SELECTIONS FROM THE RECORDS OF THE BOMBAY
GOVERNMENT.
No. LTV.—New Series.
MEMOIR
ON THE
THURR AND PARIOJR
DISTEICTS OF SIND,
CAPTAIN STANLEY NAPIER RAIKES,
MAGISTRATE.
1856.
WITH A MAP.
IS o m ft a s:
PRINTED FOR GOVERNMENT
AT THE
EDUCATION SOCIETY’S PRESS, BYCULLA.
1859.CONTENTS.
—
Tribes and Castes Old Temples, &c. ..
Customs Duties Population
Staple Products and Trade ..
Establishment
Police Arrangements
Education
Climate
Public Works
Horses
Bullocks
Camels
.Conclusion ..
APPENDIX.
Plan of the Boodhist Temple of Ghowree Memorandum regarding the Image of Parasnath ..
Memorandum regarding Pareenuggur
Extracts from Manuscripts in possession of Goorjee Kuntvujajee of Budrasir Sunnud granted to Urbab of the Raoma Tribe Sunnud granted to Urbab of the Noray Tribe Sunnud granted to Soda Chiefs of Deepla..
Sunnud granted to Soda Chief of Mittee ..	».
Sunnud granted to Soda Chiefs of Islamkote Sunnud granted to the Vusaipotra tribe ..
Sunnud granted to the May tribe ..
Annual Compensation allowed to Parkur Zemindars for 1855-56..
Sunnud granted to the Chief of Yeerawow..
Sunnud granted to the Rana of Nuggur Parkur ..
Sunnud granted to Ukka Malday ..
Census Return of the Deputy Collectorate of the Thurr and Parkur
Exports from the Thurr and Parkur
Imports into the Thurr and Parkur
Revenue Establishment of the Thurr and Parkur
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76 . ib. . ib.
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87 ib. ib.
88 ib.
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91 ib.
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Jllaqistrate, TTiur and'dParixtr.MEMOIR ON THE THURR AND PARKTJR DISTRICTS OF SIND.

The object of the following Memoir is—1 stly, to give an idea of the physical aspect of a district but little known; 2ndly, to notice the leading tribes by which it is inhabited; 3rdly, to trace out the course of events that led to our first connection with it; 4thly, to detail the settlement made for the local Chiefs after the conquest of Bind; 5thly, to allude to the land tenure, and fixed revenue assessment lately introduced ; 6thly, to offer a few remarks on the general contentment of the people of the Thurr and Parkur, census, education, public works, revenue, and disbursements for the last seven years, and gratifying prospects for the future.
Consequent on the Thurr and Parkur administration having been conducted from Bhooj, together with the general want of information regarding these out-of-the-way districts, it has often been supposed that they form a portion of the hereditary States of the Kutch Principality, or have been transferred to H.is Highness the Rao of Kutch by the British Government. In the map of Sind prepared in the Quartermaster General’s Office, the Thurr and Parkur districts will be observed to occupy a nondescript position ; while the Thurr and Parkur is only occasionally spoken of with the three other Collectorates as forming an integral part of British Sind.
The information contained in this Memoir is, it is almost needless to observe, chiefly collated from the Government records, from which extracts on the different subjects noticed have been freely made; while the charge of the districts since 1847 has enabled me to visit all parts of them, and become well acquainted with all classes of the inhabitants.2
The information in the beginning of the Memoir regarding the Banditti, &c. is collected from the Kutch Political Agency Records,
S.	N. RAIKES,
Magistrate of the Thurr and Parkur.
Bhooj, Isf September 1856.
I will firstly notice the Thurr, and subsequently Parkur, the one having little or no resemblance to the other, though conterminous.
2.	That portion of the Thurr (Dhat or Little Desert) under my charge, is a strip, as it were, running along the northern border of the great Runn of Kutch; its length is about 120, and breadth 40 to 50 miles, while its area is about 5,400 square miles.
3.	It is bounded on the west by the valley of the Indus, on the north by an irregular line running east from a point north of Nowa-kote, passing also north of Mittee and Singalla, to the Marwar boundary, dividing my charge from the Oomerkote district, itself a portion of the Desert, and in no way distinguishable from the Thurr.
4.	To the east the Thurr is bounded by Marwar, and by an arm of the Runn which separates it from the Pahlunpoor districts of Guzerat.
5.	To the south, the Runn separates the Thurr and Parkur districts from Kutch.
6.	The Thurr consists of a tract of sand hills, resembling the waves of a troubled sea, generally running east and west, and generally higher in the western than eastern part of the district.
7.	Along the edge of the Runn, water is generally found at from one to two fathoms from the surface; in some places it is a little hrackish, but for the most part drinkable; it is obtained by digging temporary wells, at the bottom of which a wooden foundation of the shape of a wheel is placed, and the sides are then built up with wicker work of green branches and brushwood, to prevent the soil falling in; the water thus filtering through the sand, is sweet so long as the wells are regularly worked.3
8.	In the interior the depth of the wells varies, corresponding to their distance from the Runn; where of any considerable depth, they are built up with burnt bricks, stone not being procurable, and wicker work too insecure; 30 miles inland, the wells are about 60 yards deep.
9.	Cultivation is restricted to the patches of tolerably level land between the sand hills; which, when uncultivated, as well as the sand hills, produce an abundant supply of nutritious grass and stunted bushes. The forage of the Desert is esteemed more nutritious than that of any of the neighbouring districts, and partially accounts for the predilection of the inhabitants to depend more on their flocks and herds, than cultivation, for their livelihood, though the scattered nature of the cultivable land, and insecurity of person and property, doubtless had some effect formerly in determining their tastes.
10.	The hills are composed of a fine sand, cohering so slightly as to be easily friable; they would appear to owe their shape rather to violent undulations of the ground, caused by earthquakes or similar subterraneous forces, than to any action of the wind, which in the Thurr appears to modify their shape but rarely, and to a very inconsiderable extent.
11.	The district of Parkur is situated south-east of the Thurr; its length and breadth are, from north to south, twenty, and from east to west thirty miles; it differs from the Thurr in every particular. In Parkur, ranges of hills composed of hard rock take the place of the sand hills of the Thurr; it is a plain, intersected by ranges of low hills, with a large mass of similarly formed high ones, twenty miles in circumference, in the centre of the district, the highest being about 350 feet above the surrounding level. The plain between these hills resembles the eastern part of Kutch, from which it is separated only by the Runn.
12.	There are no rivers or perennial streams in the Thurr and Parkur.
13.	The remains of an old and populous town at Veerawow, on the confines of the Desert over against Parkur, which will be noticed hereafter, and of some Jain temples,, and of another town on the site of the present village of Boodesir in Parkur, as also the remains of many old tanks in Parkur, clearly show that this district was in by-4
gone ages in a much more civilized and populous state than it has been during the last two or three centuries.
Tribes and Castes.
14.	The principal tribes and castes in the Thurr and Parkur are the Soda, Noray, Raoma, Khosa tribes, besides some Nomad tribes; and Banians, Lowanas, and Mehmons forming the mercantile community. There are also great numbers of Bheels or Coolees, not acknowledged by either Mahomedans or Hindoos, though considering themselves Hindoos, and exercising by force of numbers a considerable influence in the district. I will shortly notice the leading tribes and castes in detail, commencing with the most important of them— the Sodas.
15.	The Sodas, who were the dominant race, are Rajpoots, descended from Purmar Soda. The Purmars appear to have been, some eight hundred or a thousand years ago, the ruling tribe at and about Oojein, in Malwa; about which period, from causes not distinguishable at this distance of time, but probably of a social nature, Purmar Soda went forth from the land of his birth with an armed band, to seek his fortunes in other lands.
16.	The fort of Oomerkote, then as now the key to the Desert, and the highway between Marwar and the valley of the Indus, was in the possession of the Soomras, one of the ruling tribes in Sind. Whether, however, the erection of the fort, and of another of equal importance by name Ruttakote, some 30 miles north of it, also on the confines of the Desert, be attributable to their foresight or otherwise, is not known. Suffice it to say, that the sagacity of some ruling power had already detected the advantages of erecting strongholds on the confines of, and to a certain extent awing the Desert, while they commanded the high-roads between the valley of the Indus and Central India.
17.	These forts attracted the attention of Purmar Soda, who attacked, and after a desperate struggle gained possession of both (Ruttakote and Oomerkote). A.D. 1226. The inherent daring and valour of the Rajpoots, particularly in the palmy days of their chivalry, was well suited for irregular warfare and single conflict, wherein they excelled. Individually, they often showed the same gallantry that in5
after years our own countrymen displayed in the wars of the Crescent and the Cross, before war had become a science, when all depended on individual gallantry and chance. As the knowledge of war, however, and the advantage of combination and discipline, became known, the Rajpoot system lost ground, and with it, as a warlike people, the renown of the tribe retrograded; for though still as brave as their ancestors, who conquered Oomerkote, they are too proud to submit to discipline, without which, civilized nations are well aware, an army is but an armed mob, which, when opposed to well organised and disciplined bands, let their bravery be ever so great, cannot fail under ordinary circumstances to be vanquished.
18.	The Rana of Oomerkote,* for such was the Chiefs title in the days of his power, rendered tribute and homage to, and received his investiture from, the Emperor of Hindoostan, or his Viceroy at Tatta. Jt will be remembered that his capital became renowned in after years as the birth-place of the Emperor Akbar. The spot where Humayun and his family were secreted, when flying from the usurper of his throne (Shere Shah), is shown to the present day, about half a mile north-west of the town; and there, tradition says, the future Emperor Akbar first saw light. A.D. 1542.
19.	After the occupation of Oomerkote and Ruttakote, it appears that the restless spirit of the Sodas again impelled some of them to seek their fortunes elsewhere; and though the circumstances under which Parkur was occupied by them cannot be now traced, tradition leads us to believe that some Sodas came from Oomerkote, and took possession of Parkur, in the eleventh century, while it is certain that for many centuries past, the landed proprietors of the Parkur and Veerawow districts have been Soda Rajpoots. The head of the Parkur Sodas has also, from a time antecedent to the memory of man or recorded information on the subject, borne the title of Rana.
20.	In the year 1750, the fort of Oomerkote passed under the sway of the Kaloraj' rulers of Sind; and then, it may be added, the star of the Sodas began to wane, destined, apparently, ere long to set on their independence for ever. About this time, harassed by the loss of their independence, and indignant at finding themselves under the
* Vide Report of Boundary Commission, 1848-49, page 20.
f Vide Boundary Commission Report, 1848-49, page 22.6
sway of the Mahomedan rulers of the valley of the Indus, numbers of the tribe left Oomerkote, and distributed themselves amongst the sand hills of the Desert to the coniines of the Veerawow and Parkur districts, where, in the wilds of this almost unknown region, they constituted themselves landed proprietors, acknowledging the Kana of Oomerkote as the head of their tribe, but paying tribute to nobody.
21. The dominant race, and many of the inferior tribes of the Desert also, being Rajpoots, their matrimonial alliances have naturally been contracted more in Kutch, the nearest Rajpoot country where they could find suitable husbands for their daughters, and wives for their sons. The Soda ladies of the Desert are esteemed amongst the most beautiful women of the East, their virtues and beauty being the theme of many a song—the subject of many a story—and in former days the cause of many a fatal contest.
22 It is probably needless to extend our researches beyond what is requisite to show generally from whence the Sodas came, and how they became the landed proprietors of the Desert; this has now been done, and although their right to the position and the immunities they enjoyed, may appear to have been questionable, it must be remembered that the forcible assumption of others’ rights has ever been the usual—if not approved—method of gaining empire on a large and small scale in the East, where the sword has ever been the common arbiter, and might usurped the place of right. Baber mounted the throne of Cabul, and subsequently, with Candahar and the^Punjaub as pendant brilliants, placed on his own brows the imperial tiara of Delhi, and all without any other right than that of the sword. The sword again won Kutch for the Jarejas ; Sind for the Kaloras, and afterwards for the Talpoors ; other instances of the right conferred or assumed by the sword of the conqueror, might be quoted ad libitum, both in Christendom as well as the far East, but it is needless. History itself is little more than a narrative of the effect of great minds swaying at will the destinies of nations ; recognizing in olden times no law but the will of the conqueror, and no right but that conferred by his usurped power and imperial will.
23. The Raoma and Noray tribes are of Mahomedan origin, and the heads of them are landed proprietors of the western portion of the Desert, bordering on Sind proper. Little or nothing is known regard-7
ing the period and concurrent circumstances of their advent into the Desert, though it probably took place in the sixteenth century. Their numbers are about 1100 and 900 respectively ; they receive daughters in marriage from the Sodas.
24.	Next in importance is the Khosa* tribe, which is deserving of a few remarks, as it exercised a great influence on the fortunes of the Thurr, as also of the neighbouring province of Kutch. The Khosas are Mahomedans ; they immigrated to Sind with the Kaloras ; and on the fall of that dynasty in A.D. 1782, left Sind proper, when a portion of the tribe distributed itself about the Desert between Marwar and the valley of the Indus. They are a fine, robust, martial race, inured to fatigue, exposure, and scanty living ; brave and enterprising when roused to action, but improvident and slothful when not excited, the Desert was just the place for their qualities to shine in.
25.	For generations, they looked to the saddle and the sword as their means of livelihood ; so long as their old masters, the Kaloras, swayed the destinies of Sind, and continued to pay them, they served them faithfully ; but being now without employment or the means of living, and having nothing to expect from the Talpoors, who had raised themselves to power on the fall of the Kaloras, they betook themselves to the Desert, where without manual labour, to which they were unaccustomed, they gained a livelihood by associating themselves with the local Chiefs ; and when the worst came to the worst, by helping themselves forcibly, in true Oriental fashion, to a share of others’ property. The sequelf has shown the skill and enterprise with which they availed themselves of the advantages of their new field of action, and how they levied contributions or black mail to the gates of Bhooj in one direction, to the walls of Radhunpore in another, and to the vicinity of Ahmedabad in a third.
26.	As regards the Nomads, who are all Mahomedans and indigenous, though originally from Sind, the Oodeyas and Lunjas may probably be considered the principal tribes, both in numbers and importance. Until of late years, the Nomads of the Desert depended
* The word Khosa is derived from a celebrated ancestor of that name ; and Seroi, which is equally used to distinguish the members of this tribe with Khosa, from Seroi* the place from whence they came to Sind.
f Vide Memoir on the Kutch State, published as No. XV. of Selections in 1855.$
chiefly on their herds and flocks for their maintenance. They lived in a primitive and patriarchal style, each tribe being peaceably ruled by its elders, while they all moved about from district to district according to circumstances, in search of forage for their extensive herds and flocks. Of late years, however, they have, by reason of the greater security of person and property in the Thurr, turned their attention more to agricultural pursuits ; and instead of moving about as formerly with their families, in search of forage, when the grass on their native sand hills fails, they now more generally leave their families and elders at home, sending such of the herds and flocks as it may be necessary to provide for elsewhere towards Kutch, Guzerat, or Mount Aboo, under the care of the younger members of the tribe. Notwithstanding, however, that these tribes are essentially nomadic in their habits and pursuits, they have always retained possession of certain localities in the Thurr, to which, when the supply of grass admitted of it, they returned. Formerly, when the Desert was more scantily populated than at present, and when insecurity of person and property prevented the extension of cultivation, these tribes had no difficulty in retaining possession of these localities; indeed, the different tribes appear to have tacitly admitted each other’s rights in this respect, and seldom to have encroached thereon. Of late, however, the increase of population and cultivation, the natural results of security of person and property, and liberal revenue arrangements, have materially altered the social arrangements of these tribes, who now endeavour to appropriate all the cultivable land in the vicinity of their respective thurrs or hamlets. The male portion of these tribes are in general very fine, athletic men ; they are remarkably well behaved.
27. The next class of people to be noticed is the Bheel population, which again is divided into tribes. One tribe, called “ Mays,” reside along the edge of the Runn, east of Ballyaree; they consider themselves, and justly so, as ranking far above the Bheels of the Desert generally. Under the Ameers of Sind, this tribe occupied nineteen thurrs, or hamlets or watering places, in the locality above indicated, free of all land tax. This privilege was continued to them after the conquest of Sind in 1844, when the heads of the tribe stipulated to give up all thieves, to be answerable for thefts traced to their hamlets, and to be9
ready to serve Government whenever required. These stipulations have been faithfully adhered to, while the general conduct of the members of the tribe under the rule of its elders has been excellent. Of the Bheels occupying the Thurr and Parkur generally, little need be said. Their rank in the social scale is very low; ignorant of the obligations of society, they are a good deal addicted to stealing; unaccustomed for generations to industrial and peaceable pursuits, they hardly knew till lately what such things were. In some seasons of the year, they think nothing of wandering about the jungle, with nothing butpeeloo fruit and water to live on; generally, however, they look up to and readily acknowledge the supremacy of the chief or head of the tribe under whose protection they live. A reference to the criminal returns wrill show that a large proportion of the crime committed in the Thurr and Parkur, of late years, has been so by this class; at the same time it is worthy of remark, ^and speaks well for the heads of the different tribes, that the amount of crime committed in these districts has been of late years singularly small. I say it speaks well for the^heads of the different tribes, because it appears to me, that this gratifying result has been attained in no small degree through the influence of the higher classes.
28.	Of the mercantile classes, I have but little to say. At the time of the conquest of Sind, there wras but little trade in the Thurr and Parkur; the local merchants gained a precarious livelihood by retailing goods imported chiefly from Kutch, the importation of which was a service of danger. Subsequent to the conquest, the trading classes of Mittee, Deepla, Yeerawow, and Nuggur Parkur gradually gained confidence, and within twelve years extended their mercantile transactions immensely. The Mehmons of Deepla and the Brahmins of Mittee trade chiefly with Sind proper, and also more or less with Kutch, to which province they export large quantities of ghee ; the latter enjoy certain prescriptive immunities in this trade, such as exemption from town duty at Bhooj on all goods imported.
29.	The Yeerawow and Nuggur Parkur merchants have of late years been trading a good deal with Radhunpoor, in Guzerat, and even with Dholera Bunder, in the Gulf of Cambay. These towns (Veerawow and Nuggur Parkur) have, with the increase of trade, totally changed their appearance; formerly they were composed of
2 T10
bee-hive huts of wicker-work and mud, while now there are many tiled houses of respectable appearance to be seen in both places. Great care has been taken to foster trade; several merchants who had formerly resided in Parkur, but had left the place under the rule of the Ameers of Sind, have returned of late years, and there is indeed every reason to believe that the commercial classes are increasing and prospering.
Old Temples, Sfc.
30.	It may be as well here to notice the remains of the old temples, and the site of a town, formerly alluded to, near the present village of Veerawow, as serving to show that these districts were in by-gone ages more populous, and that the inhabitants had made considerable advances towards material civilization, about the time of the Norman Conquest in England. A.D. 1066.
31.	At Goree, some 14 miles north-west of Veerawow, and situated in the Desert, is an old Jain temple, a plan of which is annexed.* It has been much defaced at various times by the fanaticism of the Sindee troops, during their periodical irruptions into the Desert, nominally to collect their master’s revenue, but practically to rob the people, and commit all sorts of outrages.
32.	The Soda Chiefs of Veerawow are said to have taken the idol called Gorecha out of the temple for safe custody, and to have exhibited it occasionally to the Banians, who worshipped it, for payment. The present chiefs grandfather was the last who thus exhibited it, and who accumulated a large sum by the exhibition. He however kept its hiding-place a secret, and subsequently, dying rather unexpectedly, omitted to communicate to his heirs and successors where the cherished idol was deposited; nor has it been found to this day, much to the chagrin of both Chiefs and Banians,—to the former, as its possession was a source of no inconsiderable revenue periodically; and to the latter, from superstitious apprehensions of the deity’s wrath being excited, by apparent though unintentional neglect.
33.	The legend regarding the Gorecha idol will be found in Appendix, marked B.
34.	Close to the present village of Veerawow, situated on the confines of the Desert and Parkur, is the site of an old town by
* Vide Memoir on the Kutch State, published as No. XV. of Selections in 1855,11
name Paree Nuggur. Judging from the extent of the buildings and streets, many of which are traceable—the houses having been built of burnt bricks, which have since been excavated and used for the present village of Veerawovv,—it would appear to have been a large flourishing town. An arm of the Runn of Kutch runs up close to Veerawow, and I see no reason to doubt the fact of its having been many centuries ago navigable, and of Paree Nuggur having been a port; in all probability, its decline is attributable to the land gaining on the sea, and the Runn ceasing to be navigable.
35.	The only information I have been able to discover regarding Paree Nuggur, leads me to suppose that it was established in the first century of the Christian Era, and that it subsequently contained a large population, tradition says, of 40,000 souls. The Purmars were at a later period the rulers of the place ; subsequently, however, the Emperor’s troops from Delhi destroyed the town. This event is supposed to have taken place about A.D+ 1226. For further particulars, vide appendices C. and D.
36.	On the site of Paree Nuggur, there are the remains of five or six large Jain temples, most of them of white marble; and some of them, notwithstanding the lapse of ages, still partially standing, interesting monuments of ancient and by-gone prosperity. They clearly demonstrate that at the time of their construction—and which, from dates engraved on some of the slabs, was probably in the middle of the eleventh century,—the artisans were by no means behind those of after-times in the art of sculpture. The figures and ornamental sculpture and designs in various parts of the buildings are beautifully executed, particularly the figures, which are better proportioned and executed than almost any I have seen in the East.
37.	In Parkur again, there are evident traces of former prosperity ; numbers of old tanks, now choked up, bespeak the liberality of some of the leading members of society in by-gone times. It appears,, from stones lately dug up in two tanks at Kharea and Sooraehund, that they were dug or repaired, respectively, in A.D. 1434 and 1465«, At Boodesir, also in Parkur, there are the remains of a large Jain temple, and a mosque; the latter bears an inscription as follows :— “ If it may be injured, any one in power who will not repair it, will be considered a sinner by God.” A.D. 1436«,38.	It was to this place, Boodesir, that the mercantile community emigrated, on the destruction, by the Delhi troops, of Paree Nuggur (about A.D. 1226); and from hence they subsequently took their departure and settled at Mandavee, in Kutch, and Jamnuggur, in Hallar, about A.D. 1388. It is curious to mark the flights of this community in the course of years, firstly from Paree Nuggur to Boodesir, and then to Jamnuggur and Mandavee; social disorders, to which these movements are often attributed, doubtless influenced their migrations. These disorders, however, were in all probability themselves but the effect on a thriving community of the gradual withdrawal of the element which had been the cause of its prosperity ; at any rate, the mercantile community would appear—from whatever causes—to have migrated periodically after the receding sea; and may possibly have to do so again in after centuries, as the land is evidently gaining on the sea all along the Kutch coast.
39.	It will be observed from the above, that the Sodas have, for several centuries past,"been the local chiefs or landed proprietors of the Thurr and Parkur districts; and that besides the Mahomedan, Nomad, and Bheel tribes indigenous to the locality, and a mercantile community varying according to circumstances at various periods, the population has been added to by the advent of the Norays, Raomas and Khosas from Sind. For many years, the local chiefs and heads of tribes were tolerably independent; as time wore on, however, and the power of the Talpoor dynasty became consolidated in Sind, they gradually exerted themselves to bring this portion of their realm more under their immediate rule; and for this purpose occasionally deputed some officer of rank, with a considerable force, to levy contributions in the Thurr and Parkur, and to teach the wild inhabitants of these districts that they must acknowledge the supremacy of the Talpoors.
40.	With a view to the consolidation of their power in the Desert, the Ameers of Sind, towards the close of the last century, built and garrisoned several forts* in the Desert, at an enormous
* The fort of Mamkote was built A.D. 1795—-it is 386 feet square ; the fort of Mittee was built a few years before Islamkote; the fort of Nowakote was built about A.D. 1814 ; the fort of Singalla is supposed to have been built about A.D. 1800. The first, second and fourth forts could not have cost less than seven or eight lacs of Rupees each.13
expense, after which they gradually introduced their revenue officers, levying a heavy tax on the produce of the land.
41. Having now shortly noticed some of the more prominent features in the past history of the Desert, I propose to pass over the following years till the beginning of the nineteenth century, when the course of events, and the gradual extension of our Indian Empire, brought us in contact, firstly with Kutch, and subsequently with Sind ; from which period again, till the conquest of Sind in 1843, it will only be necessary to record the progress of arrangements for curbing the banditti, which will itself elucidate the state of society in the Thurr and Parkur previous to our rule. The settlement of the country after the conquest will be subsequently noticed in more detail. In the beginning of the present century, the rulers of Sind gradually consolidated their power in the western portion of the Thurr, where they supplanted the local chiefs, giving them, however, a small share of the revenue, probably because they were, like themselves, followers of Islam. Further east, that is, in the Mittee and Islamkote districts, under the protective influence of the forts of Mittee, Islamkote, and Singalla, the Ameer’s officers levied two-fifths of the produce of the land, leaving the chiefs nothing to live on but a voluntary contribution of four annas (six pence) per field, which the force of old associations made the cultivators pay willingly to those whom they had long looked up to as their chief. Further east again, that is in the Yeerawow district and Parkur, the case was different; there were no forts tocui'b the predatory disposition of the inhabitants ; the chiefs had retained more of their native independence, and were more powerful ; the Khosas, moreover— the heads of which tribe were associated with the Thakoor of Veerawow, and other landed proprietors—were renowned for their deeds of arms, and feared accordingly ; and notwithstanding that, on the occasions of a force from Sind coming to Parkur, they all acknowledged more or less the supremacy of the Am.eers, the moment it had gone, they pursued their predatory mode of life as before. Nor did they restrict themselves to foraying in foreign states; on the contrary, they carried their forays all through the Desert to Raomaka Bazar and Wanga Bazar, situated in Sind proper, immediately west of the Thurr and Parkur districts. Another cause of the continued independence of the eastern districts, was the proximity14
of the Marwar district of the “ Neyur,” which much resembles the Thurr, and was inhabited like it by independent tribes addicted to plundering, while it formed a safe place of refuge to all who feared molestation in the Thurr and Parkur.
42. The rulers of Sind, mindful of the love of freedom exhibited in this remote corner of their realm, did not attempt to introduce any revenue system for many years after it had been in force in the other portion of the Thurr; and when eventually (in A>D. 1830 and 1835) they ventured to introduce it in a modified form, it gave rise to much discontent; and the revenue officer from Hydrabad, being over-officious, and obnoxious to the chiefs, paid the penalty of his interference with their privileges with his life. This act of barbarism, and insult to the Ameer’s authority, however, brought a terrible retribution on its authors. A large force was despatched to Parkur, to restore the authority of the Court of Hydrabad, and punish those who had had the temerity to insult it. The Ameers were fairly roused to revenge; their troops, always licentious, were now less scrupulous than ever; they hesitated not to desecrate the Jain temple of Ghoree; they pillaged Veerawow, plundered Nuggur, and devastated the whole district; after which they carried off as prisoners two of the Chiefs of Veerawow, the Rana’s manager (the Rana of Parkur being himself a minor), and others of the inferior Thakoors. These captives were conveyed to Sind, and then consigned to captivity in the fort of Kooda, in the Desert, where they were tied up and beaten, and otherwise ill-treated, to make them more flexible in agreeing to a heavy fine,* which was fixed on them before they were liberated. Thenceforth the Ameers regularly received one-half of the customs duties, and about one-fifth of the produce of the land, though from what date this revenue was collected with tolerable regularity is not apparent. At first its collection was uncertain, but gradually became more regular, as the power
* The Chief of Veerawow was fined Us. 3,166-3-7 (Corees 12,000), while his brother died at Hydrabad in captivity. The Rana of Parkur was fined Rs. 2,638-8-4 (Corees: 10,000). The Thakoor of Barana, at which place the Ameer’s officer was murdered, was fmed Rs. 10,00*\ The Chief of Pittahoore was fined 700 Rupees, and Soda Kemajee of Adygaum, 1,500 Corees. The captives were about three months in captivity.of the rulers increased, and that of the local chiefs correspondingly decreased.
43.	With a view to elucidate the causes and considerations which led to our more immediate interference with the Thurr and Parkur districts in the first instance, as also the social state of the districts antecedent to our rule, it is necessary to review shortly our political proceedings in the conterminous principality of Kutch during the beginning of the present century.#
44.	As far back as A.D. 1812-13, we find the forays of the Wagur banditti in Katty war attracting notice. Wagur is the district comprising the eastern part of Kutch, divided from Parkur by the Runn only. The banditti of those days—and of after years also— was generally composed of the kindred spirits from both sides of the Runn. In this year (1812-13), a strong letter of remonstrance was addressed to Jemedar Futty Mahomed, then ruling in Kutch in the name of the Prince, on the subject of the depredations committed in Katty war by the Wagur banditti; no satisfactory result, however, appears to have ensued therefrom.
45.	In the subsequent year, Jemedar Hoossein Mya, Futty Mahomed’s son—the father having departed this life intermediately— moved into Wagur with a considerable force, consequent on further remonstrances from the British Government regarding the depredations of the Wagur banditti. The Jemedar’s force, however, was unequal to the undertaking of subduing the marauders, who, if menaced in Wagur, had only to retreat to Parkur, where they were quite safe; consequently, nothing was effected. The constituted authorities had failed in their attempt to check the freebooters, who now became more bold than ever; they levied contributions in the Desert as far as Sind proper ; they devastated Wagur, and laid waste the adjacent districts of Guzerat, south of the Runn of Kutch. It may be supposed with what impunity they carried on their forays, when they ventured so far from their strongholds; they even had the temerity to attack the camp of the British Agent, which happened to be pitched near the Runn and within their beat. The force of the marauders was supposed on this occasion to amount to about 500 men; the attack took place at night, which happened to be dark and
* Vide Kutch narrative, page 18-19.16
tempestuous, so that the confusion usually created by a night attack was heightened by the agitation of the elements, but more particularly by the division of the camp, whose position had been taken up for the monsoon, more with reference to convenience than defence ; and while therefore that portion of it immediately under the orders of the British officer, Captain MacMurdo’s own supervision was speedily ridded of the marauders, he was ignorant of the fate of the other portion, which w7as a short distance off, and which suffered the most. The marauders succeeded in carrying off a few horses, camels, &e., while some lives were lost on both sides. In the following year (1816'), the depredations of the banditti continuing unabated, and the British Government having failed to obtain any guarantee for the discontinuance thereof, or any satisfactory reply from the Bhooj Court, forwarded a list of its demands, which, if not speedily complied with, was to be followed by a force to compel acquiescence, and effect arrangements to protect its own and allies’ subjects from the marauders. The demands were :—
1st.—Compensation for the losses which the tributaries of our allies, the Peishwa and Guicowar, had sustained, and a liquidation of the expenses which the Guicowar and British Governments had incurred, in consequence of the depredations committed by the banditti from Wagur.
2nd.—Specific engagements were demanded for the future prevention of any act of atrocity of the like nature.
3rd. — The third demand had reference to some insult offered to the British agent by the Bhooj authorities, but has no reference to our present subject. #
46.	These demands not having been complied with, or replied to within a reasonable time, a force* was despatched to Kutch, which, after the attainment of the objects for which it was despatched, marched into Wagur, on which the banditti separated; and the force was subsequently withdrawn.
47.	As the British influence increased in Kutch, and was brought to bear on the disturbed state of Wagur, the banditti appear to have
* On the 14th December 1815, Colonel East crossed the Runn at Yenasir, with 4,000 fighting men.17
made Parkur their head quarters, though then, as previously, the in« habitants from both sides of the Runn joined in all the larger forays.
48.	The arrival of the British force in Kutch temporarily restored tranquillity to the province; the excited passions of the parties contending for power in the state, the conflicting interests of the chiefs and principal men of the province, and the insatiable love of plunder of the Wagur and Parkur banditti, appear to have been paralysed as it were for the time, by the appearance in the field of a new power, of which so much had been heard. The effect, however, was of short duration, while the troubles in which the Court of Bhooj was rapidly becoming entangled again caused a relaxation of authority, which enabled the Wagur and Parkur* banditti to renew their plundering excursions, with less fear of interruption or chance of opposition than ever.
49.	In course of time (in 1819), further negotiation was rendered indispensable in the affairs of Kutch, though the British Government was much opposed to any direct interposition. At the same time, it was impossible to allow the banditti to continue devastating the northern part of Kattywar, where they had laid waste numbers of villages, and committed depredations estimated at several lacs of Rupees, while the only mode of bringing our influence or power to bear upon them, was by establishing a preponderating influence at Bhooj. This object had been attempted in A.D, 1816. As previously stated, however, the result, though immediately satisfactory, was but transitory. On the present occasion, therefore, and with the concurrence of some of the leading feudal chiefs in Kutch, the British Government interfered to restore law and order in that province, which being speedily effected, the attention of the executive was turn-
* In May 1819, a party of 800 men, chiefly mounted on camels and horses, attacked But chow, situated on the southern side of Wagur, close to the Gulf. They were driven off by the guns of the fort, not, however, till they had secured 200 head of cattle. From thence they moved to Vond, a fine flourishing village about two miles from Butchow, the gates of which they shut, and then plundered it, carrying off all the cattle belonging to the place, except some 20 or 30, the estimated damage occasioned by this one foray alone being not less than 35 or 40,000 Rupees. Shortly before this, 500 head of cattle were carried off from Rapore, also in Wagur,—Rapore and Butchow being the principal durbar towns in the district,
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ed towards Wagur, where, as well as in the neighbouring districts, the banditti had well nigh depopulated and devastated the whole country.
50.	In the meanwhile, aggravated anarchy, the natural result of many long years of misrule, appears to have obliterated all trace of honesty, public spirit, and social progress in Kutch. Every man appears to have followed the example of the reigning prince in living for himself, and indulging in the vices to which both he and they were slaves. The finances of the state were exhausted, nor could much improvement in this respect be expected, till law and order were restored, and some protection was organized against the attacks of the banditti.
51.	Those who behold Kutch and the Thurr and Parkur in 1856, may think that, with a preponderating influence at Bhooj, there could be no great difficulty in restoring law and order in Kutch, and curbing the predatory disposition of the inhabitants on the other side of the Runn. History, however, demonstrates the difficulty of averting national convulsions and restoring order, when man’s worst passions have been roused, and allowed to indulge unchecked in sensual vices and rapine; and when, moreover, the exchequer is empty, and the credit of the state nominal. Such was the state of affairs in Kutch, while, without money, the necessary arrangements could not be effected to restrain the banditti; and though this desirable object was eventually accomplished, it was so only after the expenditure of large sums of money, and at the cost of many lives; and even then, the accomplishment of that desirable end was mainly attributable to the efficient agency selected for carrying out the views of Government.
52.	In due course of time, a detachment of the Poona Auxiliary Horse was stationed in Wagur, under Captain (now General) Roberts; they were necessarily broken up into small parties, to protect an extended frontier; they were, though imperfectly, supported by 300 irregular durbar horse from B.hooj. The utmost vigilance, energy, and skill were exercised in completing arrangements to check the freebooters; they had yet, however, to be taught some stern lessons, before either Kutch or the neighbouring districts could be relieved from their depredations.19
53.	It may be instructive and interesting to notice, in this place, a foray made by the banditti in 1831. Their operations generally much resembled the Mahratta style of warfare on a small scale, while the expeditions were generally organized with great secrecy, and carried into effect with unbounded skill, courage, and endurance.
54.	In May 1831, a party of plunderers, probably five hundred strong, entered Kutch, plundered a village in the centre of Wagur, and were returning across the Runn with their booty, when they were overtaken by a detachment of 50 of the Poona Auxiliary Horse, and 400 or 500 Bhooj Durbar Irregular Horse. The latter, however, refused to charge, thus leaving the duty of defeating so considerable a body to the Auxiliary Horse, some fifty strong. Fortunately, this gallant body was under a leader worthy of the crisis: he was a native of Damascus, and had served as a soldier of fortune in India for some forty years, of which fifteen had been under British officers. He endeared himself to his comrades by his simplicity and amiability, and to his superiors by his soldierlike bearing and undaunted courage. His name was Meer Abbas Ally. The plunderers, seeing the hesitation of their pursuers, made their camels sit down and form a breastwork, from behind which they kept up a distant fire with their matchlocks: eventually, however, finding that active support was not to be expected from the Durbar Horse, the Jemedar (Abbas Ally) formed his men into two divisions, and repeatedly charged the plunderers. Unfortunately, he fell wounded in several places, while one-third of his gallant detachment were put hors te combat; and the Duffadar, on whom devolved the command, was consequently obliged to desist from further attack. Had the Durbar Horse assisted, the plunderers must have been cut up to a man : as it was, they escaped, but were disappointed in getting water, as the wells for which they were making when overtaken, were previously occupied by our troops ; and thus they had to proceed towards the Desert, some 40 miles further, exhausted with a long march and sharp skirmish, dying of thirst, sixteen having expired of thirst before reaching the Desert.
55.	The regret for the loss of the gallant Jemedar was universal, both in the Irregular Horse and the province; his remains were
* Fide Letter, dated 7th June 1831, from Besident to Government.20
interred in the Runn, and subsequently removed to Bhooj, and deposited in front of the lines of the Irregular Horse, where a handsome tomb was built, and now stands to commemorate the glorious death of a brave man.
56. The infamous behaviour of the durbar horsemen was followed by their being disbanded, and by a body of two hundred men being organized, and associated with the Poona Auxiliary Horse under Captain Roberts, for the defence of Wagur against the Farkur banditti. The high expectations entertained by the Resident in Kutch of the advantages of this arrangement were fully realized, and to the Irregular Horse thus constituted, under able guidance, was Kutch subsequently indebted for the security enjoyed by her inhabitants. In the meantime, however, the banditti plundered as heretofore; remonstrance followed remonstrance to Hydradad (Parkur being in Sind, or under Sind), calling forth empty compliments and promises from the rulers of that province, which appear only to have been made to be forgotten or broken. At length, Government addressed a stem letter* to His Highness Ali Moorad at Hydrabad, observing— “ For many years, the country of our ally, the Rao of Kutch, has been “ continually entered by plunderers from Parkur. The lawless con-“ duct of these plunderers has found protection in the chiefs of that “ country, dependents of your Highness, and this Government has in “ vain applied for redress for the injuries committed by them. The “ chiefs of Parkur have refused to give them up, and have openly “ permitted the cattle to be sold, with other property, and shared the “ spoil. They have also let disaffected dependents of the British “ Government find refuge in their country, and there plot incursions “ into the territories of our allies. The late excesses of the Parkur “ robbers under Pittoojee Wagela are known to your Highness, and “you have been in vain called on to punish your subjects, who have “ thus dared to insult the British Government, and have committed “ aggressions still more recent than those already mentioned ; so that “ it now remains with this Government, for the security of our allies, “ and the vindication of the national honour, to extirpate utterly this “ band of robbers within your Highness’s dominions, unless your
* Vide Enclosure, dated 6th September 1831, received with letter No. 109, of 17th September 1831.21
“ Highness shall give ample satisfaction. I therefore request you to “ take instant measures for the complete destruction of the banditti, “ to give up Pittoojee Wagela and Sirdar Beebeeof Radiiunpoor, with “ their adherents, to this Government, and give ample redress for past “ injuries, and security for the future; and if all this is not done by “ your Highness, a British force shall enter Parkur and take vengeance “ on those outlaws, who have, contrary to all treaties, committed such “ ravages in territories under the British protection. I am at the same “ time,” proceeds the remonstrance, “ sorry that such an act should “ take place, but only the redress required from your Highness being “ instantly granted, will prevent a large army entering Parkur “ immediately. A speedy answer is required from your Highness.”
57.	Just about the time that this epistle was forwarded to Hy-drabad,^ a force from thence visited Parkur, and after burning and destroying three or four villages in the neighbourhood, and the whole of the standing grain on their route, returned to Sind, taking with them the Rana of Parkur, and Poonjajee, the Chief of Veerawow, and seven or eight Khosas. The rest of the Khosas and others of the banditti took refuge in the desert lying between the Sind dominions and Balmeer,j' where they were alike sure of a welcome and safe from molestation. This policy, however, tended only to depopulate the country, as on the approach of the Sindian force, nearly all the well disposed inhabitants left the district, many coming to Kutch ; and many, it may be added, never to return.
58.	The reply of the Ameer, His Highness Moorad ^lv, to the letter above alluded to, was highly characteristic of the ambiguous and versatile style obtaining at the Court of Hydrabad. His Highness observes, after shortly recounting the purport of the letter under reply, and alluding to the mutual friendship of the correspondents,— “ The amity betwixt the two states is so firmly cemented, that we may “ be counted as one, while our mutual interests are perfectly identified, “ but we willingly give preference to your affairs.” It then proceeds to relate how formerly the banditti committed depredations in Kutch, &c., but consequent on a force having been sent against them, they
* Vide letter from Assistant Resident in charge to Government, dated 30th December 1831.
f Vide letter from Cornet Jackson, dated 14th November 1831.22
had ceased to do so now. This is a fact, continues the letter, “ well “ known ; and after the expedition they did not return into those parts, “ nor ever did one of those plunderers dare to place foot within the “ limits of Kutch and Guzerat.” Still, as an assurance of his continued amity, His Highness observes that he has “ prepared at a great expense “ a cavalry force of 10,000 men, under renowned leaders”—whose high-sounding titles and names I refrain from puzzling my readers with,—-and “sent it towards Parkur, with positive and express “commands to execute punishment on all the depredators falling in-“ to their hands.” His Highness then enjoins on Government the necessity of directing all the Thannadars of Kutch and Guzerat to put to death all the robbers they can find in those districts. The letter concludes—“ Ever water the garden of amity with the water of your “ correspondence.”
59.	The general tenor of this letter, when divested of oriental metaphor, was not calculated to inspire confidence and satisfaction, more especially as there was good reason for believing that His Highness* had been privy to the escape from Parkur of a notorious outlaw from Kutch, whose surrender had been demanded; and under these circumstances, Government—whose only object was to protect Kutch and Guzerat from the devastation committed by the outlaws, and who would much have preferred not interfering directly in Parkur, if His Highness would have made the necessary arrangements to attain that object,—decided that the Ameer should again be addressed, with the view of assuring him “ of the satisfaction Government “ derived from His Highness’ promise to punish the Parkur freebooters; “but that as the evil to our frontier from their inroads is very great, “and can be endured no longer, definite precautions in that matter “ must be taken, and Government was in consequence compelled to “ make the following demands on him.”
60.	The demands may be stated thus :—to surrender certain outlaws; to re-imburse those who had suffered by the depredations of the banditti during the last two years, and make arrangements to restrain the banditti in Parkur for the future; or allow a British force to be stationed in Parkur : or the option of ceding the sovereignty of Parkur to His Highness the Rao of Kutch, and thus absolving
* Vide letter from Government, No. 128, of 24th November 1831.23
himself from all responsibility with reference to its inhabitants in future, was offered him, the tribute, &c. from Parkur being guaranteed to the Ameer by the British Government.
61.	Notwithstanding the above promises, in January 1832, the banditti* carried off four hundred head of cattle from Chorar, on the eastern frontier of Kutch; nor were their depredations confined to this one instance ; it was therefore determined to despatch a force to Parkur to punish the banditti.
62.	A field force accordingly crossed the Runn into Parkur,f via Nurra Bait, on the 1st November 1832. The chief authority in Parkur, Soda Juggoojee—who had a few years before murdered his uncle, the Rana, and usurped his authority, and who had been mixed up with the plunderers whom the force had come into Parkur especially to punish —absconded. The Chief of Veerawow, and the Thakoor of Barana, however, at once made their submission ; and the force proceeded onwards to Bakasir and Balmeer, between which places the banditti had always, when pressed in other quarters, found refuge. Most of the leading men w7ere apprehended, and more would probably have been taken, and the moral effect of the invasion been more decided and lasting, if the instructions of the Resident in Kutch had been more strictly adhered to by the officer commanding. However, the result was, on the whole, satisfactory. His Highness the Ameer promised to assist and actively support the English detachment with a force from Hydrabad, but none came till too late to be of use; and when they did arrive, their appearance and bearing led to the inference that they would not, under any circumstances, have been of much use in forwarding the objects for which the expedition had been organized. His Highness pompously informed the Resident at Bhooj that he had sent 2,500 horse of the choicest description, under-a number of commanders of approved talent and valour, to co-operate with our troops, while the British officers in Parkur at the same time wrote that the number did not exceed 500 horse, miserable in size and condition; nor could the commander be induced to move beyond Guddra, which formed the Sind frontier, though the object
* Vide letter from Captain Roberts to Resident, dated 9th February 1832.
f Vide letter from Lieutenant Colonel Litchfield, Commanding Field Force, dated Veerawow, 7th November 1832.24
of the expedition was to punish the freebooters, who (as was anticipated) had retired to the Neyur district (between the Thurr and'Parkur and Balmeer) on the approach of the force.
63.	The impression which had prevailed for years, that the plunderers in their haunts were beyond our reach, now gave way to one of wholesome awe and alarm ; and it was therefore not deemed necessary by the Resident in Kutch,# in whom was vested full authority on the subject, to continue any longer the expense to the public of keeping the force in the field. It was therefore ordered back to cantonments, with the exception of the following troops, to be placed under the orders of Captain Roberts in Parkur:—
4 One complete squadron of native cavalry.
One hundred native infantry.
Captain Roberts’ irregular horse.
One hundred Pahlunpoor horse.
Fifty Jareja Kutch horse.
64.	In placing this detachment under Captain Roberts’ orders, the Resident observes :—“ Your perfect and long acquaintance with my views and plans renders it quite unnecessary that I should give you any detailed instructions.” He then alludes to the great objects of the expedition having been attained, but adds that it would be desirable, if possible, to apprehend Barra Khosa,j: a renowned leader and chieftain amongst the banditti. At the same time, the Sind authorities were apprized of the Resident’s full determination not to withdraw the detachment from Parkur, until such arrangements should have been made, as to prevent the possibility of our having any further trouble from that quarter.
65.	The murderer of the former Rana, and usurper of his rights in Parkur, had fled ; and the British Government therefore suggested the restoration of the former Rana’s nearest male relation (there being no lineal male descendant) to the ancient rank and station of the chief of the district. This interference was at first cavilled at by the
* Vide letter No. 390, of 24th December 1832, to Lieutenant Colonel Litchfield, Commanding Field Force.
f It would, however, appear that only a small portion of this force actually occupied Parkur.
J Was afterwards employed in the Mounted Police, in A.D. 1844.25
Sind authorities, but the suggestion was eventually adopted; and the former Rana’s cousin, by name Kurunjee, received from the hands of Captain Roberts his investiture as Rana of Parkur: he was then a child of three years old.
66. The usurper Juggoojee was given up to the British Government by that of Sind, and detained in Kutch a prisoner, and subsequently a prisoner at large, on a subsistence allowance of one rupee a day, till A.D. 1844, when the small village of Boodesir, in Parkur, was given to him in lieu of the money allowance, and he was allowed to reside there. He enjoyed the revenues of the village till August 1852, when he died, and the village was resumed,*—a few ploughs of land being allotted to his more immediate relations for free cultivation.
* The son and other near male relations of Juggoojee appealed against this resumption of the village to the Commissioner in Sind in December 1854, when the Commissioner was in Parkur. The appeal was reported on in letter No. 341 of 1854, dated 25th December, as follows :—
“Soda Juggoojee was in exile from the date of our force entering Parkur, till he was made over to the British Government as a state prisoner, during which period any rights in Parkur which his relationship to the Rana gave him a claim to, were enjoyed by the Rana, he having forfeited them by the murder of his relative, the former Rana, by name Ruttun Sing. Whatever therefore may have been his rights in Parkur formerly, they had long ceased to exist when the district fell under our rule.
“The only other point for consideration that suggests itself to me, with reference to the petition under report, is, whether it was intended, in granting the village of Boodesir to Juggoojee Soda, to do so in perpetuity or not. The wording of the correspondence is vague, and the best attention that I have been able to give the subject leaves me doubtful of what was intended; while the grant, whether it be looked on as a life one, or in perpetuity, appears to me in the light of an act of grace, emanating from the British Government as conquerors of Sind, or as an arrangement of political expediency, rather than as an acknowledgment of Soda Juggoojee’s usurped rights in Parkur, which we had been chiefly instrumental in depriving him of many years previously.
“It was under this view of the case, that I hesitated in bringing the subject to the notice of the Commissioner, to recommend the continued alienation of the village to the descendants of Soda Juggoojee, considering that their right to it could not be substantiated or deemed valid, in the absence of enjoyment for so many years previous to the conquest of Sind; while the alienation of villages, except where indispensable on principles of equity or expediency, appears a questionable policy.”
The Acting Commissioner in reply, in February 1856, observes that the late grant was one of grace, and in all respects similar to other life grants which were made by the late Governor, as of grace. Petitioner should there be informed, that the arrangement made in 1853 cannot be disturbed,
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67.	The gradual and growing necessity of protecting Kutch and Guzerat from the depredations of the banditti, as well as the means adopted for punishing the leaders and protectors of the freebooters, will have been, it is hoped, clearly seen from the foregoing pages. The loss occasioned by these depredations was so extensive, varied and continuous, as almost to baffle calculation; ten lacs of Rupees, however, would not probably have covered the immediate losses occasioned, while the consequences were still more disastrous, viz. deserted villages, and devastated and depopulated districts. About this period (in 1833), for the first time for centuries, the eastern part of Kutch and northern portion of Guzerat enjoyed repose from the harassing inroads of the banditti, kept in check by the Parkur outpost, and by another outpost stationed at Balmeer.
68.	To show the extent of the arrangements, both before and after the establishment of an outpost in Parkur, it may be as well to notice the number of men* employed on outpost duty on the Runn from Deesa, Bhooj and Rajkote before the occupation of Parkur, as well as the strength of the detachment stationed there in supersession of former arrangements. The former outposts included 1552 regulars and irregulars, while the Parkur outpost only numbered 225, being a decrease by the new arrangements of 1327 men. Thus the practical result of occupying Parkur was the saving of a great expense, to say nothing of the harassing of men up and down the frontier along the edge of the Runn after the banditti, who resembled the mirage and vapour clouds of the Runn.
69.	An outpost was subsequently stationed at Balmeer as a permanent arrangement; it comprised a squadron of cavalry, two companies of native infantry, and some 200 Guicowar horse. This arrangement, however, caused some apprehensions at the Joudpoor Durbar,f the chief of which State appears to have entertained some undefined notions that his sovereign rights extended over the district of Mewa or Mullanee, in which Balmeer is situated. Its relative
* Vide letter No. 20 of 1834, dated 28th April, from Government to Supreme Government, received with No. 22 of 28th April from Government.
Vide letter No. 582, dated 2nd September 1835, from Chief Secretary to Government of India, to Agent to Governor General of Sind, reporting probable rupture with Joudpoor,27
bearing to Joudpoor somewhat resembled that of Parkur to Hydra-bad :	both places were the refuge of plunderers, while the
inhabitants and chiefs of both encouraged and shared in freebooting expeditions; both acknowledged the supremacy of Joudpoor and Hydrabad, when forces came from those capitals respectively to levy tribute, or, in other words, to rob the robbers.
70.	Parkur now, for the first time for centuries, enjoyed peace; the banditti had been punished in their strongholds; the chiefs, observing the futility of contending against us, wisely joined us in endeavouring to restore tranquillity, while the detachments stationed in Parkur and at Balmeer promised security from the banditti for the future, in the event of their showing a disposition to resume their former mode of life.
71.	The officer commanding the Parkur detachment did not interfere in the administration of the district; his duty was merely to keep the banditti in check, and to protect Kutch from their forays. The inhabitants of Parkur, accustomed to see a force only when one came from Hydrabad, ostensibly to collect revenue, but practically to rob the people, naturally associated the idea of troops being stationed there with constant oppression and exaction. They soon found, however, that a British force was a widely different thing from a Sindian one, and that instead of oppression, it bestowed protection; while instead of exaction, a free and liberal circulation of money resulted from its presence. The natural effect of the politic arrangements initiated by Captain Roberts, was a gradual return to peace and prosperity, or rather the foundation for future prosperity was then laid; for it took many long years (the lapse of a generation nearly) before the long practised habit of freebooting could be altogether put down on the one hand, and given up on the other. It appears to have been to the inhabitants of the Thurr and Parkur, what the card-table is to the gamester, or the bottle to the drunkard; and it may easily be imagined how difficult it was to break them of a vice, the love of which they had been nurtured in, and which, moreover, apart from the excitement it afforded them, had hitherto been their only means of subsistence.
72.	Subsequent to the establishment of the outpost in Parkur, Kutch was pretty free from the depredations of the freebooters ; an28
incident, however, occurred in Parkur in 1834, already noticed, which showed the disposition of the people. The Kardar from Hydrabad, having made himself obnoxious, by the introduction of new revenue arrangements, was murdered, while two of his followers were wounded. As, however, the standing orders of the British outpost were not to interfere in the administration of the district, the officer in temporary charge* of the outpost took no notice of this barbarous act; but subsequently, at the desire of the Resident, assisted in apprehending some of the perpetrators of the murder. As above stated, the Parkur chiefs were severely punished for this act of barbarity; and in due course of time, another Kardar from Hydrabad was appointed.
73.	Notwithstanding that the officer commanding had no political authority in Parkur, his position as Assistant Resident in Kutch, and commandant of the irregular horse, and the influence he exercised in Wagur, where he also commanded, was not without its influence on the people of the Thurr and Parkur; and tended materially to restrain the Hydrabad Kardar from acts of oppression and exaction on the one hand, and the people from resistance and a lawless life on the other.
74.	Nothing of consequence appears to have occurred thenceforward till A.D. 1843, when the conquest of Sind transferred the allegiance of the inhabitants of that province from the Talpoors to the British Government. In the beginning of 1843, the outpost in Parkur was withdrawn, and stationed at Bela, in Kutch. The cause of this retrograde movement appears to have been apprehensions of being attacked by superior numbers, and of the outpost, from its isolated position, being put to straits alike for provisions and its safety; however, the chiefs and others of the district appear to have been favourably disposed towards us, and to have shown every disposition to assist us, and the outpost was therefore speedily re-stationed in Parkur.
75.	A detachment from Bhooj was at the same time despatched to Deepla; owing, however, to the want of water, and other circum-
* The command of the Parkur outpost was vested in the officer commanding the - Hutch Irregular Horse, who also commanded in Wagur, where he chiefly resided, visiting Parkur, &c. occasionally; in his absence, the senior officer on the spot of course commanded.29
stances—to which it is unnecessary to allude in detail, as being foreign to the objects of this memoir,—it eventually retraced its steps to Kowra, in Kutch, and subsequently again advanced and took up a position at Wanga Bazar. The commotions in Sind, resulting in the conquest of that province, produced less effect in the Desert than might have been expected, while its affinity with Kutch might have been taken advantage of to a greater extent than it was, for co-operating with the army in Sind.
76.	His Highness the Rao’s connection by marriage with the Soda Chiefs of Deepla, one of whom always resided in Bhooj, and the numbers of alliances existing from olden times between the Jarejas and others of Kutch and thè inhabitants of the Desert, together with the general absence of a fellow feeling, as regards religion, language, customs and traditions, between the rulers of Sind and the Thurr and Parkur people, gave Kutch a considerable influence in the southern part of the Desert, notwithstanding that that district acknowledged the supremacy of Sind, and had done so for years.
77.	The Chiefs of Deepla, and the Urbab of the Norays, together with numbers of others of less importance, declared their readiness to assist us with their influence, and armed clansmen and retainers ; the same may be said of the Soda Chiefs of Mittee and Islamkote. Their services were made use of to a limited extent only, when England’s banner, floating from the citadel of Hydrabad, announced the pleasing intelligence—as far as the people of the Desert and Parkur were concerned,—that Sind and its dependencies had become a part of our Indian Empire. February 1843.
78.	As soon as the excitement of the first shock was over, the Thurr and Parkur people showed a great desire to be placed under the Political Agent in Kutch. This was not to be wondered at, for it must be remembered that the landed proprietors generally, as well as a large portion of the population of the Desert and Parkur, are Hindoos, while the population of Sind is essentially Mahomedan. The Rajpoots of the Desert had experienced a good deal of grinding oppression, and few, if any, favours from their Mahomedan masters^ whose language, customs, feelings and associations all differed from theirs. The difference in these particulars, between the inhabitants of Sind proper and the Desert, is not more striking than the contrast30
in the physical aspect of the valley of the Indus, and the undulating sand hills of the Thurr. In addition to these natural tendencies, the people of the Thurr and Parkur had had opportunities of observing the effects of our influence in Kutch, where peace, happiness and prosperity had succeeded, under our influence, to anarchy, rapine and the worst diseases to which the body politic is liable, when sensuality and man’s most selfish and debasing passions are let loose on society.
79.	On the above subject being referred by Colonel Roberts, who had then lately been appointed Political Agent and Commandant in Kutch, and whose knowledge and experience of the people of the Thurr and Parkur had been long and intimate, His Excellency the Governor gladly availed himself of the opportunity of
entrusting the delicate duty of settling the Thurr and Parkur districts to such able hands; and the districts named in the margin were consequently at once placed under the Kutch Political Agency,—the remainder of the Desert or Thurr, viz. the Oomerkote, Cheelar and Guddra districts, being left under Hydrabad.
80.	There is nothing on record to show why the Desert districts were thus dislocated ; the Oomerkote, Cheelar and Guddra districts are in every respect similar to those of the Thurr, transferred to Kutch; caste, religion, natural antipathy to their Mahomedan rulers, all combined to cement the unity of the inhabitants of the sand hills. However, in our previous connection with the Desert and Parkur from Kutch, the remoteness, and still more desert nature of the Oomerkote districts, had excluded them from immediate connection with us; and while therefore the former connection between Kutch and the Thurr and Parkur made it natural for the inhabitants to wish to be under Kutch on the one hand, and disposed Colonel Roberts to gratify their wish on the other, it was hardly to be expected that he would seek to bring under his control another extensive district, simply from its analogy and contiguity to the district he was well acquainted with; with which he had had little or no connection, and which, from its size and distance from Kutch, he would have had
Ballyaree.
Deepla.
Mittee.
Islamkote.
Singala.
Veerawow.
Pittapoor.
Bakasir.
Parkur.31
great difficulty in managing from Bhooj.* The furthest point of the Oomerkote Desert is about 250 miles from Bhooj ; and while therefore the physical aspect of the Oomerkote Desert, and its inhabitants, is analogous to the Thurr, it remains to be demonstrated whether any better practical arrangement than that introduced could have been or be devised for the administration thereof.
81.	The districts thus placed under the Political Agent in Kutch, have already been described in the preceding pages of this memoir. The population at that date was very small, not exceeding, I should suppose, 30,000 souls, while the predatory life of many of the inhabitants, and nomadic customs and habits of others, together with the blighting and oppressive policy of the Ameer’s officers, had had a tendency to contract cultivation, and make people depend on their herds and flocks for their livelihood.
82.	The favourable reply returned to the petition of the chiefs and others, to be placed under Kutch, as well as His Highness the Rao’s and other Jareja chiefs’ connection by marriage with the Desert and Parkur inhabitants, which gave them some influence there, together with the intimate acquaintance formerly obtained of the people and their country by Colonel Roberts, and the cordiality existing between him and His Highness the Rao and the leading chiefs in Kutch, all tended to aid and facilitate a satisfactory settlement of all those questions of rights and immunities which beset the executive in newly acquired territories; nor did present appearances belie the result.
83.	I shall now proceed to notice, firstly, tbfe steps taken to provide for the police of the districts; and secondly, the arrangements entered into with the different chiefs and heads of tribes, &c.
84.	One of the chiefs of the Khosas, by name Kaprie Khan, was
* If the whole of the Desert was under Bhooj, the nearest point of the district would be 80, and the furthest about 250 miles from the European officer’s head quarters. The same objection exists to the whole being under Meerpoor, as the Oomerkote district now is ; as in that case, the nearest point would be 80, and the furthest about 200 miles from the European officer’s head quarters ; while, as at present arranged, the distance of the Thurr and Parkur—which, being doubly populous as compared with the remainder of the Desert, is of the most consequence,—is only on an average about 110 or 120 miles distant from Bhooj, and 50 or 60 from the centre of Wagur or eastern part of Kutch, where the European officer generally resides for some months in the district season.32
entertained, with fifty men of the Goomranee branch of that tribe; and four other Jemedars of the leading branches of the tribe were entertained, with quotas aggregating 60 men : thus making a total of five Jemedars and 110 horsemen. They declined wearing any uniform dress, or being in any way drilled, but consented to wear a belt and breastplate as an insignia of office, the Jemedar’s belts being of red cloth with silver breastplates, and those of the horsemen cotton, with brass breastplates.
85.	There were of course difficulties at first in having so irregularly formed a body for police duties. It was, however, deemed expedient to entertain the Khosas, as being the hereditary banditti of the Desert, and a people on whose energy, local knowledge and bravery we might implicitly rely, provided we could succeed in giving them confidence, and an interest in their new duties. This could only be effected in course of time : ignorant of our usages and system, accustomed indeed to live in a most primitive style, guided only, not governed, by the traditional influence of the elders of the tribe, it was not surprising that they sometimes allowed prisoners to escape, and went to their homes without leave. Occasionally, when escorting prisoners, one or more of the party would stay behind or diverge from the road, to accomplish some private business, while they seldom or ever placed a sentry over prisoners, not unfrequently using them as servants, and trusting to their own influence, and ability to re-appre-hend them, to restrain them from attempting to escape, and to save themselves from censure if they did escape.
86.	On one occasion, a Jemedar and party proceeded to Nuggur to relieve the outpost at that place; the relieving Jemedar pleaded the long march and the lateness of the hour of the day, adding that he would take charge of the outpost on the morrow. The other Jemedar replied, “ Having arrived, you must take charge now—however, you may do so or not as you please—in the mean time, I shall start” ; and so saying, he presently mounted his detachment and away they went, leaving the outpost and a prisoner uncared for. Of course the prisoner quietly went away. On the irregularity being reported, the relieving Jemedar was desired to proceed and re-apprehend the man who had been allowed to escape through his own and the other Jemedar’s folly, failing to do which, his situation would be jeopar-33
dized. He started off accordingly, and found the delinquent some hundred miles away in Marwar, and brought him back: when close to Nuggur, however, some carelessness again gave him the opportunity, and he again escaped. A similar order was repeated to the Jemedar, who again went in search of the man; this time, however, he failed to find him, but secured his father, and brought him back instead, and appeared much astonished at finding that he was subsequently released, instead of being made answerable for his son’s offences. Such like irregularities were by no means uncommon at first, while their antipathy to discipline, uneasiness under restraint, and ill-disguised disregard for their Jemeclar’s orders when opposed to their own inclinations—the result, of course, of their former mode ©f life,—made them a somewhat difficult body to train into a useful corps. They were too ignorant, self-willed, independent, and hot-headed to be driven; and if roughly handled, would at once have betaken themselves to their saddles, and trusted to the desert and luck for a livelihood ; and yet they had many good and valuable qualities for policemen. Constant fatigue and privation was what they had been used to from their childhood, while their local knowledge extended to every path amongst the sand hills of the Desert, and pretty nearly to every inhabitant thereof. After a great deal of negotiation, Barra Khan, one of the elders and most influential of the tribe, consented to become a servant of the British Government. He was a remarkably fine old man, of about 60 years of age ; he had been in several skirmishes with our detachments, and at last surrendered to Captain Jackson ; he had numerous wounds, both shot and sabre, received in action. He used at first, when talking over the subject of taking service, to uncover his arm or side, and show his scars, adding, “ These were received when fighting against you—how can I now eat your salt ?” Judicious advice, however, and Colonel Roberts’ personal influence with him and others of the chiefs, eventually overcame his scruples, and he became a servant of the State.* He served as a Jemedar of Police for a few years, until his
* At the conquest of Sind, all theKhosa Chiefs came in and made their salam : some to Major Brown, Political Superintendent, Pahlunpoor; some to Captain Fulljames, Commanding Guzerat Horse; and some to Colonel Roberts, Political Agent and Commanding in Kutch.
5 T34
son was old enough to serve, when he retired and was succeeded by his son.
87.	After entertaining the requisite number, they were sent under their respective leaders to conduct the police duties of the Desert and Parkur; about fifty being stationed in Parkur and on the Marwar frontier, and the remainder in the Islamkote, Mittee, Deepla, and Bullyaree districts. For some years, however, the men would only serve under their own leaders ; eventually, in 1856, they all consented to wear uniform coats, and appeared desirous of having them; they were also willing to be drilled.
88.	The forts of the Desert, Nowakote, Mittee and Islamkote, were garrisoned by a Soda chief as killadar, and 12 footmen each ; Singalla was in ruins, and not therefore garrisoned. It may he as well in this place to add a few words regarding these forts, before consigning them to oblivion, and disposing of the materials for the attainment of peaceful objects, such as the construction of school-rooms, building of wells, &c., in the hopes of thus securing by more peaceful means the ends for which so much money was lavished.
89.	The fort of Islamkote was built about A. D. 1795, is 386 feet square, and is built of burnt bricks and mud, the outer bricks only being cemented with chunam or mortar.
90.	The fort of Singalla is about the same size as Islamkote, and was probably built about the same time. The fort of Mittee was built a few years before Islamkote; it is a little smaller than it. The fort of Nowakote was built in 1814 ; it is 640 feet by 600. It may be estimated that the forts of Mittee, Islamkote, and Singalla cost about eight lacs of Rupees each; that of Nowakote probably cost less, owing to its proximity to Sind.
91.	The garrisoning of these forts with Sodas at once showed the heads of that tribe, that we placed confidence in their loyalty, while it gave them employment, and the legitimate means of living ; and also tended to raise them from the degraded position which the withering rule of the Ameers, or the blighting authority of their officials, had reduced them to.
92.	The rights and immunities of the chiefs of the Thurr and Parkur were, as will be seen hereafter, carefully respected; the Soda35
chiefs of Mittee and Islamkote, however, were unable to prove that they enjoyed any rights or immunities under the authority of the Ameers. They were therefore provided for by being entertained as killadars and footmen for the forts, as above shown, and having certain quantities of lands assigned to them for cultivation rent-free.
93.	To place in a clear point of view the present position of the chiefs of the Thurr and Parkur, it is necessary to state the position they occupied at the conquest of Sind with reference to the Ameer’s government. In doing this, the gradual progress made towards the complete subjugation of the Desert and Parkur will be apparent. The arrangements entered into by the British Government with the different chiefs will also be noticed in the following paragraphs, extracted from the annual report for 1852.
94.	The Ameers appear to have asserted their authority over the southern part of the Desert generally, and over the Mittee and Islamkote districts in particular, about A.D. 1795, and subsequently to have made arrangements for consolidating their power in the Deepla district; on which the Soda chiefs of that place, preferring exile to persecution, took refuge in Kutch, where they were kindly treated by His Highness the Rao, to whom they were related by marriage. Subsequently, about 1831-32, on the Ameers granting them an annual money payment, they returned to the Desert. From about that date in the Thurr, and from about 1834 in Parkur, the Ameers may be considered to have exercised the functions of a governing power ; thenceforward they levied one-fifth of the produce as the land revenue of Parkur, while in the Mittee and Islamkote districts, two-fifths were levied, and one-third in those of Deepla and Bullyaree. The Chowan chief of Bakasir presented a camel annually, in lieu of all demands on account of land revenue, &c.
“ At the time of the conquest, the shares of the produce of the land were levied as mentioned above; a diversity, however, in the mode of making the assessment requires to be noticed, as showing the different light in which the chiefs were regarded in the eastern and western portions of the districts. Thus in the Bullyaree, Deepla, Mittee and Islamkote districts, each field was assessed by the revenue officers, while in the Veerawow, Pittapoor, and Parkur districts, the share of the produce was estimated and fixed by the chiefs and revenue36
officers, and afterwards collected by the former without the interference of the latter, clearly showing that they had not, up to that time, been brought into the same degree of subordination as the chiefs of the west; still there were signs of a gradually increasing interference in the revenue, as in all other affairs, on behalf of the ruling power. It is needless, however, to enter into further detail, to show the various modes in which this increased authority was being exerted.
“ The various progressive stages of subordination to the Court of Hydrabad, in which the different chiefs of districts were found at the conquest, at first rendered the application of the same rules to all somewhat distasteful to the more independent chiefs of the eastern quarter of the desert; or perhaps, I might rather say, to those whose independence had only lately been curbed, and who had only of late years been made to feel the weight of the Ameer’s authority, and who consequently looked at our advent, for a realization of their hopes of being again restored to the position of independent landed proprietors ; while the chiefs of the west, from having been a longer period under the more immediate control of the Ameer’s officers, and long felt the withering influence of their sway, found relief in the change of masters afforded by the conquest.
“ Having, in the preceding paragraphs, given a short outline of the general state of affairs in the different districts at the conquest, I will now shortly detail the settlement made for such of the chiefs of districts and tribes as had enjoyed immunities under the Ameers, or appeared deserving of consideration under our rule. To commence with the Bullyaree district, or Raomaki, i. e. the band occupied by Raornas, or acknowledging the supremacy of the Raoma Chief or XJrbab, such being his title. This person had formerly received a trifling share of the land revenue of his district, the average annual value of which was shown to be 175 Rupees, in which amount* he was consequently compensated. Next comes the Deepla district, comprising the Noreki and Sodeki, or land occupied by the Norays and Sodas. The Chief or Urbab of the Norays satisfactorily proved that he had formerly received a share of the land revenue, as also of the customs duties of Deepla. His accounts proved an annual * Vide Appendix E, being translation of the Sunnud presented to the Urbab.37
average revenue of 500 Rupees from these sources, which amount was accordingly allotted to# him as compensation. The Soda chiefs of Deepla, who formerly received allowances of money and grain from the Ameers, were compensated in the sum of 515 Rupeesf annually : thus the alienated rights as well as allowances enjoyed by the Chiefs of the Deepla district were bought up or compensated on the conquest, by payments aggregating annually 1190 Rupees. The above chiefs of the Deepla district were subsequently, in 1849, granted permission to cultivate^ 10 santees of land, rent free.”
95.	The Soda chiefs of Mittee and Islamkote were found to be in the enjoyment of neither pay nor territorial rights ; they would appear to have realized a precarious and trifling revenue by accompanying the Kardars in the assessment season, and receiving a coree\ per field from such of the cultivators as felt disposed to give it. The latter chief also received trifling amounts of money or presents from the shepherds grazing in the districts, as a grazing tax ; for some years previous to the conquest, however, the Kardars also levied a grazing tax, more as a perquisite than a source of revenue. It is probable, therefore, that the chiefs receipts on this account were but trifling, for the Kardars are reported to have collected all that came within their grasp with an unsparing hand.
96.	Subsequent to the conquest, two of the Soda chiefs of Mittee, on 15 Rupees a month each, with twenty-four foot sepoys at five Rupees a month each, were entertained to guard the forts of Mittee and Nowakote. The chief was also granted four|| santees (ploughs) of land to cultivate, free of taxes or assessment on account of land revenue; while to the Soda chief of Islamkote, with twelve foot sepoys on similar pay, was entrusted the custody of the fort of Islamkote. To this latter chief and his brethren also, 165T santees of land were granted for free cultivation.
* Vide Appendix F, being translation of the Sunnud granted to the Urbab.
f Vide Appendix G, being translation of Sunnud granted to Soda Chief.
X Letter No. 470, of 6th March 1849, from the Commissioner in Sind, to the Political Agent in Kutch.
§ The current coin in Kutch, valued 379 per 100 Co.’s Rupees.
|| Vide Appendix H, being translation of Sunnud granted to Soda Chief of Mittee.
Vide Appendix J, being translation of Sunnud granted to Soda Chief of Islamkote.38
97.	In the Islamkote district also, there were two tribes, the Vusaipotras* and Mays,')' occupying the former eleven, and the latter nineteen thurrs or watering places free of all taxes : they were accordingly permitted to continue in the occupation of them on the same terms as previous to our rule.
98.	The above-mentioned grants of money and land were confirmed to the different recipients by deeds or sunnuds, dated in 1844, under the signature of His Excellency the late Governor of Sind, for the limited period of seven years. This limit would appear, from the tenor of the correspondence on the subject, and the circumstances under which the grants were made, to have been fixed with the view of enabling Government to make such modifications, from time to time, as circumstances might render expedient. At the expiration of the above term of years, the chiefs and others holding sunnuds were informed, agreeably to instructions from the Commissioner in Sind, that no immediate alteration was contemplated in their present privileges, and that the renewal of their sunnuds or deeds was under consideration.
99.	Of the thirty thurrs or watering places alluded to in the preceding paragraph but one, as having been alienated to the Vusai-potra and May tribes respectively, it is necessary to observe—to prevent misconception hereafter from a fluctuation in the revenue, and number of alienated villages entered in the annual returns, or referred to in the course of correspondence—
1 stly.—That the deeds conveying the rights now enjoyed by those tribes, simply guarantees the free cultivation of as much land as they respectively cultivate: persons of other tribes, cultivating within the limits of their thurrs, pay the Government share of the produce the same as elsewhere.
Q,ndly.—That only such thurrs as are inhabited are entered in the returns as alienated; the deserted or uninhabited thurrs are not noticed : thus in last year’s returns (1851-52), nineteen out of the 30 alienated thurrs were entered; the remainder are, and have been since the conquest, deserted or uninhabited.
* Vide Appendix &c.
f Vide Appendix L, being translation of Sunnud granted to Mays.39
100. I now proceed to notice the settlement made for the Chiefs of Veerawow, Pittapoor and Parkur : it is needless to allude to Bakasir, as the district of that name has been tl'ansferred, by the demarcation of the Sind and Marwar boundary, to the Joudpoor* State. The Chiefs of Veerawow, as well as of the petty district of Pittapoor, comprising five hamlets only, and the chiefs of Parkur (including the Rana, 21 in number) received, previous to the conquest, one-half of the town and transit duties of their respective districts. Subsequently, transit duties were abolished, and the chiefs who had shared therein were allotted corresponding portions in the frontier duties as compensation ; and under these arrangements, they continued to enjoy one-half of the town and frontier duties of the eastern portion of the Desert and Parkur, comprising their own districts and villages respectively, till 1848, when town duties were abolished, and the frontier levy assimilated to that in force in other parts of Sind ; and an annual money allowance of Rupees 5,463f was then sanctioned as compensation to the Parkur, Veerawow, Pittapoor and Bakasir Zemindars for the loss of their share of the duties; from this, amount may now be deducted Rupees 345, being the amount of compensation paid to the Chief of Bakasir previous to his district being transferred to the Joudpoor State.
“ The Chiefs of Veerawow and Pittapoor formerly had no recognized territorial rights, though the collection of the land revenue for the Ameers gave them an opportunity of collecting something for themselves also, and further enabled them to remit the assessment on their brethren’s fields, as also on those of their dependents, and the artisans who worked for them. A considerable revenue, however, was derived by the Zemindar of Veerawow from a salt lake situated close to his village, and the right of working which it was deemed expedient to purchase, with the view of preventing the export of that article. This was accomplished by granting a sunnud, J confirming in perpetuity the entire revenue of the village, and one-fourth of the Government share of the land revenue of the district, to the Chief of Veerawow, while the Chief of Pittapoor was offered a few
* Further allusion to the transfer will be found in paragraph 221.
f For details, vide Appendix marked M.
t Vide Appendix N, being translation of Sunnud granted to the Chief of Veerawow.40
santees or ploughs of land for free cultivation. He, however, refused to take them, and at present therefore enjoys nothing beyond the compensation for the loss of customs duties.”
101.	In Parkur, the Rana produced deeds under the seal of the Ameers, granting him two villages, which were accordingly confirmed to him by a sunnud* under the signature of the late Governor in Sind. The small village of Mokleeah was similarly granted to the Rana’s manager, Ukka Malday,f on his representing that he had, under the Ameer’s government, enjoyed it free of taxes. The sunnuds granting these three villages are for the limited term of seven years, as was the case with those alluded to above.
“ In the Parkur district also, the small village of Boodesir was granted to Soda Juguoojee, uncle to the Rana. As, however, it was granted in lieu of an allowance of one rupee per diem, paid to him previously by the British Government, and he is since dead, the subject does not require further notice here. Vide footnote to paragraph 66.
“ In the Veerawow district, it would appear that some of the Khosas had been in the habit of cultivating land at five thvrrs or hamlets, without paying any taxes; they have consequently been allowed to continue doing so to this day, though there is no specific authority on record for the exercise of the privilege, that I can discover. The right, however, is prescriptive, and the number of fields now cultivated by them free is 150; the remainder of the land of those hamlets, cultivated by others than Khosas, is assessed. It appears to me inexpedient to recommend any interference with this privilege at present ; it has already, within the last season or two, been curtailed by disallowing the extension of the privilege to retainers and dependents of Khosas.”
102.	The abstract of the rights of the chiefs, alluded to in the three preceding paragraphs, may be thus summed up. The Veerawow Chief enjoys the land revenue of Veerawow, which he collects himself, as also one-fourth of the land revenue of the district, which is collected by the Government Kardar and paid to him, and Rupees
* Vide Appendix marked O, being translation of Sunnud granted to the Rana.
t Vide Appendix marked P, being translation of Sunnud granted to Ukka Malday.41
1,805, as compensation for the loss of his share of town and frontier
duties. The Chief of Pittapoor enjoys Rupees 107, as compensation for the loss of his share of the customs duties. The Rana of Parkur enjoys the revenue of the two villages of Soorachund and Rampoor, which he collects himself; and Rupees 2,158, as compensation for the loss of his share of the customs duties. Ukka Malday, the Rana’s manager, enjoys the revenue of the village of Mokleeah ; while the other petty village Thakoors receive compensation for the loss of their shares of the customs duties in the amounts noted in the margin.
103. The right of some of the chiefs to levy a grazing tax has already been alluded to; the importance of the subject,however, will, I hope, be a sufficient excuse for my offering a few remarks on it separately, both to show the nature and extent of the chiefs’ rights as hitherto acknowledged, as well as the tendency the exercise of it has to retard cultivation.
“ In the reign of the Ameers, the Kardars appear to have collected a grazing tax from the shepherds, more as a perquisite than a source of revenue ; the landed proprietors did so also in the shape of presents, to the extent the shepherds could afford, and felt disposed to bestow them. Since the conquest, no grazing tax has been levied on account of Government (except a few Rupees inadvertently levied in 1844, and subsequently returned), while some of the chiefs have exercised the right in different degrees, without the extent to which they should be allowed to do so, having been in any way defined. In the Deepla and Mittee districts, where there is more cultivation, and proportionately less pasturage, shepherds from other provinces are seldom found ; and though it is probable that the chiefs may obtain trifling presents from shepherds when they happen to pass through or frequent that neighbourhood, the rareness of the occurrence prevents inconvenience arising therefrom. In the Islamkote district also, the chief has given no cause of complaint, though he collects what the shepherds agree to give him. When he has occasionally asked for
6 T
	Rupees.	
Chief of Barona . ..		.. 432
»?	of Modra....	... 190
99	of Adygaum .	.. 136
99	of Karudya ..	65
99	of Kasba . ..	.. 56
99	of Saboosum .	.. 36
59	of Cborya. . ..	.. 36
>5	of Sookpoor .	.. 27
99	of Dingana ..	.. 20
99	of Dhray ....	.. 16
59	of Parodra ..	.. 9
59	of Dhedveera	.. 5
59	of Ausalry ..	.. 6
99	of Sadoolwas	.. 2
99	of Dhunagam	.. 2
59	of Kharoda ..	.. 1042
assistance to collect this perquisite, he has been informed that no aid can be afforded, and that he must only take what is freely given; while shepherds from foreign districts have been prohibited from frequenting Parkur, with the view of preserving sufficient forage for the cattle of the inhabitants, which was formerly sacrificed to the cupidity of theRana and other petty Thakoors, who encouraged shepherds to frequent the place for the sake of the grazing tax. In the Yeerawow district, however, considerable inconvenience is caused on the part of the chief, by the levying of this tax; the shepherds and others look on him as the hereditary chief of the district, and appear ever ready to pay reasonably, and to bear a good deal of exaction from the different members of his family before complaining.
“ It is obviously to the chiefs advantage to encourage the shepherds from neighbouring provinces to frequent his district as much as possible, as he enjoys the whole of the grazing tax ; and equally so to retard cultivation as much as possible, to obviate the contraction of the pasturage. Agriculture is more congenial to the ideas and pursuits of a fixed population, than to the wandering tribes who move about from one province to another, to graze their flocks and herds wherever grass and water are most abundant. In proportion, therefore, to the increase of cultivation, and the number of cattle belonging to the inhabitants of the districts, must the revenue derived from the grazing tax be diminished, for nothing is levied from the inhabitants of the district, while their cattle and additional cultivation cause a corresponding contraction of pasturage for the foreign shepherds.
“ It is not so much the simple fact of a portion of land having been brought under cultivation—causing in the abstract but a trifling loss of pasturage, as compared with the whole district,—as the inconvenience arising to the shepherds from having fields scattered amongst the tract of sand hills frequented by their cattle, where it is most difficult to prevent them injuring the standing corn, which threatens, by being a source of constant litigation and expense, to have the effect eventually of retarding shepherds from frequenting the districts, in the same way as their presence now, with the chiefs influence, is retarding the increase of cultivation. The difficulty of preventing the cattle from injuring the fields may be supposed, where, as is the43
case in the Desert, they are watered at about 3 p, m,, and driven out into the jungle to graze all night, in charge of about one man per 100 or 150 head of cattle. Shortly after sunrise they are driven back to the watering place or thurr, and kept there during the heat of the day.
“ I have no means of ascertaining what the average amount of revenue from the grazing tax is in the Yeerawow district, as it appears to be levied in a most irregular manner. Some shepherds give a few Rupees; others some ghee ; others a bullock, cow, or eamel, as 'the case may be. Hitherto, though the right has been recognised, it has been in no way defined, nor does it appear expedient to interfere in the matter, beyond affording redress when complaints are made of the exactions of the chiefs. As yet the only chief complained against, who in fact is the only one who levies any thing of sufficient consequence to make complaining probable, is the Veerawow Zemindar, and in his district a little inconvenience must arise occasionally, from the anomaly of antagonistic influences. Eventually, however, the grazing tax may be expected to dwindle away to a mere name, as cultivation increases ; in the mean time, the greatest probability of maintaining harmony and contentment amongst all parties, appears to be by interfering as little as possible in the matter. The grazing tax appears to me in the light of a perquisite; whether or not it would have been better to have discouraged it more from the first, is now too late to inquire, the question at present being the course to be pursued for the future, with the view of preventing more important interests suffering. The tax is levied chiefly from the wandering tribes, who must, in the common course of nature, give way to an increasing fixed population; the exercise of it therefore, within reasonable bounds—that is, as a perquisite subordinate to the more important interests involved in the extension of cultivation and increase of the fixed population,—is not calculated to do much harm. The gradual social progress which the society of the Desert is now making, in passing from the anarchy of former times towards subordination and peaceful pursuits, has not yet sufficiently regenerated the chiefs, to enable them to appreciate any arrangement not conducive to their own immediate benefit; and it is therefore probable that the harmony and well-being of the community will be better aided by a tacit acknowledgment of the44
perquisite, than by an interference with it, which would cause great uneasiness amongst those who have from the first been allowed to levy it, and also form grounds for seeking compensation for any los3 of revenue that might arise therefrom, which, after the very liberal treatment they have met with, the case does not appear to me to require.”
Customs Duties.
104.	“ Transit duties were abolished throughout Sind at the conquest; consequent, however, on the Parkur chiefs having previously enjoyed one-half of the revenue derived from them, they received“ half of the frontier duties instead of the transit duties. The town and frontier duties were thus, from the year 1844, when the Thurr and Parkur were placed under Kutch, till August 1848, collected by a Government Kardar, one-half being paid regularly to the chiefs, and the other half to Government. On the 1st of August 1848, the revised system of customs in force in Sind generally was extended at my request to the Thurr and Parkur, to supersede the town and frontier duties then in force. The landed proprietors in Parkur were informed that the means of compensating them for the loss of their share of the town and frontier duties would be taken into consideration.
“The average annual sum received by the landed proprietors in Parkur, during 1845, 1846 and 1847, was taken as the amount for which compensation should be granted; it amounted to Rupees 5,463,* and the disbursement of this sum as compensation to the Parkur Zemindars, for the loss of their share in the town and frontier duties, was sanctioned by Government, and has been accordingly paid to them annually ever since.”
105.	The effect of the abolition of the harassing system of customs duties existing previous to 1848, was at once observable in increased trade; it also indirectly afforded great relief to the inhabitants of the Thurr and Parkur in years of scarcity, by enabling many to leave their families at home, while they went to the nieghbouring provinces, where grain was cheap, and brought from thence that necessary of life for their families, instead of being obliged to emigrate with them, from inability to defray the customs duties, &c. in addition to the cost of the grain.
* For details, vide Appendix M.45
106. In 1852, the land frontier duties in Sind were abolished. This measure, in a pecuniary point of view, caused a reduction in the revenue of the Thurr and Parkur districts, of about Rupees 12,000 per annum. It allowed, however, of a free interchange of the produce and products of Sind with other countries, and was apparently a sound and politic measure. In judging of the practical result of such measures in a primitive society, however, it should be remembered that much of the rapidly increasing prosperity of the people must be attributed to increased security of person and property, and to the general effect of our rule, which in giving security, especially in newly acquired territories, enables all classes to obtain justice by an easy, simple, and yet sure process; and this, probably as much as the abolition of customs duties, has tended to increase the effective desire of accumulation amongst all classes, and to stimulate individuals to exertion, which nothing but a feeling of security can create; and thus the results of the abolition of the land transit duties cannot be judged of simply from the quantity of goods imported or exported at particular points of the frontier. The measure was a comprehensive one, and its results can only be judged of by the effect on the whole province. As far as the Thurr and Parkur is concerned, I humbly conceive that the measure has cheapened and actually brought a variety of articles within the means of a class, that previously were unable to enjoy them ; it has necessarily increased the demand for these articles, which, being partly of British manufacture, advantages British trade. Again, the bringing of these articles, necessaries of life they may appear to us, but whether they be so, or luxuries, as they would probably appear to an unsophisticated and primitive people, matters not at present: the bringing of these articles, I say, within the means of a lower, and consequently more extensive class of society, tends to raise and increase their wants, and thus cause in them a desire to accumulate the means of providing what gradually becomes almost a necessary of life. To do this permanently in a thriving, or, in other words, an increasing society, the means must be produced, as these new wants are supplied by importing the articles required, while it is a maxim of political economy, that the imports of a country must be governed by its exports; and to provide exports therefore, to enable the required46
articles of an advancing community to be imported, the inhabitants must either extend the sphere of their labours, or by improved cultivation, and the application of improved principles to manufactures, make their labour more effective. It matters not which course is adopted; they both alike tend to develop the resources of the country, and the advancement of civilization.
Population.
107. An opinion has been hazarded above, that at the conquest of Sind, the population of the Thurr and Parkur was about 30,000. This, however, is a mere conjecture, though based on the best information I have been able to command, there being no data beyond men’s opinions on which to rest an estimate. In 1854, a census of the population of Sind was taken, which, as regards the Thurr and Parkur, gave the following results :—
Males.	Females.	Total.
23,015	18,520	41,535
Comparing the population according to castes, we obtain the following results:—
Mahomedans.	Hindoos.	Total.
13,364	28,171	41,535
Regarding the fecundity of the population, the following results are shown:—
Children.	Adults.		Proportion of Children to 100.		Proportion of 100 Adult Males to Females.
	Males.	Females.	Males.	Females.	
15,913	14,352	11,270	110	141	78
108.	# If productiveness be a test of the healthiness and salubrity
of a climate, then the Thurr and Parkur districts stand pre-eminent
* The above figures and this remark are taken from an interesting paper on the population of Sind, by Mr. Dalzell, Deputy Collector of Customs, Kurrachee, forwarded to Government by the Commissioner in Sind, in November 1855.47
in this respect; next the Frontier districts (of Upper Sind) ; and last the Kurrachee Collectorate, the Hydrabad and Shikarpore Collec-torates occupying intermediate places.
109. In 1856, a census of the population of Sind was again taken, giving the following results as regards the Thurr and Parkur:—
Males.	Females.	Total.
29,160	21,913	51,073
Comparing the population according to castes, we obtain the following results:—
Mahomedans.	Hindoos.	Total.
20,129	30,944	51,073
Regarding the fecundity of the population, the following results are shown:—
Children.	Adults.		Proportion of Children to 100.		Proportion of 100 Adult Males
	Males.	Females.	Males.	Females.	to Females.
19,474	18,061	13,720	1071	142	76
The above figures show a considerable increase in the population of the Thurr and Parkur districts, subsequent to the taking of the census of 1854, as the following condensed table will show:—
	Males.	Females.	Children.
1854	23,015	18,520	15,913
1856	29,160	21,903	19,474
Increase	6,145	3,383	3,561
110.	It is difficult	to account with	precision for
such a rapid
addition to the population of a desert district; still, as the subject is an important one, and one of the criterions of the prosperity and happiness of a people, it is deserving of notice. I do not, however, wish to place too much stress on any particular cause, for I hold the increase to be attributable to various causes, which are known to influence the social progress of society. The following remarks will48
at the same time satisfactorily account for a considerable augmentation of the population
1 stly.—A few inhabitants of surrounding districts, some of whom had quitted the Thurr and Parkur in the reign of the Ameers, have immigrated annually, especially from Kutch ; while some have also come into the Thurr from the Cheelar district under Oomerkote.
2ndly.—The security of person and property which has prevailed for some years past, together with the abolition of customs duties, and a light land assessment, have had the effect of cheapening the necessaries of life« and obviating the necessity of emigration, and of making the inhabitants turn their attention to peaceful occupations instead of plundering.
111.	The statistics of England and other countries demonstrate the sensitiveness of a population, and how rapidly, when advancement in civilization or other causes have bettered the social position of the lower orders, they fill up the margin by an increase of numbers, generally retarding the increase of social comforts and advantages by absorbing for the new population all the advantages derived from the increased or improved labour of the old. In giving security of person and property, therefore, to a people whom misrule had well nigh reduced to despair, and goaded to revolution—and that such was the case in the Thurr and Parkur under the Talpoor dynasty, will not, I apprehend, be disputed,—the reaction was great; while the necessaries of life were cheapened, and allowed of the inhabitants passing their time in peace and security, instead of in a constant state of dread of the Hydrabad officials, and fear of the banditti, who levied black mail over the length and breadth of the Desert.
112.	The rapid increase of the population of the Thurr and Parkur appears to me the natural and gratifying result of British rule. The inhabitants of the Desert, high and low, chiefs, merchants and cultivators, one and all declare themselves happy and contented ; on the occasion of the Commissioner in Sind visiting the districts in 1854, he received one petition* only, I believe, during a tour there of six weeks’ duration, except verbal petitions, praying him to leave every thing as he found it. These were called forth by reports of
* Vide foot note to paragraph 66 ; the petition was for the restitution of Boodesir.49
proposed modifications in the administration, and of the possibility of the district being transferred to the Kutch Gadee. Thus the state of society would seem at present to be most favourable for the rapid increase of its numbers, which will doubtless continue to increase* till checked by one of the many causes known to influence the increase and decrease of populations. If the present rate of increase continue, and allowing for less immigration than hitherto, the population of the Thurr and Parkur will double itself in 20 years. That of England is doubling itself in 52 years ; Prussia 26; Austria 69 ; France 105. Appendix Q. is an abstract of the population of the Thurr and Parkur.
113. I no>v proceed to notice the land tenure of the Thurr and Parkur districts, and in elucidation of the subject, to extract a few paragraphs of the annual report of those districts for 1852. The subsequent modifications lately introduced shall be noticed hereafter :—*
“ The greater part of the original landed proprietors (or Mool Grasseas) are Rajpoots, whose love of a fixed landed tenure is too well known to require remark. It may be convenient firstly to show the tenure on which the land is now cultivated, and the mode of assessment in force for collecting the land revenue, together with its inconveniences.
“ The Ameers of Sind treated the desert districts as Kalsa, or crown possessions. I presume they are considered therefore to have retained the proprietory right of the land in their own hands ; that they did so, moreover, is evidenced by their granting certain lands to different tribes and individuals for free cultivation. At the conquest, therefore, the British Government succeeded to the proprietorship of the soil, without disturbing any of the rights enjoyed by the chiefs and others at that date, whatever they may have possessed previously. This right was exercised in confirming the grants of land formerly made by the Ameers, and adding thereto fresh grants to others who appeared deserving of consideration. How far, however, it may be the intention of Government to recognise the indefeasible right of the ryots to the land they possess and cultivate, is not apparent. The Rajpoots, especially, would fain look on their land as hereditary: much of it has been in their possession for many generations; at present, however, Goverppaeftt is the proprietor to whom all the 7t50
cultivators, not specially exempted, pay a share of the produce. So long as a cultivator does not desert a field, it would not of course be taken from him ; if, however, from any tmforeseen cause, a cultivator is unable in any one season to cultivate what he did the preceding one, he runs the risk of losing the deserted field* as in the absence of any acknowledged right to the land for other purposes than cultivation—in the absence, in fact, of any fixed landed tenure—it would be impossible to allow cultivators to claim any thing beyond the quantity of land actually in their possession, and actually under agriculture; otherwise they would continually leave some of the old fields uncultivated, to bring fresh land under the plough, with the view of appropriating as much as possible, whether they could cultivate it all or not. While therefore there is no chance of a man’s field being taken from him, so long as he continues to cultivate it, the bare possibility of losing land from any temporary inability to cultivate it—land that has probably been several generations in his family,—is distressing to a Rajpoot, whose greatest delight and prize is a bit of land, large or small as the case may be, that , he may look on as his own, and that he may cultivate with a feeling of satisfaction and confidence that it cannot be taken from him.
“ In many parts of the Desert, there are tribes living in different hamlets in the same neighbourhood, cultivating land that they and their forefathers have possessed from time immemorial. In the reign of the Ameers, they appear to have excluded interlopers from cultivating in their lands; now, however, they can only expect to retain possession of what they actually cultivate, and that as tenants at will as it were; for without any fixed tenure, whatever light we look on them in, and whatever intention we may have of leaving possessors of land undisturbed, they can only consider themselves as tenants at will; that is, they have no guarantee for undisturbed possession, the .absence of which, and their inability to comprehend the principles of our revenue arrangements, generate a feeling of insecurity in the tenure by which they hold the land. A circumstance connected with one of these Rajpoot tribes may serve to elucidate the pertinacity with which they cling to the soil cultivated by their ancestors, About A?D, 1819-20, consequent on the oppression of51
the Ameer’s officers, the Soda chiefs of Deepla and a number of Rajpoot families of the Dohot tribe, residing in the same district, sought refuge in Kutch; the Soda chiefs were subsequently recalled (with one or two exceptions; by the Ameers; the Dohots, however, remained in Kutch till 1847 (cultivating land that had been given to them in tenure of service* by His Highness the Rao), when about 20 families returned to the Desert, to cultivate the land formerly in their possession. The remainder are still in Kutch, and though cultivating free of all taxes, would, I am informed by some of the chief men amongst them, gladly return to the Desert, to cultivate and reside in the neighbourhood where their tribe has been established for many generations, but for the instability of the landed tenure. The payment of the Government share of the produce would be thought nothing of, if the tenure were a permanent one. A Rajpoot’s estimate of the value of land, in fact, corresponds in a great measure to the permanency or otherwise of the tenure by which it is held; nor is he by any means behind agriculturists of more civilized nations in valuing the inestimable advantages of a permanent tenure.
“ The system of assessment in force in the Thurr and Parkur is thus: the Kardars, accompanied by one or more of the Zemindars of their respective districts, commence the assessment about October of each year ; every field is inspected, and the produce thereof estimated ; the Government share is then fixed, and after the assessment of the whole Kardarate is concluded, the Government share of the produce is converted into money, at the market price of grain at the time, and collected. As, however, the fields are much scattered, and the labour of traversing up and down the sand hills very great for man and beast, the assessment duties are unavoidably prolonged during three and even four months. It is of course impossible to keep the corn standing till assessed; the cultivators are therefore allowed to gather'}'
* Palic Praja, or tenure of service, signifies that the occupant cultivates the land free, hut is liable to be called on for service when the landed proprietor requires it. He occupies the land during the pleasure only of the landed proprietor, and has therefore no saleable or permanent right in the soil.
f Picking off the heads of the grain is the usual mode of gathering in the corn in the Desert, leaving the stalks standing ; while in Parkur, it is usually cut and carted to the grain-yards close to the village.52
it in when ripe, and thus some of the fields are assessed, with the standing corn in them, at the commencement of the assessment season, while others are assessed after the corn is gathered previous to being thrashed, which it is after being gathered in the field ; and others again, towards the close of the season, are assessed by the standing stalks alone, the grain having been both gathered in, and consumed or disposed of.
“ By this system—theoretically perhaps the most fair that could be devised, if the fields could all be assessed as soon as ripe,—many of the cultivators of the Desert are kept in suspense as to the amount that their fields will be assessed at till they have either consumed or disposed of the produce, so that, let never so exorbitant an assessment be made, no means are at hand for refuting the justness of the levy, or convincing the assessors that they are exacting an undue share of the produce. It may be urged that all the cultivators should be obliged to keep the grain till assessed in the fields, where it is usually prepared for consumption or sale in the Desert. This is done as far as it can be; it is, however, hopeless to expect that poor people will keep the produce of their fields for two or three months till the Karclar can assess it, firstly, because they would have to remain idle, watching it all that time ; secondly, because they would in the mean time be obliged to purchase grain for consumption, while their own was lying idle. In Parkur, "even, where the grain is collected in grain-yards close to the villages, and ordered to be kept untouched, it is found impossible to prevent the cultivators taking portions of it away for consumption before it is assessed.
“ Another serious objection in the present system of assessment, is the impossibility of obtaining anything beyond an approximation to. an equal levy, if even that can be attained. The case of over assessment in the Deepla district lately brought to notice, is evidence of the practical objections to the present system, inasmuch as that any system for the assessment of the land revenue that admits of deviations from a given standard, corresponding to the caprice or variations in the capacities of the different native revenue officers, cannot be expected to give satisfaction to the agriculturists, or to elicit their confidence, both of which are more or less indispensable to. stimulate agriculture.53
“ The assessment for the present season commenced in October last, and is only lately concluded (April 1853); the difficulty of making a proper assessment, and the chances of an equal levy being made after such a lapse of time, will be obvious. Formerly, that is up to 1849, the assessment duties were generally concluded by the end of December or beginning of January; the increased time now required to accomplish those duties, may be attributed to increased cultivation, as well as to the Kardars being obliged to be much more particular in visiting the different fields, and reporting the details of their proceedings, now than formerly, as increased recorded information enables greater checks to be brought to bear on them and their transactions generally.
“ In alluding to this subject in 1850,1 ventured to suggest a fixed assessment, in lieu of each field being visited annually, with a view of relieving the cultivators from the inconveniences of delay in having their fields assessed, as also of saving the assessors the great labour now requisite to effect the assessment of the different Kardarates, On that occasion, however, the landed tenure was not mentioned, which further experience shows to be of far greater importance than the assessment itself.
“ There is only one native revenue officer in the Thurr and Parkur, who has had any experience in revenue matters there, viz. the Kardar of Nuggur Parkur, who has filled the situation he now holds with great credit since 1844. On speaking to him regarding a fixed assessment, he urged as objections, the difficulty of adjusting the levy without each field being first measured; 2ndly, that numbers of fields are cultivated and then left fallow, while fresh land is brought under cultivation, and used till that previously relinquished has recovered from its exhaustion.
“ There would doubtless be some difficulty from these causes, as also from a general deficiency. of knowledge of the size, quality of land, and other particulars of each field; on the other hand, a permanent land tenure, with a fixed assessment, or quit-rent, appears well calculated to improve, and, as far as possible, redeem the Desert from what it now is. If land were granted to Rajpoots, for instance, at a quit-rent, they would assuredly take a greater interest in it. Their energies would be called forth for the improvement of what they would54
consider their own, in proportion to the permanency of the tenure; at present, there is an entire absence of all stimulus to exertion,
“ What appears requisite for and suitable to the class of persons of whom I am speaking, is an assessment system which shall, as far as possible, place the cultivators on the footing of peasant proprietors, paying an annual quit-rent for as much land as each family can cultivate. Modifications in the amount of the quit-rent might be made periodically, or the right of doing so, if requisite, reserved, without interfering with the permanency of the tenure by which the land is held.
“ Wherever tribes or families have cultivated land for many years, or even for shorter periods, the recognition of their right to continue to do so at a quit-rent, revisable periodically as circumstances may render expedient, appears to me desirable as a stimulus to industry, and the sure means of increasing and improving cultivation. All that Government would appear to require is the payment of a given share of the produce; it matters little whether such be levied as a quit-rent, so far as the interests of the State are concerned or otherwise, while it makes a most material difference to the cultivator, whether he holds his land free from all the interferences and petty annoyances inseparable from the present system or not.
“ I would not be understood to advocate the recognition of the rights of the present occupants of such land as has been cultivated in the same tribe or family for many generations, simply from its having been handed down to them as hereditary, as this would tend to revive obsolete and intricate claims; but rather to recommend that present occupation should be considered a sufficient title on which to confirm to occupants the possession of the land now cultivated by them. Owing to the scantiness of the population in the Desert, land is often cultivated and again left waste ; if, however, a cultivator had fields that he could call his own, and had to pay a quit-rent on all land written over to him, whether cultivated or not, he would hardly incur the extra expense for the sake of the difference between the crop of an old and new field, nor would he like to forsake altogether old for new fields; while many of the more respectable cultivators would exert themselves with the view of attaining more land, better-* ing their prospects, and being looked on as petty proprietors.“ At present, there is nothing to bind the cultivator to the soil, there is a total absence of all stimulus to exertion, beyond the wish to grow a sufficient quantity of corn for a few months’ consumption, with the least practicable amount of trouble; while the inconveniences of the assessment system make agricultural pursuits the source of numerous petty annoyances. This state of things, which has existed for many years past, may be partly accounted for by the remote situation of the Desert and Parkur districts with reference to the seat of the Ameer’s government, and the fact of the administration of the districts having been left to Kardars, who appear to have paid small regard to the rights and well-being of individuals.
“ The agricultural population would look on the amount of the quit-rent as a very secondary consideration, when compared with the importance of fixedness of tenure; there may, however, be objections to granting land in perpetuity, though the object of retaining a right over it, which must be purchased by withholding the great stimulus to exertion on the part of the cultivators, is not apparent; and provided the quit-rent were liable to periodical modifications, without interfering with the tenure, Government would always possess as great a command over it as is requisite for financial purposes. The interests of Government and the Ryots are obviously identical; the more therefore the latter can be made independent, and raised in the social scale, with a due regard to the interests of the former, the better must it be for both parties.
“ The difficulties of making a permanent settlement, great as they doubtless are, in the absence of even a map of the districts, can hardly be deemed a sufficient reason for not commencing it; for if all improvement in this department be postponed till the Desert has been surveyed, &c., the delay may be indefinite; and notwithstanding the nature and remoteness of the locality, there are many tribes and individuals, who, looking on it as their home, would be found reluctant to change it for the more fertile and favoured provinces of Hindoostan.
“ It would perhaps be deemed premature on the present occasion to enter into any details of the mode in which I would propose to work out a change in the present revenue system of the Desert ; I will therefore merely add, that should the principle now advocated56
meet with your* approval, I would suggest that the land at present cultivated by some of the most industrious of the Rajpoots of the Deepla district and Parkur, should be written over to them to cultivate in perpetuity, at a quit-rent fixed for five years, corresponding in amount to the average receipts of the past five years, exclusive of famines, in which seasons I conceive nothing should be levied. The proposed means for measuring the different fields and erecting land-marks, and other details, can, if requisite, he submitted for your consideration hereafter.”
114. Towards the end of 1854, Mr. Frere, Commissioner in Sind, visited the Thurr and Parkur districts, and sanctioned the introduction of a fixed assessment, in lieu of the Battaee system above alluded to; in the meantime, before much progress had been made in the measuring of the fields, I was forced to proceed to England on sick certificate. My views on the subject, however, and the bases on which the revenue assessment was proposed to be carried out, were recorded in a memorandum, dated Bombay, 30th April 1855, from which the following paragraphs are extracted :—
“ 1. The Commissioner in Sind has sanctioned the fields in the Thurr being measured, with a view to a permanent assessment being fixed. It is intended that the right of the owner of a field should be deemed indefeasible, so long as such owner behaves himself as a good and loyalf subject ; and in fixing the assessment, it should be borne in mind that the object is to confirm to the cultivator the right to cultivate the land for a given annual sum of money, for say 10, 20, or 30 years, during which time Government cannot increase the assessment, while the cultivator may after any season throw up any land. In the event of a man having several fields, and wishing only to cultivate one, he may throw up the remainder ; the cultivator thus becomes bound from year to year only : while the State is
* Commissioner in Sind, to whom the letter from which this is extracted was addressed.
f The somewhat unusual course of making fixedness of tenure in any way dependent on good behaviour, was had recourse to from seeing the satisfactory result of the working of the system in the Vusaipotra and May tribes, and amongst the Khosas who cultivate land rent-free, hut with the understanding that misbehaviour will cause forfeiture of the privilege.57
bound to abide by its agreement for a term of years, it is advisable to give the cultivator all the advantages of a long lease, without risks and liabilities attendant thereon.
“ 2. A good deal of the land in the Thurr has been in the possession of its present occupants for years past; my object in this case would be to endeavour to make them look on it as their own; that Government merely desired to reserve to itself the right of re-adjusting the assessment periodically, with a view to prevent the cultivators from being over-taxed, or itself deprived of a reasonable share of the produce, or its equivalent.
“ 3. Each cultivator desiring it should be furnished with a sunnud for each or all of his fields, stating that they are his; describing their situation, size, bounds, and the assessment of each, and stating that so long as he commits no offence against the State, the field will not be taken from him: all the information required regarding each field will of course be found in the assessment books.
“ 4. No new land should be brought under cultivation without being first measured, &c., and entered in the assessment book of the district in which it is situated. The cultivator should then be allowed to cultivate it free for one, two, or three years, according to the nature of the ground, and trouble and expense of clearing it.
“ 5. The present nominal assessment is one-third of the produce, and one-fifth in the Veerawow and Parkur districts : nothing like one-third, however, has been realized ; and in fixing the assessment, I would advocate a liberal policy. It is a matter of great importance to induce the people to cultivate, instead of stealing their neighbours’ cattle; the actual number of rupees realized for a few years is of less importance ; and corresponding with the liberality of the assessment, will be the increase of cultivation and prosperity of the district. I should be well satisfied if the assessment of the whole districts was about one-fifth of the produce; any higher levy will act as a check to cultivation, consequent on the lightness of the assessment hitherto, and thus make the people look on the new arrangement as an exaction instead of a blessing.
“ 6. It is of the last importance to make the assessment popular, which can only be done by care and address; much trouble and patience will be requisite, owing to conflicting interests, and the
8 T58
half-civilized state the people are in. The chiefs must be consulted, &c., the cultivators ditto, for people of this class will take things, even though opposed to their wishes, much more good-naturedly after having been heard, than they otherwise would.
“7. I anticipate that before the close of the present year (1855-56), the whole of the fields in the Thurr will have been measured, &c., and all the details entered in the books prepared for the purpose; the detailed instructions on this subject are in the Guzeratee Duftur. When this is completed, it will be necessary to collect some of the chiefs of each of the districts together, with some of the Tikaees or Potails, and settle the assessment of each field. The opinion of the assessors will have been previously recorded, as also that of some of the chiefs, which, together with the records, should furnish pretty good grounds on which to admit of the assessment being fixed. I would not, however, at once close the assessment, but rather allow any cultivator, if he can show grounds, for having the assessment on his field reconsidered. This stage of the proceedings would probably be reached by next cold weather (1855-56), when a tour through the districts would admit of complaints being heard and investigated without difficulty or delay. If, however, the assessment be tolerably light, it does not appear probable that complaints will be very numerous.
“13. The free cultivation of a field or two to each Potail, will ensure the co-operation of that class, which might be taken advantage of to make them the Government representatives, as it were, in their little communities.
“ 14. The alienated lands will not of course be affected in any way by the new assessment, though a nominal assessment should be made, to enable the value of the alienation to be brought to account. Of alienated lands, there are several kinds; none, however, that are now cultivated free should be taxed, provided the free cultivation has been sanctioned, which I believe it all has, except perhaps that cultivated by the Khosas, whose right to free cultivation is prescriptive, and should be acknowledged, as it has hitherto been.
115. Under the old assessment system, theKardars were obliged to visit and record the particulars of the assessment of each field annually, as stated above, and the information thus recorded was of material use in carrying out the new arrangements.59
116.	The survey of Parkur, which it was intended to carry out simultaneously with the measuring of the fields in the Thurr, was not proceeded with, owing to the difficulty of obtaining the services of a qualified surveyor. The measuring of the fields of the Thurr, however, was completed in December 1855 ; and Mr. Shortt, Acting Deputy Collector, immediately afterwards visited the districts, and personally fixed the assessment. He observes* on the subject:—
“ In fixing the amount of the assessment for the Deepla and Mittee Kardarates, I have been guided by the following considerations :—
“ 1 stly.—What an average amount of produce for each field, in an average year, would be in grain.
“ 2ndly.—What an average of the price of grain for some years back, would be. And converting the produce into money at this rate, have taken a fourth, as suggested in the 8th paragraph of Sind Commissioner’s letter under reply, for the Government share as fixed assessment.
“ Besides this, the merits of each field have been separately considered and fixed, in reference to its local advantages or otherwise.”
117.	Regarding the tenure of the land, Mr. Shortt observes in a subsequent paragraph :—■
“ I have fixed the leases of the present settlement at 10 years. This was the period chosen by the people themselves throughout the district, and it appears to me to be as good a term as could have been fixed on. There can be no doubt of the lightness of the present assessment, and were the cultivators to take advantage of it, they would benefit in proportion ; but their natural supineness will, I fear, prevent their doing so for some time. Agriculture here too is in its most primitive stage. The generality of the cultivators sow little more than will be sufficient for their own and their families’ consumption for the year, and pay the Government share; and it will hardly be believed that after a good season, some cultivators will not put new seed into his land, but will trust to sufficient grain for his year’s consumption springing up from what may have fallen from the previous year’s crop in the field, knowing that, under the old system, the Government share would press equally, whether his
* In letter No. 98 of 1856, dated 8th March, to Commissioner in Sind.60
crop was large or small. In ten years, he will have ample time to see the working of the new system just introduced, and the benefits he may derive, if he chooses to bestow labour and industry upon his land.”
118.	The number of fields measured and assessed appears, from the accompaniment to the report above quoted, to be as follows :—
Total Government Total Assessment. Average rate per Beega Fields.	Rupees.	of 1,600 Square Yards.
9,905.	16,428.	3 Annas.
119.	The assessment having been only lately completed, it would be premature to speculate on its effects; suffice it therefore to say, that it promises to answer the expectations formed of it. In famine years, nothing is to be levied.
“ It is proposed to proceed with the Parkur revenue settlement during next season, provided the services of a surveyor can be secured.”
Staple Products and Trade.
120.	Ghee is the staple product of the Thurr ; and in good seasons is exported in large quantities to Kutch and Guzerat, and also to a smaller extent to Sind proper. The produce is entirely dependent, however, on the abundance or otherwise of forage, which again is dependent on the monsoon. For particulars, vide Appendix R.
Googul and gum are produced in the Thurr and Parkur, and exported to Kutch and Guzerat to a considerable extent. For particulars, vide Appendix R.
Of grains, Tull, Sarseea, Jambo and Errendeea are exported to Guzerat and Kutch.
121.	The chief imports into the Thurr and Parkur are cotton, which is imported from Kutch and Guzerat for use in different parts of Sind. For particulars, vide Appendix S.
Molasses (Goor) is imported into the Thurr and Parkur from Guzerat and Kutch, to the extent required for consumption in those districts. There is no reason to suppose that it finds its way into Sind proper, where the commodity is largely produced.
122.	Rather than puzzle those who may take the trouble to read these pages with figures, I have, in Appendices R. and S., noted the61
chief articles of export and import for the year 1852-53, together with the value and quantity of the larger items of merchandise crossing the frontier, and the aggregate value of the less important ones, to show the total amount of goods exported and imported in one year.
123.	The Thurr contains a salt lake, capable of exporting large quantities of self-produced salt of good quality. In 1844-45, 21,074 Indian maunds of this article were exported from the Mokye Salt Lake, such being its name ; while in the following season, up to the date of its being closed, i. e. from 1st May 1845 to 16th March 1846, 60,928 Indian maunds were exported. The duty levied on it, however, was trifling, being at the rate of Rs. 25f per 100 bullock loads, or about two annas per Indian maund. Subsequently, the Marwarrees, who were the exporters, offered to pay one Ukosy Rupee per bullock load, or about seven annas per Indian maund, if allowed to export it. Their offer was refused, on the grounds that the export of salt from the Thurr, at such a small rate of duty, would interfere with the general revenue derived from the salt monopoly,
124.	There is no doubt that the revenue derivable from the Mokye Salt Lake, if worked at the rate proposed by the Marwarrees, would be considerable*, even allowing for a greatly decreased export,
* Consequent on the salt monopoly, it is difficult to ascertain what value should he attached to the Mokye Salt Lake as a source capable of yielding revenue ; whence the cause of its being spoken of as “ considerable.” The monopoly gives a fictitious value to the article in this as in all similar cases; and it may therefore be argued that only the amount of revenue derived therefrom, supposing the monopoly to have ceased, and the salt of the Thurr to be brought into unrestricted competition with the salt produced elsewhere, can be considered as the value of this source of revenue. On the other hand, large quantities of salt were formerly exported from the Thurr, yielding a considerable revenue ; now the export is prohibited, with the view of protecting and increasing the demand at our other salt works. The increase therefore of revenue, consequent on an increased demand, if there be any, should at any rate partially be attributed to the closing of the Thurr salt lake, and a liberal credit allowed to the Thurr for having thus benefitted indirectly the general revenue from the salt monopoly. If, however, there is not an increased demand at our salt works, consequent on the closing of the Thurr salt, it becomes a question how far the working of the Thurr salt lake would aifect our other works. All that I wish to maintain is, that the closing of the Mokye Salt Lake either benefits the general revenue derived from the salt monopoly, or it does not: in the former case, the Thurr and Parkur Collectorate appears entitled to credit62
as compared with 1845-46, above alluded to, consequent on the increased duty. Under these circumstances, as it suits our policy to prohibit the working of the Mokye Salt Lake with the viewof protecting the general revenue derived from the monopoly of that article, it would appear but fair to give the Thurr and Parkur Collectorate credit for an amount of revenue that it is capable of yielding, but which we keep in abeyance.
i -r, t ,	125. The Commissioner in Sind,
iieport oi JLhurr and Parkur, to
the Right Honorable the Governor, in a report to Government noted in
No. 48C. of 1856, dated 21st the margin, makes the following January.	.	°
observations on this subject:—
“ From the enquiries I have made on the spot, I am convinced that Colonel Roberts and Lieutenant Raikes are right in supposing that the Mokye salt might be allowed export at a reduced scale of excise, so graduated as not in any way to interfere with the salt of our own pans at Patree or Joonjawarra, and that a considerable revenue might thus be realized. The only parties really benefitted by our entire prohibition of export from Mokye, appear to be the owners of pans in the Marwar States to the north-west of Veerawow. These foreign pans supply the Marwar markets, which used to be supplied from Mokye, and we have given up a profitable source of revenue in the Thurr, without adding to or protecting our own salt revenue in Guzerat.
“ I would therefore recommend that the export of the salt from Mokye be again allowed at a reduced rate of duty, which might be so arranged by the Deputy Collector, in communication with the Commissioner for Salt and Customs, as to fulfil the conditions indicated in the last paragraph.
“ I anticipate that this measure, if judiciously carried out, would go far to redress the balance of expenditure over receipts.”
Establishment.
126. The Thurr and Parkur districts are under the Assistant Political Agent in Kutch. As a magistrate in Sind, his head
on this account ; in the latter, the natural inference is that the working of the Thurr salt lake would not interfere with our salt works generally, and go far to make up the deficit in the Thurr and Parkur revenue.63
quarters are in Kutch; the strength and pay of the Hoozoor and District establishments will be observed in Appendix T. No pay, however, is attached to the charge of these districts, which are, for revenue and police purposes, divided into Kardarates as follows:—*
The 1st Kardarate comprises the Deepla and Bullyaree districts.
The 2nd Kardarate comprises the Mittee, Islamkote, and Singala districts.
The 3rd Kardarate comprises the Veerawow district, in the Thurr and Parkur districts.
127.	There are at present one Kardar and one Deputy Kardar in each Kardarate. These officials^' transact all the revenue and judicial business of their respective charges, besides making investigations into and reporting all police cases.
128.	The judicial and police arrangements will be noticed presently; in the mean time, I will shortly allude to the duties performed by the Kardars in the Revenue Department. They collect the fixed assessment annually for every field from each cultivator in the Desert, and assess the crops of each village in Parkur. With a fluctuating population like that of the Desert, the collection of the land revenue, even on this greatly improved system, will entail a good deal of trouble and require great care, owing to the number of fields annually changing hands, and the general ignorance of the people; but still this is a mere nothing as compared with the endless labour of traversing the sand hills day after day, for months together, to inspect each field. The only wonder is, indifferently as the work was doubtlessly performed, that it was accomplished as well as it was; and yet, pending the introduction of some improved system like that lately introduced, it was almost the only mode of collecting a small revenue from a scattered population in such a way as to protect the cultivators from oppression. I say almost the only mode, because the system of farming the land revenue of the Desert to even the chief of the district, appeared to me obviously objectionable for the following reasons:—
* All the correspondence with the Kardars, trials, accounts, &c., is carried on in the Guzeratee language; the colloquial appears to be a mixture of Kutchee and Sindee, the Hindoos adhering more to the former, and the Mahomedans to the latter: Guzeratee, however, is generally understood, and is daily becoming more so.64
Istly.—Our want of knowledge, until of late years, of the number of fields cultivated and their capabilities, obviated the possibility of making more than a guess at what we had a right to expect a farmer to offer. The same ignorance would, of course, prevent the application of any satisfactory check to excessive gain, and make the farmer feel independent.
2ndly.—The independence of the different tribes and clans, and their petty misunderstandings amongst themselves, as well as with the local chiefs, made it objectionable to give the farm of the land revenue to the heads of either one or the other ; while if a stranger took it, he was sure to be looked on with suspicion and dislike, was very likely to be thwarted, and in the common course of nature, the truth of which the history of ages confirms in the East, in his turn would be pretty sure to extort as much as possible from the cultivators. Added to this, his ignorance of people and localities must alike add to his difficulties, and the people’s contempt for him.
129. The only chance of farming the land revenue of the Desert with success would have been to lease the lands of the different hamlets or ihurrs to the heads of the different tribes or clans occupying them; and even then the absence of fixed boundaries, and the independence of some of the members of those communities, would have proved formidable obstacles to the working of the system. Taking all things into consideration, therefore, it appears very doubtful whether any plan could have been hit on better adapted to the primitive state of society in the Thurr, or better calculated than the one lately in force to put things in training for a land revenue settlement. The fixed revenue settlement now introduced, with the entire concurrence of chiefs and people, could not have been introduced many years sooner; it required years of training before so great an innovation could be brought forward with any chance of success. It may be argued, that the Government revenue suffered in the mean time ; on the other hand, we were securing the good opinion of all the inhabitants, high and low, and making the name of the British Government so looked up to for justice and liberality, that any measure proposed, or arrangement made, even though not understood, was thenceforward popular, from a belief that anything emanating with the British Government must be liberal, wise, and65
for the benefit of the people ; besides which we were collecting, under the old system, data indispensable to the introduction of a fixed revenue assessment, the mode of recording which elicited the approbation of the Commissioner* in 1855, and materially assisted in accommodating the differences of opinion regarding the sums which were to form the fixed assessment of many fields in future.
130.	In addition to this, the direct influence of the European authority on the mass of the people, which is felt when the land assessment is direct, because the governing and governed are brought more into contact than when the revenue is farmed, is more likely than any other known specific to secure the co-operation of the respectable classes, to heal petty animosities, and make all look up to the Sirkar as a power whose prestige alone far exceeds the influence exercised by former rulers. The influence of prestige is, we all know, imaginary, but it is not the less useful as an element for governing and civilizing half-civilized and turbulent spirits. There is nothing which makes so deep an impression on the minds of the wild children of the Desert, as coming in contact with the civilized European: his prestige, the liberality and justice of the great Government he represents, his careful attention to trifling disputes, and patient hearing of individual wrongs, and above all his singleness of purpose and endeavours to do justice between man and man, have a lasting influence on the untutored, but often simple minds of the Natives he is brought in contact with. For my own part, I believe that the personal influence of an individual amongst Natives often has a greater power of ascendancy for good government, than would have the presence of regiments of soldiers or police. What indeed is it but this power of ascendancy, on a large scale, that has nurtured our empire in the East to its present colossal estate.
131.	The judicial system requires but few remarks. At first, the
* It should never be hastily concluded, because the country is comparatively barren or thinly populated, that therefore such divisions are uncertain or unknown. In the Thurr districts, for instance, every one of the widely scattered fields, and even every sand hill, has its name and owner ; and all are registered by the Guzeratee accountants employed there, with a degree of system and accuracy unknown in any of the more fertile districts hi Sind. It is very probable that careful inquiry will show that, in many similar localities, where no names or divisions are now known to us, they exist, and are well known to the inhabitants, however scattered the latter may be.
9 T66
Assistant Political Agent, as Deputy Collector and Magistrate, tried cases, and submitted the proceedings to the Political Agent. Subsequent, however, to ColonelRoberts’ departure fromKutch, theMagistrate has conducted the judicialbusiness of theThurr and Parkur Magistracy. His powers formerly extended to one year’s imprisonment, and latterly to seven,* the proceedings of all trials involving more severe sentences being submitted for the confirmation of the Commissioner in Sind.
132.	The number of men brought to trial before the Magistrate in the year 1855, was twenty-six, of whom nineteen were for camel stealing, four for receiving stolen property, two for being accessory to theft, and one for selling contraband opium. Of the 26 men brought to trial, 20 were inhabitants of the Thurr and Parkur, and 6 of the surrounding districts. This is a fair specimen of the amount of crime in the Thurr and Parkur for one year; serious crimes are of rare occurrence, and when they do occur are generally caused by the fair sex. Men have their failings, and women their frailties, in the Desert as elsewhere; though, injustice to the inhabitants of the Thurr and Parkur, it must be allowed that this class of crime is of less frequent occurrence than might be expected amongst so considerable a population.
133.	In the absence of statistical returns for the other parts of Sind, it is impossible to judge of the comparative amount of crime in the Thurr and Parkur; the Commissioner in Sind, however, after traversing the length and breadth of the districts in December 1854 and January 1855, expressed himself satisfied with their state generally, especially as regarded crime, in communicating which to Government he observed,—“ Nothing can be more complete or gratifying than the change in 20 yearsa result which is in a great measure most justly due and attributed to the settlement effected by Colonel Roberts in 1844.j'
* Prisoners sentenced to six months’ imprisonment and less are incarcerated in the hill fort of Bhooj Jail, in charge of the military authorities; otherwise they are forwarded to Hydrabad to undergo their sentence.
j- Extract paragraph 4 from a Report by the Commissioner in Sind to Government, No. 38, dated 27th January 1855.
4. I lately visited the Thurr and Parkur district, which, within the memory of the present generation, was a nest of robbers, the terror of Guzerat, Kattywar and Kutch.67
134. The judicial system in force in Sind generally, whereby the Kardars were vested with extensive powers, was not applied uniformly to the Thurr and Parkur districts, for reasons which will be gathered from the following paragraphs, extracted from my report to the Commissioner in Sind on the subject
“ The Kardars’ time being so constantly occupied with revenue matters as now conducted, will, it is to be feared, interfere much with the judicial system about to be introduced; hitherto, my attention has been chiefly directed to the increase of cultivation, and the curbing of the predatory habits of the different tribes in the Desert; the former may be expected in course of time materially to assist the latter.
“ Litigation amongst the scattered and various tribes of the Desert is less common than in more populous districts, and when causes for it have arisen, and the parties have failed to come to an amicable adjustment amongst themselves, a recommendation, after hearing both sides of the case, to submit their disputes to arbitration, has seldom failed to have the desired effect,—a mode of settlement more in consonance with their primitive ideas of justice, and more satisfactory and binding to all parties, than any decision that could otherwise be arrived at, after the most elaborate investigation. Pun-chayets assembled under these circumstances combine the advantages of the local knowledge of the members, who are generally small landed proprietors or merchants of the districts, and the supervision of the Deputy Collector, the latter being sufficient to counteract any intentional injustice. All classes of the natives of the Desert have shown the utmost reliance on Punchayets thus conducted, and seldom wish for more than that they shall assemble, and dispose of the case under my supervision.
“The distance of the Thurr districts, and consequent want of supervision over the actions of the Native officials, combined with the limited requirements for judicial interference, renders the present
Nothing could be more complete or gratifying than the change in 20 years. The people are now among the most orderly, most contented, and, I believe, the best governed under the Indian Government, a result mainly attributable to the excellent settlement made by Colonel Roberts, and to the good management of Lieutenant Raikes, who, for the last six years, has been in the sole charge of the districts.68
system, in my humble opinion, more applicable to a rude community, such as I have above described, than one suited to the more civilized and populous portions of the province. The taking of fees, and having their disputes adjudicated on by a jury or punchayet, named otherwise than by themselves, and without their concurrence, would be perfectly incomprehensible to the inhabitants of the Desert.
“ Under these circumstances, and feeling well assured that the inhabitants of the Desert are not yet sufficiently far advanced in civilization to require or appreciate an improved judicial system ; and further, fearing the result, from want of supervision, of the greatly increased powers that would thus be granted to the Kardars, and the difficulty that may be anticipated in finding respectable men in the scattered tribes of the Desert to sit in judgment with the Kardar on cases that they neither know nor care aught of, I deem it my duty, as regards the districts under me, to recommend for your consideration the temporary postponement of the judicial system now being, introduced into other parts of Sind.”
135. Notwithstanding that circumstances rendered it expedient to postpone temporarily the assimilation of the judicial system in the Thurr and Parkur with that in Sind in 1852, every opportunity was taken of improving the former, and putting things in training for a future assimilation. The steps taken were thus reported in 1853 :—
“ While, however, the system has not yet been much modified, advantage has been taken of respectable chiefs and others from the Desert being in attendance, to associate them with myself on any trials that happened to be pending, with the view of accustoming them to act as assessors ; the objects of which, and that they would be requested hereafter to act in the same capacity at trials in the districts, were also fully explained to them.
“ The opportunity afforded by my late visit to Parkur was taken advantage of to explain to the Kardars personally the intended modifications in the present judicial system, and I have now supplied them with detailed forms of proceedings, for both civil and criminal trials. The instructions for conducting these trials are in accordance with your instructions above quoted, with explanations and elucidations for their guidance. The peculiar circumstances of the case appear to warrant some deviations from the rules in force for the guidance69
of the Native officials of a similar class in Sind proper, the particulars of which will be mentioned below.”
136.	In 1856, the time for making further modifications in the Thurr and Parkur judicial arrangements appeared to have arrived; they were reported as follows and approved of:—
“ The deviations in the proposed arrangements for trials in the Desert, alluded to above, and which consisted in not levying fees, or paying the assessors anything, have now been modified, and the Kardars directed to levy the usual per-centage on all civil suits, and to pay one Rupee and a half per diem to members of the mercantile community acting as assessors in civil cases.
“ The chiefs and heads of tribes, many of whom enjoy immunities, would hardly take it as a compliment to be offered remuneration for attendance, nor indeed do I anticipate that the levying of the per-centage would realize a fund sufficient to remunerate all the assessors.
“ With a view to the introduction of more method, regularity and expedition in the trial of civil cases, I have ordered the Kardars to give timely notice—by the issue of orders under their seals as usual— to parties concerned in cases pending; and to proceed with all those presented up to the 20th of each month, on the 5th and following days of the succeeding month.”
137.	Thus at present, the Kardars in the Thurr and Parkur try petty criminal cases assisted by assessors, and pass sentences, submitting the proceedings in each case for the confirmation of the Magistrate. They also try petty civil suits assisted by assessors, and pass awards, submitting the proceedings for the confirmation of the Magistrate as in criminal cases. As far as circumstances admit of one’s forming an opinion, the present system is well adapted to the existing wants and social position of the denizens of the Desert, and works well; and what, moreover, is of great importance, it appears to be satisfactory to the people themselves.
Police Arrangem,ents.
138.	The Police arrangements of the Thurr and Parkur 'are as follows ; the authorized establishment is as per margin. A reduction70
Monthly pay. has been proposed, which will effect 5 Jemedars ........ 150 a saving to Government of Rs. 9,240
k“ Police'Mehta!:	annually. Vacancies have not been
3 Killadars ......... 45 filled up of late, and the strength of
36 Footmen........... 180 the Police therefore is at present four-
Rupees.. 2,595 teen below that marginally noted. 139. The five Jemedars and 96 Sowars are stationed as follows:—
f	14	Sowars	at	Nuggur.
j	4	Ditto	at	Barana.
1 Jemedar.........j	2	Ditto	at	Jullali.
j	2	Ditto	at	Dhingasro.
L	2	Ditto	at	Kaswa.
Total.... 24
1	Jemedar....... 4
" 5 2
1	Jemedar.....^
2
l_2
Total. . . .15
rT0
8
1	Jemedar.....^
2
l_2
Total... .26
1 Jemedar
Total.

L
li
8
2
4
2
27
Sowars at Veerawow. Sowars at Halla. Ditto at Tariana. Ditto at Toogoosur. Ditto at Chotul. Ditto at Vurnor. Ditto at Jooglia.
Sowars at Mittee. Ditto at Islamkote. Ditto at Nowakote. Ditto at Singala. Ditto at Jagura. Ditto at Baverla.
Sowars at Deepla. Ditto at Bullyaree. Ditto at Vingur. Ditto at Drobana. Ditto at Vingee.71
140.	The Police officers have no judicial powers ; they patrol in the vicinity of their respective outposts, and apprehend suspected or suspicious persons ; they execute all orders issued by the Kardars, which are invariably in writing, and are numbered and entered in the Kardar’s diaries, which are forwarded to me weekly. The hardest work devolves on the men stationed on the Marwar frontier; the district of the Neyur, conterminous to the Thurr and Parkur, having been, and being, in a somewhat distracted state. However, thanks to the interest taken in the subject by the Political Agent at Joudpoor, the annoyance formerly experienced from the freebooters of the Neyur and neighbouring districts, is gradually becoming less. It was in contemplation to give the Khosa Police an uniform dress, and gradually introduce a little more discipline into that body ; but the uncertainty regarding the future administration of the districts, has prevented much being effected in this way as yet.
141.	The forts of Nowakote, Mittee and Islamkote have, since the conquest, been garrisoned by Soda Killadars, and twelve footmen each, the Killadars being selected from the Soda Chiefs of the Mittee and Islamkote districts before mentioned. They were entertained* to take care of the forts, more to give them employment, and confer on them a mark of confidence, than with the view of their being of any material use for Police purposes. Now, however, that the forts are being allowed to fall into ruin, and the materials are being used for other buildings, &c., the keeping up of these establishments is a needless expense. At the same time, it is of importance to secure the assistance of the chiefs, as well as their influence, besides the consideration of their being the original landed proprietors of the districts ; and as their means of subsistence, other than the pay now received from Government, are very slight, a monthly political stipend of fifteen Rupees has been recommended for the Soda Chiefs of Mittee and Islamkote respectively, in the event of the proposed modifications in the Thurr and Parkur Police being carried out.
142.	It is necessary now to allude to the district of Bakasir,')' situated in the eastern portion of the Thurr, bordering on the
* Vide paragraphs 8 and 9 of letter No. 11 of 1845, of 4th April, from Political Agent, Kutch, to Secretary to Government of Sind.
f Vide Map.72
Marwar district of the Neyur. Previous to the conquest of Sind* this district was included in the Sind Ameer’s possessions, and the Chief made an annual present to the Court of Hydrabad in acknowledgment of fealty. His Highness the Maharaja of Joudpoor, however, claimed it as a part of his dominions ; the adjudication of the claim was left to the Boundary Commissioners appointed to demarcate the boundary between Sind and Marwar in 1849 and 1850.
143.	Bakasir was formerly a considerable place; of late years, however, it has comprised some sixty bee-hive huts only, and between thirty and forty dependent hamlets or watering places. The Chief is a Chowan Rajpoot, of the same family as the Chiefs of Soorachund under Marwar, and now under Pahlunpoor. On the Thurr and Parkur districts being placed under Kutch in 1844, a Deputy Kardar and Police outpost were stationed at Bakasir, on the grounds of its having formed a part of the Meer’s possessions, from whence customs duties had been collected, and an annual present received on account of the Court of Hydrabad.
144.	Previous to the conquest of Sind, however, neither Joudpoor nor Sind had any public outpost there; the situation is an isolated one, in an out-of-the-way comer of the Desert, bordering on Sind, Joudpoor, and Pahlunpoor : the Chief was, moreover, connected by family ties with the neighbouring chiefs of the two latter States.* At one time (in 1825) the Chief declared his district to be subordinate to Wow, at another (in 1844) to Hydrabad, while on a third occasion he declared his ancestors had received the estate from the Chief of Veerawow.
145.	The fact appears to have been, that the surrounding states were unequal to the task of curbing the predatory spirit of the Bakasir Chief and his associates, with whom the vicinity abounded ; notwithstanding which, the Joudpoor troops, on more than one occasion in the last century, appeared before and plundered Bakasir, while the Sindian troops visited it with their vengeance also on two occasions, the latter in 1825, after which it was left deserted, but shortly afterwards was again re-established.
* Vide Boundary Commissioners’ Report, A,D, 1850.73
146.	The reason given for no revenue being taken from Bakasir by Joudpoor, was the strength of its Chief and his banditti, its fort, and its situation among sand hills.
The above details are chiefly condensed from the Boundary Commissioners’ report, dated in 1850, on demarking the Thurr and Parkur and Marwar boundary, by which Bakasir and its dependent hamlets were transferred to Joudpoor, and thenceforth ceased to form a portion of the Thurr and Parkur districts of British Sind.
Education.
147.	In 1855, the Commissioner in Sind sanctioned the establishment of three schools in the Thurr and Parkur,—one at Nuggur, Islamkote, and Mittee respectively. Schoolmasters were obtained from Ahmedabad, and by the beginning of the following year, suitable school-rooms were constructed at each of those places.
The number of boys receiving education is as follows •
Nuggur....................101
Islamkote................. 34
Mittee .................... 35
As yet, nothing has been levied from the parents of the pupils ; it is, however, intended eventually to levy a small sum monthly for each student. It was necessary at first, in districts where no signs of education had penetrated, and where the only people indigenous to the locality who could use the pen was the mercantile class—who noted down their dealings in hieroglyphics, somewhat resembling distorted Guzerathee consonants, which only the author could decipher,—to commence gradually, for fear of the institutions becoming unpopular; for there, as elsewhere in similar circumstances, extreme ignorance and primitive ideas forbad the appreciation of the advantages of education. Even now, though many of the pupils show great quickness and a desire to learn, if a fee was levied, it is not improbable that numbers of parents would withdraw their sons, rather than sustain very trifling expense for a future indefinite though infinite advantage.
148.	The cost of the educational establishment is Rupees 115 per mensem, as follows :—
10 T74
Its.
1	Schoolmaster	at	Nuggur............................ 35
1	Ditto	at	Mittee ........................... 35
1	Ditto	at	Islamkote......................... 30
Contingencies........................................ 15
Rupees.... 115
As the schools have been so lately established, it appears premature to enter into much detail on the present occasion. Of the advantages of education, few people, I apprehend, entertain any doubt, though a variety of opinions exists as to the nature of the education that should be bestowed on the rising generation. This, however, is a question affecting the higher class of schools ; those of the Thurr and Parkur are elementary vernacular institutions, quite sufficient, however, for the present requirements of the inhabitants. The language taught is Guzeratee, being the nearest approach to the colloquial of the district, and the one selected unanimously by the inhabitants to be taught in the schools.
Climate.
149.	The climate of the Desert and Parkur is not very dissimilar from that of Kutch, but being north of it, experiences the south-west monsoon with less violence; while the extremes of heat and cold are greater there than in Kutch, particularly in the Desert, where, in the hot weather, the glare and reflected heat from the sand is overpowering. The villages or hamlets are generally built on the tops of the hills, as being cooler than the valleys in the hot, and less cold in the cold weather, which is doubtless the case. In the former instance, the free circulation of air makes the elevated spots preferable to the valleys, where the sun strikes with great force, while the exhalation from the ground between the hills, where the water often lies for a considerable time after the rains, makes the valleys intensely cold in the cold weather.
150.	Fevers and rheumatism appear to be the prevalent diseases, while in some seasons small-pox carries off great numbers of children. Exposure and the absence of houses must, I should suppose, be conducive to sickness and premature old age, in a district where the extremes of heat and cold are great. With the exception of Deepla, Mittee, and Islamkote, where, there are 122, 266, and 50 pucka houses75
respectively, all the villages of the Desert are composed of bee-hive huts, constructed of bows, sticks and brushwood,, thatched with grass,— a species of building that a man would construct in two or three days,; from the materials abounding in the vicinity. In Parkur, however, particularly at Yeerawow and Nuggur, where materials for a better class of houses abound, the inhabitants are rapidly providing better accommodation for themselves with bricks, or stone and mud, and tiled roofs ; at these places, there are already 50 and 58 pucka tiled houses.
151.	Government has lately sanctioned a Native Hospital Assistant for the Thurr and Parkur ; he is to be stationed at Nuggur, where a dispensary is proposed to be built for him. This is a most charitable boon, and one that will be highly appreciated by the community.
Public Works.
152.	Previous to 1855, no public works were undertaken in the Thurr and Parkur. In the beginning of that year, the Commissioner in Sind sanctioned and recommended the following : —
1.	Clearing a road from Raoma Bazar along the edge of the Runn, through Parkur, to Sooegaum, in Guzerat ; the distance is 193 miles, and the sum sanctioned.. -. Rs.
2.	Marking out the road with stones across the Runn, from Koura to Bullyaree, and from Parkur to Narrábate, and clearing road in Thurr from Bullyaree to Yeerawow
3.	Ditto ditto ditto between Parkur and Kutch..
4.	Three Kardars’ Dheras or offices at Nuggur, Deepla,
and Mittee ...........................................
5.	Three Deputy Kardars’ Dheras or offices at Bullyaree,
Islamkote, and Veerawow.....................
6.	Two school rooms at Nuggur and Mittee...............
7.	One school-room at Islamkote........................
8.	Two market places or sheds at Nuggur and Mittee ..
9.	Nine Dhurmsalas at Barana, Kaswa, Veerawow, Narra-bate, (between Parkur and Guzerat in the Runn) Deepla,
Mittee, Islamkote, Karreea, and Ghoree .................
10.	Clearing eight tanks at Nalleaser, Barana, Ram sur,
Sunlo, Bansur, in Parkur ; and Mittee, Islamkote, and Deepla, in Thurr.........(.......................
9,065
1,000
400
2,100
1,200
1,600
400
900
2,800
5,50076
Of the above, No. I is in course of accomplishment; the remainder, with the exception of three Dhurmsalas, marking out the road between Parkur and Kutch, and one Deputy Kardar’s house, are completed, or nearly so.
The Police have as yet no barracks or shelter supplied for their accommodation ; there is a lock-up for prisoners, however, attached to each of the Kardar’s Dheras.
Horses.
153.	The desert horses are rather small than otherwise, but generally hardy and well made, with well-formed fore-legs, a point in which country horses generally, if, indeed, I may not say universally, are deficient. The nature of the district is very favourable for horse breeding, the forage is nutritious beyond that of the surrounding districts, while the sandy nature of the soil and the undulations of the surface, tend to develop the formation of the legs and harden them ; at least, this appears to be the probable cause of the desert horse being generally a hardy animal. Whether it be so or not, however, it is certain that, while a well limbed horse is hardly ever seen in Kutch, where they generally have defective fore quarters and legs, those of the Desert are as generally found with good, well-formed, clean forelegs. The estimated number of horses in the Thurr and Parkur is fourteen hundred.
Bullocks.
154.	Great numbers of bullocks are reared in the Desert, and annually driven away from thence to Guzerat for sale; they are generally of a smallish breed, that is, smaller than the fine large Guzerat or Kutch bullock. The traders who take them away—for the purchasing of them in the Desert, and taking them to Guzerat, is quite a trade,—do so when they are about three or four years old; the average price may be estimated at from 15 to 20 Rupees per bullock, and the annual number exported about five thousand.
Camels.
155.	Camels are extensively bred in the Thurr and Parkur; they are the only beasts of burthen in general use there; wheeled conveyances are unknown in the Thurr, and not much used in Parkur. The77
estimated number of camels in the Thurr and Parkur at present is ten thousand.
156. This memoir would be incomplete, without a short review of the revenue and expenditure of the districts for the last few years, and a few remarks on the present state and prospects of the charge and its inhabitants. The figures below show a large annual deficit, notwithstanding which I hope to show that the acquisition has not proved such an expensive one, as the deficit would at first lead one to suppose. Facts and figures are stubborn things; appearances, however, are not less deceitful, and often lead to erroneous conclusions. The gross revenue during the last seven years gives the following result :—
	1849-50.	1850-51.	1851-52.	1852-53.	1853-54.	1854-55.	1855-56.
Land Revenue ,...		 				24,843	7,394	21,736	19,740	6,085	23,701	28,588
Customs and Opium 	* ..	10,276	11,252	11,610	4,091	• It*	....	655
Judicial receipts and unclaimed property		663	413	803	591	430	669	738
Total • •..	35,782	19,059	34,149	24,422	6,515	24,370	29,981
157. The pay of Revenue and Police establishments, compensation to Chiefs, is for the same period as noted below :—
	1849-50.	1850-51.	1851-52.	1852 53.	1853-54.	1854-55.	1855-56.
Pay of Revenue Establishment.	4,556	4,713	5,213	3,486	5,414	4,656	4,424
Contingencies 			810	591	820	1,336	1,207	552	552
Allowance to Chiefs of Deepla .	1,190	1,190	1,190	1,190	1,190	1,190	1,190
Remissions 			.	4,045	988	4,148	3,649	1,190	3,684	4,104
Compensation to Parkur Zemindars on account of their							
share of Customs duties ....	5,463	5,463	5,118	5,118	5,091	5,091	5,091
Police	29,931	30,283	30,521	30,412	28,702	28,233	27,611
Total.... Rs.	45,995	43,228	47,010	45,191	42,794	43,406	42,972
Leaving Government a loser in							
the following amounts 			10,213	24,169	12,861	20,769	36,279	19,036	12,99178
158.	The only source of revenue now, with the exception of trifling-judicial receipts, &c.,is the land, from which,under the revenue arrangements lately introduced, the probable annual revenue will be—for the Thurr, Rupees 16,000, and for Parkur 10,000, making a total of Rupees 26,000. The fixed assessment has not as yet been extended to Parkur; it is impossible therefore to say, with precision, what the revenue from that district will be in future, while it is much more likely to be 15,000 than 10,000, though, to be on the safe side, I assume the latter as the probable revenue. In famine years, nothing is to be levied; if therefore we take Rupees 26,000 as the probable annual revenue for the future, and suppose every sixth year to be a famine, it will leave Rupees 21,666 as the average annual land revenue of the Thurr and Parkur, without making any allowance for increased cultivation. In addition to this, if the Mokye Salt Lake is worked, it will probably yield Rupees 10,000 a year, leaving a deficit, of about Rupees 10,000 more ; in exchange for which we are relieved of the expense of 200 irregular horse, kept up in Kutch, before the conquest of Sind, to keep the banditti in check, as also of the expense of keeping a detachment of regular troops in Parkur. The irregular horse alone must have cost the State upwards of Rupees 50,000 a year, besides the expense of the detachment of regular troops in Parkur, of which I have no idea.
159.	The Government portion of the irregular horse in Kutch being 200 Poona Auxiliary, sent to Kutch in 1826, was transferred to Sind in 1843, while, since 1844, no detachment of regular troops has been stationed in the Thurr and Parkur. Under these circumstances, it appears that the British Government has gained, instead of lost, by the acquisition of the Thurr and Parkur, notwithstanding that the revenue of the districts does not at present pay the cost of management; that they can be made to do so eventually, I have no doubt, though some few years may elapse before such is the case. In the meantime, Government is not a loser, as above shown, but, on the Contrary, a gainer, by the transfer of the irregular horse from hence (Kutch), of certainly not less—even without calculating the capabilities of the Mokye Salt Lake, for which I claim a large credit,—of between twenty and thirty thousand Rupees per annum ; besides which, considerable reductions in the Police department have been recommended.79
160. Looking at the question, therefore, in a .purely financial point of view, the result is satisfactory; looking at it from other points of view, the result is doubly gratifying. The plundered districts of northern Kattywar; the depopulated and deserted villages of Kutch; the terror-stricken villages of Chorar, and the borders of the eastern Runn, bore evidence in former days of the terrible power of the Desert banditti; and though the actors in those scenes of violence are now fast passing away, there are still many living; while the customs and practices of a people living in a primitive state of society, cannot be changed with the same rapidity as more advanced communities move forward in the path of civilization. As much as could reasonably have been expected has been accomplished; crime has well nigh ceased, and is probably, if any thing, below the standard of surrounding districts ; profound tranquillity, and security of person and property, prevail every where; cultivation is gradually extending itself, while the general tone, bearing, and feeling of the people, is conclusive evidence of the gradual progress of society, and of the contentment of its members; so that, even though the financial result wrere less satisfactory than it is, the British Government would still have secured, at a less expense than formerly, the security of the persons and property of its allies’ subjects in Kutch and Kattywar, to say nothing of the gain, socially speaking, of having harmonized the dislocated and discordant elements of society, which but a few years ago were a chaos, in the now orderly districts of the Thurr and Parkur. The dreaded names of “ Bara Khan” and “ Shadee Khan,” the great leaders of the banditti of former years,' have ceased to terrify the more peaceably disposed inhabitants, while their descendants and kinsmen are now numbered amongst our best Police, and most docile subjects. Nor is this fact the least of the triumphs of civilization over barbarism. It is the result of the liberal and judicious policy which the British Government has pursued towards those misguided and turbulent people, who, by kindness and firmness, may be led to do anything, though incapable of being driven. There is now every reason to hope, that the same generous policy by which the British Government has reclaimed those wild daring marauders, will, before many years are past, have regenerated them,-and confirmed them in their present80
peaceful pursuits. The dangerous crises which attend the child of tender years, and not less the body politic, in its progress from chaos to infancy, and infancy to manhood, have been passed; and the Desert, with its fixed revenue assessment, judicial system, police arrangements, and last, though not least, its schools, is in as peaceful, contented and thriving a state as could be expected or desired.
Conclusion.
161.	It is beyond my province to discuss the question of intervention, and how far, in the first instance, it would have been becoming in the British Government to withhold that protection from its allies’ subjects, which they had a substantive right to expect, and the aflording of which led to intervention in the Thurr and Parkur districts; or how far the measures which were adopted for that purpose, were the best which circumstances admitted of. It may, however, be assumed that intervention in the abstract is justifiable in a State for the defence of its own territories, and equally j ustifiable and necessary for the defence of its allies’ subjects; in other words, whenever state necessity or expediency requires it, and aggrandizement is not the object. The complete success of the measures adopted may, under any circumstances, be deemed a legitimate source of congratulation to those who originated them, as well as to those who carried them out.
162.	Few, if any, will, I apprehend, doubt the necessity and expediency of intervention in the Thurr and Parkur, after perusing this memoir; and as few will be disposed to question the advantage to the people resulting from that intervention, and the subsequent conquest of Sind. If it be thought that the state of society existing in the Thurr and Parkur and Kutch, previous to our intervention, be too highly coloured, or that the power of the Desert banditti of those days be overrated, I appeal to the Government records of the period. If, on the other hand, it be thought that the present social state and prospects of the Thurr and Parkur are too strongly contrasted with what first caused our intervention there, I appeal to the Commissioner in Sind’s report* of 1856, and to an extract
* The report is published in Selections from the Records of the Bombay Government, No. XL., and is dated 21st January 1856.81
from a letter from the same authority to Government,* quoted as a note below, and to the paucity of crime and other significant signs of the times, on record in the Government archives. Murder and rapine have been supplanted by law and order; fear and dread of the banditti have given way to security of person and property; the reckless disregard of the laws of nature, exemplified in the chopping off of women’s heads, when even suspected of infidelity, has given way to a wholesome regard for the laws and justice of the ruling power. In short, where all was chaos, order now prevails, and men gain their livelihood by trade, cultivation, and other lawful pursuits, instead of robbing their neighbours and the such like.
163.	The gratitude of the people generally—in saying generally, I speak advisedly, to prevent its being thought that only the chiefs and those who enjoy grants and immunities are included,—is demonstrated in a variety of ways, though, from the nature and position of the districts, and the little importance attached to them, they have but few opportunities of showing in a marked way their good feelings towards the British Government. When an opportunity did occur, by the visit of the Commissioner in Sind to those districts in 1854-55, they took advantage of it to assure him of their sense of the liberality and justice of, and of their devotion to, the ruling power.
164.	Aware how much Natives appreciate the mark of respect and confidence of being allowed to appear armed, I have rather encouraged it amongst the heads of tribes and leading members of society than otherwise. It is a trifle in itself, but is thought a good deal of by them.
165.	It may be as well to observe, before closing this memoir, that statute or forced labour is unknown in the Thurr and Parkur. If any man or woman has been called on to work for the State on any occasion, without a fair and full remuneration for his or her labour, it has been in direct opposition to repeated orders on the subject.
* Extract from letter No. 151, of 1 \th April 1855, from the Commissioner in Sind to the Right Honorable Lord Elphinstone, Governor and President in Council.—
I look upon his (Lieutenant Raikes’) management of the Thurr districts as a perfect model for the administration of a very delicate and difficult charge—an opinion in which I trust Government will concur, when the present heavy press of current duty allows of my completing my long-promised report on the Thurr and Parkur.
11 T82
166. In conclusion, I have only to express a hope that the grants, immunities and privileges that have been bestowed and enjoyed by the people of the Thurr and Parkur, and of which they have shown themselves alike deserving and sensible, may be confirmed to them in perpetuity, with such periodical modifications as altered circumstances may render expedient.
S. N. RAIKES,
Magistrate of the Thurr and Parkur.^4/¿/¿e//yt¿CX JL.
Jiíagisúvatet, Thur cmJ lorkur.
V jr/aA/jjj y83
APPENDIX B.
Memorandum regarding the Image of Parasnath, called
Godecha, and of a Jain Fair held at Mar war.
18th December 1854.
Godecha (Parasnath) is the god of Jains. There was an image of this god, of white marble, about 1^ feet in height. This was always kept at Godee temple—hence the name Godecha (of Godi) given to Parasnath by the Parkur people. This was kept at Godi till A.D. 1716‘, when it was removed by Soda Sutojee,* the fourth ancestor of the present Chief of Veerawow, named Ladhajee, to Baka-sir under Marwar (formerly under Veerawow). Bakasir was a fort erected by Sutojee, and he conveyed the god there, to have the proceeds of the offerings by devotees; because, while the image was at Godi, the proceeds were shared directly and indirectly by his brethren. After 12 months from the time of the image being conveyed to Bakasir, a fair was held ; it is said that the image was buried at the foot of a (fa^) Nimb tree, and at this fair the image was dug up and exhibited. On this occasion, a Waneeanee (Wanee woman) called Nawlakhi (possessor of 10 lakhs) came from Surat, and she was kept waiting by the Chief Sutojee, who demanded 9 lakhs from her, saying she was an owner of 10 lakhs (a Nawlakhi). She at length gave nine thousand Rupees, and obtained a sight of the image; at this fair, much must have been collected. The chief afterwards removed the image to a (Gud) fortress at Veerawow, where a fair was occasionally held, whenever devotees were found able and willing to pay the chief sufficiently. Fairs were also held at Mor-wara (hk^t^t) under Pahlunpoor, and in the Purgunna Chharchhat (32 koss from Veerawow). This was done by the chiefs of Veerawow (named above), to suit the convenience of the followers of the god (the Wania merchant and others), who paid the chief more, on condition of taking the god there, whereby they saved themselves a journey to Veerawow over the Runn. The image was removed to
* Sutojee, his son Vujerajee, his son Morjee, his son Morjee, his son Morjee, and his son Ladhajee, present chief.84
Morwara under an escort of some (100) hundred Sowars. Thousands of Jogees used to assemble, and lakhs of people assembled. The first fair at Sooegaum, in Thurr, was held A.D. 1764, and at Morwara in A.D. 1788, 1796, 1810, and 1822. This was the last at Morwara; one was afterwards held in 1824, at Veerawow. After Poon-jajee’s capture by the ex-Ameers, and death in A.D. 1832, no fair was held. They say the image is lost, at least no one knows where it is ; it appears Poonjajee never imparted the secret. The way in which the fair was held is described in this way: — the image used to be buried by Poonjajee, and it is said the god always inspired in a dream, and told him to find the image at a certain place, which sometimes is said to have varied from the place where it was originally buried.
The way in which the image came first from Piran Patan is thus told:—there were three images with a Mussulman, a Turk (cT*) in the words of the narrator, one of which was bought by Mejha Sha Wania at Boodesir for 100 Rupees, and established at Godee. This was in A.D. 1376.
It is said that there was a large diamond stuck up between the eye-brows, whose worth was said to be incalculable. There are said to have been two smaller diamonds also on the image on the breasts. The first mentioned diamond is said to have been put on by a Surat merchant.
This account has been compiled from traditions and personal narratives, from parties who had seen some of the latter fairs in Morwara at Nuggur Parkur, chiefly from the accounts of Wanias (or Mehtas, for they are writers), Nensi and Surjee of Veerawow, at present in the service of the present chief of that place.
Parkur, A. D. 1854.
APPENDIX C.
Memorandum regarding Pareenuggur.
The city of Pareenuggur was ruled by Hansoo and Bhoodaee, sons of Purmar Durnee, who left Aboogud and established themselves there. Its population was 5,200 families of Banians, 900 of black-85
smiths, besides 700 of Rajpoots, 1,200 of craftsmen, and 1,300 of Lowanas. Hansoo had two sons, Govundda and Bheem, of whom the former succeeded him as Chief of Pareenuggur. Govundda had four sons, Yursing, Vethuldass, Bheem, and Chunden, the last of whom succeeded to the Gadee. Chunden, before his morning ablutions, gave crores (untold wealth) in charity every day, for a period of four and twenty years. He had two sons, Sire and Neer, who both became outlaws, and consequently the rule devolved upon Bheem, the second son of Hansoo. Bheem dug a large tank by the name of Bhaeepo at his own expense, and sunk 140 wells in it. He ruled till his death, by which event the family of Hansoo became extinct.
The abovementioned Bhoodaee peopled a city by the name of Bhoodasur*, and dug a large tank bearing the same name ; but as water did not remain in the tank, he killed his son Narundass, and buried him in it. After this, Dhurnedur’s third son, Purmar, and Mapal’s five sons, by name Raj sing, Rajasoor, Mundluk, Malar and Ramchund, ruled Pareenuggur in succession. Of them, Rajasoor dug three tanks, one situated near Bhaeepo, and the other two near the village of Yadlaee. The last of the five chiefs was succeeded by Rajasoor’s son Bhojasing, who was succeeded by his brother Bhojraj, who was succeeded by Purmar Mala’s son Adesing, who was succeeded by Samdass, who was succeeded by Pattul, who was succeeded by Govindra’s younger son Bheem, who was succeeded by his son Khengar, who was succeeded by his brother Deepoo, who was succeeded by (his nephew Khengar’s son) Chooro, who was succeeded by his cousin (Deepo’s son) Hurbhum, in whose reign a force belonging to the Emperor of Delhi arrived and destroyed the city of Pareenuggur, which was deserted by its inhabitants, and consequently laid waste.
APPENDIX D.
Extracts from Manuscripts in possession of Goorjee Kuntvujajee of Budrasir.
In March 1103 A .D., three images were consecrated at Patun: their
* In Parkur, alluded to in the Memoir.86
names were Narrangorjee, Nowrungorjee, and Gorechorjee; the last named was brought to Parkur by Sa Megga.
Boodesir was established about two thousand three hundred and sixty-eight years since ii.e. 512 B.C.). Parkur is the most delightful of countries, and is to the surrounding districts as ornamental as armlets to a lovely woman. Like as the Geeta (Hindoo Shaster) surpasses other books, and Seeta (Ramchund’s wife) excels other women; and like as the Behr trumpet is more esteemed than other musical instruments, and the Maroo mountain towers over all others ; and lastly, like as Indre is renowned amongst deities, and the moon outshines the planets, so Parkur stands pre-eminent amongst the thirty-live thousand countries of the earth. Boodesir is a town where all is peace and happiness, and there Purmar Khengar rules; and there much trade is carried on, and the women are so beautiful that they resemble fairies, and they are moreover discreet and clever.
In A.D. 1556 or 1557, the heads of the mercantile community were Kajul Sa and Yeejul Sa, while numbers of merchants resided in different places in Parkur; the Rana or Chief of Parkur resided at Boodesir. At that time the Banians numbered about 2,000 families; at the Dewallee they went to make their salaam to the Rana, who, however, paid them less respect than usual; after which they (the Banians) left, and having consulted together, decided on leaving Parkur before the next Dewallee, which they did accordingly, some going to Sind, Kutch, Hallar, and Marwar, &c.; afterwards those who had gone to Sind went to Kutch, and since then have been called Kutchee Ooswals; at that time the Soomras ruled in Sind, and Parkur became deserted.
APPENDIX E.
Translation of Persian Sunnud.
Be it known to the possessor of bravery and intrepidity, Asaurya, Urbab of the Raoma tribe. It appears that formerly, under the Government of the Ameers of Sind, the Urbabs of the Raomas enjoy-87
ed an allowance from the revenues of the Deepla districts. The British Government will not continue this allowance, but in lieu thereof, His Excellency Major General Sir Charles Napier, G.C.B., Governor of Sind, has been pleased to grant to you and your descendants an yearly allowance of Rupees 175.
This Sunnud will continue valid for a period of seven (7) years, that is from this date, the 15 th of October 1844, to the 14th of October 1851; at the expiration of the above period, it will rest with the Government to make such alterations in the Sunnud as may appear advisable.
As the kindness and consideration of Government in your behalf are apparent, it is incumbent on you to use every endeavour and exertion in its service.
Written on the 15th day of October 1844, corresponding to the 3rd of the month of Shavul 1260, A.H.
APPENDIX F.
Sunnud to Togachee, Urbab of the Noray tribe, for an annual allowance of Rupees 500, worded as the above.
APPENDIX G.
Sunnud to Soda Chiefs of Deepla, for an annual allowance of Rupees 515, worded in the same terms as the above.
APPENDIX H.
Sunnud to Soda Chief of Mittee, for the exemption of the land tax on 4 santees (i.e., as much land as can be cultivated by 4 ploughs).88
APPENDIX J.
Sunnud to Soda Chiefs of Islamkote, for the exemption of land tax on 16 santees (i.e., as much land as can be cultivated by 16 ploughs).
APPENDIX K.
Be it known to the possessor of bravery and intrepidity, Chandra (or Vusaipotra) Raomally,—
Respecting the eleven thurrs or watering-places in the district of Islamkote, as mentioned below :—•
Dhackara, Seynare, Morarnee, Dhoo-Ali-Chung, Gnggadee, Dhur-unmoadee, Yadasamee, Chooto Dhuroos, Ghulloova, Tookurhar, and Ghagheehar.
And respecting the cultivated lands adjacent to those thurrs, as it appears that, during the time of the government of the Ameers of Bind, you were exempt from the payment of all taxes on those thurrs and lands, therefore His Excellency Major General Sir Charles Napier, G.C.B., Governor of Sind, has been pleased, of his great kindness and consideration, to present to you this Sunnud, by which you are exempted from the payment of all taxes on those thurrs and the lands adjacent to them.
This Sunnud will continue valid for a period of seven (7) years, that is, from this date, the 15th of October 1844, to the 14th October 1851.
At the expiration of the above period, it will rest with the Government to make such alteration in the Sunnud as may appear advisable.
Should, however, any person, not of the Chandra tribe, settle in the thurrs above mentioned, he will pay revenue according to custom.
As the kindness and consideration of the Government in your behalf are apparent, it is incumbent on you to use every endeavour and exertion in its service. With respect to the seizing of thieves who89
may happen to be within your limits, you will consider yourself bound by the engagement you entered into with Lieutenant Colonel Roberts, Political Agent in Kutch.
Written on the 15th day of October 1844, corresponding to the 3rd of the month of Shavul 1260, A.H.
APPENDIX L.
Sunnud to Conda Tumachee Meeanah is for the exemption of payment of land tax on 19 thurrs or watering-places, worded as the above.
12 TAPPENDIX M.
Statement showing the amount of Annual Compensation allowed to Parkur Zemindars,for the year 1855-56.
Names of Chiefs.
District or Village.	Total Compensation now allowed.		
Nuggur District .,		2,158	0	0
Yeerawow District			1,805	0	0
Barana		432	0	0
Modra		190	0	0
Pittapoor District 		107	0	0
Adydaum			136	0	0
Kharudya 		65	0	0
Kasba		56	0	0
Sabooshun 		36	0	0
Choorva			36	0	0
Dhingana		20	0	0
Dhray		16	0	0
Kharoda		10	0	0
Parodra 		9	0	0
Dhedveera 		5	0	0
Ausalry 		6	0	0
Sadoolwas 			2	0	0
Bhunnagaum		2	0	0
	5,091	0	0
> Bakasir 		345	0	0
J ^ Sookpoor		27	0	0
Total.. ..	5,463	0	0
Rana Kurunjee ..................
Soda Ladhajee.................„
Soda Luckdherjee................
Soda Arnurjee..................
Soda Soorujsing.................
Rana Kurunjee and Soda Rowajee..
Soda Dadojee...................
Soda Pittoojee................ ..
Sindhul Bheem .................
Soda Moolwajee.................
Soda Naranjee ..................
Malday Mano ...................
Malday Rahawut..................
Widow of Soda Dewajee..........
Malday Runmul...................
Hurraj Muggo...................
Soda Pubjee....................
Malday Dullo...................
Add—Allowance to the Chief of Bakasir, transferred to Marwar,
vide paragraph 106...........
Add—Allowance to Sookpoor Chief, lapsed in 1853, vide paragraph 111.
Remarks.
The amount of compensation originally sanctioned was Rupees 5,463, out of which the compensation to Bakasir, of Rupees 345 J> annually, has ceased to be paid, consequent on the transfer of that district to Joudpoor ; and the compensation to Sookpoor, in Parkur, of Rupees 27 annually, has lapsed to Government.
S. N. RAIKES, Magistrate of Thurr and Parkur.
o91
APPENDIX N.
Sunnud granted by His Excellency Major General Sir Charles Napier, G. C. B., Governor of Sind, to Soda Ladajee wulud Poonjajee, Soda Poonjajee wulud Mohorjee, and Soda Naranjee wulud Mohorjee.
A petition from Soda Ladajee, dated the 1st June of this year, was received through Colonel Roberts, Political Agent in Kutch, wherein you make over to Government the salt lake of Mokye, and request in the stead thereof three things:—1 .si, the whole land revenue of the town of Yeerawow; 2ndly, one-fourth of the Government share of the land revenue of all the villages in the Yeerawow Zillah ; and 3rdly, that the inhabitants of the Veerawow Zillah should be allowed to take salt for their use from Mokye without payment. To which three demands of yours the British Government have graciously agreed, and I therefore give you this Sunnud on the part of the British Government, to have effect from the 1st of May 1847.
Another petition written by you, under date the 1st July 1847, and forwarded through the same authority, regarding the division of the land revenue of the town of Veerawow, one-fourth of the land revenue of the other villages, one-half of the customs, and the grazing tax, which you wholly enjoy, as also other sundry collections, into five shares,viz:—
Two shares to Soda Ladajee.
Two shares to Sodas Wagjee and Juggutsing.
One share to Soda Naranjee.
The above proceeds may be divided between yourselves as you wish, and you should serve Government according to your abilities, but you should not assess the Veerawow lands contrary to Government orders; besides this, Government allow you and your people to take salt from Mokye for your own and their use, but it must not be sold to, others.
APPENDIX O.
Be it known to the possessor of bravery and intrepidity, Kurunjee, Rana of Nuggur Parkur,—92
1.	That the country of Sind and the district of Nuggur Parkur, which is a dependency on Sind, have fallen to the possession of the East India Company; but as you have represented, through Lieutenant Colonel Roberts, Political Agent in Kutch, the present position of your affairs, with a statement of your wants, and as your good intentions and sincerity are well known to the Government, therefore Major General Sir Charles Napier, G. C. B., Governor of Sind, has been pleased, of his great kindness and consideration, to present to you this Sunnud, by which you are exempted from the payment of all taxes and duties on the villages of Ranpoor and Soorachun.
2.	This Sunnud will continue valid for a period of seven years, that is from this date, the 15th of October 1844, to the 14th of October 1851; at the expiration of the above period, it will rest with the Government to make such alteration in the Sunnud as it may be pleased to direct.
3.	With respect to the other divisions of the district of Nuggur Parkur, the British Government will collect all the revenues on them in such manner as shall be beneficial to its subjects, and advantageous to itself.
4.	To those of your brotherhood and of the inhabitants of Nuggur Parkur, who have been exempted from the payment of taxes and duties, deeds of exemption or Sunnuds have been granted.
5.	All other persons not possessing such Sunnuds, will pay the taxes.
6.	As the kindness and consideration of the Government in your behalf are apparent, it is incumbent on you to use every endeavour and exertion in its service.
Written on the 15th day of October 1844, corresponding with the 3rd of the month of Shavul 1260, A.H.
APPENDIX P.
Sunnud to Ukka Malday, Manager and Naib to the Rana of Nuggur, for exemption of land tax on the Village of MoHeah.APPENDIX Q.
Extract from Census Return of the Deputy Collectorate of the Thurr and Parkur, taken on the
29th February 1856.
Number of Villages. 1	Pucka Houses.	Kutcha Houses.	Names of Kardarates.	Total number of inmates of both sexes, and all ages and religions.	Mahomedans.						Hindoos.					
					Number of Mahomedans according to age.						Number of Hindoos according to age.					
					Under 12 years.		Above 12 years and below 60.		Above 60 years.		Under 12 years.		Above 12 years and below 60.		Above 60 years.	
					Male.	Female.	Male.	Female.	Male.	Female.	Male.	Female.	Male.	Female.	Male.	Female.
l	2	3	4	5	6	7	8	9	10	11	12	13	14	15	16	17
143	81	5,075	Nuggur Kardarate ....	24,268	1,238	760	1,887	1,304	159	228	4,271	3,204	5,618	4,473	430	696
193	320	2,716	Mittee Kardarate ....	15,250	1,552	3,052	’ 2,645	1,615	173	348	1,579	1,312	2,698	1,774	196	306
249	198	3,034	Deepla Kardarate ....	11,555	1,623	1,153	2,358	1,622	132	280	1,018	712	1,492	917	91	157
585	599	10,825	Total....	51,073	4,413	2,965	6,890	4,541	464	856	6,868	5,228	9,808	7,164	717	1,159
S. N. RAIKES,
Magistrate of Thurr and Parkur.APPENDIX R.
Statement showing the Quantity and Value of the Exports from the Thurr and Parkur Deputy Collectorate to Foreign States
for the year 1852-53, viz. from 1 st August 1852 to 31 si July 1853.
rwar.			Total exported to Poreign States from the Thurr and Parkur Deputy Collectorate.					Remarks.
Value.			Quantity.		Value.			
Rs.	a.	P-	Cwt.	lbs.	Rs.	a.	p.	
128	9	0	23	42	128	9	0	
9	6	0	O	78	34	11	0	
32 11		9	34	16	341	7	9	* The value entered is estimated at
					21	4	0	Rs. 10 per cwt., agreeably to the
1	14	1	184		2	9	4	Bazar Nerrick, there being no
830	13	6			4,504	4	9	fixed value for this article m the
3	1	6	23	57i	120	7	6	Bombay tariff.
			0	14	0	14	0	f The value entered is estimated
16	3	10	9	31	16	3	10	agreeably to the Bombay tariff,
6,599	0	7	9,261	9	2,22,267	1	3	viz. Rs. 24 per cwt., while the
230	0	3	23,764	24	45,351	1	3	market value was Rs. 15 per cwt.
159	4	0	102	9	714	9	0	| The value entered is estimated at
744	0	0	344	63	1,033 11		0	the average rate of Rs. 1-14-6
			I	0	12	0	0	per cwt.
			66	45	4,648	2	0	
			0	64	46	8	0	
2	14	9	190	94	242	7	5	
			' 8	11	56	11	0	
			278	0	484	8	0	
69 14		0	72-	0	288	0	0	
92	12	0	32	102	256	6	6	
1	8	0	3	0	1	8	0	
3	15	0	456	1041	2,519	1	9	
9	0	0	0	4	18	0	0	
6	0	0	0	42	6	0	C	
66	12	6	5	98%	66 12		6	
			0	14	0	7	0	
			2	0	7	8	0	
63	5	2	7	4	63	5	2	§ The value entered is estimated,
			0	64f	23	2	0	agreeably to the Bazar Nerrick, at
19	9	9	6	108	69	9	9	Rs. 9 per cwt.
					34	11	0	
9,090	11	8			2,83,381	9	9	
Articles.
Alum...........................
Brassware, old.................
* Cotton ......................
„ Thread, Europe............
Cocoanuts.............. No. ..
Cotton Piece Goods ............
Drugs, Miscellaneous...........
+ Ghee..........................
J Grams.........................
Gum ...........................
Googul .........................
Honey...........................
Indigo.........................
Ivory ..........................
Kachree and Kochra.............
Khaukhun.......................
Kharo Papurees and Dhooreeo.....
Molasses (G-oor) ..............
Oil in kinds...................
Onions ........................
Purwas (dying stuff) ..........
Silk...........................
Sugar..........................
Sugar Candy....................
Sealing Wax...................,
Pomegranate Bark...............
§ Tobacco......................
Wax ...........................
Wool ..........................
Wooden Combs ..................
Total Company’s Rs.
Kutch.
Quantity.
Gwt. lbs.
0 16
SO 98
22	70
0	14
7,350	44
23,322	16
30	2
48	14
1 0 64	19
183
5
45
54
20
60	90
0	64!
5	0
Rs. a. p.
5 0 308 12 21 4 0 11 915 7 116 4 0 14
176,409 6 44,120 12 210 2 144 6 12 0 4,491 14
229 8 37 3 135 0 216 0 161 4
*338 14 0
0 7 0
23 2 50 0
2,27,948 3 4
Guzerat.
Quantity,
Cwt. lbs. *¿**’*47
1,635	38
266	84
49	35
48	49
2
0
6
2
233
395
0
26
64
64
88
0
59%
40%
*72
2
Rs. a. p.
20	5
	
	
5,758	0
1	2
	
,258	10
,000	5
345	3
145	5
156	4
46	8
10	0
19	8
349	8
2	2
2	6
,176	4
9	0
	
	
7	8
46,342 10 9
Quantity.	
, Cwt.	lbs.
23	42
> 0	15
3	30
	134
) 0	57|
9	31
1 274	101
i 175	36
1 22	84
1 248	0
1 0	56
17	52%
12	H
3	0
0	54%
0	2
0	42
5	98%
7	4
1	108
	
§• N. RAIKES, Deputy Collector wad Magistrate of the Thurr and Parkur.APPENDIX S,
Extract from Statement showing the Quantity and Value of Imports (by land) in the Thurr and Parkur Deputy Collectorate, from Foreign States, for the year .1852-53, viz. from August 1852 to 3\st July ]853.
Kutch.					Guzerat.					Mar war.					I Total imported from Foreign States into the Thurr and Parkur Deputy Collectorate.		
Quantity.		Value.			Quantity		Value.			Quantity		Value.			Quantity.		Value.
Cwt.	lbs.	Rs.	a.	P-	Cwt. lbs.		Rs.	a.	P*	Cwt. lbs.		Rs.	a.	P*	Cwt.	lbs.	Rs. a. p
; 83		41	8	0	677		338	8	0	30		15	0	0	790		395 0 0
1,958	46	10,771	4	1				...							1,958	46	10,771 4 1
608	37	6,083	5	0	112*	82	1,122	13	9	9*	*32	92 14		9	729 101		7,299 1 6
		9,941	5	6			7,420	0	0			10,507	0	9			27,928 6 3
2	88|	48	13	3	3*	*91	68	9	6	3*	86	67	12	0	10	40	185 2 9
		3	15	3			512	8	0								516 7 3
, 1,12,486		1,574	4	5	••					••					1,12,486		1,574 4 5
57	23|	310	5	10	20	49|	107	1	5	95	CO *»! »	874 13		3	173	561	1,292 4 6
| 666	70£	1,166	9	5			••			0	84	1	5	0	667		1,167 14 5
24	47£	151	12	5		243	1	8	6						24	72	153 4 11
396	12	694	11	1	82	83	108 10		0	539*	*21	797	12	6	1,018	4	1,783 1 7
										18	49^	; 436	11	5	18	49 g	436 11 5
335	4 Si	27,475	0	0	0	*43	30 11		0		..				335	91 è	27,505 11 0
		18	g	o													18 8 0;
11	24f	446	3	0	4	511	304	4	1	1	65|	109	8	9	17	S0\	859 15 10
14	6l|	85	9	0	10	19 J	67	4	0						24	81	152 13 0
515	87	2,063	2	0	839	79	3,358	13	0	13*	*6l£	54	3	0	1,369	H	5,476 2 0
		778	o	o			253	10	0								: 1,031 10 0
53*	22J	585	4	0	98	*60	1,083	14	0	' 4*	*98	53	6	0	156	681	1,722 8 0
454	23	4,087	13	5	677	40	6,096	3	8	16	96	151	13	3	1,148	47	10,335 14 4
Articles.
Apparel—Shoes.............
Alum...................
* Cotton...............
„ Piece Goods.....
„ Thread, Country . „	,, Europe .
'	C Chillies dried, Saffron, Vurreeale.
Drugs.. < Assafcetida, Sova, Dhuneea,
{ Jeeroo, and other sundries ....
f Dates..........................
Eruits.. < j£aj00fuif Grapes dried, Almonds, t and broken Coeoanuts (Topra) .
+ Grain in kinds ...........................
t Ghee .....................................
Ivory ......................................
Leathers....................................
Manufac- (Brassware, new and old, o:
tured | broken .........................
Metal .. I Iron work, in kinds .........
Molasses (Goor) ............................
Silk Piece Goods ...........................
Sugar ......................................
Tobacco........................................
* The value entered is estimated at Rs. 10 per cwt., agreeably to the Bazar Nemck, there being no fixed value for this article in the Bombay tariff.
t The value entered is estimated at the average rate of Rs. 1-12 per cwt.
agreeably tar iff.
to the Bombay
S. N, RAIKES, Deputy Collector and Magistrate of the Thurr and Parkur.96
APPENDIX T.
Statement showing the present Revenue Establishment of the Deputy Colleetorate of the Thurr and Parkur, sanctioned as a temporary measure.
No.
2
1
1
3
l
Office Establishment,
English Writers .. Native Accountant Assistant Ditto
Puttywallas.......
Office Sweeper.. ..
Kardar.........
Deputy Kardar Puttywallas . a .,
Kardar.....
Puttywallas
Contingent allowance ,
District Establishment. Nuggur.
Mit tee.
Beepla.
Kardar.........
Deputy Kardar Puttywallas ....
Amount.
80
35
20
18
2
40
25
25
35
15
35
20
20
Total.. .. Rs.
Total.
155
90
50
75
46
416
S. N. RAIKES,
Deputy Collector and Magistrate of the Thurr and Parkur. Bhooj, 1st September 1856.