Page:The American Cyclopædia (1879) Volume XV.djvu/72

 SINDE the W side of the Indus, the collectorate of 8HaS&.j ^-Sfflstfs^* 5 Fn the S. E. corner. The chief towns are Kur- rachee, the seaport of the Indus, Hydrabad, the capital, Sukkur, Shikarpoor, and Larkha- na. all organized municipalities except the first. The climate is hot, subject to sudden and great changes of temperature, and remarkably dry. Its aridity is due to the fact that the S. W. monsoon does not blow over Sinde, where the normal yearly rainfall is less than 15 inches although the dews are exceedingly heavy. At Hydrabad the mean temperature of the six hottest months is 98, but in winter frost is not unknown. In December, January, and February, a temperature of 32 F. at dawn is not unfrequently followed by a midday tem- perature of from 75 to 88 in the shade, at Kurrachee. Upper Sinde is tolerably health- ful, and many of the natives attain a great age ; but in the lower country, particularly toward the mouth of the Indus, there is much malaria and fever. Salt is the chief mineral product of the country, and alum, which is used to clarify the water of the Indus for drinking, occurs in considerable quantities. The soil of the delta of the Indus is a light clay mixed with sand, and the whole valley is fertilized by the annual inundation of the river; but away from the streams the surface is for the most part a sandy de-ert, or consists of vast tracts over- spread with acacia-like trees, salvadora, and a leafless caper shrub. The forests of Sinde comprise the babul (acacia Arabica), the tama- risk, and the Euphrates poplar, and border the IndiH at various points, having formerly been the favorite hunting grounds of the ameers ; they cover an area of 350,000 acres. Irriga- tion is essential to cultivation, and the canals for that purpose are kept up at great expense, owing to the accumulation of silt. The only perennial canal in the division is above Suk- kur, and is 24 in. long ; all the others are in- undation canals. Cotton is now grown exper- imentally, and sugar cane and tobacco succeed well, besides rice, wheat, barley, mustard, and the other common crops of such a climate; but the methods of agriculture are inferior and carelessly applied. The zemindari land revenue system prevails, under which the land is cultivated on shares. The fauna of Sinde is remarkable for number and variety. Tigers and leopu'-oX hyronaa and jackals, buffaloes hog-deer, antelopes, and wild boars are prom- inent among the mammals. Among the verj numerous species of birds are two eagles bastards, falrmis, partridges, quails, snipe, cor morants h.-ron-. flamingoes, pelicans, and wilt ducks of many sorts. The fresh waters yield i vial, a so-called river porpoise whicl vurd of 200 Ibs., and many varietie of ti-.ii ; whili- pearl oysters are abundant along nts, mosquitoes, and black flies. The Sindi- ns are tall, well made, and handsome, and the vomen are remarkably good-looking They ire made up of mixed races, principally Jats and Beloochees, the proportion of Moliamme- ians to other sects in the population being as our to one. The people are described as idle, ixceedingly immoral, ignorant, and bigoted. Wool raising is an important industry. Some manufactures are carried on in the principal owns, and the people are very ingenious work- men. Coarse silk goods are made from ma- ,erials imported from Persia and China, and i peculiarly soft and durable leather, several different kinds of cloth, earthenware, and cut- ery are manufactured. The foreign trade in 1872-'3 was worth nearly 1,000,000, com- prising exports valued at 657,994, and im- >orts worth 324,250; and the coast trade was valued at 2,640,561. Some traffic is carried on with Cabool through the Bolan pass, but in Lower Sinde there are no regular lighways, as the constantly shifting sand ren- ders it difficult to maintain them. A railroad connects Kurrachee and Hydrabad, and the [nclus valley line, which is to unite it with the railway system of India, is in process of con- struction. The government of Sinde is ad- ministered by a special commissioner. Khyer- ?oor, the only native state in the division, extends 120 m. in length and 70 m. in width, jetween the Indus on the west and the Raj- poot state of Jessulmeer on the east, and is i great alluvial plain watered by six canals and having an area of 6,109 sq. m. When Alexander the Great invaded India, Sinde was ruled by Hindoo princes, who had extended their conquests over all the countries lying between the Indus and the Ganges. Little is known of Sinde from that time till about A. D. 715, when it was conquered by a Moham- medan army sent from Bassorah; but these invaders did not long hold it. It was subse- quently governed by a Rajpoot tribe for near- ly three centuries, and was then conquered by Mahmoud of Ghuzni, whose successors held it until they were overthrown by the hose of Ghore. About 1225 it fell under the domin- ion of the rulers of Delhi, who held it for up- ward of a century. They were succeeded by native princes, and about 1520 the country became subject to Shah Beg Argoon of Can- dahar. In 1592 it was incorporated with the Mogul empire under Akbar, in 1739 with the Persian under Nadir Shah, after whose death it reverted to the former, and in 1756 passed by dowry to the ruler of Cabool, remaining a nominal dependency of Afghanistan, though governed by native princes, till 1780, when a Belooche chief named Meer Futteh AH ob- tained supremacy and divided the country into three independent states, each under several rulers known as ameers. Under these chiefs the government was a military despotism, and the relations between them and the English East India company were never very friendly.
 * ust. The common insects are locusts