
Phuldji, fifteen ; Ghdrd, thirteen ; Mehar, eighteen ; Ndsirdbdd,
seventeen ; Khayrpiir, thirteen ; and Ldrkdna, eleven.

202 Sind Revisited.
late, Mr. Bull, what our Unhappy Valley is capable
of becoming. The bed of the river is higher
and nearer the surface of the country than in
the Lower Provinces ; the canals are better exca
vated, and the result is that water is more easUy
procurable. Instead of the dirty, ragged clumps
of huts to which you were accustomed, neat and
comfortable little hamlets, surrounded by groves of
date, jujube, and Nfm trees, meet the eye in all
dfrections. The grazing-land is black and white
with buffaloes, cows, asses, sheep, and goats ; crops
begin to gladden the fields : we hear the music of
the Persian wheels from the shafts and tunnels dug
in the river and canal banks ; whUe the loud shouts
of the corn-keepers, slinging away, like Mr. Fred,
Leighton's Syrian, at the hungry birds from their
little Maychdn, or raised platforms, sound human,
busy, energetic. The cultivators are no longer lean
Avith hunger, paUid with enlarged spleen, half-clad,
reckless, and slothful with poverty. Every man
walks as if he had an object : he has a burly Britisher
waist, and he looks at us almost benignantly. As
we ride through the hamlets, peering curiously and
Uke Englishmen over the waUs of the courtyard,
and into the doors of the houses, comely feminine
ovals, with immense black eyes and the whitest
possible teeth, set off by the clear, olive-coloured
skin, are protruded to catch sight of the strangers,
and the same, instead of being withdrawn with a
half-convulsive jerk are, agreeable to relate, aUowed
to remain for the pleasure of mutual inspection.

Siro — Northern Sind. 203
Here and there, where the settlement is very
flourishing, we may indulge ourselves in an amiable
Saldm, made by drawing the right hand across the
brow ; and the effect wUl be an amused smile
instead of an angry mutter at the "brass" of the
European face under the Asiatic Tarbiish,
Ldrkdna is in the centre of Sindia Felix — the
summer-house of the surrounding garden, the Eden of
the farther NUe, The mud-town is pleasantly situated
upon the banks of a large canal, some nine miles (four
and a half Kos) west of the main stream. Girt by
groves of spreading trees, which checker with shade
the holcus and wheat fields, it contains the usual stuff
of a Sindian town, but tout en beau. The Mosques
are larger ; the tanks are better built ; the big houses
are more numerous, and the smaU houses are less
squalid than our old familiar friends. There is an
extensive bdzdr, containing several hundred shops,
which strikes us with a sense of splendour ; and at
one end of the town rises a kind of citadel, called
Fort Fitzgerald, from the gaUant officer who superin
tended its erection, impressing us with ideas of
security, " Fighting Fitz," for. whose exploits see
Sir William Napier's " Conquest of Scinde," was a
man not readily found in these days (1876), The
owner of a fair property at home; exceptionally
handsome, and strong enough to draw a field-gun
and to cut a Beloch in halves with his huge blade,
he gave up aU the pleasures of ciAdUzation and
home-life for the duty of being a father to his
irregular Camel-corps, He buUt a high-pressure

204 Sind Revisited.

steam-engine almost with own hands, and applied
it to a native yacht, which was blown up with some
regularity. This accident happened once too often ;
a severe scalding sent him home on sick cer
tificate, and he sank within sight of the "White
Cliffs." Methinks I now see his taU and stalwart
figure, draped in his long " Postin " of Astrachan
fur. He died too early for his fame : there
was in him something that leads to Westminster
Abbey, Ldrkdna is a place of some commerce. It is
known for its manufactures of coarse cloth and,
being upon the high-road between Kardchi and
Shikdrpifr, it is the favourite station with caravans
and travelling merchants. This is probably the
reason why it is celebrated for anything but mora
lity. The inhabitants are. a dissolute race, fond of
intoxication, dancing, and other debauchery, and
idle, because the necessaries of life are so cheap that
there is no need of working hard to live. The
number of fafr Corinthians in the place has given
it a proverbial bad name amongst moral-minded
Sindians, I promised you a Ndch, Mr, BuU, and Hari
Chand has secured the services of a celebrated dancer
with a pretty name, Mahtdb, the " Moonbeam:" here
she comes Avith her sisters, each sitting in her own
Kajdwah,* making altogether a train of nine camels,
^ A kind of camel-Utter ; a pair of gigantic ladle-shaped panniers,
in which Sindian dames stow themselves away.

Mahtdb, the Moonbeam. 205
Mahtdb, the Donna of Ldrkdna, is quietly
beautiful as her namesake. The exact setting of
every feature in that perfect oval gives her as many
lovely faces as its position varies. The gloss of
youth is on her hair and marble-like transparent
skin ; mouth, eyebrows, eyelashes, all look new,
unused, fresh as the day they were finished by the
hand of Nature, The expression is strange in a coun
tenance so admfrable and so admired : it is a settled
sadness, as if the owner had been a victim to some
grande passion — which, by the by, is emphatically
not the case. You cannot help now and then wish
ing that a smile, or a frown, or a sneer would
rumple those finished lips, that taU calm brow ;
that she would appear somewhat more human, less
like a statue in a moonUt walk.
Your eyes, weary with the beauties of her face,
shift to her figure, where, if perfection ever was,
there you discover it. Your glance slowly takes in
a throat to which "tower of ivory," "gazelle's
neck," and aU that kind of thing, would be studied
insults : thence it shifts Ungeringly to a line of
shoulder, where, if it could, it would stay ; but on
it must go, to understand what a bust is, and to
see what a woman's waist might be; not, as you
shudderingly recoUect, what it is so often made to
be. Thence —
But stop, Mr, BuU, At this rate you wiU be
falling in love with the Moonbeam : I tremble to
think of the spirit in which your lapse would be
received by the bonneted, straight-laced, be-petti-

206 Sind Revisited.
coated partner of your bosom, I would almost
engage you to say nothing of the scene when you
return home : it would grieve me even to dream of
" hussy " and " savage " in connection with yonder
masterpiece, with that physical,
" Queen-rose of the rose-bud garden of girls."
We will give a signal for the start.
The musicians, one pipe, one guitar, and two
kettledrums, sit down heavily upon rugs in a
corner of the tent : opposite them are the dancing-
girls, who, with the exception of Mahtdb — bless
her instinct ! — have hung gold in every bit of
attainable cartilage, and have converted themselves
into bales of brocade and satin elaborately mixed.
Their toUette, I need scarcely remark, is the acme
of la mode: they can scarcely stand on their
slippers, the tightness of the Shalwdrs (pantalettes)
round their ankles impedes the lower cfrculation,
and their hair is strained off their foreheads so
tightly as almost to draw their features out of
place. There are SAVords, daggers, and shields in the
party ; and, more dangerous stUl, sundry flasks and
phials containing a colourless liquid, which I am told
is water, which I believe to be something stronger.
The Ndch commences Avith a pas seul: the
Moonbeam is about to engross every eye. You
perhaps expect one of those grievous and laborious
displays of agility to which Europe has limited
professional dancing. Oh, no ! An entrechat in
these regions would shave a gfrl's head, a pas de

The Ndch. 207

Zephyre bleed her, and half-a-dozen petits batte-
ments consign her to an inner room, without
windows and with bare walls. Mahtdb floats
forward so lightly that trace of exertion is imper
ceptible : softly and slowly waving her white arms
and pink pahns, she unexpectedly stands close to
you, then, turning with a pirouette — it has no other
name, but its nature is widely different from the
whirligig rotations of a Taglioni — she sinks back,
retires, and stands motionless as wax-work, and
then again all da capo, with the beautiful same
ness which becomes her face and figure. The
guitar is in the seventh heaven of ecstacy, the
pipe is dying away with delight, and the kettle
drums threaten to annihilate their instruments.
The lady's sisters, or rather sisterhood, are too
completely under the speU even to feel envious,
and you, Mr. John Bull, are inclined to vociferate,
as is your wont, Bray-vo !
There is nothing particularly interesting or
exciting in the pas de deux, and the other trifles,
in which Mahtdb's companions display themselves,
whilst the beauty sits motionlessly reposing. You
feel that there is something in her look which
spurns rather than courts ardent eyes, and you
are disposed to yawn after a minute's inspection
of the troop, and to contort your countenance
when you fix your ear upon the Chinese melody
of the music. The bandsmen may amuse you for
a moment. They are all en train towards that
happy state aptly described by the merry, scanda-

208 Sind Revisited.

Ious monarch as levelling aU artificial distinctions
between sovereign and subject. They drink well
but not wisely : those tossings of the head, intended
to beat time ; those merciless rubbings of stubbly
beard and wild mustachio, purporting excitement ;
and those bendings of the body that remind you of
the coxswain in a rowing match, directly tend to
wards " under the table," were there such an article
of furniture in the tent.
Now for the ballet, or melodrama, the favourite
piece of the evening. The Ndch-gfrls aU equip
themselves in manly and martial dresses ^ — all
except the " Donna," whom dignity forbids.
En passant, I may remark that this way of
confusing the sexes, though adverse to high his
trionic effect, is by no means so utterly disenchant
ing as that for which our amateur Anglo-Indian
theatres are remarkable, A pretty girl's face under
a man's helmet, and a delicate arm supporting
a rhinoceros-skin targe are, to say the least,
endurable. Not so soft Juliet, when ' ' done " by
a huge horse-artUleryman, six feet three, with
the broadest shoulders, fiery whiskers, and gruff
accents ; or dear Desdemona, represented by a pale,
weasen-faced, cock-nosed, intensely ugly, and crack-
noted little lad, in the first state of change from
school-boy to " officer and gentleman ; " or a Portia
in the shape of some monstrous "private," who
shakes his fist in the face of Shylock, and, with a
voice like the beUow of a bull, roars at him, —
" The quaUty of mercy is not strained."

The Melodrame. 209

The piece is a species of comedy, in which a very
young, beautiful, and coquettish wife, a very old,
jealous, and irate husband, and an ardent lover in
his prime, all dancing more or less, represent sundry
scenes of possible or probable occurrence in domestic
life, Eastern or Western. Either in consequence of
the plot's engrossing interest, or the contents of
those flasks, there is much palpable exaggeration
in the development of " character : " never was old
husband so thoroughly hateful as this, never was
lover so loving, never was young and pretty wife
such an outvie coquette. And, alas for the poetical
justice and the morality of the Muse in Sind !
The rightful owner of the coveted goods at leng.th
falls to the ground, pierced by twenty deadly
wounds ; whUst the breaker of ever so many
commandments, after carefully securing his fallen
foe's sword, best dagger, and new turban, walks
off with the " bone of contention " as quietly as if
it had been his own rightful "rib." And, again,
alas for the degradation of our professionals in the
Valley of the Indus ! one of the kettle-drums has
been removed, with considerable difficulty, by two
of our Afghan servants ; the pipe is going fast, and
extraneous aid is necessary to the drooping form of
Niir Jdn, the Moonbeam's youngest and prettiest
sister. We ought not to have admitted those
flasks, Ldrkdna is celebrated for another kind of Ndch,
of a type familiar to the veteran dweller on the
banks of the Nile : I would wUlingly show you the
VOL, IL 36

210 Sind Revisited.
sight, were it not haunting as a good ghost story or
a bad novel.
Conceive, if you can, the unholy spectacle of
two reverend-looking grey-beards, with stern,
severe, classical features, large limbs, and serene,
majestic deportment, dancing opposite each other
dressed in women's attire, the flimsiest too, with
light veUs on their heads, and little bells jingling
from their ankles, ogling, smfrking, and displaying
the juvenile playfulness of
" — Ummer lads and Uttle lasses ! "
This man-Ndch reminds me of what has often
been seen upon the Abyssinian coast behind
Masawwah, in the early days of Mr, Consul
Plowden and his merry men. Entering a vUlage,
you were met by a deputation of elders, grand-
looking men, with goodly beards, and taU forms
wrapped in what most resembles the Roman toga.
Then the chief of the party majestically stepped
forward, bent low, and, with right hand upon his
heart, gravely ejaculated what he had been taught
to consider the Englishman's official greeting : "Go
to the deyU and shake yourself" — or something
much worse.

( 211 )

CHAPTER XXVII.
THE PICTURESQUE SAKHAR, BAKAR, ROHRI.
This trio of words soon won what Mr. Barnum
modestly called " notoriety." When the Sepoy from
Hindostan wished to address his comrade with a
jocose, friendly, and polite curse, he cried,
" Are bhdi ! Sakhar, Bakar, Rohri -ko jdo ! "
Which "Go to Sakhar, Bakar, Rohri, 0 my
brother ! " was the equivalent for an expression im
mensely popular amongst our soldiers and sailors.
And of the same Masti Pdrdesi (" pruff " man from
the country beyond) it is recorded that, warned for
service in the Unhappy VaUey, he would naively
say to his commanding officer, " Yes, Sahib, we
are Balamtfr (volunteers), it is true, but to Sakhar,
Bakar, Rohri, go we won't ! "
At this season, early February, Sakhar Avill sur
prise you by its delightful climate. The mornings
and evenings are cool and clear as they would be in
Tuscany ; there is a tonic draught in the pure light
air ; the north-eastern breeze is bracing in the ex
treme, and even at mid-day you can enjoy a walk oi

212 Sind Revisited.

of the sun. Yet the doctors assure you that the
cold is the unhealthy period, " chills " and fevers
being generated by the raw nights and warm days.
This weather will last till the end of March. From
early April to mid June is the hot dry season,
foUowed by the hot damp (August and September),
when the Indus floods bring boils and urtica or
" prickly-heat : " this is the only disagreeable part
of the year, yet it is better here than at Shikdrpiir,
and far better than at Jacobdbdd. About Kardchi,
I have told you, there is a break in the hot season ;
August to September being comparatively cool and
cloudy ; the respite is sometimes, but not regularly,
in July, granted to Siro, or Upper Sind.
Here, Mr. John Bull, after a four days' journey*
from Ldrkdna, you may rest and be thankful, and
quote your Ovid : —
"Contigimus portum quo mUii cursus erat."
We will straightway begin our sight-seeing by
climbing the nearest Belvedere, yonder minaret.
It is called after Mir Mohammed Ma'asiim, Sayyid
and Fakfr, who liA-ed in the reign of Akbar the
Great, and who, being annoyed by that monarch,
threw, say the people, his "Pdras," or alchemist's
stone, into th6 Indus. According to the learned he
Avas an homme d'esprit, and he proved it as follows.
When summoned to the Emperor's presence, he sus
pected a trial of wits, and carried in his pocket
1 Ldrkdna to Ndyd Dera, ISmUes ; to Madadji, 14 ; to JdrU, 17 ;
to Sakhar, 15.

Sakhar. 213

a shawl, which became useful when ushered into an
artificially-cooled room.
"Ajab!" ("Marvellous!" i.e., such wit in a
Sindi) exclaimed the monarch, when the reply was,
" Gdhi na khordam (I never ate it, viz., fish, which
here, contrary to the Agassizian theory, is supposed
not to feed the brain). Whereat Akbar the Great,
whose thoughts were thus divined, marvelled stUl
more. The Ma'asiim minaret, built in 1607, is a sub
stantial Linga of fine red brick, somewhat crooked
outside, and ascended by a winding staircase of slip
pery marmorine limestone, which, however, did not
deter Lady Franklin from the climb. Either the
municipality or the Ma'asiim Sayyids should rough
the surface. Hard by it are the tombs of the holy
man, his family, and his acolytes, under, and outside
of, a heavy stone canopy resting on light fantastic
pillars; and an adjoining octagon, whose honey
combed ceding, lined with Persian tiles, shelters
prayer-meetings. I cannot trace the source of a tale
told by Mr. AUan 0. Hume in " Stray Feathers "
(1873), namely, that the minaret was erected by a
Banyan at the instance of his lady love, who refused
her fair self until the swain had raised, upon the
highest point of Sakhar, a tower 200 gaz (cubits)
high. By the incitements of Kdmadeva (Cupid) he
reported it finished in a week ; but, firstly, it is not
upon the highest point, and secondly, it is nearly
100 feet, not 100 yards, high. The obdurate one,
astonished at this untradesman-Uke persistence.

214 Sind Revisited.

thereupon advised her victim to throw himself down
from his own tower : he did so, and there is every
reason to suppose that the operation effected a per
fect cure. Two or three of his fellow castemen having
lately foUowed his example, the local authorities
surrounded the terminal domelet and its four arches
with a stout cage. Something of the kind was found
necessary for the Kutb-Minar of Delhi, the top
being removed to prevent suicides.
I have not erred, you see, when characterizing
Sakhar as " the Picturesque." Before us in the dis
tance the tranquil spreading Indus, flowing majesti
cally from north-east to south-west, sweeps suddenly
round with a mighty loop to the north-west and,
dashing through two beds, mere cuts in the hard
and crystalline limestone, descends, with swfrls and
eddies like the preliminary of a cataract, in the
direction where we stand. The total breadth, in
cluding the island, is not more than 870 yards ; * and
the northern arm, not used by steamers, has been
increased to 600 feet. On the left bank rises the
taU, irregular mass of mud-walls that compose Rohri ;
built upon an eminence of limestone ; and, in older
days, various islets, some mere blocks of white
calcaire, which are now surrounded by a Uttle sea of
1 More exactly, the Sakhar fork measures, since it was widened to
reUeve the flood, 600 feet ; the Island of Bakar 1150 feet across ;
and the Rohri fork, the line preferred by steamers, 850 feet, forming
a total of 2600, or at the utmost 2650 feet, not 1200 yards, as in the
Handbook. These figures were giv.en to me by Mr. E. Wallis,
superintendent of the four sub-divisions of the Sind Telegraphic
Division : he also tells me that four wires are now proposed two
for the railway, and the rest for the telegraph office.

The Indus at Sakhar. 215
sand, subtended the shore, Sakhar Reach, where
frrigation is easy, boasts of beautiful date and
garden grounds, with the A'-arious items of Jamiin
(Eugenia Jambos), Ber (Z. Zyziphus), Pipal (Ficus
Religiosa), Nim, tamarinds and tamarisks, poplars,
red-flowered capers, and the pomegranate, all flame
and green. Fronting Rohri rise the crumbling walls
of Bakar, now chiefly conspicuous for its tall tele
graph-pier, a brick tower of prodigious ugliness,
perpendicular on aU sides but one, which is stepped
and railed for the purpose of ascending. This Rock
of Gibraltar, the principal item of a small archipe
lago, hides from below stream the domes of Khwdjeh
Khizr in a holm which we must presently visit ;
immediately to the west rises another islet, Sddh
Beld, and again, down stream, but connected in the
dry season by a sand-bank, is the Din Beld. The
former, " Pure Forest," was seized by the Banyans
since our tenure of the country, and converted into
the habitation of a holy man, Bdbdji Vanakhandi ; it
is now occupied by his favourite Cheld, or disciple,
Hari Prashdd. A white dome and two verandah'd
mud-pavilions, shaded by figs, jujubes, and palms,
suffice to cover the scanty surface ; and a new house is
being built for his reverence, who now holds levdes
under the finest tree in the Reach. The Ghdts are
step-flights of cut stone ; and chains and rings in
the wall enable the boatmen to work up during the
flood. The saint spe§,ks excellent Hindostani, and
he is especially ciAdl to us, presenting roses and carda
moms. Some fifty foUowers in turbans of thefr own

216 Sind Revisited.
hair, ochre- coloured cottons, and coats of ashes, are
here fed every day. I commend the care of them to
the Superintendent of Police ; mostly they are spies
used by the Hindu Mdhdrajahs and Rajahs to carry
confidential messages^ — treasonable, of course.
Dm Beld, or "Faith Forest," is bare as your
hand ; the single stepped dome of its forgotten
saint is crumbling, despite the whitewash ; and the
heaps of steamer-fuel which invest it explain the
modern and Frankish name "(Navy) Wood Island."
I could learn nothing of the curious fact mentioned
by Mr. E. B. Eastwick (Murray's Handbook for
1859, p. 492), that a building is still visible in the
centre of the stream, a little below this Din Beld.
Far away on the right bank rise the cupolas of Old
Sakhar, a place of minor importance, girt by the
normal tombs : at our feet lies the Cantonment,
once a burial-ground and now a kind of deserted
city ; and behind us, amongst the date-orchards of
the banks, forming tall colonnades and tufted tops,
appears the large and populous bdzdr which has won
the name of New Sakhar.
Particularly attractive is this view when seen at
the morning hour. The sun slowly tops " Fort
Victoria on the Indus," the new and all but un
known name for Bakar, and washes with crimson
the opposite part of the brown stream ; the afry
depths sparkle with blue ; light mists cling to the
wooded lowlands, giving a charm of indistinctness
to the distant prospect, and the foreground is tawny
as the Arabj^n Desert, The first smile of day lights

Sakhar Reach. 217

up the little archipelago of islets and holms,
crowned with forts and ruins, and lends a glory
not thefr own to the mausoleum of Adam Shah
Kalh6ra ; to the various Id-gdhs which crown the
heights, and to the adobe-built dead-walls of Rohri,
based upon its plateau of shining- white nummulitic
limestone. The general contrast betAveen the fea
tures that stand out in the horizontal beams, and
those about which the purple shades of dawn still
linger, is as striking as any modern lover of land
scape can desire.
With one glance you perceive, Mr. John Bull,
how this section of the river, popularly known as
Sakhar Reach, came to be so thickly built over. In
ancient days, when the Indus occupied the Eastern
Ndrd bed, some twelve miles to the east of Rohri, it
was, you may be sure, bleak and barren enough. Pre
sently the stream shifted its course to the present
line, by cutting away the loose and fossiliferous
strata of the nummulitic ridge, full of the N. LcBvi-
gata, and leaving the harder crystalline masses,
which, pudding'd with agates and flints,* form the
four islands and the hillocks of Sakhar and Rohri.
'About Rohri an immense quantity of flakes and cones has
been lately found (since 1867), by Lieutenant Twemlow, by Mr.
John Tate, C.E., District Executive Engineer, and by my friend
Mr. W. T. Blanford, of the Geological Survey, who kindly sent me
specimens. The locaUty was the ridgy Une running north-south
between Rohri and Aror, and almost equi-distant from both
places ; south of the Aror channel none have yet occurred, but
further investigation may prove successful. Evidently the site was
a place of manufacture ; with few exceptions the implements are
broken, and they are the failures and castaways. Mr. Blanford has

218 Sind Revisited.

Bakar thus moated, was easily fortified, and in the
days when howitzers, mines, and torpedoes were
unknown, it became the key of Sind. Insulated
and at times cut off from communication with the
land, this stronghold was doubtless more important
than comfortable or convenient ; for which reason
the towns of Sakhar and Rohri presently sprang up
on either bank.
Allow me to be your cicerone, sfr, and to begin
with holy Rohri.
" Rohri," which the people stUl call Lohri, is
derived from the name of some fisherman ; we
find the word in other parts of Sind, notably in
Ibn Batuta's " Lahari " (a.d, 1383), and in Cap
tain Hamilton's " Larribundar," afterwards caUed
" Lowry Bunder," According to the oldest authori
ties, its ancient name was Loharkot. It stands
upon a broken cliff of limestone, some forty-five feet
high, and hence the commanding aspect from the
stream ; and it was founded in a.h. 698 (==a.d.
1297) by (the Sayyid) Rukn el-Dln Shah, who
failed to bequeath his name to it. It is a quasi-
sacred spot, and the country -traditions romance its
origin as follows. A shepherd observed every night
a dazzling luminous appearance, which at first he
supposed to be some caravan's watch-fire ; presently
its persistence caused him to send his wife to
described his find in pp. 134-6, Proceedings, Asiatic Society of
Bengal, for July, 1875. There the reader wiU learn that Sind has
now supplied a far finer collection of sU ex-implements than the
Buldk Museum near Cairo can show.

Rohri. 219
reconnoitre,. The good woman reported that she
could not reach the flame, which danced away from
her and vanished in a preternatural manner, and
the subsequent experience of the husband confirmed
that of his spouse. What remained for him but
to conclude that the appearance was miraculous,
and that it was sent as a " solemn warning," to use
the words of my Scotch major? Sindis favoured
Avith visions from the dark world are apt to throw
away the pomps and vanities of the present life,
wife and children included; and, accordingly, the
shepherd, erecting a Takiyah, or Fakfr's seat,
became a beggar and a man of Allah, Thus Rohri,
in all probability, owes its origin to a wUl-o'-the-
wisp ; quite as good an ancestor, methinks, as a
bull's hide or a dozen vultures.
In the sixteenth century of our era, the far-
famed mystic, Abd el-Kddir el-JUdni, born in the
Caucasio-Persian province of Ghildn; or, according
to others, one Makhdiim Abd el-Bdki, a pious
citizen of Stambul, emigrated, for what reason we
are not told, to Upper Sind. Finding Rohri rich
in temporaUties as well as in spiritual gifts, he
deposited in the Jdmi' * (town cathedral) the Mii-i-
Mubdrik, or Holy Hair, an item from the Apostle
of Allah's venerated beard. Others declare that
the relic, originally preserved by Umm Salmd, was
in the possession of a widow body who, though
intending it for Bokhdrd, consented to deposit it at
' Jdmi' is the correct term for a large or cathedral mosque,
which the vulgar caU Jam'a Masjid, "assembly-mosque."

220 Sind Revisited.

Rohri, and we shrewdly suspect that the mythus
descended from Budhistic days. However this may
be, the Hair * stood its normal mfracle -trials trium
phantly as any chip of the True Cross, vial of the
Virgin's milk, or cuttings of St. Peter's toe-nails,
and performed such incontestable supernaturalities,
that Scepticism, strange to say, was at a nonplus,
whilst Faith flocked, from the four quarters of the
Moslem world, to perform Ziydrat (visitation) and
to merit well of Heaven. Pious Mujdwirs, or keepers,
took charge of the hafr, and also throve. So did
the mosque, built, as an inscription tells us, in
A.H. 992(=A.D. 1564), by the Emperor Akbar, and
so, consequently, throve universal Rohri. Thus, you
see, the town owed its existence to a feufollet, and
its fortunes to a hair, or rather half a hair ; pheno
mena at which the learned archaeo-historiographer
will by no means turn up his nose.
But Holiness — how obedient in this respect to
the Laws of Change which govern things profane ! —
hath her day, and heedless Time kicks over with
equal foot the Mosque, the Palace, and the Ryot's
hut. About a quarter of a century ago Rohri was
still a sacred place, but its sanctity was decrepit ;
the town was almost in ruins, and I likened it, in
' The " Qanoon-i-Islam " (p. 154, Madras Edition) says : "Some
(Moslems) keep by them an asar-e-shurreef {i.e., the sacred
emblem), aUas, aaar-e-moobarik (the blessed token), which, they
say, is a hair either of the Prophet's beard or moustachios. This
is preserved in a silver tube, imbedded in ubeer (powder of various
perfumed woods), and its dignity is supposed to be even greater
than that of the sacred foot." Thus India must contain several
hundredweights of Mohammed's beard.

Rohri Reviving. 221
worldly matters, to an aged bankrupt who, having
passed through the court, lives obscurely secure and
permanently ruined. The two chief scourges of
the East, the Priest and the Prince, had sapped
the very foundations of its prosperity. The former
insisted not only upon devouring the fat of the
land ; he also demanded and obtained the largest
and the most expensive estabUshments, colleges, and
houses devoted to supplying him with successors.
The latter, who had his seat at the neighbouring
town of Khayrpiir, plundered all that the Church
left unplundered. And the last change is, perhaps,
the saddest. Rohri now flourishes, but the Banyan
is the lord of all he surveys ; and the future
destinies of the Holy Place are dependent upon the
Infidel Railway — an innovation which is palpably
due to the busy brain of the Foul Fiend.
We embark upon the little steam-ferry, a
Government affair, let to a Parsi farmer, which for
one anna (three halfpence) carries us in elcA^en
minutes over the mile up-stream. There are two
of these articles, stern- wheelers both, the "Sukkur"
and the "Roree," which ply during alternate months,
when that off duty is let for pic-nics at Rs. 40 per
diem. Note the curious contrasts with the civilized
vehicle, that Banyan's ass, generaUy an iniquce
mentis asellus, with split nostrUs ; and the Fakir
in ragged robes and bard-like meteoric hair, which
waves with the wind, as he whisks and jerks his
head from side to side, pumping out the monosyUable
Hakh, i.e.. Truth, i.e., Allah,

222 Sind Revisited.

Landing at a bit of mud-pier, we pass over
the dusty modern causeway which has banked out
the stream and converted into dry ground the
quondam islets, the Takiyah of Mewaldds and its
neighbour; both Hindu fanes, surrounded by jujubes,
figs, and palms, and protected by swish-walls. The
tall houses of Rohir are made taller by the rock
foundation, and by the lofty window-holes, whilst
the flat roofs bear fences of reeds like what you may
see at Tiberias ; most of them have been rebuUt
and repaired. The Id-gdh, or place for the Festival-
prayers — three domes upon angular drums, and
connected by masonry curtains — is in good repair,
and every hUlock bears one or more sanctified ruins
which look down upon the unholy Railway. A
few new bungalows crown the heights and com
mand charming views ; they belong to the Deputy
Collector and to the railway, now the provisional
tramway, officials.
Mounting a new flight of steps, we follow the
narrow alley leading to the house of the Mujdwir,
Halim UUah. A stern long-bearded senior, he con
ducts us across the way, spreads a carpet upon a
Chdrpdi, or four-footed cot, and brings out a bundle
to be throned upon a small cane stool. Then, sitting
opposite and below it, he begins, with many nasal
prayers, to unfold eleven covers, handsome cloths
presented by rich votaries ; and he ends by display
ing the Dastdr, or cap and tight turban ; the Kabd
(robe), and the drinking-pot and rosary of the great
Abd el-Kddir, A rupee being weU spent, we repafr

Holy Rohri. 223

to the Shrine of the Holy Hair, which is committed to
the green-robed Pfr-bakhsh Abd el-Sattdr. Opposite
the. little room sit, in awestruck reverence, a dozen
Burka' wearers, with latticed faces, and long dirty-
white robes hiding their charms from head to heel.
The same ceremony of peeling off some fourteen
cloths, and at last we reach an etui, shaped some
what like a short Persian inkstand ; gold studded
with rubies and emeralds, the gift of the Bahd-
walpiir chief, as well as the sUver-legged cot which
supports it. Inside, a leaf- shaped coA'-er, also of
gold, conceals the tube, formed like the segment
of a smaU candle, and studded with fourteen rows
of rubies : from its top projects the Holy Hair.
The appearance of this " Wdr Mubdrak " is greeted
with a murmur of profoundest reverence, especially
by the women : to our Western eyes, it is mightily
like a light-coloured bristle. When I first saw it,
sfr, the colour was certainly darker and the length
was greater; a sceptic suggested that the change
is due to the insolvency and the general ruin of the
no longer " Sublime Porte," and of the anything
but " Grand Turk." We know that the beard of
the Apostle of AUah was black, and we have, I
have told you, a distinct tradition concerning its
maximum length. But we refrain from these
captious objections ; we pay the fee, and we go
our ways.
Even the bdzdr of Rohri is now in a thriving
state ; it is a mUd imitation of Shikdrpiir, and the
Banyans eye us with friendly glances. We have

224 Sind Revisited.

not been long enough in Sind, we have been in
Hind, for men to forget what native rule was, and
to dissemble from themselves what it would be if
restored. The new quarter beyond it is the Cowper-
ganj, so called after a favourite magistrate ; and
here the Dharmsdld, or Travellers' Bungalow, with
its adjoining mosque, is kept in decent order.
At the squares and open places there are also
masonry-pillars for lamps, and the Thdnd, or police-
station, you may be sure, is not forgotten ; in fact,
there are two.
Returning to the shore for a native boat, we
enter Akbar 's mosque, a Jdmi', or cathedral, which,
built by Fath Khan, has a fagade of three arched
divisions and no minarets. The Persian tiles,
chiefly blue, with white inscriptions and ornaments,
are evidently old : they look like ancient painted
glass by the side of the modern manufacture, the
work of Multdn, Hdld, and of Pfra jo Got'h. This
style of decoration seems to have become fashionable
amongst Moslems about the thfrteenth century, and
to have declined about a.d. 1750. The colours are
mostly blues and purples of various shades ; white,
green, and rarely yellow : as in Syria, the relative
depth of the glaze is the test of antiquity and
excellence. The chemical analysis for 1874-5 ( § 64)
gives Fe. 0. alumina, silica, and a little antimony
in the sand which forms the black glaze ; when
heated in a crucible with Na. 0. C. 0.^ it produces
a beautiful dark blue ; the purple is produced by
black oxide of manganese, and the yellow by

Rohri Walls. 225

orpiment.* Specimens were sent to the Vienna
Weltausstellung by Sir William L. Merewether,
the present Commissioner of Sind, and at Sakhar
I shall make a small collection of select fragments
for the benefit of an artistic friend.
Waiting for the boat, we remark that the river-
face of Rohri is, or rather has been, fortified with
curtains and bastions. The material is the hard
crystalline limestone which forms the shore, and the
cement has apparently been scratched over. Our
guide, a police Havilddr obligingly detached on this
duty by the civil Faujddr, Ghuldm Dastgfr, assures
me that when washed it becomes like a mirror, and
that its excessive hardness and polish are due to
some Masdld (" medicine,") mixed up in the lime ;
oil is the general idea. The several waterlines are
distinct ; the maximum here marking between
fifteen and sixteen feet, to the fourteen at Kotri.
We are also shown the broad deserted bed of a
stream which, of course, in days of yore, was
the Indus ; it runs almost at right-angles with
the Ndrd Supply Canal, finished in 1859, at an
expenditure of seven lakhs. Opposite, on the
Sakhar side, appear the six arches of the Sakhar
Canal, whose expensive sluices are said to have
cost three lakhs. The sum is certainly well laid
out. Presently appear the boatmen, whose contracted
' My old friend. Dr. Stocks, admirably described the materials
of the tiles and the way of manufacturing them. See the
Gazetteer, p. 245.
VOL, II, 37

226 Sind Revisited.

eyes and maudlin faces assure us that they have
swallowed thefr daily dose of bhang ; the only
sober one of the party is the sturdy matron who
takes the rudder-oar. Our passengers are aU Hindu
women, bound for the island of Khwdjeh Khizr,
fronting Rohri, from whose grove and domes pro
ceeds a distant thunder of kettle-drums. This
popular Moslem Saint was a rival of Moses, a
great prophet, Phineas and Elijah in one, and a
Wandering Jew who drank the Waters of Immor
tality, and who becomes all kinds of people. The
Hindus here worship Jendd Pir, who is nothing
but the River Indus, whilst the Sikhs have a little
fane, founded, they say, by some Guru (saint-teacher).
Nowhere is the Sindi's confusion of faiths, elsewhere
so antagonistic, better illustrated.
We alight upon the half-acre of barren sand
and enter the blue gateway, distorted by its loose
and jdelding foundation. Here the Mujdwirs meet
us, and offer to show the sights, provided we unshoe,
A pair of silver doors leads to the central building,
whose date is given by the Persian inscription as
foUows :
" When this court was raised, be it kno-wn
That the waters of Khizr surrounded it ;
Khizr wrote this in pleasing verse.
The date is found from the Court of the High One
(Dargdh i AU)."
The chronogram thus gives a.h. 341 (==a.d, 952),
or about two centuries and a half after the Moslem
conquest. The building was begun by Shah
Husayn, the merchant whose prayers to Khwdjeh

Bakar, the Dawn. 227
Khizr diverted the course of the Indus from Aror,
We then walk round, noticing the number of
" Gen too " worshippers ; to the east there are three
domes, and a cave dedicated to the Chdr Ydr,
or Four Friends of Mohammed, Avhilst a small
mean mosque fills the south-western corner. The
reverend men, you see, are all in liquor ; Sabzi
(bhang) is being openly prepared within the holy
precincts, and the whole affair wears a pronounced
look of debauchery.
We then drop down stream to Bakar; and land,
a little above the mild maelstrom known as the
Deg, or Kettle : here the Zendnah-baths of the Amirs
have been converted into an Indometer, now show
ing seven feet and three-quarters of rise. It is
a pole in a hole, a sadly prpsaic, modern, and
Frankish copy of the venerable Nilometer at
Cairene Raudah.* The islet "Bakar" (the dawn),
so called because it was the earliest settlement of
El-Islam, is a rock, originaUy a hiUock on the
plain, some thirty feet above the level of the Indus,
and well commanded by both banks. It came into
our hands by a peculiar exercise of diplomatic
headwork. In a separate treaty, concluded Decem
ber 24, 1838, with the Talpur Amirs of Khayrpiir,
a significant clause had been introduced by those
crafty barbarians, stipulating that the gentlemen
with white faces should not appropriate to them
selves any of the forts on either side the Indus.
Thereupon the British TaUeyrand, conscientiously
' There is another at Kotri.

228 Sind Revisited.

remarking, "It is curious how cunning people out
wit themselves," laid violent hands on Bakar, con
sidering it neutral ground in, not on, the River.
Thus, in due time, "the British Ensign was," as
we are officially informed, "planted on this im
portant fortress." It received a Christian name on
the occasion, and it was at first highly prized by
the new possessors, probably on the principle that
makes us always think stolen fruit the sweetest.
It has now palled upon the palate and we have
deserted it,
Bakar, in 1876, consists of a wall of baked brick,
and of a coronet of curtains, bastions, and towers,
evidently new and old. The former, repafred, at
an expense of Rs. 30,000, as a refuge for the
destitute in the days of the Mutiny, is poor work ;
the latter may be known by its " dished " crenelles,
which bend forward, a peculiar shape, and by its
Damdghah (nostrils) or long meurtrieres, which
carry the loop-hole almost to the ground. On the
southern side there is a little vegetation, an ad
mirable breeding ground for mosquitoes ; whUst a
clump of dates to the north-west shelters the last
resting-place of another Pfr. Eastward the ground
outlying the wall has been washed for saltpetre ;
this deleterious material, whose galvanic action
injures even the iron telegraph-posts, has gnawed
with invisible tooth the lower surface of the fine
brickwork, making it assume a mangy red. We
pass the dilapidated tomb-dome of the old Governor,
at which, in happier days, many a prayer has been

Bakar Island. 229

breathed, and enter the northern gate, the only one
of the four still left open. The interior is a bare
and tumbled terre pleine, partly covered with ruins
and stumps of masonry. The grave of Shaykh
Bakrii, who, according to some authorities, named
the islet, is still covered with the cloth of honour.
We peep into the open tenement of the Pir
Nau-gazd, the "nine-cubit Santon" and, by remov
ing the shroud, we ascertain that this Sindi Chang
had a brain-pan somewhat smaller than our own.
The popular belief is that the grave will insist upon
opening, however strongly you repair it ; and that
the cerements and bones refuse to decay. A
melancholy care-taker, an old native officer of
Sepoys, shows us the now deserted jail which
caused the other gates to be blocked up ; and
assures us that the tiled pent-house, representing
the powder-magazine of the Ordnance Department,
cost a lakh.
We have now, Mr. John Bull, "done " our Bakar,
a place once so holy that the Pallo never would
turn tail upon it : the intelligent and reverential
fishes always retired with the rigid court ceremonies
adopted when approaching it. They are, it is true,
comparatively rare in the upper waters, and the
scoffers, who have come even to Sind in these latter
days, declare that the stream is too strong for
them. But the labours of ichthyologists, especially
upon the River Amazonas, have proved that the
distribution of the genera and species is distmctly
limited, and that the boundaries are somewhat

230 Sind Revisited.

arbitrary. The last hope for Bakar is, alas ! the
Kdfir railway-bridge, whose tall arches, raised
high enough to prevent its fouling the huge
antennae of the native craft, will here find a
central pier.* We are surprised that any other
was ever dreamt of by the engineers, and yet two
preliminary sites were prospected.
Remains only to visit the ragged and picturesque
spine of limestone a little below Bakar : its strata,
like those of the adjoining lumps, dip slightly to
the north-east, and thus suggest that a sinking in
the ridge, possibly caused by an earthquake, enabled
Father Indus to make for himself a new bed.
Converted into an island during the annual flood,
it is known as Satina jo Thdn, the seat of the Sati, or
celibate women, not of the burnt widows, a custom
apparently unknown to Hindu Sind. The Frankish
foreigners, evidently confusing the first word with
" Sata-bain " or " Sata-dhi " (septem sorores),
have christened it the Seven Daughters or Vfrgins.
From the club-footed Fakfr who inhabits the wasp-
nests of mud plastered against the south-eastern
angle of the fine brick-building, we learn that the
Satis here appeared in a dream to the young
Moslem Conqueror, Mohammed bin Kdsim,^ who
had made it his Astdneh, or resting-place, and
' The bridge over the St. Lawrence is, I believe, proposed as the
model. The Indus was here boat-bridged for Lord Keane's army
in 1838 by Major George Thomson.
* The Gazetteer (p. 655) tells us that the buUding is "more
correctly caUed the Thdn Kdsim Shdh," from one of the Sabzawdri
Sayyids, supposed to have died here about a.d, 1608.

The "Seven Daughters." 231
urged him to attack Ddhir,* the Rdjput ruler of
Aror, Hence its sanctity in the good old times
now gone by.
We take boat from the Rohri shore, and a few
strokes of the oar land us at the southern bank
of the Satis' islet, where the grove of dates and
trees might be quadrupled by a little industry and
activity. Here, after mounting a rickety flight
of steps, brick repaired with crumbling mud, we
find ourselves in a small domed hall with two
chabutarahs, or masonry bench-seats. One side
is the Fakir's godown, the other (north-east) shows
the door, jealously locked to men, of the cell
honoured by the gracious presence of the Satis :
we peep between the planks, and see — nothing.
Another short staircase, in better repafr, places us
upon the terrace of a long narrow buUding, based
upon the normal block of Umestone, and rising
sheer from the stream. The pantUed flat serves as
foundation for a host of holy tombs, whose pre
siding Santon is the Mir (Sayyid) Abd el-Kdsim
of Rohri. They may be distributed into four
several blocks ; easternmost is a group demarked
by a set of four minarets, sham affairs, pretty
enough, but never meant to be ascended ; they are
piUars of solid brickwork, faced with Persian tUes.
Scattered and ruined sepulchres throng the terrace
between it and No, 2 group, where the Sayyid and
1 This chief, who is known to have been kUled by the Arab
invader, is often confounded in legends with a much more modern
personage, Dalurd, for whom see Chapter III.

232 Sind Revisited.

his company repose : here the ninepins are of larger
size ; and the tombs are either sandstones, flat-
topped and inscribed, or glazed tiles with waggon-
tilt roofs. Finally, to the west of all is a neat little
mosque, and below, near the river shore, is another
of smaller dimensions, both, of course, in ruins.
From the east end of the islet we see a simUar
rock-lump, crowned with the crumbling Mausoleum
of Pir Abii Sumad, popularly called Hdji Motii,
dwarfed by its background, two hideous telegraph-
piers ten stories high, whose terminal mast is
about to be raised seventy-five feet above the Indus
in flood. Finally, to the south, and beyond the
causeway, lie the desolate ruins of another holy
man's long and once gaudy home.
We again take boat, and land on the right bank
under old Sakhar, which occupies the dangerous
angle projecting into the great bend of the Indus.
The strip of soil along the stream is of exceeding
fertility ; half a mile away from it, nothing appears
but the usual South Sind aspect of glitter and sun-
glare, barrenness and desolation. Hence, probably,
the city's name, derived from "Sukh" (ease and en
joyment) ; the Sayyid Murid Ali, the cadet of a race
now respectable, but once receivers of stolen goods,
assures us, however, that the original term is
" Shukr ! " (thanks !) the grateful ejaculation of
Mohammed bin Kdsim. Sakhar shows the normal
enormous suburb of ruins, chiefly graveyards, and
a nucleus of mud-town, including a mean bdzdr.
There is a whitewashed dome capping the usual

New Sakhar. 233

parallelogram of variegated tilery ; and an adjoining
cage contains a tiger whose tempest of temper is
aUayed by semi-starvation. A second white dome,
the tomb of Shah Khayr el-Din (1758) has been
utilized, first as Colonel Wallace's court, and now
as a branch Vernacular School,
New Sakhar, in 1848, the camp and bdzdr,
is separated from its old parent by the open space
and the dusty road, which are apparently sine qud
nons in Sind as well as in Hind. It was formerly,
I told you, a burial-ground. All the buttons of
rock and the crests of the little stony ridges,
cropping here and there out of the river-silt and
dust which form the plain, bore the brick mausolea
of dead venerables, each chief family having
its own. The tombs were appropriated, pierced for
windows, furnished with mud-verandahs, and con
verted into bungalows by the first military settlers,
who had thefr dwellings among the tombs : even
Ma'asiim's minaret, the Monument of Sakhar,
ran imminent risk of becoming a " Griffin Hall."
Vainly the people claimed the right of way to their
ancestral graves : it Avas ruled that the ovraership
had passed into other hands. Presently the Pfrs and
Pirzddehs revenged themselves. Two Misses G  ,
the daughters of an officer, died consumptive : a
young Lieutenant N  was found dying on the
ground below Clibborn's Point : he had been playing
cards in the bungalow, and he could only mutter
" Not fair, not fair ! " The actors in that ugly affair
also died mis.erably : Mac  in Austria, and

234 Sind Revisited.

Phil  in the civil hospital at Goa. Finally,
Lieutenant C  , weak with fever, attempting to
climb a pile of tents in yonder "Accordion Bungalow,"
brought it down upon himself, died, and was not
found till the second or third day. Such was the
penalty of sacrilege : apparently, however, the
Pfrs and Pfrzddehs have now, like the eels, grown
accustomed to it ; Ave hear, at least, of no more
such deaths.
Sakhar, when we occupied it, had almost lost
vitality; 4,000 inhabitants (Burnes, 1834) were all
that remained in the ancient city, and tales are told
of its citizens being carried off by tigers and
leopards: in 1876 it may number 12,000 souls.
The first restorative administered to it was the
military cantonment. Barracks and prison-cells
were built upon the northern ridge for the one
European regiment, and the single company of
Artillery : lines for the Sepoy corps occupied the
loAver ground, upon which parades were held. The
Indus Flotilla was ordered to fix its head-quarters
at Sakhar. Then arose a huge native bdzdr to
the west, with shops in multitudes, and Parsi stores
of ham, pickles, pale ale, fine wines, curagoa,
soda-water (then imported, now made), and a long
list of similar notions and necessaries, Sakhar
became a flourishing place, but its prosperity was
not permanent. Ignorance of the climate and want
of common precautions made it a play -ground
for tertians and dysentery. At last, in 1846, the
78 th Highlanders, after over-fatigue and exposure,

Old Sakhar. 235

were attacked by a fulminating fever which in
a few days floored half the corps ; * they were
bled, they were embarked on board native boats,
and consequently, before it left Haydardbdd for
Kardchi, the unfortunate corps numbered some 500
casualties. Sakhar New Town is redeemed from the aspect
of utter desolation only by the presence of a few
civilians, and the railAvay and telegraph officials.
There is not a soldier nor a sepoy in the camp ;
their duty is done entirely by the poUcemen of this
district, which is separate from the other three,
Kardchi, Haydardbdd, and Tharr-cum-Pdrkar to
the south-east. The only noticeable improvement
is in the matter of roads, especiaUy Wallace's
Cutting ; in the bit of tramway to the store-dep6ts,
which forks eastward ; in the Residency, a new
feature, whose Doric pillars of mud at once attract
the eye ; in the handsome market-hall which, one
quarter built, decorates the new bdzdr ; and flnally,
in the library, another novelty, with church-tower,
sham battlements, and a clock which persistently
refuses to go. The latter contains the High, or
English, school, showing a list of 92 boys ; the
other sex studies at Gharibdbdd in the new bdzdr ;
here also assemblies are held, and here is the tempor
ary church whilst a special building, which does not
get on "like a pair of old boots," is in progress.
Among the improvements I must include the
' Described in the late Colonel W. K. Stuart's (C.B.) " Reminis
cences of a Soldier," 2 vols.. Hurst and Blackett, 1874.

236 Sind Revisited.
stone-pitched Ghdt, useful to the washerman, the
women's bathing-compound, the machinery-yard of
the veteran Mr. Boyce, and lastly the steam ferry.
We cannot, sir, speak favourably of the Travellers'
Bungalow, whose rascally messman charges us about
1000 per cent, on washing and soda-water.
But dull, desolate, decayed, miserable-looking
Sakhar has a future. Bad as the climate is, men
live longer in it than at Shikdrpiir or Jacobdbdd.
The raUway, which the engineers seem trying their
hardest not to make, must some day be finished :
it will not only connect Sind with India, but it
must also attract to itself aU the outlying settle
ments. Common sense, again, Avill presently with
draw the Sind Horse from wretched malarious
Jacobdbdd, a prison with the chance of being
drowned. The occupation of Kelat will give poor
old Sakhar an excellent sanitarium, and the annexa
tion of the Unhappy Valley to the broad and fertile
plains of the Panjdb will make it, I venture to pre
dict, one of the principal stations upon the highway
of commerce.

( 237 )

CHAPTER XXVIII.
SHIKARPIJr — ITS BAzIr — ITS HINDUS AND ITS
FUTURE.
ShikarptJr, distant twenty-three mUes, will be an
interesting place to you, Mr. John Bull, veteran
admirer of commercial enterprise !
Formerly we should have mounted our horses
and crossed the sUty plain at a hand-gaUop: now
we engage a " Shigram," a roomy coffin on wheels,
drawn by a pair of buUocks, paying Mr. Anderson
Rs. 5 for the trip, and half price for return: we
shaU set out at 9 p.m., doze on the road, smoke
a pipe at Mogrdni, the half-way house, and finish
the march by 7 a.m. The highway is as good as
it can be, and the natives have invented what I
shaU caU " Sind Macadam," a thick layer of the
Jawdri (holcus) -stalk or the substantial " Kdno,"
which prevents the silt being pounded to dust.
The reed is much like " Pampa-grass," so caUed
because it never grows upon the Pampas. This
vegetable metaUing begins about Ldrkdna.
We pass out of Sakhar from the TraveUers'

238 Sind Revisited.
Bungalow inclining to the north-west, leaAdng a
large clump of tombs on the right. The chief items
front the river. They are the tUe-clad mausoleum
of Mir (Sayyid) Ghuldm Ali and its surroundings :
his northern neighbour, Mfr Abd el-Bdki, shows
inferior work, and lastly the tomb of Shah Moham
med Mekkai adjoins the Catholic Chapel. Upon
the hill to the north lies the desecrated fane of
the Chdr Ydr, and that tall adobe-ruin to the East
was used in happier days as a Belvedere and Lust-
haus by the Zendnah of the Amfrs : it still retains
signs of bungalow-hood. Ofi' the road, and the
other side of the bdzdr, is a stone-revetted tomb,
containing an angular bastion, garnished with trees
and flower-pots : in India it Avould be surrounded
with gardens and pleasure-grounds. Crossing the
ridge, which stiU shows the old barracks, by
" Trevor's FoUy," a prodigious descent now made
easy, we leave on the left the neglected gardens of
the municipality, and to the right the deserted
race-course. We then turn off westward towards
the knob of corniced rock which bears the mauso
leum of Adam Shah Kalh6ra, the most saintly of
that ecclesiastical race ; it is conspicuous from the
river as you approach Sakhar, The large burial-
ground below the hill shows the Ramdzdn straw-
horse and the tattered Tdbiits, or biers, which are
expected to do duty next year. We climb Adam
Shah's overhanging rock by steps cut in the side
and furnished above with a dwarf parapet. Here
are nine large external tombs and four flattened

To Shikdptlr. 239

domes, two of which form a single block : the
grave under the smaller detached cupola shows
yellow-varnished tiles which we would willingly
appropriate. All open southwards ; the domes are
polygonal, and the interiors are in the honeycomb-
style familiar to the Moslem World,
The j ourney now begins in real earnest. We enter
a broad tract of productive, not producing, country ;
an expanse of low scattered bush, like hair-tufts on
an African scalp, Avith occasional breaks of wheat,
holcus, sugar-cane, and the tall trees that generally
denote a village. This is our desert ; not a sea of
sand, the desert of your imagination before you left
England, nor a rocky barren waste, the desert of
your observation from the Suez Canal : here the
wilderness is a dead flat, a horizon-gfrt circle of
duU, dry, drab clay, resembling the tamped floor of
a mud-house, in the atmosphere of a brick-kiln. It
bears little beyond the bones of horses and camels,
with waifs and strays of broken bottles at far
intervals ; there is no more grass on it than in the
streets of Belgravia or the Chaussde d'Antin, but a
little water would soon render it verdurous as the
by-ways of Pisa, Warwick, or Arras,
Our only diversions during the cold night, which
shows in early April 66° (F.),* are the creaking of
the frequent hackery-carts Avhich carry thefr human
1 At Shikdrpiir, in early March, 1876, the shade max. was
95° (F.), and the min. 56° (F.) From March 8 to 15 the figures
were 100° (F.), and 60° (F.), with the mean of 81°. The max.
shade-temperature recorded of late years is 109° (F.) ; the min.
30°. In England 62° (F.) is held the best room-temperature.

240 Sind Revisited.
loads to Shikdrpur, the grunting of grain-laden
camels, an occasional lighting to read the inscrip
tions on the tall white mile-posts, and the ascents
and descents of the brick-bridges which span the
various canals, the Sakharwdh, and the Choti
Bigdriwdh, and the Raiswdh. At the Great Sind
Canal, distant some two miles from our destina
tion, we are shown the mud-bungalow where the
Banyans meet to enjoy one of their multitudinous
Mela, or fairs. Then begins a long avenue of figs
and " gold Mohrs " (Poincianas), through whose
feathery plume we descry the Ldl Bangld (red
bungalow), now the Kacheri, or court of the town
magistrate, Waliddd Khan Talpur.
The gardens of this suburb are some of the pret
tiest in camp, and an abundance of water makes
them ever green. Even the bifurcations of the
roads form dwarf flower-plots bearing white and red
oleanders, the latter the reddest "Nosegays of St,
Joseph " you ever saw, whilst the green parroquets
and the painted jays are brilliant as the vegetation.
We pass the civil hospital, the jaU with its adjoin
ing Mosque, and the deserted TraveUers' Bungalow,
where there is never a messman, and where you
must sleep upon the bedless bedstead ; the old
camp bdzdr, half ruins, half habitations; the
Roman Catholic Chapel, which ignores the priest ;
and a number of once comfortable homes, all busy
falling to pieces at the pace chosen by themselves.
In one of them we particularly remark the Tah-
Khdneh, or vaulted room where the inmates fled the

Kelat, the Sanitarium. 241
noontide heat, but the ceding has faUen in and only
a hole remains. Finally, we are fortunate enough to
meet Dr, S. H. Salaman, Civil-Surgeon, who leads
us at once to his bungalow, supplies us with tea
and tobacco, and promises us much sight-seeing
before breakfast. The only other officer now in the
place is Mr, Fulton, Bombay C.S,, Judge and Educa
tional Inspector, with whom we shall dine before
departure. All the rest are in the districts or at
Jacobdbdd, where a force is assembling for field-
service. Much mystery overhangs its destination.
Some declare that it is intended to assist the Khan of
Kelat against his rebel chiefs : others opine that the
Supreme Government would not have transferred
the command of the frontier from Sir WUliam
L, Merewether to Colonel Munro and Major Sande-
man if it had intended to follow out the Commis
sioner's policy, I have ventured, sir, to point out
the unwisdom of interposing when native rulers
and their vassals quarrel. We have nothing to gain,
much to lose, in a matter where gratitude cannot be
expected; and I only hope that the objective of
this movement wiU be to provide Sind with a
glorious sanitarium,
Shikdrpiir, the city, dates, as she is now, from
A.D. 1617.* Her position, south of the Bolan Pass
and eminently favourable to commerce, soon made
her the main entrepdt of the Khorasan and Central
1 Major-General Sir F. J. Goldsmid tells the popular tale how
Pir, aUas Sultan, Ibrdhim Shah, chief of the Dd'iidputra weavers,
afte'r letting drop a naU, laid the foundations of the town in 154L
VOL, II, ^^

242 Sind Revisited.
Asian caravan-trade with Sind and Western India,
The country around has been rich and productive ;
traces of this prosperity stiU remain in the large
and numerous canals which intersect it. In a,d,
1786, Taymiir Shah, the Afghan, when he permitted
the Talpur house to replace the Kalh6ras, raised
Shikdrpifr high above aU the marts on the Indus,
simply by priAoleging Hindiis to settle in it, and to
trade without dread of indefinite extortions. These
people are principally of the Lohdnd and Bhdtiyd
castes, common in Sind and in the southern provinces
of the Panjdb, Thefr spfrit of enterprise, developed
by such simple means, showed itself in a way which
deserves mention ; and, at one time, the wealthy
city numbered some 40,000 souls.
Camp, bounded north by the Raiswdh, south by
the Choti Begdri is, as usual, separated from town,
which lies about a mUe to the north-east : the
intervening tract of bushy ground, fiooded during
the inundation, breeds a plague of mosquitoes, and,
curious to say, white ants which are not found
in the " native " settlement. The interval is inter
sected Avith broad and reed-metalled roads, and
there are some 130 weUs and large tanks — for
instance, the Hazdriwdh and the Gillespiewdh —
which, though partly disinfected by thefr carpet
of water-lilies, must, during the heats, become
nursery-beds of malaria. Here, and we may say
tliroughout Sind, the sickly season is the autumn,
the drying up of the waters. The same is the case
in Syria : it is much less so on the banks of Nilus,

Rainfall.

243

where the " fall " forms one of the delights of the
year. The rain-gauge greatly varies, from a mini
mum of inches 0'93 cents, to a maximum of 10"44 ;
and this irregularity attacks the popular and general
idea that showers are attracted by planting trees.
Throughout Upper and Central Sind rain is uni
versally held injurious, and the Hindus declare
that Megha-Rajah, the Cloud King, was bound
over to keep the peace with ,them. The belief is
supported by the fact that 1874, the most rainy of
eleven years, was also the most unhealthy of the
score which preceded it.* Here, too, the people
reckon five seasons, which we wUl thus tabulate —

Chayt, Spring, in March and AprU.
2,3
(Summer and south winds)
Arur, hot-wind time, in May and June.
Sdwan, hot-damp time, in July and August.
4,5
(Winter and north winds)
Siro, Autumn, in September and October.
iro. Winter, from November to February.

Our hospitable host and guide, than whom we
cannot have a better, harnesses his horse and drives
us before breakfast to see the poor old Camp. The
first visit is to the jail, a quondam Afghan fort ; the

The foUowing are the figures of the rainfall-

1864

. . inches 0'93 cents.

1870 .

. inches 8' 7

1865

„ 4-65 „

1871 ..

„ 1-67

1866

„ 4-93 „

1872 ..

„ 3 34

1867

„ 3-35 „

1873 ..

„ 6-17

1868

„ 3-27 „

1874 .

„ 10-44

1869

„ 7-20 „

1875 ..

„ 4-14

cents.

The average of nine years is usuaUy laid down at 4'43 inches.

244 Sind Revisited.

usual square, with domed sentinel-boxes rising from
the angles, and a gangAvay round the walls com
manding the interior. The enceinte appears secure
enough, yet one man contrived to make his escape.
The guards are "Kawdid," that is, armed and
driUed as infantry, and dressed in drab, like Jacob's
Rifles (30th Regt. N. I.) The total of prisoners
numbers about 600 ; and no pains have been
omitted to make the estabUshment self-supporting.
The men, women, and boys are kept in separate
enclosures ; and the first remark you make, sfr, is
the utter absence of the criminal face, so conspicuous
in all your home-jails. The principal items are
Beloch ; many of the tribes, especially the Jekrdni
and Dhomki, formerly so turbulent, have been tamed
by enlisting them into the guide-corps or police
of Jacobdbdd. There are several Jats ; unfortunately
they speak a corrupted dialect, half Sindi : Pro
fessor AscoU of MUan is anxious for considerable
additions to my Grammar and Vocabulary of the
Gipsy Tongue ; but these men are useless. A few
are Brdhuis, including the only pretty woman in
the female ward, with features distinctly Aryan,
and showing no trace of the Turanian.* The great
mass of the prison population is of course Sindi ;
and cattle-lifting is the favourite crime, much pre
ferred to rape, robbery, and murder.
We visited in succession the boys' school and
^ If I remember right. Dr. Bellew (" From the Indus to the
Tigris," 1844) has neglected some of the Brdhui numerals. The
first three are Asat (1), Erut (2), and Masat (3) ; after which they
break into Persian.

The Jail. 245

the neat and tidy workshops, where carpenters,
chairmakers, masons, smiths, potters, and weav^ers
of cloth and carpets were all unbusily at work, and
we ended with the jail dispensary and hospital.
The diseases are principally fevers and the Sind
sore : the latter is very like that of Multdn, coloured
a dark copper ; the base is flat, and at first, honey
combed, whilst the edges are raised and everted.
We then drove to the new Library, a mud-building
without books ; past the well-tank, Hazdriwdh, with
its old spring-board for bathers, and to the Charit
able Dispensary, which contains newspapers. The
reports of the latter establishment are interesting :
the total of Moslems — who here, as usual in the cities
of Sind, number only one-third of the Hindus —
shows 5988 cases treated during two years, to 6324
of thefr rivals.* Crossing the lesser Bigdri Canal,
to the south of the town, we inspected the " Shdhi
Bdgh," or public gardens, well kept up by municipal
funds, and we called, at the little " Zoo," upon the
tiger, the monkeys, the parah or hog-deer (Cervus
Porcinus), that outlandish, Malacca-like form, and
the Gorkhar, or wild ass, whose graceful back dis
dains to bear the cross. The vegetation flourished,
the roses were perfumed as those of Syria ; but the
" Merewether Pavilion," built by Captain Phelps,
with its metal-revetted spirelet, might have chosen
a better model. Altogether, the establishment was
a remarkable contrast with the miserable and
1 The details are : — For 1873-4 : Hindus, 2867 ; Moslems,
2776. For 1874-5 : Hindus, 3457 ; Moslems, 3212.

246 Sind Revisited.

neglected state of Public Gardens in Sind, especially
those of the capital and the ex-capital, Kardchi and
Haydardbdd. The mile between the Red Bungalow and Dr.
Salaman's quarters shows a melancholy scatter of
ruins, which prolong themselves even beyond the
GiUespiewdh. Equally deserted are the various
cemeteries ; the Jewish, which has been piUaged of
its inscriptions ; the burial-ground of the Mardthd
Mhdrs, with its piles of masonry, said to have been
built by a charitable widow, and still bearing to the
east an inscription beginning with " Shri Bhagwan-
tdya Namaha " (I bow before the propitious Giver
of Good) ; and the old cerfietery, whose earliest date
is 1844. The only symptom of the care-taker
appears in the new cemetery : here lies my friend,
poor Georgy Major, who gave a name, " Major-
dbdd," to the crumbling "lines" beyond it. Equally
well preserved is the grave of a native officer shot
by a Sepoy: the last resting-place of the latter is
a kiln of adobe, where all manner of rubbish and
impurities are stUl burnt over the body. The
Afghan fort on the Jacobdbdd road has also been
lately repaired for a Kdfilah Serai, or Caravan
Bungalow. A square four-towered building like
the jail, it is mostly occupied by horse-dealers:
the last yearly sale was only 377 head, a falling off
from that, numbering 900, which preceded it.
And now, sir, to the native town. This capital
of merchants, bankers, and money-changers is built
upon a low alluvial plain abounding, as usual, in

Humours of Shikdrp'ur. 247
fine dust and glittering Avarp, Anciently, a mud-
wall, some 3800 yards of which Time broke into
white mouldering fragments, and eight big shady
gates of Oriental type, formed, with the two forts,
its rude defences. The streets are narrow, crowded,
and unclean ; there are no public buildings of any
age save a few mosques : the houses are for the most
part composed of sun-dried brick and wood work ;
with low verandahs, " wooden panes of glass " to
close the little peepholes that serve for windows,
and the other accessories of the normal Sindi
domicile. The large and straggUng suburbs are
lined and dotted with the ubiquitous tombs.
They are interspersed amongst and surrounded by
plantations, which give a tinge of freshness to the
view ; but unfortunately for the local health, water
is struck at twelve to thirteen feet below the
surface, and the number of wells, each with its
dependent stagnant pool, is evidently in excess.
The bonne bouche of Shikdrpiir is the Great
Bdzdr — the main street, almost bisecting the city—
about 800 yards long, and ramifying on either side.
It is a long narrow passage, darkened and guarded
against the sun by mats resting upon chevron-shaped
beams, which spring from the house-tops on either
side: though there is a flying ventilator-roof, the
inmates and habitues look sickly and etiolated. The
shops, or rather booths, are the usual open boxes
fronted with Chabiitarahs, or mud-seats. Here,
moreover, we find none of the Long Acre specialty
which, throughout the East, prevents the trades

248 Sind Revisited.

mixing. The hour at which the Sindi gros bonnet
appears on 'Change is 4 p.m. ; will you accompany
me ? We have specimens of at least a dozen nations,
not including ourselves. The little Brdhui, with his
flat face, broad limbs, and stalwart shoulders clothed
in a robe of camel's hafr, stands gazing like an
Epicurean at the tempting store of the Halwdi, or
confectioner. Knots of Afghans are chaffering
noisily about the value of their horses, ponies, and
dromedaries. You may see what these men are by
their tall large forms, eager utterance, fiery eyes, and
energetic gestures. Though not aUowed to carry
arms, their hands are deep in thefr waistbands, as
if feeling for the wonted Charay, the long single-
edged dagger which they use with such effect : it
is about the size of the old Roman sword, and it
speaks volumes for the stout-heartedness of the
wielders. The wUd sun-blackened Beloch, whose
grizzled locks and scarred cheek tell mutely eloquent
tales of the freebooter's exciting life, measures the
scene with a gaze that means "What a waste of
loot ! " or turns, with the action of a cat-o'-mountain,
upon the running footman preceding that pulpy
Sindi rider in the brocaded cap and dress of padded
chintz: the "flunky" has taken the liberty of
pushing the Knight of the Road out of the way.
The huge and brawny MuUd from Swat, an Eastern
Friar of Copmanhurst, all turban and Kammerband
(waistshawl), the clerical calotte and cassock of
El-Islam, looks down with infinite depreciation

Humours of the Bdzdr. 249
upon the puny Sindis amongst whom he has come
to live and thrive. Fierce, bullying Pathdns, the
Afghan " half-castes " of the plain, dispute with
smooth-tongued Persian traders ; Kandahdr meets
Multdn, intent only upon capping cheating by
cheating ; the tall turban of Jaysalmfr nods to the
skull-cap of Peshm, and the white calico sleeve of
Kachh and Gujrdt is grasped by the hairy claw
of Kelat. Now, a grimy Moslem cook pours a
ladleful of thick oil upon a fizzing mass of Kabdbs,
whose greasy steams, floating down the Bdzdr,
attract a crowd of half-famished Eyot navvies and
ditchers to enjoy, in imagination, the " pleasures of
the table." Then a smooth-faced Lohdnd asks you
Rs. 40 for a goat-tog Chogheh, or cloak, whose
worn condition reduces its value to 12 or less.
Here, a Bhdtiya vendor of dried fruits, sugar, spices,
opium, and hemp — the tout ensemble fragrant as a
druggist's shop in the dog-days — dispenses his wares
to a knot of Jat matrons and maidens, with a pair
of scales and a set of weights Avhich would make
Justice look her sternest. And there, grim Indine
Chalybes — blacksmiths, tin-men, braziers, and others
— are plying thefr ringing, clanging, clattering,
clashing trade in a factitious temperature of 150°
(F.), and in close proximity of a fire that would
roast a lamb.
Yet heard through all this din is the higher
din of the human voice undivine. Every man
deems it his duty on 'Change to roar, rather than
to speak ; none may be sUent : even the eaters of

250 Sind Revisited.

pistachios, and the smokers of tobacco, must
periodicaUy open their throats to swell the clamour
floating around them. Except when the crafty
Hindus transact business with flngers hidden under
a sheet, not a copper pice changes hands without
a dozen offers and refusals, an amount of bad
language, and a display of chapmanship highly
curious to the Western observer, as showing the
comparative value of time and labour with bulUon,
Curious but by no means pleasant. The eye revolts
at every object that meets it, especiaUy the diaboli
cally contorted countenances of the men on 'Change ;
the ear is sickened by the tremendous doses of
sound perpetually administered ; and other delicate
organs suffer from the atmosphere, which, to use no
stronger epithet, is stiflingly close. The mats are
by no means so efficient against sun and reflected
heat as are the stone vaultings of an Afghan Bdzdr ;
and the clouds of dust raised by the many trampling
feet alternate with the muggy damp after the
passage of the Bihishti,* whom a modern traveller
calls a " beastie."
We now pass into the open Stewartganj, a
broad at the end of the Great Bdzdr ; it is decorated
with a central lamp-post of masonry, an article
which begins in Bombay, and which wiU probably
end in Northern Tartary, We are joined by
' Bihisht, in Persian, is heaven, paradise, and Bihishti is one
belonging to that region. The compUmentary title shows his im
portance in a tropical region : to express sudden death the Hin
dustani uses the phrase, " Pdni na mdnghl " — he did not caU for
water.

Humours of the Bdzdr. 251
Mohammed Khan Bdrukzdi, the Faujddr, or In
spector of ToAvn Police, whose men wear blue and
nut-brown hoUand (Khdki), and use swords instead
of muskets. Our cortege is strengthened by the
Deputy-Collector, Wddhii Mall; and we visit succes
sively the Municipal HaU, whose secretary, Ndnd
Mfr, of Arab descent, is absent ; the Vernacular
School for boys, and the "Anglo-Vernacular," alias
the High School, which is empty, although 10 a.m.
has struck. What most strikes me, sfr, is the
exceeding civility of aU who meet us. Perhaps
the less they see of us the better they like us.
We will again walk through the Bdzdr : this
time I must draw your especial attention to the
Shikdrpiiri Hindus proper, who still own some
900 establishments in this poor ex-station. The
typical man is a small, lean, miserable-looking
wretch, upon whose wrinkled brow and drawn
features, piercing black eye, hook-nose, thin lips,
¦ stubbly chin and half-shaven cheeks of crumpled
parchment. Avarice has so impressed her signet that
every one who sees may read. His dress is a tight
little turban, once, but not lately, white, and a
waistcloth in a simUar predicament ; his left
shoulder bears the thread of the twice-born, and
a coat of white paint, the caste-mark, decorates his
forehead; behind his ear sticks a long reed pen,
and his hand swings a huge rosary — token of piety,
forsooth ! That man is every inch a Hindu trader.
He may own, for aught we know, lakhs of rupees ;
you see that he never loses an opportunity of adding

252 Sind Revisited.

a farthing to them. He could, perhaps, buy a hUl
principality with a nation of serfs ; yet he cringes
to every Highlander who approaches his cloth-
shelves, or his' little heaps of silver and copper, as
though he expected a blow from the freeman's hand.
Scarcely a Moslem passes without a muttered
execration upon his half-shaven pate, adown
whose sides depend long love-locks, and upon the
drooping and ragged mustachios covering the
orifice which he uses as a mouth. There is a
villainous expression in Shylock's eyes as the fierce
fanatics void their loathing upon him ; but nothing
in the world would make him resent or return
slight for slight — nothing but an attempt to steal
one of his coppers, or to carry off a pennyworth
of cloth. This Shikdrpiiri, having few or no home-
manufactures, began long ago to devote his energies
to banking, and in less than half a century he
overspread the greater part of inner Asia. From
Turkey to China, from Astrachan to Cape Comorin,
there was hardly a considerable commercial town
that had not its Shikdrpiiri or the Shikdrpiiri's
agent. His head-quarters will still sell you bUls
of exchange to be discounted, without question or
demur, in places distant a six months' march ; and
possibly you may owe to the interested good offices
of the discounter the whole state of your neck or
your throat.
The Hundl, that rude instrument with which the
Shikdrpiiri RothschUd works, is a short document.

The Bill of Exchange. 253
in the usual execrable stenography, laboriously
scribbled upon a square scrap of flimsy bank-note
paper, and couched in the following form :
\\. True is the deity Shri ! *
1. To the worthy in every respect. May you
ever be in good health ! May you always
be fortunate ! our Brother Jesumal.
2. From Shikdrpiir, Avritten by Kisordds ; read
his compliments !
3. And further, sfr, this Hundi of one thousand
rupees I have written on you in numerals
and in letters, Rs.lOOO, and the half, which
is five hundred, of which the double is
one thousand complete : dated this ^ ^ ^
of the month ^ ^ ^ ^ in the Era of
Vikrdmdditya, to be paid after a term of
^ ^ ^ days to the bearer at Kdbul ; the
money to be of the currency of the place.
In the year of Vikrdmdditya, etc., etc., etc.
The document contains marks which effectually
prevent forgery ; they are known only to the writer
and to his correspondents. You may imagine,
Mr. John Bull, how useful are a few bits of such
paper, when you are riding through a region where
to produce a single gold coin would be the best
way of ensuring sudden death.
The Shikdrpiiri Hindu, after receiving a sound
commercial education and studying the practice
' The invariable initial formula. Shri is Lakshmi, the Goddess
of Prosperity ; what may be the mystic meaning of 1|, I cannot
even attempt to divine.

254 Sind Revisited.

of trade at home, marries with much solemnity
and ceremony. The birth of the first child is the
signal for leaving home ; the jeune pere takes leave
of his famUy with tears and sobs ; and he forthAvith
sets out alone for some distant land, with the
probable intention of spending in exile half his
life. This has become with him a kind of pun-
donor. He goes wherever lucre calls him, among
the fiery Bedawin of Southern Arabia, the fanatic
kidnappers of Northern Tartary, the extortionate
Persians, the wUd WdsawdhUi, the inhospitable
regions which lie far beyond the " House of Snow "
(Himdlayas), and the ruffian-tenanted Sulaymdni,
or Hindu-Slaying (Hindu-Kush) hills. If favoured
by Shri, he may attain affluence and considerable
political influence, which he will use with an fron
hand. His stores of cloth and jewellery, and his
command of capital, aided by the rare gift of
calculation, may raise him to become farmer of the
revenue, in which position his sharp wits, and his
comparatively-honest conventional dishonesty, may
endear him, despite his creed, to King or Governor.
Otherwise he must content himself with picking
the pockets of the fair sex ; with cajoling smaU
coins from the barbarians among whom he lives,
and with scraping together by slow degrees a little
fortune, the produce of bargains and barterings
by which he is inA'-ariably the gainer. And thus
pass away the prime years of his poor three-score.
He is easUy expatriated as is your family, Mr, BuU,
and, also like yours, he invariably and persistently,

Shikdrpiiri Women. 255
through all the vicissitudes of his career, looks for
ward to a return home ; consoling himself with the
hope, not of laying his bones, but of becoming
ashes, as a good Hindu should, in his fatherland.
However, it sometimes happens that the home to
which he returns is, like the old Crusader's, hardly
recognizable, the single child having been doubled
and trebled ; and a Sterner Will than his often for
bids the gratification of his poor wish about the ashes.
The fair sex at Shikdrpiir, both Moslem and
Hindu, has earned for itself an unenviable reputa
tion ; perhaps we can hardly be surprised by the
fact. The women are far-famed for beauty, the
result of mixing with higher blood ; for freedom of
manners amounting to absolute " fastness ; " and
for the grace with which they toss the Kheno, or
ball. These attractions have often proved irre
sistible to the wild Highlanders that flock to the low
country bringing for sale thefr horses, woollens, and
dried fruits : you will see more than one half-
naked, half-crazy beggar who, formerly a thriving
trader, has lost his all for the love of some Shikdr
piiri sfren. By these exploits the fair dames have
more than once involved their lords in difficult
and dangerous scrapes. Moreover, when the young
husband that was, returns home old and gray, to
find a ready-made family thronging the house,
scandals will ensue ; there are complaints and
scoldings ; perhaps there is a beating or two before
matrimonial peace and quiet are restored. The
Hindus of the other Indine cities have often pro-

256 Sind Revisited.

posed to place their northern brethren under a ban
tUl they teach their better halves better morals.
But then what would become of the banking ?
The population hereabouts is weU-leavened with
Afghan blood, probably by intermarriage with,
if not descent from, the warriors who settled in the
country after the invasions which so rapidly suc
ceeded one another in the days of yore. Many are
landed proprietors, the feudal grants of the native
princes having been continued to them by our
Government, It is impossible to mistake their
appearance. The men are beyond comparison the
handsomest race we have yet seen : they retain
the fine Highland physique, while thefr mountain
skins and " rocky faces " have been softened and
made delicate by the warmth and the creature-
comforts of the plains.
Look at this superb animal, with features of the
purest Grecian type : taU broad broAV, large black
eyes, straight thin nose, short and " castey " lip,
oval cheeks and chiselled chin ; a clear brown com
plexion, lighted up by a colour one might mistake
for rouge ; raven curls falling in masses upon his
stalwart shoulders ; and a beard soft, glossy, and
black as floss-silk. He stands at least six feet
without his slippers, and yet his hands, wrists, and
ankles have not a trace of overgrowth ; his form
is straight as an arrow, and his muscular limbs are
commanded by nerves of steel. Can the human
figure anywhere show a more perfect combination of
strength and symmetry and absolute grace ?

Revival of Shikdrpiir. 257
I never saw their wives and daughters, but
those who have had that good fortune assure me
they are, after their kind, as comely as the ruder,
but the better favoured, of the two sexes. Both
are said to outstrip, in intellectual as in physical
development, the other inhabitants of the plains.
Many of the men read, write, and speak three if not
four languages, Persian, Pakhtii, Sindi, and, per
haps, Hindostani ; they yield to none in bravery,
astuteness, and viUany ; they enjoy the respect of
all as being Bachheh-Aughdn — Sons of the Aughdn,
as the Afghan caUs himself— and, by direct conse
quence, they are as haughty, high-spirited, and
vindictive as any superior race could wish to
be. We must now shake hands with our good host.
Dr. Salaman, and exchange hearty hopes of meeting
again. We leave him with a good word about the
future of Shikdrpifr. Once the cantonment con
tained two regiments ; in 1876 it looks as if it had
suffered from siege, pestUence, or famine. But the
raUway wiU retrieve its fortunes. The banking
business now sadly faUen from its high estate, wUl
be revived by increased facilities for transit and
traffic : once more it wiU bring wealth to the Great
Bdzdr ; and the position of the town wiU ensure its
being one of the chief feeders of the Iron Road.
FinaUy, Shikdrpifr AviU recover its garrison as soon
as Common Sense takes courage to withdraw the
troops frompestUent Jacobdbdd,
VOL, n, ^^

258 Sind Revisited.

CHAPTER XXIX.
SIBI OR SIWI * (northern SINd) — DURBInI HEROISM
— THE DYKE OF AROR — SENTIMENT.
These few pages wiU contain an account of what
you did not see, Mr. John BuU. We have well-nigh
exhausted the deformities and the beauties of Young
Egypt : nothing remains but second-rate copies of
what you have already condemned and admired.
Besides, this is AprU, essentially a feverish month, a
mixture, Uke that ferocious Trieste climate, of winter
and summer. Spring never smUed upon these re
gions, and though the year 1876 has hitherto been
exceptionally fine and cool, we must hourly expect,
at the change of wind to the south, tepid, muggy
mornings and evenings ; torrid, sunburnt noons,
Khamsins or Simiims, and grand displays of Sind
" devUs " and dust-storms. To these cfrcumstances,
sir, you owe your escape from many a long un
interesting ride.
We shall not go to Kdngarh, which is now caUed
' Strictly speaking, this region contains the tracts about Sakhar
and Shikdrpiir.

Horrid Jacobdbdd. 259
Jacobdbdd, distant twenty-six miles north-north
west of Shikdrpiir, It lies a little north of old
Janiddra, a wretched village with a ruinous fort,
a prodigious cemetery, and a solitary tree which
harboured all the birds in the neighbourhood. In
those days a body of Beloch Gasperonis, half-
pioneers, half-pensioners, inhabited the delectable
spot under charge of a British officer, whose throat
they did not cut. Kdngarh, the hamlet of four
or five huts, which has become the head-quarters
of the Sind Horse, three corps, so called because
they contain no Sindis, would be very uninterest
ing to you. When the choice of a frontier-post
rested upon General John Jacob, he pitched upon
the best he could : now it has become the very
worst. The cantonment, whose centre-piece is the
Residency, once the palazzo of its founder and
christener, has been well laid out with parallel roads
and fine avenues of trees, and the soil is famed for
producing the finest flowers. But the site of this
" oasis in the desert," containing some two square
miles, is essentially unwholesome. It is the hottest
place in India, and the popular name for the place
is " Little Jehannum." During the inundation
Jacobdbdd becomes an island, a SAvamp, where
officers and men must at times use pick and shovel
to prevent their being swept away by the furious
floods. In 1874 the houses fell, and the " madams "
were put into boats ready for exportation, while their
husbands laboured bodily at the embankments.
Cornmunication with Shikdrpiir is utterly cut off.

260 Sind Revisited.

and, even in the most favourable seasons, the vile
road is rendered almost impracticable by the water,
which must be crossed in boats. Between March
and July the unfortunate tenants suffer from the
blasting, fiery Suk (Simiim), the gift of the Patt,
or Little Desert, thirty mUes wide, stretching
towards the Bolan Pass. In 1841 it is said to
have killed 1300 camels, and during most years
it kills the ravens. The curious persistency of
stationing three corps permanently in one place
has not only caused an exceptionally high death-
rate ; it has also proved the means of degenerating
the members — they are far from being the good men
they were. Briefly, the sooner we convert Jacob
dbdd into an outpost ; connect it by a decent road
with Shikdrpiir, and station the troops at Sakhar,
the better. No man in his sane senses would
station his whole force upon the skfrts of a province,
where a troop or tAvo suffices, without a single
soldier, for support or reserve, nearer than some
three hundred miles.
The evil has been greatly increased by the
Kasmor, or Kashmor, Band, an embankment which
cost five lakhs of rupees, containing the right bank
of the Indus, and connecting that village with the
Bigdri and Nurwah Canals. This dyke was pro
posed for the defence of Jacobdbdd ; but even in
1876 a gap of four miles must be left open. It has
depopulated a fine tract of country ; it threatens
Old Sakhar ; and it may even cause a complete
shifting of the irrepressible river. Any exceptional

" Little Jehannum." 261
freshet may burst the " Band " and insulate Sakhar
Camp, beloAV which the inundation used to dis
charge ; and seriously damage the working of the
railway, upon which aU the prosperity of the Upper
Province now depends.
The present antiquated arrangements date from
the days of General and Acting-Commissioner John-
Jacob, who, after eighteen years' service in Sind,
died on October 5, 1858 ; and they endure, I have
told you, whilst all the conditions that favoured
them have changed. They were originally intended
for the benefit of the Jekrdnis, the Domkis, and the
Bugtis ; but these robber- tribes have long ago become
peaceful cultivators. They are perpetuated by the
old school of Sind soldier, that sat at the feet of
his Gamaliel, John Jacob, and that ever held and
stiU hold him a manner of Minor Prophet. He was,
I have told you, a remarkable man, and so you may
judge by the entfre devotion of his followers and
successors. He used to base the most decided views
upon the shallowest study of the " Eternal Laws of
Nature," of " Principles," and so forth.
General Jacob could not play whist ; ergo, whist
was banished from the mess of the Sind Horse, and
even now, nearly a score of years after his death,
it is still, I believe, under interdict, A " practical
mechanic," that is to say, a mere amateur, he tried
to force upon the army a rapier-bayonet and a
double-barreUed, four-grooved rifle, which reached
the climax of impracticability. Incapable of master
ing native languages, he hated linguists, and never

262 Sind Revisited.

lost an opportunity of ridiculing and reviling them.
Moreover, he dignified his deficiency by erecting it
into a principle — namely, that all English subjects
should learn English ; and here, for once, his preju
dices ran in the right line. He knew nothing of
the sword beyond handling it like a broomstick ;
therefore he would not allow it to be taught to his
men, many of whose lives were thus sacrificed to
his fatal obstinacy. He utterly condemned the use
of the point, which is invaluable throughout India,
because the natives neither make it nor learn to
guard it. His only reason for this dogmatism was
the danger of the thrust by his own experienced
hand. In a few single combats, after running his
man through the body, he had risked being dis
armed or dragged from his horse. He probably
never knew, and, with characteristic tenacity, he
would not have changed his opinion had he known,
that Lamoriciere proposed to take away the edge
from the French trooper's blade ; that the French
heavies still use the straight sword, best fitted for
the point ; and that the superiority of the latter to
the cut is a settled question throughout the civilized
world. His prejudices were inveterate, and they
were most easily roused. He hated through Ufe a
native of Persia, who, not understanding his stutter,
a defect imitated by his admirers, wrote his name
J -J- J- J- J- Jacob, thus : —

General Jacob. 263

At last his obstinacy killed him. When advised
by the surgeon not to ride his final ride home, he
asked, with a sneer, if the young man knew his
constitution better than he did himself, and he
died examining a new rifle.
Should we turn to the north-east, and journey still
along the right bank of the river towards that same
Kasmor, distant some one hundred miles of winding
road, our ephemeridis would chronicle a deadly
uninteresting series of seven marches, ending at the
" port of considerable trade," where commerce is
almost nil. For Kasmor, our northernmost village,
has now drawn eight miles away from its wood-
station on the Indus, which here flows under the
tallest of its banks. In bygone days the land de
served for blazon, " Snaffie, Spur, and Spear," and
for motto, " Vivitur ex Rapto," as ever did the
Border between Ouse and Berwick, Every little
settlement had its "peel," whence, generation after
generation, the need-flre glowed and the slogan
sounded. Here Macfarlane's lantern tempted many
a wight to the foray, the fray, and the " kind gal
lows ;" and as for " Hairibee," every taU tree upon
a clear spot has, sometime or other, acted in that
capacity. The men, armed to the teeth, in spite of
all proclamations, were modern surAdvals of stark
moss-troopers, riding out to harry thefr neighbours'
flocks and herds ; and the women were
" Of sUver brooch and bracelet proud,"
as ever were the dames and daughters of the

264 Sind Revisited,

" Limitanei," An unpleasant feature in the human
part of the picture was the vast amount of mutUa-
tion, the religious penalty invariably inflicted upon
theft, which the Borderers considered march-treason.
This gentleman had no ears, that lady no nose; one
fine youth had lost an eye, and many a grim-
visaged senior bore unimanous, unmistakable signs
that all had been engaged, and, what is worse, that
they had been detected, in certain lively little indul
gences against which the Decalogue enters a special
protest. An outpost of the Sind Horse, Kasmor
has now learned to behave decently, and the same
may be said of once barbarous Mithankot, Fazal-
pifr, and Mfranpifr,
The villages throughout this robber-land are
miserable heaps of mud-huts, straggling about
the tall walls of swish-forts, which acted cattle-
pens in times of peace, and at others, strongholds
for the thieves. The work is generaUy a square
or an oblong, with ramps ascending the round
towers at each angle ; with lancet-shaped cre-
neUes or battlements to shelter the matchlocks
manning the parapet, and with weU-defended
gateways, which in the hour of need are built
up Avith adobes. The inside contains accommo
dation for man and beast, a weU or two, shady
trees, rooms under the walls, by no means bomb
proof, stacks of forage, and granaries — the latter are
earthern cylinders eight or nine feet high, covered
and luted at the top, and pierced below with a hole
through which the contents are drawn off. They

Attacking Mud-Forts. 265
may be seen everywhere between the banks of the
Indus and the Euphrates, the Orontes and the Nile,
You may like to hear, Mr, Bull, the proper way
to demolish these hornets' nests, which have caused
sore loss to many a Brigadier Dunderhed, The
" old hand," after ascertaining that the gateway
is blocked up with only sun-dried brick, opens a
false attack of, say, 200 men, carrying ladders,
firing their muskets, and making a noise, which
certainly causes every defender to leave his post,
and to make for the supposed point of assault.
This is the time when a man may steal unobserved
to the gate, bearing a bag of powder with a lighted
slow-match ; hang it up by the hook to any con
venient part of the beams, and " make himself
scarce " as soon as he can. Immediately after the
explosion, 300 or 400 bayonets tumble in over the
shattered planks and bio wn-to -bits brick, whUst
the demonstrating party, hurrying round towards
the entrance, curtails the number of fugitives. This,
Mr. John BuU, is a remarkably neat way, because
whatever is in the fort — cattle, grain, and other
matters — faUs into your hands,
" But why not breach the gate with guns ? "
Because, firstly, the entrance is often so well
defended by a quincunx of round towers that you
must batter these down by way of preliminary.
Secondly, I suppose you to be deficient in matSriel,
as on small occasions you generally are in India,
Had you a few mortars, you could shell the place
inside out Avithin half a day ; and a battery of

266 Sind Revisited.

breaching guns would, in twenty-four hours, cut
through the curtain a square hole capable of admit
ting a pair of camels abreast.
But if your scout inform you that the gate
must not be attacked because some twenty-five feet
of pakkd brickwork have been thrown up behind
it, you may readUy open the curtain by planting
strong posts and beams, pent-house fashion, against
it, and by supplying the miners with pickaxes, and
water to wet the clay. Your rifies must protect
them against the matchlock-balls and arrows, the
spears and stones, and the hot water or boiling oU
of the defenders, till they have dug about eight feet
into the wall ; then they lodge their powder, tamp
the hole outside with bags of the excavated earth,
bolt out of thefr burrow, and trust, as good soldiers
must often do, to their heels and thefr good luck.
The Northern Sindis are far more warlike than
their Southern brethren ; stUl, there is the taint of
timidity in their composition. Although they have
brought themselves to bandy blows with the Beloch
and to beard the Brdhiii, they would generally
rather flee than fight, and huddle into their forts
instead of defending themselves in the field. Per
haps the Afghans are the only people in this part
of the world who ever dared to prefer the waU
of men to the wall of mud, and they, I suppose,
mostly did it on paper.
History makes affidavit that when Ahmed Khan,
the Durrdni, proposed encfrcling Kandahdr, his
capital, Avith moat and rampart, the Sardars (chiefs)

Afghan Heroism. 267
objected to such precaution, propounding the theory
that their little swords and good arms were the
monarch's properest defence. On this occasion, I
suppose, we must believe Clio ; the tale is stUl
current amongst the Afghans, and a popular poet
chose it as the subject of a Ghazal, or Ode, which
has been translated, Mr. Bull, for your fuUer com
prehension of Oriental Chauvinism and Gasconade.
Put not thy trust.
Great King ! in rampart, fosse, or height of tower.
Which are as dust
In the fierce whirlwind's grasp, before the might
Of Man's strong mind !
The monarch throned upon the lo-nng heart
Of human kind.
The prince whose sceptre and whose sword command
Man's love and fear ; ^
May he not spurn the cunning craven arts
To despots dear?
Indeed, sir, a cut at the fortifications of Louis
Philippe and of M, Thiers, which afterwards did
such good work ! But allow me to conclude :
Thy rampart be the steely line whose crests
Are sword and spear ;
Thy fosse tlus plain ; a Vale of Death to those
That dare assail
The patriot king ; thy tower of strength, a name
At which turn pale
Thy foes, the bad ; and as a sign from heaven
Good subjects hail !
Such forts are thine, and long as these endure.
Fear thou no faU ;
No guarded adit wants the Uon's lair —
Kand'hdr no wall !
' Jamshid the Great, King of Persia, " ruled his kind by love
and fear, always leading the good to hope and the bad to despair. "
Hence he has long ago been made a demi-god.

268 Sind Revisited.

Returning to Sakhar, one thing remains to be
seen : I must not drop down stream without again
visiting the ruins of Aror. You wiU certainly not
care for so antiquarian an excursion as this ; I shall
therefore inspect it in company with Mr. W. T,
Blandford, of the Geologic Survey of India, and
submit to you my diary.
Issuing from Rohri by the Bahdwalpifr or
Multdn Road, we passed on the left the Arordwdh,
and east of it the new Ndrd Supply Canal. You
have seen this fine work, with six-inch stone-pitching,
which measures 150 feet of breadth at the bottom.
To the right rises the decayed vfilage, once a strong
fort, buUt in the days of the Delhi Emperors by
a Subahddr of Sind, Mir Ya'akiib Ali Shah. On
the north of it lies flooded ground, the remnant
of a tank ; the lower levels are curtained by a
band, a wall some six feet broad, built of
nummulitic lime and the finest mortar. The surface
scratches show the date to be the same as the
foundations of the old Rohri fort facing the Indus,
and the material is less easily quarried than un
cut rock. The new route to Multdn has been
driven through it, and the westerly prolongation
may be seen on the further bank of the Arordwdh,
Leaving the Canal-sluice — upon which a tele
graphic young gentleman is angling for khago, or
catfish, so called because it screeches when Avith-
drawn from the native element — and the railway
bridge to the left, we take the rough " Frere road,"
practicable only for carts, which leads to Aror.

To Aror. 269
After some four miles from Rohri (l hour 25 min.),
passing under scattered avenues of scrubby trees,
and through clouds of pungent dust, we turn off
to the right at the bungalow occupied by the
Deputy-Collector, and in his absence by travellers.
From this point the course of the old River, which
is supposed to be the Mehrdn, the Sindi Indus,
appears thoroughly well marked, and looks like the
bed of a mighty stream. The general direction
is north-east to south-west ; the breadth is about
a quarter of a mile, and the sole, warped up and
overgrown with bushes, suggests that the change
took place centuries ago. The right bank is low
and rolling, compared Avith the left, but both show,
in the distance, distinct river cUffs ; in fact, a kind
of gorge or natural cutting in the high ground form
ing our horizon. It contrasts strongly with its eastern
neighbour, the Ndrd, distant some eight mUes from
Aror ; the latter is deep sunk in the plain, like
a canal, and now that the Supply Canal has filled
it, a steamer proposes to ply up and down the
old bed. Its course of 300 miles is a string or chap-
let of " Sind hollows," Ghdros (creeks, especially
Indus branches), Dhands, Dhoras, Koldbs, Kars,
Kumbhs, Wdhurs, and the multiform varieties of
"broads," lakelets, and fiooded depressions. They
number some 400, and several of them are three
miles long by one broad. Progress, however, is
being made towards embanking the lets, or over
flows, which are chiefly on the left or eastern
bank. The natives have a tradition that in 1828

270 Sind Revisited.

the Ndrd was filled to three miles of breadth in
some places, and flowed to the ocean ; during the
same year, they say, part of Umarkot was washed
away. On the right bank stand two domed parallelo
grams like Moslem tombs. Various legends are
told about these Gumbaz ; some declare that they
were built as guard-houses for treasure ; others that
they were founded by a certain Lajjani Md, concern
ing whom no other information is forthcoming.
The higher ground on the left bank also shows
signs of ruins, Moslem and modern.
We then crossed the dry old bed to a clump of
thick trees lying under the modern viUage of Aror,
Here is a ruined mosque with painted tiles, a mere
shell ; the guides attribute it to Jehangfr and the
guide-books to Alamgfr, This is also the Makdm,
or station, of a local Pfr, Shah Bokhdrd,
Thence ascending the left bank, and turning to
the right, or away from the- modern village, we front
what appears to have been an acropolis, built to
command the stream. The enceinte is irregular-oval,
with a long diameter of, perhaps, 150 yards. On
the eastern crest two piles of good brick -work, one
tall and the other much eaten away by time, ap
pear to denote the main gate. The surface of the
mound is cut and tumbled as if the treasure-
seeker had been busy ; and the base of adobe and
tamped clay bears baked bricks, some scorched to
blackness, and heaps of sandstone and unworked
limestone flints. Here, after rain, the people still

Aror. 271
pick up coins, which are said to be mere bits of
metal : I could not hear of any Hindu finds dating
before the days of the Moslem Conquest,
From the river front of the mound we had an
excellent view of the surrounding country,* Aror
Ues on the north of a limestone ridge running upon a
meridian and much resembling the Ganjd hills, the
site of Haydardbdd ; between the upper end and
the great river is low ground, over which the Indus
may easily have shifted its bed. The left bank
behind us wore a peculiar appearance ; the high
water-marked buttresses looked as if they belonged
to some important influent : it proved, hoAvever, a
mere dry bight, and another inlet of the same form
lay between the river and the village. On the bay-
floor stood two ruined domes, known as Sohdgan,
or the " Woman Loved " (by her husband), and the
Dohdgan, or "Hated Woman ;" but no villager could
tell us which was which. Close to them lay the
plain tomb of the Sayyid Shakarganj Shah, to
which pilgrimages are still made. On the slope of
the near bank, also, a dark and falling mosque
fronted, as usual here, east and west. In this
vicinity there was a third Pir, Kutb el-Din, locally
shortened to Kutb Shah ; and perverted by some
Europeans, to Khitdb and Khatab el-Din.
We then passed into the adjoining little viUage
of Aror, which appears to command the acropoUs :
1 The ruined mosque bears from the acropoUs (?)-mound 15°
(Mag.) ; the Owmbaz, or dome, on the right bank, 248°, and the
Sohdgan, on the left, 200°.

272 Sind Revisited.

possibly the site has been raised by repeated de
structions. On the other hand, it might have
formed a separate residence, bearing the same rela
tion as Depur to Brahmandbdd, Aror or, as the
Sindis call it, " Alor" was, before the Moslem Con
quest, the capital of a Hindu kingdom. Even after
the Indus Valley was reduced to a mere item of the
vast empfre of the Khalifehs, it continued to be the
chief town of the Arab proAdnce, El-Mansifrah, which
extended south to the sea ; whUst its neighbour,
Multdn, formed the northern and conterminous
division. Its ruin was CAddently determined by the
shifting of the stream, probably the effect of some
earthquake, which gave birth to Sakhar, Bakar, and
Rohri. The modern settlement consists of Mosleins
and Hindus, and amongst the latter a venerable
elder, " Subdgd " hight, explained to us the meaning
of the old rhyme :
" Aror shall burst its dyke and flow,
Hdkro perennial to the main," etc., etc.
Hdkro, or Hdkrd, is a village on the right bank
of this bed, about two mUes and a half from Rohri,
where Captain Kfrby, in 1855, whUst digging the
Ndrd Supply Canal, came upon the foundations of
houses some ten feet below ground. All insisted
that the " Band " of Aror, though repaired with
bricks from Hdkro, had been burst by the English
building a bridge over it.*
' The Gazetteer (p. 655) quotes Captain Kirby : " The band of
Aror is not yet broken, nor is there much chance of its being so."
The dyke of Sind "History" is supposed to have been made
of lead.

The Dyke of Aror. 273
We returned vid the dyke, a rough wall of
good limestone, almost covered with earth, and
looking like an embankment made to retain the
water. The bridge is of pakkd brick and stone,
thrown over the Arordwdh.
I have been particular in describing this now
insignificant place, on account of its connection with
old Sindi history. The Chachndmah, a Persian
chronicle of the Brahman dynasty, as opposed to the
Rdjput kings of Sind, and originally composed in
Arabic about a.h. 613 (=a.d, 1216), expressly tells
us that Mohammed Bin Kdsim el Sdkifi, in a.h. 93
( = A.D. 711), took Aror, then the capital of the
country, from its sovereign. Rajah Ddhir.* About
three centuries and a half afterwards, a Hindu
prince, known to every Sindi as Dalurd (Dalii
Rdhi), determined, say the legends, to appropriate
the harem of a Delhi merchant. Shah Husayn,
who was descending the Indus on his way
to Meccah. Before matters had proceeded to ex
tremes, the Moslem prayed for deliverance to
Khwdjeh Khizr who, appearing in a vision, directed
him to unmoor his boat. Thereupon the Mehrdn
changed its course for the present bed. Evidently
an earthquake would do this as well as Khwdjeh
Khizr; but the people point to his island-shrine and
declare it was founded by the pious merchant. The
1 There is some confusion in the Gazetteer : p. 117 teUs us, from
Mfr Ma'asiim, that Ddhir was killed at Aror by the Moslems, about
A.D. 711 (h. 93) ; whUst in p. 24 we read that Dahlr (sic) " was slain
at the fori; of Rawar," before the capture of Brahmandbdd,
VOL, II, 40

274 Sind Revisited.

same story is told of the same Dalurd at Bambrd,
near Ghdrd, and at Brahmandbdd, near Haydardbdd,
where at last he met the deserved death, I have
suggested that the Rajput ruler was only insisting
upon a feudal priAdlege which, though admitted by
the Hindiis, would be very offensive to Moslem
ideas ; and thus we can explain the legend being
appUed to three different cities.
Here, then, we have the legendary account of the
last move of the Mehrdn, In the days of Alexander
and the Chinese travellers it flowed down the eastern
Ndrd or Snake-river, close to the modern Umarkot,
and thence past Lakpat Bandar into the Kori mouth.
The classical river- valley, which appears to have been
in those days far broader than it is now, is stUl
gfrt by ruins ; the principal being, in the Naushahro
and Moro Pargands, on the middle course, Brahman
dbdd, alias Bambre jo Thiil (the Tower of the Ruin) ;
and old Bddin, sixty-two miles south-south-east of
Haydardbdd, on the borders of the Ran of Kachh,
At some time after a,d, 680, about thirty years
before the Moslem Conquest, the Indus shifted eight
miles westward from the Ndrd, and flowed past
Aror, then the capital of Sind ; and here it ran
when Rajah Ddhir of the Hindu dynasty perished.
Finally, before A.D, 953 it again moved four miles
Avestward, and occupied its present bed,* The
' In tabular form : —
Indus-Ndrd, B.C. 326, to a.d. 680, or tUl nearly the Arab invasion.
Indus-Aror, a.d. 680-952, or between the days of Ddhir and
Dalurd.
Indus in present bed, a.d. 952-1877.

Behold, I see — " - 275

actual owners of the land had better take care how
they play tricks with this most ticklish stream,
especially above the Sakhar Rapids, The river lies
upon a meridianal line, and therefore tends to
deflect eastwards ; at this place it bends almost to a
right-angle, and any serious obstruction up-stream,
like the Kasmor " Band," may drive it down Colonel
Fife's " New Ndrd Supply Canal " into the old bed
of Alexander's day.
By this time, sfr, you must feel qualmish upon
the subject of desert-districts and tamarisk -jungles ;
dusty roads and silty plains ; l6an Hindus and stout
Sindis ; mosques and mausolea ; bdzdrs, mud-towns
and mud- vUlages, At any rate, if you are not, I
am, for " Behold, I see the haven now at hand.
To which I mean my wearie course to bend. "

276 Sind Revisited.

CHAPTER XXX,
the return — down the indus to kotri,
April 1, 1876,
Here we are, Mr, John Bull, stUl sitting in a
friend's box, built of sun-dried brick, upon high-
backed reed fauteuils, much like those of Madeira,
but garnished about the seat with " country," as
opposed to " Europe," leather. Our feet are upon
the table, more Indico ; although the salutary prac
tice, both here and in the United States, is being
laughed out of the land. In former days we should
have discussed what the French call Le Pel' el;
now the mos Sindicum is the " peg," in the Hay-
market region called B.-and-S. That the hot season
is coming on we recognize by some such well-
marked stages as the following : —
The shifting of the wind to the south.
The fitful swelling of the Indus.
The visitation of the " Devils."
The budding of the trees.
The invasion of the vermin ; and (climax)
The veihng of the world by " Smokes " (dust).

The Hot-Season. 277

Already we are in the " ChdUho, " or 40-days'
heat, extending from May-day till June 10, and
corresponding with the Khamsin, or 50-days, of Old
Egypt. At this season Young Egypt supplies an
opportunity for studying and understanding the
exact measure of obstinate King Pharaoh's obstin
acy. As for the flies, and other varieties of ugly
hopping and crawling things with trivial names,
you remarked that no sooner did the cool wind
cease than out came a swarm of " insect youth,"
whose sweet infantine ways were more hateful
than those of an Anglo-Indian child; while thefr
numbers were su.ch that
" To us the goodly light and air
Are banned and barred, forbidden fare."
We pass the day in a perpetual gloaming, the
last chance of keeping the innocent little creatures
out of our noses, ears, and mouths. The Sind fly
is impudent as "Af," his brother of Old Egypt,
the type of Paul Pry, whose only hope is to
intrude as often as possible. Then wasps build in
the doorways ; and, if we destroy their nests, cut
for themselves caves in the waU, whence they issue
to sting us, as they have nothing better to do.
A centipede crept into your bed, another was dis
lodged from your bath ; a scorpion dropped from
my boot : luckUy I learned from an Oriental Sir
John Suckling never to draw it on without a pre
liminary shake, and I remembered that the capital
of the Amirs was known as the " Fort of Scorpions."
The ophine plague, so much complained of by early

278 Sind Revisited.

residents at Haydardbdd,* where the snake-season
lasts from May-day tiU Guy Fawkes'-day, is some
what diminished at Sakhar. . The MunicipaUty
once offered a reward for every head kiUed, and
in a single month had to pay for between 400 and
500. The boys fished them out of the river like
eels. By day gigantic hornets buzz about the
verandah : at night angry mosquitoes hum their
grievance at being unjustly deprived of supper;
and silent sandflies (anthrax) sneak through the
muslin-bar — even in Western Africa this minute
nuisance disappears during the dark hours. We
have, as you justly observe, other bedfellows, con
cerning which the less said the better ; and that, too,
in spite of Keating and of scalding our cot-frames
every week. The boUs and blains, like those of
Aleppo and Baghddd, Aden and Baroch (Broach),
are not boUs, but veritable ulcers ; malignant, too,
if they happen to settle upon your cheek or nose.
Finally, an incipient attack of prickly heat makes
you hate yourself as much as you do your neigh
bour, as much as you do everything an inch high
and a day old.
Here no haU injures the crops, but we have, in
lieu, locusts and termites. This execrable animal
seems intended to provide Mother Earth wfrh
finely ground dust, at the expense of our books,
1 The wife of a soldier in the 78th Highlanders died two hours
after being bitten. According to Dr. Imlach, the fatal cases
average 20.5 per cent. The most dangerous are Kdro-Nang (black
cobra) ; the Khappur (Scytala Bizonata) ; the Munir, and the
Lundi.

Insects. 279
our boots, and our valuables generally ; it has even
driven its tunnels up the iron telegraph-posts, and
devoured the wood on the top ; and there is an
old Joe MiUer about a man who thus accounted
for the disappearance of many rupees belonging to
John Company. The grateful ground seems to breed
them ; in some places every step destroys a score.
Some Central African tribes, you know, boU and
eat them, as " kitchen " for their porridges — could
we not get up a " White Ant Supply Association ? "
— ^what a field for philanthropy ! Conceive how
famous would become our names in Sind, were we
to teach her starving children to fatten upon such
easy cheer. What more did Ceres or immortal
Triptolemus ?
Besides termites, there are small black ants and
big black ants : insect pinchers, or bull-dogs, which
allow themselves to be cut in two rather than relax
the stubborn hold of their pincers. If you wish
to test the Sindi sun in the Canicule, empty a score
of them out of your sugar-basin upon the sand, and
you will see them frizzle away as if tossed upon
hot embers, FinaUy, there are smaU red ants
and large red ants, social animalcules that delight
in walking over the human face, nestling in the
human hair, and hanging from the human mus
tachio. Increased comforts, decreased exposure, and less
of the doctor, have made Young Egypt compara
tively safe. But I remember the day when, what
with cholera, dysentery, and congestion of the

280 Sind Revisited.

brain ; dropsy, ophthalmia, and enlarged spleen,
that household was happy where only the first-born
died. The cattle escaped pretty weU. But as
regards the Plague of Darkness, I ask you whether
yesterday's Simiim, composed of furnace-blast and
black dust in equal proportions, did not diffuse
throughout our bungalow a gloom which, literaUy
speaking, could be felt.
Have you all your curios, your treasures, safe
and sound ? your specimens of sugar and sugar-cane,
which the people chew on aU possible occasions ;
your hemp and opium, of which you have now
learned the use ; your tobacco and sulphur, or
rather pure brimstone, which we are now bringing
from Ultima Thule ; your indigo leaves, your
unknoAvn dyes, your enchantillons of cotton in
every stage of growth and manipulation, and lastly,
your ingenious but not original essay upon the
" technology," the industry and productions of the
country, without which, woe to the traveller home
returned ! your Thathd shawl to be exhibited
on Mrs. Bull's shoulders as a decoy for heedless
listeners to stock stories ; your grotesque Thathd
(lacquer) -work made at Hdld ; your " Persian
tUes," prigged from some old mosque or tomb;
your poisonous Uzard from Kotri, embalmed in
spirits of wine ; your isinglass prepared from the
air-vessel of an Indus-fish ; your sketches of the
native weaver, potter, and other mechanics ; your
spiteful little pet otter, taught by the Mohdno
to supply him with his dinner of fish, and to drive,

The Departure. 281

like a dog, the Bulan or river porpoise,* into the
net ; the reed fauteuil — it wUl make a capital
chafr for your tabagie, or the garden of your
suburban villa, and another famous tale-trap ; your
Sind-made " Bombay chair," whose elongated arms
have well-nigh superseded the dinner-table as a
basis for heels in the afr ; the grass-sandals worn
by the HiU people ; your dagger and signet-ring,
inscribed Jdn Biil ; your handsome Postin of
Astrachan wool ; your embroidered leather-coat ;
your Chogheh, or Afghan dressing-gown of Pashm,
fine goat-tog ? Yes ! Then, sfr, you are in light
marching order and ready to move.
And the time has come. This climate is one of
fierce extremes, a mild Miltonic hell, where, as some
one has remarked, you may be frost-bitten and sun-
stricken on the same day. When it is cold, the
raw wind cuts. It rarely rains, but when it does,
Jupiter Ombrious empties buckets upon us. Usually
the hazy quivering horizon shows an utter absence
of draught : then we have a Typhoon that mixes up
all the elements. The heat is that of a weU-con-
structed and carefully supplied Arnott's stove. The
pitUess sky is aU ablaze, the vision of a cloud is
simply impossible. The huge red-hot sun pierces,
like a sword blade, every mortal thing exposed to
it. The world shines and glistens, reeks and
^ The otter (Lutra) is here called "Ludra." The river-porpoise
is the Dolphinus Gangeticus : the Emperor Baber (Memoirs) calls this
bottle-nosed animal a "water-hog." It is eaten by the Mohdnd,
but its flavour may be compared with that of a fattish pork-chop
cooked to pulpiness in rancid oU.

282 Sind Revisited.

swelters, till the face of earth peels and flakes,
cracks and blisters. The buffaloes take shelter in
the tank, raising their noses to protest against the
state of the thermometer. The very crows, with
beaks agape, grumble at being obliged to lead so
very hot a life. The little stunted, misbegotten
plants seem, Uke the Nasamones, to curse each rising
orb of day. Young Egypt aches, as the poet says,
in the sun's eye ; and the fierce roaring gale of
yesterday would have astonished the clever chroni
cler of "Dustypore." You talk at home of a peck
of March dust ! It is sand and silt in heaven
and on earth ; silt and sand in the afr we breathe,
in the water that pretends tq quench our thfrst,
in the food that offers to support our burthened
lives ; it is sand and silt upon and within our
poor brains, and mine, I can answer for the fact,
sadly want dredging.
The steamer wiU hardly leave before 7.15 a.m. ;
on other days she is more matutinal, running her
daily course of duty with the sun at 5 a.m. We
exchange last adieux and au revoirs ; the chain and
cofr-ropes are cast off; the gangway -planks are
withdrawn from the mud-bank, and the lumbering
Frere (Captain Hutchinson), towing, as usual, a pafr
of flats attached by dfrect cables and cross cables
to the bollards, moves slowly up stream, and then,
catching the current, dashes down with a speed to
which we are little accustomed, leavdng a double
line of water-waves very like big heaps of mud seen
in perspective.

Last Looks. 283

And now your last look at the picturesque
Sakhar Reach, That double set of well-towers is
the work of engineers, who fondly dreamt of placing
a railway bridge where the indomitable river refuses
a base : as I showed you, the Island of Bakar is the
only possible site. Note the limestone-revetment
of the quay, which cost Rs. 16,000. It is threat
ened by every flood ; only last year all available
hands, even the convicts, were compelled to " band
up " the bank ; and some day Sakhar Bdzdr may
find itself an island, and Old Sakhar may become the
Indus, The stream is here some 2400 feet, nearly four
stadia, broad ; it is rising and falling fitfully, but
in a fortnight the inundation wUl begin regularly,
and then it will justify Onesicritus, and thoroughly
dislocate all your ideas of a river. That long low
wall, pierced a jour, is the " Zendnah Ghdt," sup
posed to be made for privacy, for sensitive feminine
modesty ; but the Sindi Anonyma is frrepressible ;
she will defy the police, and bathe how, when, and
where she can. And to make matters worse, here
the native fleet Ues,
We gradually lose sight of the striking features :
the Library with church-tower and sham-battle
ments; Sind Horse House; Clibborn Point and
its big fig ; the Secretariat of the Municipality ;
Ma'asiim's minaret and its acolytes, big dome, trio
of small white domes, and duo of small dark domes.
The Great Bdzdr of square mud-houses, some two-
storied, shaded by the palm-grove, fines and straggles
off into a suburb of mat-hovels, and after a quarter of

284 Sind Revisited.

an hour, Sakhar-Bakar-Rohri fade from sight : the
picturesque reach with its two avenues of dark
vegetation bends from south-west to north-west ;
and the low right bank becomes a cornfield. Here,
before the dangerous Kasmor Band was invented,
the River used to relieve the narrows by discharging
its superfluities ; and here, unless the engineers look
sharp, it may cut and carve for itself a new main
passage. " In the days of old and the times now gone by,"
as the Arabs say, we should have hfred a Beri, the
larger kind of Indine craft ; it is stUl sometimes
used by European voyagers during the flood, and
floating down night and day, they make Kotri on
the third afternoon. We should have laid in the
requisite quantity of live-stock, including the
largest and fiercest mouser that ever interfered with
the high jinks of impudent rat- colony. To guard
against the vile designs of the sun, we should have
knocked up a matwork hovel on deck, after con
verting into a kitchen the cabin, which looked like
a large cupboard thrown on its beam ends. And
being by no means desirous of finding a watery
grave in the waves, half-playful, half-pettish, of this
classic stream, we should have embarked our horses
and horsekeepers on another boat, where they might
amuse themselves with kicking and stamping holes
through the bottom as soon as they pleased. Our
progress would have numbered six to seven uniform
miles per hour during the low season ; one thfrd
more in inundation time ; partly effected by the

Down Stream. 285

current, and partly by the pair of huge sweeps,
shafts, or rather beams like small tree-trunks,
pierced and lashed to scimitar-shaped blades, and
each worked by four or five men at the bow.
Regularly once a watch we should have grounded
upon a treacherous sandbank ; but thanks to the
curvilinear construction of our keel, we only
pirouetted and scraped slowly off into deep water.
Had we not been on board, the " Sailors spelt with
a T," our crew, would have slung the rudder, and
slept tiU Time and Tide had done their Avork,
The best pilot must make a trip or two before he
learns the changes of the bed caused by every
freshet, and we do not always find the Ankhpdni-
wdld, or waterman who distinguishes the Thalweg
by the eye. He seems mostly to judge by the
bights or re-entering angles. The peculiarity of this
gentry is the impossibility of obtaining a dfrect
answer ; e.g. :
" How's the wind ? "
"Narm bhl hdi, garm bhi hdi" (" Perhaps it's
soft, perhaps it's not)."
Occasionally, sir, we should have varied the
diversion by bumping against the bank with an
impetus which made each one of the sis hundred
and seventy-five scraps of teak, mimosa, fir, jujube,
and acacia woods that composed our craft creak
and grind against its neighbour as if threatening
to dissolve partnership, FinaUy, we should have
voyaged under the conviction that these Boris,
being fastened together by nothing stronger than

286 Sind Revisited.

rope-yarns and bamboo-pegs, are in the habit of
melting in the yeasty flood ; and that none, save
a Mohdno, ever dived beneath the surface of the
Indus, and re-appeared with the breath of life.
Briefly to describe the several kinds of craft
used upon the River — where, curious to say, the
canoe and the dug-out are utterly unknown. The
" Jamptis," or state-barges used by the Amfrs, were
strong teak-built, decked and double-masted vessels,
whose standing-pavilions were hung with red aAvn-
ings at stem and stern : they either sailed or were
propelled by sweeps, instead of being towed by the
top-mast, as was the wont of humbler vehicles.
These have clean disappeared, and now Mr, Com
missioner travels in his steam-yacht, the Jhelum.
The "Zorak" is the common cargo-boat of the Panjdb
and the Upper Indus : it is a monstrous trough-Uke
affair, rising high fore and aft, with lofty curved
poops and square bows, which are sometimes pierced
for windows. It has a single mast, like all the Indine
craft, but raking, unlike the Beri, somewhat back
wards. The huge oblong saU is always abaft the
mast, so as to be used only when running before
the wind, and to catch every item of that necessary
it has a supplementary yardarm below as weU as
above. The old tub is apparently well adapted to
carry enormous cargoes of grain in bulk or in bags :
one of moderate size claims as damages, when
sunk, from 100 to 150 Rupees, The steerage gear
is a huge caudal fin projecting from the stern and
worked with a tUler, and a compUcated system of

Indus Craft. 287

ropes and poles, one of which is grasped by the
steersman's hands in any, one would suppose, but
a convenient way.
The "Beri" is essentiaUy an Indine craft, and its
shape and form are almost as primitive and well
adapted to work as the French fishing-boat and
the Italian felucca : you see its prototype in the
Baris of Old Egypt, and its brother in the Chinese
junk. It is a large flat-bottomed affafr with a mon
strously high stern and, in the place of bows, it has
a low spoonbill prow, good for landing, for getting
off sand-bars, and for parrying the thrust of heavy
bumps upon the bank. From afar, in the gloaming,
the Beri looks like a monster shark with tail half
out of water. It is provided Avith a spar deck of
split bamboos, strong and light : its single mast
is made fast by stiff beams resting upon the
gunwales, and the yard, of enormous length, with
a peak rising yards above the mast, is admfrably
adapted for injuring telegraph-wires. The sail, of
canvas, often in holes, is either triangidar, lateen,
or leg of mutton : it is carried in various ways, but
always before the mast : it can be made square by
guys, but on the Indus you never see the butterfly-
wings of the Nile " Dahabiyyah." The Beri is
steered by a peculiar contrivance, a square skeleton
of strong timber placed from six to ten feet clear
of the heel of the keel, far removed from the little
Charybdis that swirls under the high angular
stern, and strengthened by two or more ties from
the counter. The. perpendicular bears the rudder,

288 Sind Revisited.

shaped somewhat like our own, a frame of scant
ling, planked over and playing easily upon the
cords which attach it. The " Dundi " is a smaUer
variety of the Beri : it is often steered by a large
rudder-oar attached to the port- counter, and this is
apparently woman's work. The "Kotal" is a broad-
beamed affair used as a ferry : the stern generaUy
supports a seat composed of two uprights and a
cross-bar ; a similar simple contrivance is affected
by the Jangdda or catamaran of Pernambuco,
Other kinds of craft may be found in parts of
the Indus, where rocky banks, dangerous rapids,
or some such local cause, requfre a particular build.
Happily for us there are now steamers which,
though wasting, at this season, eight or nine days
on the up-voyage between Kotri and Sakhar, easily
return in three.* This is the old original Indus
Flotilla, which now, under the name of Sind, Panjdb
and Delhi Railway Company, belongs to a private
association, guaranteed, as usual, 5 per cent. The
merit of the new organization belongs mainly to
the late Captain John Wood of the Indian Navy,
who, indeed, may be said to have lost his valuable
life in the service.
' The foUowing is the list of wooding-stations between Sakhar
and Kotri, which, curious to say, do not all appear upon the map of
the Sind Gazetteer. Those in capitals show the usual nighting-
places.

1.
2. 3.

Sakhar to Salydnf 
Sabydni to Baradera 
Baradera to JamdU 

Miles.
... 26
... 26
... 26

4.

Jamdlf to siTA 

... 16

Carried forward

 94

The Steam- Flotilla.

289

The fleet numbers thirteen keel, including the
four tugs respectively caUed a, c, d, and E, With
the exception of the large four-funnel'd Bessemer-
steel " Maddock " (Captain Hulstein), all may be said
to be of the same type. They are flat-bottomed
fron paddle- wheelers ; broad in the beam, strong in
horse-power, and drawing between three and four
feet ; built in England, sent to Sind in pieces, and
here put up at a monstrous and useless expense.
Travellers complain that this draught is too great,
and quote the " floating palaces " of the United
States, which swim in eight inches. The
Superintendent, Mri Wilkins, replies with " the
results of twenty-five years' experience " : five of
the American type were tried and failed, because
the engine-rooms were too hot, and the general
unwieldiness prevented them steering. The stern-

Miles.

Brought forward
94
6.
Sita to Rukkan 
.
. 20
6.
Rukkan to Dadii 
.
. 13
7.
Dadii to Khayraderd 
.
.. 4
8.
Behdwalpiir to siShwan 
•
. 14
 51
9.
Sdhwanto More Luck (Bhagdtor
i)Pass 4
10.
More Luck to Bhagdtord VUlage .
. 4
IL
Bhagdtord to Amri or Amiri ..
. 17
12.
Amri to Sann 
. 12
13.
Sann to Bambrd 
. 12
14.
Bambrd to Mdjhdnd 
. 9
15.
Mdj hdnd to Gopang 
. 10
16.
Gopang to Unarpiir 
. 22
17.
Unarpiir to KOTKi 
4. to
. 24
 114
tal of 259 mUes
VOL. 11.
41
290 Sind Revisited.

wheeler was not more successful : it grounded too
easily in twelve feet water, it would back itself
but not its fiats : even an attempt was made to
naturalize Bourne's " steam-train," a system of tug
and barges fitting into one another like the vertebrae
of a snake, and steered by the last item. It could
hardly, however, reach Sehwan : when this was
stated at a public meeting, by Captain Wood, the
enraged proprietors bonnet'd him and tore his
coat ; — he used to tell the tale with exceeding merri
ment. These Indus steamers * have peculiar work
to do ; no wonder that they " groan and grunt like
a legion of devU-possessed swine." They carry
not only themselves, but a flat on either side, well
laden with merchandize and covered Avith fuel ; and
the Indus, as you now know, is at no time a river
to trifle with.
Yet we must have our grumble. The aspect
of the Flotilla is essentially antiquated and archaic.
The main cabins are not unfrequently below decks,
insufferably hot'; and in all cases they occupy the
stern instead of the fore, so as to catch as much
' There are five first-class : (Sir Herbert) Maddock (registered
tonnage 364, and horse-power 280), De Grey (260, 140), Cranboume
(229, 150), John Jacob (do.), and MoLeod (223, 150) ; four seconds :
Frere (194, 110), Lawrence (do), Outram (do), Havelock (do.), and
Indus (149, 90). The thirds are, Pdxa (243, 65), Tug G (67,40),
and Tug D (67, 40). A is used as a ferry-boat at Kotri ; B was
sold, and .0 is a smaU special of three tons and horse-power 40.
There are twelve first-class barges, thirteen seconds (both iron),
three thirds (wooden), and one of the fourth, fifth, and sixth
classes (corrugated iron) ; these vary from 35 to 670 registered
tons. The report of Major Le Messurier, Consulting Engineer for
RaUways in Sind, gives a bird's-eye view of the whole fleet.

The Flotilla. 291

smoke and wood-dust as possible. They have no
bridges, an essential requisite for keeping a good
look-out. The up-passage is not expensive, Rs.93
for eight or nine days ; but this cannot be said of
the down trip, Rs.62 for a distance often covered
in two days. Hence they have not been able to
run off the native craft, which contend with
them successfully as the mule against the Sao
Paulo Railway in the BrazU ; and when the Iron
Road shall reach Sakhar, there must be a consider
able reduction of fares and freights. On the other
hand, the vessels are clean and comfortable ; the
table is good ; Mr, T, G. Newnham, the Deputy
Agent for Sind, is most obliging in his arrangements,
and the captains follow his example.
To divert your thoughts from this dry subject,
let me direct your attention, sir, to that Saracen's
head which bobs up and down ; frowning at the
Uttle waves, half-playful, haU-pettish, that etch
the glassy, oUy surface ; sputtering out monstrous
sounds, and grinning at us with its white teeth set
in brown lips, like the friendly sea-beasts of which
Arabian fablers teU, The creature, however, is no
" Adami el-Bahr," or merman, but a courier, who,
finding progress less fatiguing vid the stream than
by running along its banks, packs his despatches,
together with his toilette, in his turban, and com
mits himself to the safeguard of the Wandering
Jew, Khwdjeh Khizr, the type of this wonderful,
indomitable river. The gross material contrivance
that keeps his head above water is a gourd or

292 Sind .Revisited.

an inflated hide, rude forerunner of the " Schonrock"-
floater, connected by two loops to his thighs, and
lying like a cushion under his chest. This form is
also sometimes adopted by the Mohdnd,
You now see the renowned way of fishing the
Pallo, or sable-fish, the Hilsa of the Ganges, a
Clupea,* popularly caUed the Indus-salmon, As
a traveller justly remarked, this " piscatory pursuit "
more nearly reduces the human form divine into
an aquatic beast of prey than any disciple of the
gentle craft ever contemplated. Near populous
places, where the market is warm, you may see
a dozen amphibii on the water at one time. The
style, however, extends only as far as Sita, between
Sdhwan and Sakhar ; higher up-stream the PaUo-
nets hang from the stems of many little Boris,
The Mohdno, w^ho wears only a large turban
and a smaU Languti, or T-bandage, first launches
his craft, a vessel of well-baked clay, which avUI not
expose him to danger by breaking. Mostly made
at Haydardbdd, it is a jar three or four feet in
diameter by about two in height ; flattened, open-
mouthed, and shaped somewhat like a gigantic
turnip, Salaming to the river, and mumbling an
Arabic sentence in which the name of Allah occurs,
he so disposes himself that the pit of his stomach
covers the aperture, and battens down, as it were,
his hatches: he then strikes out with the stream,
paddling behind, fike a frog sitting upon a chip,
^ According to Dr. Winchester it is one of the Oyprinidse ;
Dr. P. Day makes it a Clupea, and this is the received opinion.

The Fisherman. 293

tiU he reaches some likely pool, or the wake of a
steamer, where the fish are supposed to follow. One
of the " lUustrateds " lately gave a sketch of a
Mohdno so employed, but, unfortunately for " local
colouring," it showed the object of pursuit, which is
always hidden by the Uquid mud. He now drops
deep into the water a pouch-net attached to the
termmal fork of a long pole of light Bhdn, or
poplar-wood, generaUy three pieces lashed together
at the bevels. There is also a check-string to secure
the prey when entangled. Feeling the fish, he
slowly heaves up his net, draws a knife from his
gfrdle, settles the straggler's business, and deposits
the body in the jar.
To see the ease with which the Mohdno per
forms this operation, you would suppose it, sir, to
be a matter of Uttle difficulty. Try it one of these
days fri some shadow place : you and your pot wUl
part company, as sharply and suddenly as your
back ever met the Serpentine's icy floor. The
difficulty is to prevent the jar slipping from under
you, like a horse's hoofs upon a wet wooden pave
ment or a dry platform of sheet-rock, I made
sundry experiments at immment risk of drowning,
tUl at last no fisherman would accompany me, and
the end of the study found me not a whit cleverer
than at the beginning. There is, of course, no
difiaculty in floating with the gourds, but then one
is sure never to catch. Early practice and life-long
habit preserve the Mohdno from accidents : although
he passes half his days in the uncertain, dangerous

294 Sind Revisited.

river, he rarely suffers from anything but rheuma
tism. As the fish is always expected to swim
against stream, the fisherman, reaching a certain
point, paddles ashore, and walks some miles up the
bank, jar on head, to recommence operations tUl
he has caught enough for food or sale.
The Pallo varies in weight from two to three
pounds, and the length is about twenty inches ;
and the finest are supposed to be those nearest
Bakar : the season is between March, when they are
rare, and June, when they are most abundant. The
first Pallo of the year always claimed a handsome
present from the Amfrs, The fish seldom pass
above Bakar, but once every two or three summers
they have been caught even at Multdn, I cannot
allow you a feast of grilled Pallo, cooked with
spices after the native fashion: such indulgence
might bring on the retributive indigestion ; more
over, the flavour is so undeniably good that if you
once begin you wUl not end tUl repletion cry stop.
But you may eat a first course of boUed PaUo,
when the oil disappears; it is safe at this time,
early April, during which the fish is fresh from
the sea, and lean ; and if you trust your guide,
it will be seasoned with fennel sauce. Some
traveUers compare it with potted lobster; others
with salmon ; others again with fresh herrings ; and
I, profanely, with mackerel. AU agree, however,
that despite all its bones, which are said to have
been placed there by way of preventing over-
perfection, they highly refish the rich firm morceau.

Pallo-Fish, 295

and all have suffered for their gourmandise accord
ingly. The natives can eat and digest any quan
tities, for the same reason that they can catch
it and not drown. It is Young Egypt's Roast-
beef and Plum-pudding ; BouUlon and Bouilli ;
Macaroni and Polpette ; OUa Podrida and Asado ;
Kuskusu and " Fiil Mudammas," the boiled beans
of Old Egypt, Ask a Sindi what he would eat
for breakfast, and he repUes " PaUo ! " for dinner,
" PaUo ! " for supper, " PaUo ! " what his stomach
loves most upon earth, " PaUo ! " and what it mainly
looks forward to in Paradise, " unlimited PaUo,
without the trouble of catching it!"
We must now cast a critical eye upon the
Classic Indus, which wUl be interesting to you,
Mr, Bull, after your late experience of the Nile,
Its average width in this section is laid down at
680 yards, which in places stretches to three miles,
and in others shrinks to a quarter; hence the differ
ent figures which occur in the Greek geographers.
You at once note its chief pecuUarity ; with the
exception of the five buttresses, of which four are
on the right or western bank, at Sakhar, Sdhwan,
Kotri, Jarak, and Thathd, it is loosely confined by
crumbling banks of its own construction, which
aUow it to wander whither it wUls, The falUng
bank deserves your attention. You are creeping
slowly up when, from the re-entering angle
behind you, where the stream and the wake-waves
set upon the silt-waU, inhabfred by the little
martins (Cotyle sinensis), a crack appears in a pro-

296 Sind Revisited.

jecting headland: it widens rapidly, and, after a few
minutes, down comes a slice of ground, some 50
feet long by 20 high and 1 5 deep. Tremendous is
the lapse of the mighty fragment, veUed by its
own cloud of dust and silt. The river's flank,
heaving and roaring, bursts to and closes over this
material for future shoals, and presently a taU
mimosa, half-detached from its parent soil, then
tearing away by its weight the tough roots that
belay it to the ground, bends, sinks, and tumbles
headlong, with the crack of musketry, into the bod
ing brown wave, to become snags and sawyers. In
some places we see a dozen of these earthslips at
a time, smoking down the far perspective. Many a
Beri has had its bottom separated from its sides, and
even the steamer is never safe except where the
warp-cliff is too stiff and clayey to be readUy under
mined. It is often sandy below and compact sUt
above, a condition highly favourable for the sUps,
Hence the uniform colour of the Indus, which,
as a rule, contrasts strongly with the vivid reds
and greens of Father NUe, During the height
of the dries the water is tolerably clear and, in the
floods, the depths sleeping under some bank show
patches of azure and Ught green. Ruddy streaks
may also be noticed in places, especially when
southerly Avinds prevaU : the brown water on
either side of the red then denotes the channel,
and it is deep if white underlie the coloured water.
But at this season, when the rise begins, the hue is
that of a gutter washing a muddy town. In Sep-

Father Indus. 297

tember the sediment wiU average fifty-one grains
per quart, and in October twenty-one and a half.
Again we observe that the bed, trending from
north to south, shows a right bank higher than its
vis a vis, except only where the stream, defiected by
some spit, sets strongly upon the latter. This, the
acknowledged law of rivers lying on a meridian,
was first noticed, I believe, in Russia, The result
of the earthslips, and the inclination with the earth's
motion from west to east, is a perpetual shifting
of shoals and channel. At night we can some
times distinguish the Thalweg by the darkly-etched
surface ; during the day we know it only when we
have passed it by the ripples and wavelets that play
upon the smooth and oUy face. Hence, too, the
tremendous bends, the coils of monstrous serpents,
Uke those above Sehwan and about Sakhar ; the long-
narrow islands, and the loops and network of smaller
branches, which flank and break the mighty bed.
The sand-bank and the silt-holm are eternaUy film'd
over, like the Arabian Desert, with a mist of im
palpable white powder, which fiUs the afr after the
fashion of fog-particles ; and at times half a dozen
" devils " may be seen whirling through the lift,
with shafts perpendicular in stiU weather, or bent
in the direction of the howling wind.
The country on both sides is mainly scrub, bush,
and gigantic graminacese, tiger-grasses, with flower
ing stems twenty feet taU, The tamarisk is of
two kinds : Lai or Jhdo (T. Indica and Orientalis).
The Kirwo or Kirrar is a leafless caper (C.

298 Sind Revisited.

Aphylla), too bitter even for the white ants,
and its neighbour is the Dhokar (C. latifolia).
The Khayal or Khabbar * (Salvador a Persica) bears
an edible fruit caUed " Peru," and its congener, the
PUu or Jdl (Salvadora oleoldes) yields a remedy for
snake-bites. On the drier grounds rise the Phis, or
fan-palm (a Chamcerops), and the taU euphorbiaceous
Ak or Hak (Calotropis Hamiltonii or gigantea).
Here and there are fields of wheat, barley,
gram (Zolichos biflorus) and vetches ; mustard and
safflower. The thfrd and fafrest division is the
Beld or the Shikdrgdh, the forest-clumps lining the
banks, and seen in perfection between Haydardbdd
and Amiri, The Conservator, assisted by his fifteen
Tappdddrs, or divisional inspectors, and they by
their Bil-ddrs or Rakhds (foresters), make the
eighty-seven patches pay something like three lakhs
per annum. Our little steamer burns about twenty-
two tons of fuel in twelve hours ; and we might fancy
that replanting is necessary : all assure us, how
ever, that the brush-wood attains sufficient size
within three years. The best is the black-hearted
Babiil (not Bdbul), the common tree of Lower
Sind : this quick-growing mimosa, which rots,
they say, unless cut at the proper season, is
rated at 100 to 125 of any other kind. The next
are the red-hearted manna- tamarisks, and the least
prized is the Bdhn, or willow-poplar (P. Euphratica),
whose soft wood, you know, is used for the lacquer-
' The Arab Ardk, famed for tooth-sticks ; and the " mustard-
tree " of Scripture.

Indus-Forests. 299

work boxes ; it is the most common in Upper Sind,
The Tdli (Dalbergia Sissu or latifolia), abundant
in the Shikdrgdhs, is chiefly used for building native
craft,* The worst of the wood stations is said to be
Sehwan, where the supply resembles broomsticks.
Our three days' prospect from the steamer shows
us but little variety. The wood-stations are denoted
by fuel stacked in maunds ; by a tall signal staff,
and by a few low hovels of matting for the care
takers who inhabit the villages at some distance :
' According to my late friend Dr. Stocks, the indigenous vegeta
tion of Sind is " one-third extra-tropical (120° P.), Arabian and
Egyptian, and two-thirds Indian." This, of course, does not include
the many Australian wattles, which have lately been introduced.
The other common trees are : —
Ber {Zizyphus jujuba or vulgaris), with two varieties, Sundi
and Chdperi, both bearing edible berries.
Carob-tree {Oeratonia siliqua).
BU {Mgle Marmelos).
Mdwd {Bassia latifolia), supplying a spirit.
Date {Phoenix dactylifera) : it is not stunted and distorted
by being tapped, Uke the Indian.
The common apple begins, though not as a wild tree, to ripen
on the banks of the MaUr River, where the fruit is the size of a
crab. Jhand {Acacia leucophcea).
Siris {Acacia speciosa).
Lasuri {Cordia myxa).
Geduri {Cordia latifolia).
Kdrwo ( Phyllanthes multifioris).
Pippal ( Ficus Religiosa) : the Bo tree of Budha.
Bhar {Ficus Indica) : the " Banyan tree."
Lohini, or Iron-wood {Tecoma undulata).
Khan : the Olea cuspidata, as weU as the Tecoma undulata, or
iron-wood. Kdndf {Prosopis Spicigera) : harder and bummg better than
Babiil. Specimens of aU these woods may be seen in the Municipal
Museum of Kardchi.

300 Sind Revisited.

these "Khari," or Bandars, much resemble the
"Portos" of BrazUian rivers. Here and there,
camels, horses and asses, cows and buffaloes, dun and
white sheep and black-haired goats, are driven
down to drink by angry dogs, apparently bastard
Kelat greyhounds. Men and women, children and
quadrupeds, all bathe together ; mud-larking with
that amiable abandon which distinguishes us in
the VaUey of the NUe, A common feature at this
season is the Melo, or fair, chiefly frequented by the
Banyans, and showing from 1000 to 3000 souls.
It is another sight which you generally see from a
railway-carriage between Cairo and Alexandria;
this shifting scene of crowded ferryboats, Uttle Pdls
(ridge-tents) and merry-go-rounds, dromedaries
with Kajdwas (litters), and smaU donkeys carrying
huge pads and sometimes a pair of pulpy traders.
The Moslems are distinguished by loose turbans,
white shirts and blue Pdjdmmas; whUst the
poorest are dressed cap-d-pie in indigo-dyed stuffs,
Hindus affect the small tight turban or worked
skull-cap split behind; the Dhotar (waist-cloth),
and the Angarkhd, a cotton coat with close-fitting
crumpled sleeves, and waisted about the breast.
The women, who herd together, light up the scene
with yellow, brick-coloured, and red garments of
different tints ; and the small boys, in naturalibus,
race the steamer along the banks. The settlements
improve as we advance southwards : some of them
much remind us of the Nizam's territory and the
Dakhan (Deccan) viUages ; and the fleets of boats

The Indus-Voyage. 301
standing up stream, with sails at various angles,
and apparently walking the land, are very effective
items in the scene. Regularly, as the sun sinks,
leaving layers of fierce light in the neighbourhood
of the hidden orb, we anchor to the bank ; and our
native passengers hurry ashore to secure cooking-
places, fowls, and mUk, We pass the night in a cool
and pleasant atmosphere, which notably changes
after the second day, listening at times to the
laughter and screams of the jackals, and to the
frequent earthslips which fall with the sound of a
distant cannonade. The Adllages are silent, like the
graveyards by thefr sides, and the living are lying
well-nigh as stUl as the dead.
The pastoral scene suddenly changes at Sehwan
Ridge, Here the jagged crest of the Kirthdr
Mountains, which run north and south, Uke the
ancient geological bank of a mighty river-vaUey,
throws out eastwards, by way of buttress, a lump of
rock 1200 feet high, striking the Indus at right-
angles. The consequence of this impediment is per
petual motion in the stream: in 1844 we used to
anchor close to the houses of the old city ; presently
the channel edged off seven or eight mUes, and now
it has returned to within nearly half that distance.
Below Sehwan, agafri, we can no bnger land, except
in the smaUest Dundi, at the large viUage of Bhagd
tord, These bald and knobby hiUs, over which you
travelled when going north, are a surprise to the
stranger voyaging up stream : they vary in shape
and form at every angle, and the steamer does her

302 Sind Revisited.

very best to escape nighting in their dreadful re
flected heat. The Pass opposite the Ridge is caUed
in the time-tables " More Luck : " here, in May,
furious gusts and raffales, the precursor of the
south-west monsoon, often make the lumbering
boats bolt with their owners ; transfer the thatched
awning into the water, whirl away half the luggage
to keep it company, and utterly distract the crew.
You remember how Admfral Nearchus complained
of these horrid adverse gales, which dashed his
trfremes and gaUeys against one another, and
caused repeated halts for repairing. In our modern
day, naval men have declared that Father Indus in
flood is more dangerous than the most violent of
Transatlantic rivers, and, from what you have
witnessed of its prowess, even at the beginning of
the rough season, you cannot refuse it credit for
extensive powers of mischief-making whenever con
ditions are favourable.
The Sdhwan, or, as the natives call it, the Bhagd
tord, ridge begins up stream with a long bent dor
sum, at whose base flows the lively blue Aral River,
the drain of Lake Mdhd Manchar, and the tail of the
western Ndrd. From the deck we see the buUdinars
which rise above the old town : the clumps of
mounds bearing -the minaretted Id-gdh, and the
dome of the Chdr Ydr, or Four Friends of the patron
Saint. Upon the sky-line of the ridge stand out
the Bungalows buUt' by the engineers and con
tractors of that exceedingly " slow coach," the Indus
VaUey State RaUway, Their labourers' lines and

Indus at Sehwan. 303
their embankment, here a regular Mal Paso, may be
traced winding round the point, where it is stopped
by a big ravine ; the latter, dividing a huge reticu
lated mass of flat rock from the hiUside, is appa
rently the work of an earthquake. The flanks, both
of this and of the ridge behind, are seamed with
gashes which in a rainy country might be the work
of water: here we cannot accept the Wernerian
explanation. Capping the wall-crest that faces the stream,
and known as Darydlo, stands a stone upon a cairn :
this "Dog's Tomb" bears a tradition common to
the Aryan world. A hUl-man, being in debt as
usual, borrowed a small sum from a Sdhukdr, or
merchant, and gave, by way of security, a dog
which he represented as a mfracle of fidelity and
honour. The trader's house was broken into and
robbed of much valuable property, but it was all
recovered by the sagacity of the " pawn," There
upon the creditor dismissed his four-footed friend
and bound to its neck the receipt for its master's
debt. The hill-man, who had found means to scrape
the money together, suddenly met the pledge trotting
gaUy homewards, and, without taking thought, cried
out " Phit ! (a curse !) thou hast put me to shame
by this flight," Whereupon the dog fell dead,
doubtless from the shock to the nervous system; and
the master, learning the truth too/ late, showed his
sorrow by expending a hundred rupees upon the
grave. The tale is told with variants: Mr. A, 0,
Hume, for instance, makes the hiU-man slay his

304 Sind Revisited.

dog with an axe ; but the death by a broken heart
is much more Sindi, and, methinks, more effective.
That the dog was honoured in these regions we
learn by the fact of the Jat tribe beyond the Aral
river being compelled, under the Arab rule, to bring
a hound as a gift every time they presented them
selves before the ruler.
At Amfri or Amri, the twelfth station on the
right bank, about twenty-five miles below Sdhwan,
we see white domelets peeping over the pent-houses
of wattle : here a long mud-bank, apparently some
ruined settlement, subtends the river which, after
an exceptional broad, narrows to about 450 yards.
These are the inducements, I suppose, which have
caUed the heap "Alexander's Fort:" you have
already seen one at Sdhwan, and you know what
to think of them.
Beyond this point, Mr, Bull, I have literally
nothing to show you.
And now that you have inspected and studied
Sind and its River as much as your guide, do
you not marvel at the complete physical resem
blance, combined with the absolute inteUectual
difference, between Old Egypt and Young Egypt ?
There Meroe, PhUse, Thebes, the Pyramids, Here
nothing. And yet this is one of the nurseries
of the Indo-Aryan race, whose occupation of the
Panjdb learned Pandits — H, H, WUson and others
— place before the sixth century b.c. This is one
of the homes of the Vedas and the scene of many of
the Purdnas: the traditions of Rdma and Sitd's

Sind V, Egypt., 305

travel in Lower Sind are stiU in every Hindu's
mouth. Can you explain the cause of this mighty con
trast in the works of Art where the gifts of Nature
are so similar ? No ? Then perhaps you will lend
a ready ear to my humble theory,
I cannot accept the revival of the Rev,
Barham Zincke, who again proposed to colonize the
banks of the Nile with immigrants from India,
The earliest cave-characters in the great Peninsula
declare without a doubt that the raw alphabet, which
afterwards ripened into the perfect Devandgari, was
simply Phoenician, showing that ' Aryavarta,' the
Land of Man — as opposed to us " links " — derived
her civilization (pace all the Sanskritists !) from,
instead of exporting it to, the West, " Ex Oriente
lux " is our, not her, motto. But Old Egypt, like
Syria her sister, has ever been the great meeting-
place of nations, the common ground upon which
the Orient and the Occident stood front to front ;
where Eastern man compared himself with Western
man, where mind struck mind, and where the Prome
thean spark resulted from the impact of Northern
upon Southern thought. Young Egypt stood in a
corner ; isolated, materially and moraUy, from the
outer worlds of the North and the Far West : her
great watery highway, beginning in uninhabitable
mountains, ended in the Arabian Sea : in fact, she
was a natura] thoroughfare leading from nothing
to nothing, and she was of scant service to racial
development. The Hindu, Brahman or Rajput,

1TT»T. TT

42

306 Sind Revisited.

with his seven castes,* was ever essentially uncom
municative, unprogressive ; society was fossUized
as soon as formed, and in point of civUization,
" thus far and no further " became its law. Hence
Indus-land was compelled to work out her OAvn
destinies, which she did in a mean and humble way;
while the monuments of NUe-land still instruct and
astonish humanity.
' All the classical authorities, Strabo and Arrian, Quintus
Curtius and PUny, mention seven, not the four, castes of Menu.
Needless to say I far prefer the account of the Greeks, essentiaUy
a critical and inquisitive race, to the -wild Ues of Hindu Pandits.
It would appear that the quadruple di-rision, stiU known by name,
although No. 2 item has disappeared and No. 4 is hardly recogniz
able, is a comparatively modern revival of some local and pecuhar
institution.

( 307 )

CHAPTER XXXI,
THE RAILWAY — RETURN TO KARACHI — PINAL
REFLECTIONS — SIND MARRIED TO THE PANJAB —
SHORT ADIEUX,
At last, Mr, Bull, here is the Bandar or landing-
place of Haydardbdd, The sun nears the horizon.
We have been tossed about that Kotri Reach, like
the Trojan of pious and immortal memory ; and, like
him, we touch soUd ground with reeling heads and
thankful hearts. To-morrow morning we return
to Kardchi by th.e single down-train, which starts
at 7.30, or one hour later than the up-train.
We might, perhaps, by making interest, and by
paying for our servants first-class fares instead of
third, ^e allowed a carriage attached to a baggage-
train. But I want to show you, in full daylight,
and in all its deformity, the very worst-chosen line
in the British dominions. The journey and its
description wiU be painfully dull — one cannot jig
the whole way between Dan and Beersheba : before,
however, we set out, let us piece together in mosaic

308 Sind Revisited.

the bits of information concerning the rail which
we picked up on the road.
On our way northwards we followed the old
rather than the new line, that deep band of warp
which runs, more or less, along the embankment
of the " Indus VaUey State RaUway." For the
State, let us now say the Empire, has interposed
itself between the two scraps of Sind, Panjdb,
and Delhi Railway intended to connect Kardchi-
Kotri and Sakhar-Multan : and the policy of the
Anglo-Indian Government now tends to take aU
the great trunks into its especial charge. The result
has not been tried, and we wUl give the experiment
all the benefit of uncertainty ; still, we have no
warrant for believing that it wiU result in anything
but failure, something, in fact, more exemplary
than even the mismanagement of those private com
panies which have so " messed " and muddled the
transit and the traffic of the great Indian Peninsula,
Hitherto, proceedings upon the I.V.S.R. have
not, I have told you, been satisfactory. In fact, as
yet it has done nothing useful, save and except to
start Edwin Arnold's admirable song, beginning —
" Now is the devil-horse come to Sind,
Wah ! Wah ! Gooroo, that is true ;
His belly is stuffed with fire and -svind.
But as good a horse had Rajah Dehu."
The works began in 1872, the total distance is
only 270 miles, but the officials have taken their time
with a witness. The expenditure, say the growlers
of the Press, is enormous ; the personnel shifts when

The Indus Valley Railway. 309
and where it pleases : there is the usual fatality
attending " Government work," the same disorder
and inconsequence which left the British Army
barefooted at Balaclava whUst ships full of boots
lay in port. The fish-plates were forgotten when
the guards' watches and the buttons for the electric
wires had long been lying ready in the stores —
this may serve you for a specimen. There is
nothing more mysterious to me, sfr, than the con
trast between your admirably conducted manufac
ture, store, or private place of business, and the
utter want of organization in your public arrange
ments, during a campaign for instance. At times
you must be almost tempted to engage a French
man by way of acting-manager.
Now, at last, Somebody is ashamed of himself.
This year the round sum of one miUion sterling has
been granted towards completing the missing link,
and there is a modicum of life upon the line. Report
declares that in next June (1876) the section con
necting Kotri with Sann, a few mUes south of
Sehwan, wiU be opened. This I can hardly beUeve.
We saw aU the smaUer bridges unfinished, and we
know that the big bridge has hardly been begun.
Again, we found the embankment in places running
OA^er low ground fiaked and cracked by flood or
rain ; and we are tolerably certain that, despite the
immense length, of the slopes facing the stream,
every yard wUl have to be repafred and renewed,
tUl nothing but the nucleus of the present Une
remains. FinaUy, the obstacles of doubling the

310 Sind Revisited.

Lakki or Sehwan Point have dubbed the place, as
you have seen, "More Luck Pass," which can hardly
have less luck than Fate has hitherto vouchsafed
to it — so Avere the Furies called Eumenides. How
ever, the energetic contractor, Mr. Dawvid Mac
kenzie, who built the Napier Barracks, Kardchi,
is hard at work upon this Bhagdtord Pass, and,
if man can do it, he will. The S^hwan-Sakhar
section (120 miles) wdl consume at least another
year, and the country is a copy of that between
Kotri and Sann : the southern approach to Sakhar,
you know, has been flooded ground, and probably
wUl be so again, whilst that pestilent Kasmor
Band actually threatens the existence of the old
city. We are not therefore sanguine as to any
immediate and brillip,nt success ; but we have a
couAdction that the normal Anglo-Indian, and
perhaps British, bungling old rule of thumb wiU
make all right in the end.
The line west of the Indus was chosen, after abun
dant dispute and delay, because, they say, it passes
through two first-class towns, Sehwan and Larkdna ;
because Sakhar-Bakar-Rohri gives the best and,
indeed, the only thoroughly suitable emplacement
for a bridge ; and because it was judged advisable
to avoid Mfr Ali Murad Talpur 's independent terri
tory, Khayrpifr. But the eastern bank is both
shorter and safer, and it would soon raise Hdld
and Naushahro to the level of the western towns ;
while the difficulty or the disadvantages of passing
through the Amir's feof are purely fanciful. Lastly,

The Indus Valley Railway, 311
there are other places than Kotri for bridging the
Indus ; for example, the narrows at Amfri, How
ever, the choice has now been made.
Let us return to the I, V, S. R,, or rather the
S, P. and D. Railway, whose chairman is Mr, W, P,
Andrew, the strenuous advocate of the Euphrates
Valley short-cut. It deserves our regard as the first
public work of any importance projected (April 29,
1858) in Sind since the latter was the gift of the
Indus, On the other hand, it is a model of bad selec
tion and of worse execution. The former is generally
explained away upon the principle of " Hobson's
Choice ;" but this is by no means applicable to the
case. It had two " competition- waUas," Common
Sense said, Follow the line of the old road to the
east or near the river : give transit and vitality to
Ghdrd, Thathd, and Jarak, the only places deserAdng
mention in the Trans-Indine Valley ; what made
" Debal Bunder," in the olden day, a city of some
300,000 souls will make the miserable, squalid
vdllage great once more, " Economy," so often the
bane of our Eastern Empire, said. Run along the base
of the Kohistdn, the MaUr, and other scatters of hill
or high ground to the left or west, and you will
not waste your rupees in bridging. But this saving
a few thousands of pounds sterling is a matter of
the smallest importance, whereas situation for an
Indian railway is aU in aU : the difference between a
good and a bad line of country is essential.
Accordingly, the normal compromise, more
Britannico, was agreed upon, and this measure is

312 Sind Revisited.

one of the many omissions and commissions at
tributed to the builder of Frere Towns, Frere Halls,
and Frere Roads, It succeeded admirably in avoid
ing the merits, and in combining the defects,
of both projects. This fron-road runs through a
howling AvUderness, which, for one " spell " of
twenty miles, cannot supply CA^en a drop of water.
The eye roams disconsolate over scattered bushes of
cactus and capparis, euphorbia and camel-thorn,
powdered, even in deepest winter, with summer
dust ; over bare incipient sandstone, and over
horse-bone lime, excellent compost, with nothing
to compose. There is no hope for this desert : the
Cairo-Suez line has restored prosperity to ancient
" Goshen," but there the raU runs along a sweet-
water canal.
The execution is, if possible, still worse. The
Malfr bridge, spanning the dangerous Fiumara of
the same name, has been swept aAvay at least twice :
the same result of providing civUized English
articles for such wild and savage torrents has also
astonished the Brazil. Again, upon a plain almost
as flat as your hand, the engineers have managed
to effect sundry cuttings : two between now de
serted Bolari and Meting. All the stations are what
they should not have been; small " pakka" build
ings of stone and lime, with appendages of dirty
hovels labelled " Post-office," and so forth ; when
light and airy sheds, giving draught and shade, are
the things wanted. They cannot attract popula
tion, because there is no population to attract :

The Indus Valley Railway. 313
hitherto immigration has been confined to a colony
of crows scattered up and down the line ; and if
human colonists offered themselves, man wUl not
and cannot settle upon unirrigated ground. Con
sequently, we see nothing of Sindi life from the cars
except a few vagrants who can keep themselves
alive in miserable " shanties " of bush and wattle.
The daily down-train starts later and travels
longer than the up-train : this, and the absence
of night-carriages, are hardly intelligible except
upon the principle of (do) nothing (to oblige), for
nothing. On the other hand, the Government will
continue to march its troops between Kardchi and
Kotri, in ten days, including a single halt, rather
than take the rail for four or five hours ; if such be
thefr economy it is in the usual expensive style : the
baggage-camels cost more than a few additional
cars. As we see, the Sepoys of the mountain-
battery, under Captain H. G. Young, of course sent
their women and children by the rail.
We will now examine the line a trifle more
minutely. The gauge is the normal intermediate
Indian, which suits the celebrated but stiU disputed
dictum of Mr. Crashaw. After leaving Kotri, and a
desolate clump of domed tombs outside it, we begin
a slight ascent, which wUl last, with intervals,
to the mid-day station, the apex of the shadow
prism. The first important Fiumara, crossed by
a soUd stone bridge, is the Bdrdn : at present
(April) it is bone-dry ; in mid- August it wUl dash
its tree-trunks and drift-wood clean across, and pUe

314 Sind Revisited.
them up on the further bank of, the mighty Indus,
See that ridiculous strip of Band, as fr fioods so
rapid and so sudden could be controlled by any but
the strongest work ! Chim Pfr, or, according to
Tommy Atkins, " Jem Pier," is the usual white
dome in a tuft of green trees, kept evergreen by the
large Dand, or water- sink, which drains the land
around. There are various buttresses attached and
detached to the right of the road : we are assured
that the plateaux on the summits, which may be
250 feet high, are sea-sand and water-rolled pebbles ;
and we remember our classics ;
"Et vetus inventa est in montibus anchora summis."
Here also a waiting-room is much wanted. At
Jungshdhi, the half-way house, we have a halt of
fifteen minutes, and the passengers from Haydardbdd
now expect the cool sea-breeze to replace the Simiim
sweeping over thefr rocky ridge. Near this half
way house is the deposit of laterite which jdelded a
specimen to the Municipal Museum, Unfortunately,
Jungshdhi is distant three hours by riding-camel
from the old emporium of Southern Sind, and now
a tramway is proposed — " that's the way the money
goes," Dubdji station. No, 5 of the TraveUers'
Guide, is distant seven miles from its village, and
wholly lacks a waiting-room : this section should
have ended at Ghdrd, Malfr, or Ldndi (No. 7),
lies two miles off its settlement, and away from
the gardens which would have recommended it.
At this last station of any importance we see

The Indus Valley Railway. 315
the MaUr river : it is one of the three streams that
drain the Kohistdn, or hiU-country north of Kardchi.
We have passed its neighbour, the Bdrdn, and we
sight from afar the valley of the Habb, the only
perennial stream in the province besides the Indus.
Water may generally be obtained by sinking a pit in
the MaUr bed : after rains a large head rushes down
for a short time, and now we find a mere thread of
fluid, which sinks in the broad expanse of sand.
Here, at a distance of eighteen miles, it is proposed to
buUd tanks, and to lay on the element for Kardchi in
pipings of stone or fron. The modern capital of the
Province still pines for the pure element : those who
can afford the expense, drink of the Indus, brought
in tanks from Kotri, 104 miles, while others import
it from Bombay, 507 miles. That used for washing
is hard enough to chap the hands. The Gazetteer
(p, 363) shows you that ten different projects have
been started, with the proverbial effect of too many
cooks ; and, after a quarter of a century, that pro
posed by Colonel Fife, foUowing Captains Baker,
J. Hill, De Lisle, and Merriman, has been finally
adopted. The only fault seems to be capital : the sup
ply of water does not suffice. Had we been mediseval
Dutchmen or modern Egyptians, we should long
ago have provided our young Alexancfria with a
canal taken from some section of the Indus between
Thathd and Jarak, a channel equally adapted for
navigation, frrigation, and supplying drink. This
Sindi Khedlviyyeh was proposed even in the
days of Sfr Charles Napier : it was strongly advo-

316 Sind Revisited.

cated by the late Lieutenant Chapman and by Mr.
T, G. Newnham, and the only objection was its
expense — Rs. 48,50,773. It would have benefited
the harbour by increasing the scour, and it would
have converted the desert into a garden of cabbages :
now its day has passed : the concurrence would
injure the railway. Surely a colony with common
sense would have drained the Bombay Flats before
building Frere Town, and would have dug the
Thathd Canal instead of wasting money upon Frere
HaUs in this City of the Sterile Plain.
The only part of the RaUway which we can
praise with conscience is the telegraphic. After the
careful experience of many experiments, the Depart
ment has decided upon making aU the posts of
metal, whUst the railway still adheres to wood
planted in metal sockets. Now that the white ant
has been excluded, various plans have been pro
posed for preventing the corrosion caused by
the galvanic action of the saltpetre-laden soil :
the posts, which are simple tubes, appear to suffer
from the climate of Sind as much as the human
frame, a complexity of tubes. At last the prophy
lactic has been hit upon ; the hollow bases are
stopped so as to keep out the air, and the exterior
is coated with a black mixture of tallow and tar.
We finish our 104 miles in four hours and a
half; six more would lead us round the north
east of camp, past McLeod Station to Kiydmdri, at
the water edge. We have little to say in favour
of Frere Station, except that there is an outer

Conclusions. 317

shed, and that hired "barouches" are sufficiently
numerous. ¦iS- -SS- -SS- * * *
And now, Mr. John Bull, you have a right to
quote, as regards Sind :
" Here is my journey's end, here is my butt
And very sea-mark of my utmost sail "
upon the Sindhu, the Sea of Young Egypt. Bear
with me yet a few minutes, whilst I state the con
clusions at which we have both arrived.
Either the climate of the Unhappy Valley has
improved, or, what is more likely, we haA^e learned
to subdue its wUdness by the increased comforts
of a more civilized style of life. The canal abuses
of the olden time have disappeared. Formerly it
was a feat to live five years in Indus-land ; now
you find men who have weathered their two decades.
We have little fear of seeing such pestilences as
those which killed off half the 78th Highlanders
and the "Irish Giants" (86th).
The Sindi; the mass of the population, has on
the whole benefited by our rule. We have not
imitated the Teutons, Avho, instead of developing
the finer qualities of various races — Slavs and
Italians, Roumenians and Magyars — -vainly attempt
a silly " Germanization." Schools and educational
establishments have at last been thrown open to
them; and the embryo Municipalities act as well
as can be expected. We have secured some con
fidence by giving it ; and we have not too severely

318 Sind Revisited.
" tried on" the so-called " paternal government." At
present the principal want is legal and official pro
tection for the Moslem Ryot against the Hindu
Sdhukdr, who, in South African phrase, threatens to
eat him up.
Young Egypt, like Old Egypt, imperatively
demands a sanitarium, and the nearest and best
would be Kelat, This capital also requfres pro
tection, and it wUl be an admirable outpost in case
of hostile movements from Merv upon Herat, Thus
an occupation, contemplated by the Treaty of 1854
(Art, 4), might suit all parties.
Abolish that abominable Jacobdbdd, for which a
couple of troops would amply suffice ; a single corps
of Sind Horse should support them from Shikdrpiir ;
and the reserves, that is to say, the body of the
force, should occupy Sakhar, where the climate is
supportable, and whence locomotion is easy.
Sind is virtually unconnected with north-western
India, whose prolongation she is. From Kotri-
Haydardbdd to Multdn (570 mUes), is a long
steamer-voyage of twenty days by the antiquated
barges of the dilatory and precarious " Indus
Flotilla," when the distance would be covered by
twenty-four hours of rail-travelling. The connection
should be completed as soon as possible.
The MUitary -political has had his day, and Sind,
after a fair trial of a third of a century, has shown
herself impotent to hold the position of an inde
pendent Province. Her "manifest destiny" is
annexation to the Panjdb, and thus once more, as

Finale. 319
in the ancient days of the Hindu Rajahs, her
frontiers wUl extend to Kashmir, Already the
papers tell us that the Trans-Indine districts, from
Peshdwar to near Kardchi, wiU be formed into
a Frontier Government, or an agentcy purely
political, and wiU be placed directly under the
Viceroy ; while Cis-Indine Sind, including also
Kardchi, is to be transferred from Bombay to the
Panjdb, in exchange for the Central Provinces,
These sensible measures will be, to use a popular
phrase, the making of Young Egypt. She wUl become
the export-line of the rich Upper Indine Valley and
the broad plains of the Land of the Five Rivers ;
and increased wealth will enable her to supply many
a local want, for instance, water and gas to Kardchi,
a branch-railway to Thathd, and so forth. FinaUy,
when Kardchi becomes the terminus of the Euphrates
or Overland Railway, so much wanted at this
moment (Feb., 1877), then "The Unhappy" wiU
change her name, and in the evening of her days
shaU become "The Happy Valley."
¦55" ^ ^'c ^ ^ -SS-
Separations, Mr. John Bull, are no longer the
heart-breaking affairs of thfrty years ago. In these
days Ave part with a fair average chance of meeting
again. I venture to hope that you will remember
the trip with pleasure ; and now let us shake hands
and exchange, if you please, not an adieu, but 'an
au revoir.

INDEX.

Abd el-Baki, tomb of, ii. 238.
Abd el-Kadir el-Jilani, ii. 219, 222.
Abd el-Kaaim of Rohri, tomb of,
ii. 231.
Abu Diraj Hill, i. 2.
Adam Shah Kalhdra, mausoleum
of, ii. 238.
Afghan servants, ii. 115.
Afghanistan, ii. 36.
 invasion of, ii. 51.
Afghans, ii. 99, 248.
 difficulty of ruling, ii. 51.
AEimi (opinm eater) ii. 121.
Aimed Khan, ii. 266.
Akbar, Emperor, ii. 220.
 mosque, ii. 224.
Aleppo, ii. 158
Alexander the Great, ii. 191.
" Alexander's Camp," ii. 189.
Ali Akbar, i. 52.
Ali Mnrad, ii. 73.
Allah, ii. 125.
Allen, Eev. Mr., ii. 37.
A mils. Government officers, i. 284.
Amfr Taymur, ii. 97.
Amiri village, ii. 171.
Amfrs, ii. 72, 125.
 tombs of, i. 261.
Amri, ii. 304.
Amrn, General, i. 24.
Andrew, Mr. W. P., ii. 310.
Anglo-Indian army ruined, i. 58.
Anglo-lndianisms, i. 9.
Aral river, ii. 194, 302.
Aror, Dyke of, ii. 268, 270, 273.
VOL. II,

Aror, dynasty of, ii. 152.
Arora-wah river, ii. 268, 273.
Arrian, errors of, i. 20.
Ascoli, Professor, ii. 244.
Atakeh hill, i. 2.
Aurangzeb, cathedral-mosque of,
i. 143.

B.
" Baba Island," i. 40.
Babaji Vanakhandi, ii. 215.
Babul (common tree in Lo-yy-er
Sind), ii. 298.
Baohheh-Aughan, cr Sons of the
Aughan, ii. 257.
Badha village, ii. 152.
Badin, old, ii. 274.
Bahawalpur, i. 38.
Bahn (willow-poplar), ii. 298.
Bahram, Lord, murder of, ii. 142.
Bakar, ii. 215, 227, 228, 272, 284.
Baker, Captain, ii. 315.
Baluch Hills, i. 51.
Bambra, i. 127; ii. 274.
Banyans, the, ii. 240.
Barahut, i. 10.
Baran river, ii. 313.
Barham Zincke, Rev., ii. 305.
Bari and Isa, Tale of, ii. 165.
Bassein, i. 5.
"Batela " (sea-craft), i. 31.
Bellew, Dr., ii. 244.
Beloch, the, ii. 98, 248.
 bard, ii. 16-1.
 dinner-party, ii. 129.
43

322

Index,

Beloch horses, ii. 162.
 legend, ii. 165.
 tea-party, ii. 147.
 tribe, ii. 98, 248.
 women, ii. 158, 160.
 women riding, ii. 163.
Belochki, dialect of Belochs, ii.
164.
Bengalis, i. 7,
Beran river, ii. 314.
Beresford, Lieutenant, feat of, i.
99.
Beville, Colonel, remarks on army,
i. 263.
Beyt Islet, attack on the " Pandis "
by naval brigade, i. 18.
Bhagatora Pass, ii. 310.
 village, ii. 301.
" Bhang " (prepared drink), i. 305 ;
ii. 103, 123, 164.
Bhat, bard, ii. 164.
Bhatiya caste, ii. 242,
 vendor, ii. 249.
Bhil corps, i. 19.
Bhit, ode to the Holy Men of, ii.
145.
Bigari and Nurwah Canals, ii. 260.
Birda Hills, i. 18.
Biscobra (poisonoua lizard), i. 238.
Blagrave, Lieutenant, ii. 94.
Blanford, Mr. W. T., ii, 217, 268,
Bokhara, ii. 111.
Bolan Pass, i. 80 ; ii. 260.
Bombay, i. 3, 4.
 Flats, ii. 316.
 Karachi line, i. 11.
" Bombay Marine," i. 5, 236.
 Steam Navigation Company,
i. 10.
Brahmanabad, i. 232 ; ii. 152, 274.
Brahmans, i. 172, 277 ; ii. 306.
Brahui numerals, ii. 244.
 tribe, ii. 99, 244, 248.
Brahuistan, ii. 193.
Bran ton, Mr. K, i. 245.
British India Steam Navigation
Company, i. 11.
Buckle, i. 16.
Budha, terra-cotta alto-relief of,
i. 74.
Bndhist remains, i. 228,
Bngtis tribe, ii. 261,
Bnist, Dr., ii. 39.
Burgess, Captain, i. 252,
Bxunes, Dr., ii. 37.

Burnes, Lieutenant, ii. 45.
 Sir A., i. 147.

0.

Cairo, i. 251.
Cambay Gulf, rivers of the, i. 14.
Cape Comorin, i. 14, 22.
 Monz, i. 22, 29.
¦Chachnamah, Persian chronicle, ii.
273.
Chahi, tea, ii. 147.
" Chaliho," or 40 days' heat, ii. 277.
Chapman, Lieutenant, ii. 3i5.
Char Tar, Four Friends of Moham
med, ii. 227, 238, 302.
Chenni village, ii. 201.
Chi'm Pir, ii. 313.
Chini backwater, i. 37.
 creek, i. 23.
"Chini Gumbaz "(porcelain domes),
i. 152.
Chola Khan, Mr. Howell, ii. 124.
Choti Bigariwah Canal, ii. 240.
Christmas Day, ii. 90.
Chfton, i. 23 ; en route to, 83 ;
town, 85 ; bathing, 85 ; want
of water, 85 ; climate, 86 ;
hunting, 87.
Oocam.ada, voyage in the, i. 12.
Cole, Mr. W., i. 74, 228.
Coleridge, ii. 122.
Conway, Captain, i. 242.
Crashaw, Mr., ii. 313.
Crocala Island, i. 4S.
Crowe, Mr., i. 144.

D.
Dabba, i. 260.
Dahir, ruler of Aror, ii. 231.
Dalura, king of Bambra, i. 127.
 Hindu prince, ii. 273.
Dam-i-Subh, breath of the morn
ing, i. 175.
Daman, i. 5.
Damascus steel, ii. 124.
Danna Towers, ii. 200.
Dappa on the Phuleli, i. 52.
Darya ja Shewak, Hindu sect, i.
429.
Dastar, Captain, ii. 222.
" Date of Hind," i. 92.

Index.

323

Da'udputra weavers, ii. 241.
Day, Dr. P., ii. 292.
De Quincy, ii. 122.
"Depnr" city, ii. 152.
Desborough Cooley, Mr. W., i. 22.
Devirs Brother, ii. 156.
Dewal, or Thatha, i. 168.
Dhara Tirtha, ii. 174.
Dharan Pir, ii. 174.
Dhomki tribe, ii. 244.
Din Bela, ii. 215.
Diu Head and Fort, i. 5, 13.
Diu, i. 15.
Diwali, Sindi-Hindn festival, i. 178.
Dog's Tomb, ii. 201, 303.
Dohagan, or " Hated Woman "
dome, ii. 271.
Domkis tribe, ii. 261.
Dubaji station, ii. 314.
Dwarika, i. 18.
 Pagoda, i. 5.
•  • Temple, i. 17.
Dwa/rha, voyage in the, i. 10.

E.
Eastern honour, ii. 55.
 policy, ii. 59.
 punishments, ii. 57.
 savoir-faire, ii. 3.
 weakness, ii. 5.
Easterns, management of, ii. 61.
Eastwick, Mr. E. B., i. 55 ; ii. 216.
Egypt, ii. 305.
El-Hejaz, ii. 158.
El-Islam, i. 161; ii. 52, 227.
El-Mansnrah province, ii. 272.
EUenborough, Lord, ii. 43.
English rule, benefits derived
from, ii. 317.
Erythrean Sea, i. 2.
Euphorbia (fire-plant), ii. 108.
Euphrates Valley railway, i. 33.

F.
Fakirs, ii, 230.
Fath Khan, ii. 224.
Ficus Religiosa, i. 159.
Fife, Colonel, ii. 315.
" Fighting Fitz," ii. 203.
Forbes, ii. 7.
Fort Fitzgerald, ii. 203,

Fort Manhdra, i. 44.
" Fort of Scorpions," ii. 277.
" Forty Fathoms Bank," i. 21.
Franklin, Lady, ii. 213.
" Frere Town," i. 4.
" Frere Hall," i. 18, 23, 72.
 Station, i. 83 ; ii. 316.
Fulton, Mr., ii. 241.

G.
Gajah Fork, ii. 814.
Ganja Hills, i. 247.
Gagga Fiumara, i. 125.
" Gendi " (tin pan), i. 7.
" Gentoo," or Gentile-worship, i.
160.
" Gentoos," ii. 174.
Ghara, enroute to, i. 113 ; prepara
tions for journey. 111 ; the
gallant young robber, 115 ;
Jemadar's station, 116 ; rough
travel, 117 ; memories of Ghara,
135 ; camel ride, 137 ; camels,
139, 180.
 Creek, i. 87, 113.
 ¦ village, ii. 201.
Ghi (melted butter), ii. 105.
Ghisri " Military Marine Sani
tarium," i. 87.
 Oriental nights, i. 88.
 quarries, i. 42.
 port, i. 87.
Ghulam Ali, tomb of, ii. 238.
¦  ¦ Dastgir, ii. 225.
 Nabi, tomb of, i. 260.
 Shah Kalhdra, i. 247.
Giant Face, ii. 155.
Gilchrist, Dr.,i. 38.
Girnar mountain, i. 27.
Goa, i.'33.
Goldsmid, Major-General Sir F. J.,
ii. 241.
Gopang village, ii. 171.
Graham, Mrs., ii. 26.
Granth, Sikh Scripture, i. 288.
" Great Salt Desert," ii. 49.
Great Sind Canal, ii. 240.
Griboedoff, M., murder of, ii. 56.
Giijah, i. 141.
Gujrat, ii. 122, 249.
Guni river, ii. 84, 93.
Gnzerat coast, i. 13,

324

Index.

Habb, valley of the, ii. 314.
Haji Motu, tomb of, ii. 232.
Hajjaj, the chivalrous, i. 167.
Hakro village, ii. 272.
Hala, i. 163 ; ii. 152, 224.
Hala-Kirthar HiUs, i. 107.
Halim UUah, ii. 222.
Hamilton, Captain, i. 21.
Hanuman, Hindu monkey-god, i.
221.
Haran Shikargah, ii. 93.
Hari Chand, ii. 109, 130, 136, 149,
204.
Hari Prashad, ii. 215.
Haaan Ali, i. 243.
Haahish (Indian hemp) , i. 307.
Hatim, ii. 183.
Havelock, Sir Henry, i. 62.
Hawker, Colonel, ii. 94.
Haydarabad, i. 3 ; ii. 23, 107, 149,
307.
 Amirs of, i. 52.
 Fort, i. 248 ; ii. 113.
 Palace, i. 249.
 Watch-tower, i. 250.
Haydarabad and Cairo, i. 251.
 Ancient, i. 253.
 native, i. 255.
 New, i. 261.
 army, i. 262.
 route from, to Rohri, ii. 151.
Hazramaut, i. 14.
Hazrat Ali, ii. 185.
Herar village, ii. 201.
Hilaya, i. 194.
HiU, Captain J., ii. 315.
Himalayas, i. 22.
Hindu Banyans, ii. 105.
¦ — — castea, ii. 306.
 courage, i. 275.
 pilgrimage, i. 94; ii. 85, 174.
•  Sahirkar, ii. 317.
— - sects, i. 290.
— thrift, i. 277.
 women, i. 292.
Hinduism, i. 160, 269.
Hindus, ii. 134.
 aboriginal, ii. 197.
 ¦ dress of, ii. 300.
 number in Shikarpur, ii. 245.
 of Sind, i. 269.
Holy Hair, Shrine of, ii. 223.
Hughes, A. W., j. 73.

Hume, Mr. A. 0., ii. 213, 303.
Hundi, bill of exchange, ii. 253.
Husri viUage, ii. 74; game cocks,
79; cook fight, 81.
I.
Ibrahim Khan, ii, 105, 108, 110,
116, 132, 137, 141, 147, 185.
Ibrahim Khan's viUage, ii. 100,
105.
Ibrahim Pasha, ii. 58.
Ibrahim Shah, ii. 241.
Id-gah, place for festival prayers,
ii. 222, 302.
India, mflitary government, ii. 76.
 sociability in, ii. 25.
Indian cock-spura, ii. 81.
Indo-Aryan race, ii. 304.
Indus river, i. 227, 251 ; ii. 45, 68,
152, 178, 212, 214, 217, 225, 230,
273, 274.
— — alligators, i. 93.
 bridges of, i. 178.
 canal from, i. 39 ; ii. 315.
 claaaic, ii. 295.
 country round, i. 205.
 craft, ii. 286.
 Delta, i. 21.
 Incarnation, i. 295.
 leaden wall thrown across,
i. 201.
 mouths of, i. 5.
 mud, i. 235.
 Naval PlotiUa, i. 236.
 salmon-fishing, ii. 292
 Steam Flotilla, ii. 46.
" Indus Steam Navigation Com
pany," ii. 45.
 valley of, i. 29, 38 ; ii. 272.
 Valley State Railway, ii. 302,
308.
 term " Indian " derived from,
i. 233.
lama'iliyyah, heathen sect, i. 222.
Isma'n Mombiy&ni, ii. 142.
J.
Ja'afarabad, i. 5, 13.
Jacob, General, i. 55, 57, 258 ; ii.
261.
Jaoobabdd, ii. 236, 241, 244, 259,
318.

Index.

325

Jagat-nath, Lord of the World,
i. 17.
Jagirdars, country gentleman, ii.
130.
Jam Tamachi, i. 148, 195.
Jamshid, king of Persia, ii. 267.
Janidera village, ii. 259.
Jarak, en route to, i. 215 ; town,
219 ; old days, 221 ; Budhist re-
maina, 228.
Jats, ii. 96, 98, 244.
Jaypaal, chief, i. 169.
Jaysalmir, ii. 249.
" Jazireh," official head-quarters of
African ex-admiral, i. 13.
Jeddah, i. 3; 10.
Jehannum, i. 10.
Jekrani tribe, ii. 244, 261.
Jenda Pfr, ii. 226.
Jerid (javelin-play), ii. 161.
Johi village, ii. 201.
Junagarh, or Girnar, i. 15.
Jungahahi, ii. 314. K.
Kaba, robe, ii. 222.
Kachh, i. 14 ; ii. 249.
 coast, i. 21.
 Gulf of, i. 20.
 Mandavi, i. 5.
Kafir Kots, ii. 201.
Kajawah (camel-litter), ii. 204.
Kaku Mall, ii. 114, 131.
Kalandar, vagrant saint, ii. 181.
Kalhdra dynasty, ii. 98.
Kalhdra, tomb of, i. 259.
Kalyan Kot ruin, i. 147.
Kandahar, ii. 249, 266.
Kangarh, ii. 259.
Kano-reed, ii. 195.
Kanthus of Ptolemy, i. 20.
Kapoteshwar, or " Pigeon-god," i.
Karachi, i. 29, 42, 55 ; ii. 47 ; club,
i. 43; town, 44, 48, 49, 56;
oyster fishery, 44; fort, or
official town, 45 ; drainage, 46 ;
inhabitants, 46, 47; hats, 47;
camp Ufe, 55; neighbourhood,
55 ; cantonment, 64 ; water and
vegetation, 65; old camp, 66;
churches, 69; new camp, 71;
Frere HaU, 72; " Shimal," or
north-west wind, 107; dust

storm, 109 ; healthfulness, 109 ;
seasons, 110 ; cholera, 111.
Karachi, bay of, i. 22, 38.
 changes in camp, i. 77.
 Government gardens, i. 89.
 museum, i. 72.
 old Residency, i. 76.
 port, i. 32.
 want of water in, ii. 315.
Karam Ali Sain village, i. 256.
Kariz, or aqueduct, i. 106.
Kashmir, ii. 318.
Kasi (Persian tiles) , i. 74.
Kasmor village, ii. 263 ; attacking
mud forts of, 265.
Kashmor Band, ii. 260.
Kathiawar, i. 13, 14 ; coast of, 14 ;
turbot along the coast of, 20.
" Kawaid" guards, ii. 244.
Keane, Lord, i. 25, 207, 215; ii.
178, 230.
Keelan, Dr., i. 238.
Kelat, i. 80 ; ii. 236, 241, 249, 317 ;
hiUs, ii. 104.
Kerman, ii. 159.
Keyamari, ii. 316.
Khamsins, ii. 258.
Khandesh, i. 19.
Khara Takha mountain, ii. 201.
Khayrpur, ii. 201, 227.
Khazal tree, ii. 298.
Kheno, or ball, tossing of, ii. 255.
Kinjara-ji Miyani, en route to, i.
194, 212.
Kirby, Captain, ii. 272.
Kirthar mountains, i. 22, 29; ii.
153, 200, 301.
Khwajeh Khizr Island, ii. 215, 226,
273.
Kirwo (leafless caper), ii. 298.
Kohistan, ii. 314.
 mountain, ii. 153.
Konkans, the, i. 14.
Kori Bank, i. 21 ; mouth, ii. 274.
Kotri, i. 236 ; ii. 295; town, i. 237 ;
fort, 238 ; pubUc buildings, 239,
246; morality, 240; old ferry,
241 ; Agency, 242 ; old road,
243; burial-ground, 244; aque
duct, 245 ; Insane Asylum, 245.
Kusumbd (opium), ii. 118.
Kutb-Minar of Delhi, ii. 214.
Kutb Shah, ii. 271.
Kyamari, or upper harbour, i. 40.
Kyamari Island, i. 34, 40.
43-3

326

Index.

L.
Lahori, old emporium of Sind, etc.,
i. 21.
Lakki viUage, ii. 172; hiUs, 172,
175 ; mountains, 178.
Lakpat Bandar, ii. 274.
Lakra village, ii. 153.
Lalor, Dr., ii. 201.
Lai Shahbaz, tomb of, ii. 185.
Lambert, Colonel W. R., i. 72.
Langho, the, ii. 141.
Lar, ii. 97.
Larkana, ii. 201, 203.
Le Messurier, Colonel, ii. 104.
Lesaeps, Monsieur de, i. 2.
Lisle, Dr., ii. 315.
" Little Jehannum," ii. 259.
Liyari Fiumari river, i. 41, 45, 47,
90.
Lohana tribe, ii. 242, 249.
Lord, Dr., "Memoir on the Plain of
the Indus," i. 234.
" Lost tribes," ii. 193.
M.
Ma'aaum minaret, ii. 213, 233.
Maohwa (sea craft), i. 32.
Mackenzie, Mr., i. 48 ; ii. 310.
Macnaghten, Lady, ii. 191.
Madad Khan, ii. 84.
"Madams" (white women), ii. 113.
Miha Manchar, ii. 195; birds, 196;
fishermen, 197 ; climate, 199.
Mahabaleshwar, i. 4.
Mahi river, i. 14.
Mahomet Ali, ii. 57.
Mahtab, the " Moonbeam," ii. 204.
Mai Muradi, i. 44.
Majhand viUage, ii. 171.
Makhdum Abd el-Baki, ii. 219.
Malabar Point, i. 4, 14, 19.
Malaiki Shoals, i. 13.
Malcolm, Sir John, ii. 10.
Malir bridge, ii. 312.
 river, ii. 314.
 station, ii. 314.
Malwa, ii. 122.
Manganhdr, " asker," ii. 140.
Manchar, Lake Maha, ii. 195, 302.
Manhdra, i. 22, 35.
 Fort, ii. 25, 35.
 Head, i. 24.

Mauijah bank, i. 21.
Maratha Mhars, burial-ground of,
ii. 246.
Marston, Colonel, i. 87.
Masawwah, ii. 210.
Maskat, ii. 159.
Masti Pardesi, ii. 211.
Matharan, i. 4.
" McLeod Road," i. 41.
McLeod station, ii. 316.
Megha-Rajah, the Cloud King, ii.
243.
Mehar viUage, ii. 201.
Mehran river, ii. 269, 274.
Mekli cemetery, i. 148.
¦  hiUs, i. 146, 149.
Mekran, i. 14, 33 ; ii. 159.
Melo, or PUgrims' Fair, i. 103 ; ii.
240, 300.
Merewether, General Sir W. L.,
i. 76 ; ii. 225, 241.
Merriman, Captain, ii. 315.
Mimosa Dyke, ii. 151, 157.
Mir Ibrahim Khan Talpur, ii. 93,
116.
 -visit to, 117.
Mir Jan Mohammed Khan Talpur,
ii. 138.
Mir Mohammed Ma'as-iim, ii. 212.
Mir Shahdad, i. 242, 250.
Misri (sugar-candy), ii. 121.
Miyan Abd el Nabi, ii. 84.
Miyani, battle of, i. 52, 24S, 260
ii. 39, 41, 112, 123.
Mocha, i. 3.
Mograni, ii. 237.
Mohammed, ii. 142.
 Ali Pasha, i. 2.
 Bin Kasim, i. 168 ; ii. 230.
 Bin Kasim el Sakifi, ii. 273.
 Khan Bai'ukzai, ii. 251.
Mohammed Mekkai, tomb of, ii.
238.
Mohaua (fishing caste), i. 47' ii
197, 292.
Moksha, or emancipation from the
flesh, i. 17.
Moplah corps, i. 19.
" More Luck," ii. 302.
Morris, Captain, i. 12, 39.
Moslem bigotry, i. 271.
 conquest, ii. 274.
 cook, ii. 249.
 invasion, i. 165.
 Ryot, ii. 317.

Index.

327

Moslem ruins, ii. 270.
Moslems, ii. 176.
 dress of, ii. 300.
 number of, in Shikarpur Dis
pensary, ii. 245.
" Mugur," or alligator, i. 100.
Mujawirs (attendants on priests),
ii. 188.
Mul Dwfcika temple, i. 15.
MuUa tribe, ii. 248.
MuUas (priests), ii. 187.
Multan, ii. 224, 249, 272.
 Road, ii. 268.
Munro, Colonel, ii. 241.
Munshi (secretary), i. 10, 287;
ii. 17, 108.
Murad Khan, i. 103.
Murshids, ii. 188.
Murray, John, i. 74.
" Murwarid," pearl, i. 44.
MusayUmah, ii. 142.

Nach, or dance, ii. 204.
Nadir Shah, ii. 49.
Nana Mir, ii. 251.
Nanak Shah, i. 278.
Napier Barracks, i. 69 ; ii. 310.
 Hospital, i. 82.
"Napier Mole Road, i. 34, 36, 41.
Napier, Sir Charles, i. 23, 32, 35,
51, 58, 64, 76, 104, 207, 219 ; ii.
38, 43, 54, 159, 315.
 Sir WilUam, ii. 43, 203.
Nara river, ii. 194, 269, 302.
•  Eaatem, i. 21.
 and Weatem, ii. 104.
Narbada river, i. 14.
Nara Supply Canal, ii. 268, 275.
Nasir Khan, ii. 119.
Nasirabad, ii. 201.
Naubat.lchdneh (kettle-drum room),
ii. 189.
Nearchus, voyage of, i. 20.
Newnham, Mr. T. G., ii. 291, 315.
Nim tree, ii. 108.
Nizamani mares, ii. 106.
Nizami the poet, ii. 114.
Nunho da Cunha, i. 13.
Northbrook, Lord, i. 64, 79.
Nur Jan, ii. 209.
Nurai, ii. 83.

0.
Opium, ii. 121.
Oriental art of sitting and riaing,
ii. 9, 11.
 beard, ii. 29.
 conversation, ii. 15.
 dress, ii. 27, 31.
 ejaculations, ii. 9.
 history, i. 230.
 hospitality, ii. 26.
 humming and whistling, ii. 12.
 low society, ii. 20.
 manners, ii. 8.
 nights, i. 88.
 politeness, ii. 9, 17, 21.
 questions, ii. 13, 17.
 refreshments, ii. 16.
 rndeneas, ii. 19.
 smoking, ii. 14.
 sneezing, ii. 15.
 sociability, ii. 25.
 use of word " woman,'' ii.
12.
 • visiting, receiving visitors,
etc., ii. 12.
Ormiston, Mr., i. 12.
Ottoman, the, i. 3.
Outram, Major, i. 242.
 Sir James, i. 52.
Oyster Rooka, i. 23.

Pabb or Hala HiUs, i. 22, 28, 102.
Pajamehs (cotton drawera), i. 6.
Pallo (sable fiah), ii. 292,294.
" Pandis," occupation of the
Dwarika temple by the, i. 17.
Panjab, the, i. 38 ; ii. 236.
" Paras," or alchemist stone, ii. 212.
Patau, i. 15.
Pathans (half-castes), ii. 249.
Patt, or Little Desert, ii. 260.
Pattim&r, voyage in the, i. 5.
Pelly, Sir Lewis, i. 58.
Persian gasconading, i. 223.
 • girl, the, i. 119.
 Gulf, i. 14.
Persians, ii. 99.
Phis (fan -palm), ii. 298.
Phulaji village, ii. 201.
PhuleU river, i. 255, 260 ; ii. 23, 64.
Pilu, remedy for snake bites, ii.
298.

328

Index.

" Fir," spiritual guide, ii. 183.
Pir-bakhah, Abd el-Sattar, ii. 223.
Pir Mango, en route to, i. 89.
 alligator ride, i. 100.
— ¦  saint, i. 93.
— — — — - tanks at, i. 97, 103.
 alligators, i. 93.
 Hills, i. 91.
— ¦ — Kariz (aqueduct), i. 106.
 Lord Beresford's feat, i. 99.
 ¦ " Miyan Mutka," i. 95.
 Murad Khan, estate of, 102.
 Nishani, or dwelling-place of
Lai Shahbaz, i. 102.
 Shrine of, i. 101.
 Sidi dance, i. 103.
 spring, i. 103.
 Travellers' Bungalow, i. 94.
 Waterton trick, the, i. 101.
" Pir Mangyar," i. 29.
Pir Nau-gaza, ii. 229.
Pira jo Got'h, ii. 224.
Pira and Pirzadeha, ii. 234.
Plowden, Mr. Consul, ii. 210.
Pokarno priests, i. 279.
Pomfret, i. 20.
Poonah, i. 4.
Port Suez, i. 2.
"Post" (prepared drink), i. 313.
Pratt, Archdeacon, i. 21.
Price, Mr. C. H., i. 30, 37.
Prongs lighthouse, i. 12.
Puranaa, the, ii. 304.

R.
Rabb Ta'ala, Creator, ii. 165.
Raiswah Canal, ii. 240.
Rajah Dahir, ii. 273.
 Ram, ii. 85.
Rajput castea, ii. 306.
Rajputana, land of the Children of
the Sun, i. 16.
Rama, traditions of, u. 305.
 Chandra, garden of, i. 49.
Rathborne, Colonel A. B., i. 54.
Rice, Lieutenant, i. 87.
Rind, Beloch family, ii. 157.
Risalo (ooUeotion of distichs), ii.
145.
Rohri, ii. 214, 218, 222, 272, 284.
 bazar, ii. 223.
 Cowperganj, ii. 224.

Rohri, origin of name, ii. 218.
 situation, ii. 218.
 steam ferry, ii. 221.
 traditions, ii. 219.
 walls, ii. 225 .
Russia, ii. 48, 51.

S.
Sabarmati river, i. 14.
Sadh Bela, ii. 215.
Sale, Sir Robert, i. 144.
Sarddr (head of house), ii. 106, 107.
Sarfaraz, ii. 142.
Sakhar, U. 211, 237, 272, 284, 295,
318.
 wooding stations between,
and Kotri, ii. 288.
 Camp, ii. 261.
 Canal, ii. 225.
 . departure from, ii. 281.
 Monument of, ii. 233.
 new, ii. 216, 233, 235.
 old, ii. 216, 232, 234.
 Rapids, ii. 275.
 Reach, u. 215, 217, 283.
Sakharwah Canal, ii. 240.
Salaman, Dr. S. H., u. 241, 257.
Samarkand, ii. III.
Sandeman, Major, ii. 241.
Sann village, ii. 171.
Sardars, chiefs, ii. 267.
Sarsat priests, i. 279.
Sarwan (camel-man), ii. 98.
" Saaaoon Town," i. 4.
Sasaui, Tale of, i. 127.
Satina jo Than, seat of the Sati,
ii. 230.
Satia' lalet, ii. 231.
Sawari, retinue, ii. 106, 132.
Sayyid Abd el-Latif, ii. 145.
Sehwan, ii. 177, 295.
— — " Alexander's Camp," ii. 189.
 ancient history, ii. 180.
 beggara, ii. 181.
 camels' distress, ii. 179.
 climate, ii. 181.
 journey to, ii. 178.
 patron saint, ii. 185.
 population, ii. 184.
 race, ii. 181.
 ridge, ii. 301.
Semiramis, description of day on
board the, i. 6.

Index.

329

Sepoys, i. 262.
Shah Baharo, ii. 142.
 Bokhara, ii. 270.
 Husayn, ii. 227, 273.
— — Khayr el-Din, tomb of, ii. 233.
 Mekkai, shrine of, i. 244.
 Taymur, ii. 84.
Shakarganj Shah, tomb of, ii. 271.
8halcka/r (sugar) ii. 166.
Shaykh Bakru, tomb of, ii. 228.
Shaykh Radhan, i. 174; two
dawns, 175 ; Manna in the Wil
derness, 177 ; Lamp of Life,
179 ; camel tracker, 181 ; tent-
faU, 185 ; house-faU ; 186 ;
birds, 188 ; solitude, 191.
Shaytanah (devil), ii, 131.
Shaytan, the, ii. 125,
" Shigram " carriage, ii. 237.
Shikargahs, hunting preserves, ii.
66, 69, 213.
Shikarpur, ii. 237, 241.
 bazar, ii. 247.
 camp, ii. 243.
 caravan bungalow, ii. 246.
 cemeteries, ii. 246.
 climate, ii. 243.
 commerce, ii. 242.
 dispensary, ii. 245.
 future, ii. 257.
 journey to, ii. 239.
•  ¦ library, ii. 245.
 native town, ii. 247.
 " Merewether Pavilion,'' ii.
245.
 population, ii. 256.
 ¦ position, ii. 244.
 prison, ii. 244.
 schools, ii. 245.
 vegetation, ii. 245.
Shikarpuri Hindus, ii. 251.
Shikarpuri women, ii. 255.
" Shimal," or north-west wind, i.
109.
" Ships of the Desert," i. 193.
Shudra, servile Hindus, i. 277,
289.
Sibt village, ii. 153.
Sidi, African ex-admiral, i, 13.
" Sidi," or Zanzibar negro, i. 40.
Sidi dance, i, 103.
Simums, ii. 258, 280.
Sind army, i. 56, 262.
 annexation of, i. 79.
 artillery, ii. 124,

Sind Banyan, trader-caste, i. 281.
 beauties of, i. 29.
 Beloch, ii. 161.
 benefits derived from Eng
lish rule, ii. 317.
 birds, i. 188.
 Brahman, i. 278, 280.
 camels, i. 139.
¦  Canal Survey, ii. 94.
 canals, ii. 100, 104.
 climate, ii. 34.
 conquest of, ii. 41.
 crops, ii. 65.
 destiny of, ii. 318.
 drainage, i. 258.
 dust storma, i. 22.
 early history of, i. 198.
 first sight of, i. 23.
 fleet, ii. 289.
 Gazetteer of Province of, i.
73.
 history and geography of, i.
233.
 Hinduism, i. 269.
 insects, ii. 277.
 invasion of, by Moslems, i.
165.
 jackals, ii. 62.
 length of standard measure,
ii. 83.
" Sind Macadam," ii. 237.
 mines, ii. 153.
- — — miracles, i. 157.
 Moslem bigotry, i. 273.
 navvies, ii. 103.
" Sind, Panjab, and Delhi Railway
Company," ii. 288.
" Sind, Panjab, and Delhi Railway
Steamers," i. 237.
 population, i. 269.
 produce, ii. 67.
 railways, ii. 308.
 religion, i. 289.
 saints, i. 154.
 seasons, i. 110.
 soil, ii. 66.
 telegraph department, ii.
316.
 traditions, i. 195.
 trees, ii. 298.
 ¦ trip to, i. 4.
 value of, ii. 44, 47.
Sindia Felix, ii. 171.
Sindi, i. 296.
 bard, ii. 140.

330

Index.

Sindi hattues, ii. 73.
 " Bhang," drink, i. 305.
 camel tracker, i. 183 .
 character, i. 297 ; ii. 266.
 childien, ii. 137.
— — cookery, ii. 135.
 courier, ii. 291.
 dress, i. 302.
— — drink, i. 304.
 drinking song, i. 311.
 fisherman, ii. 292.
— — food, i. 303.
 Hashish, i. 307.
 " Kusumba," opium, i. 313.
 morality, i. 240.
 mneic, ii. 143.
 occupationa, i. 297.
 odes, ii. 145.
 peasant, ii. 103.
 "Post," 313.
 Smoking, i. 303.
 society, ii. 8.
 sport, ii. 71.
 usury, i. 299.
 woman, i. 317; dreaa, 318;
appearance, 321 ; ornaments,
323 ; education, 329 ; proposal,
331 ; marriage, 333 ; married
life, 339 ; maternity, 343.
Siro, Northern Sind, ii. 201.
Sistan, ii. 159.
Sita, ii. 292, 305.
Smith, Major, ii. 104.
Snake Stream, ii. 194.
Sohagan, or the " Woman Loved,"
dome, ii. 271.
Somanath, ruins of, i. 5.
Sonmiy^ni, Bay of, i. 22.
St. Dennis of France, i. 208.
Stnart, Colonel W. K., ii. 235.
Sudderan, legend of, ii. 86.
Sudderan's Column, ii. 83, 85.
Suez, i. 10.
 Canal, i. 1.
 Gulf, i. 2.
Sdfi, tribe of devotees, i. 157.
 ode of, i. 158.
Sundan village, i. 212.
Suramdo (violin), ii. 140.
Surashtra, Gulf of, i. 13.
Surat, i. 5, 33.
'  Moslems, i. 12.
Sutfhan (dress), ii. 106.
" Swatch of No-ground," i. 21,

T.
Tabuts, or biers, ii. 238.
Takiyah of Mewaldas, ii. 222.
Talpur Amfrs, i. 213 ; ii. 227.
 Beloch, ii. 84.
 Princes, ii. 142.
Talpurs, i. 271, 276 ; ii. 115.
Tamb'dr, musical instrument, ii.
164.
Tapti or Surat River, i. 10, 14.
Tartars, ii. 98.
Tate, Mr. John, ii. 217.
Taymur Shah, ii. 242.
Teheran, ii. 10.
Thatha, i. 142, 163, 168 ; ii. 295.
 ¦ Canal, ii. 316.
 lacquer- work, i. 163 ; ii. 280.
 lost and won, i. 171.
Thomson, Major G., ii. 230.
Thorburn, Mr. W., i. 42.
Thul, the, ii. 88.
Tod, Colonel, i. 16.
Tohfat el Kiram, the, ii. 99.
Tohfeh (present), ii. 139.
Tom Coryat, tomb of, i. 5.
Tremenheere, Colonel, i. 37.
" Trevor's Felly," ii. 238.
Trinity Church, Karachi, i. 75.
Twemlow, Lieutenant, ii. 217.

U.
" Ugam," or Manna, i. 177.
TJmar-i-Khattab, Khalifeh, i. 24.
Umarkot, ii. 97, 270, 274.
Uuarpur, ii. 152, 171.
" Unhappy VaUey," climate of the,
ii. 317. V.
Vaux, tomb of, i. 5.
Vedas, the, ii. 304.
Vfrdvanjan Pagoda, i. 15.
Vishnu, i. 279.
Voltaure, i. 62.

W.
Wadhu MaU, ii. 251.

Index.

331

Waghars, depredations of the, i.
19.
Wahhabis tribe, ii. 53.
Waishya, trader, i. 277.
WaMdad Khan Talpur, ii. 240.
Walker, Mr. J., i. 37.
Wataji — writing on the wall, i.
125.
Waterton-trick, i. 101.
Wicholo, or Central Sind, i. 227 ;
u. 68, 201.
Willrins, Captain St. Clair, i. 73.
Wilkins, Mr., ii. 289.
Wilkins, Mr. A., i. 238.
Wilson, Andrew, i. 27.
Wilson, H. H., ii. 304.
Winchester, Dr., ii. 292.
Wood, Captain J., ii. 288, 290.

Wood, Lieutenant, i. 147.
Wright, Mr., ii. 201.

Y.
Ya'akub Ali Shah, ii. 268.
" Tamm Suf," or Sea of Weeds,
i. 3.
Yemen, i. 3.
Young, Captain H. G., ii. 313.
Yusuf Khan, i. 150.

Zaydi heretics, i. 3.
Zenanah-baths, ii. 227.

THE END.

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