The Míanis, as may be conjectured, are a poor race, though exceedingly numerous. They are dissipated, and a large proportion of the courtesans and dancing women of the country are from this tribe; they are of very dark complexion, but possess regular features, and some of the women would be considered remarkably handsome. The Míanis are also noted for the manufacture of mats and baskets, which are beautifully woven from the high reeds and strong grasses growing on the edge of the river; this class, when found near towns and villages, occupy a distinct quarter, generally outside or apart from the other inhabitants. Here they sell spirits, and the men beat drums and sing whilst the women dance and perform all the usual acts of courtesanship calculated to allure the passing stranger.

CHAP. IV.

Affghans settled in Sindh.-Persians.- Various military Adventurers. - Hindús. - Lohanas and Bhatias.

employed

as Revenue Servants. - Disregard of Caste and Religion. Dispersion over Countries to the North-west-In Sindh principally located at Karrachi and Shikarpúr. - Costumes and Manners.· Integrity in Cash Transactions. -Amount of Population in Sindh - Difficulty of estimating- Impoverished Condition of. Character ascribed to Sindhians. Language. Slavery.-Modes of Salutation. - Influx of Foreigners. Smoking universal. Summary of Character. -Influencing Circumstances.

THE few Affghans who settled in Sindh from the period when it was a portion of the Cabul monarchy, have become so naturalised, and are so amalgamated with the other inhabitants, as to retain few distinctive marks: they may be generally classed as zamindars and cultivators. Nadir Shah, in his passage through Sindh in A. D. 1740, left behind him many Persians, who settled in the country, and these families have become in many instances wealthy and influential. Adventurers from Persia generally managed at a later period to bring their deceit and plausibility to a good market with the credulous Amirs, whose court was consequently always well stocked with some of the re

so that a Persian haji became a prince in Sindh, though in all probability a barber in Ispahan!

In the retinues of the Amirs were to be found military mercenaries from every quarter of the East: the younger Amir of the Khyrpúr branch of the family boasted between three or four hundred Affghans, picked men, and had also a regular risallah (regiment) of Hindostan cavalry, clothed and accoutred much after the fashion of our Indian irregular horse. In short, fortune-hunters and needy vagabonds, of whom there is always a large proportion in every native court throughout India, found ample encouragement in Sindh: the more worthless, and the more these vagabonds blustered and swaggered, the more certain were they to become prime favourites of the credulous chiefs. And innumerable are the instances where the most worthless, intriguing, and designing characters were admitted to the especial confidence of the Amirs swaying their most important interests and affairs.

The bulk of the Mahommedan population are Sunis, though the chiefs practised the Shiah doctrines; the Koran is the rule of faith, and oaths are sworn by placing it on the head of the party. The sacred book can only be touched by a Seyud or Múlah, and an assembly always rises at its approach; the lowest orders affect the distinction of hafiz, or learner of the Koran by heart, and there are many such, though few even of the learned men of the country can expound a line of the text. It is

considered a most acceptable work to attend in the tombs and hear the Múlah read a chapter, or to pay ziaruts (pilgrimages) to the sainted shrines throughout the country. The evening prayer at sunset is scrupulously observed; the boatman rests on his oar, the fisherman from his vocation, the artisan from his work, and the Bilúchi from his murdering foray, to go through this ceremony. Dismounting from his horse or camel, and spreading his carpet, the traveller prostrates himself before the retiring orb of day, and the general effect of this simultaneous adoration is very striking. In Sindh the forms of religion are carried to an excess by the Moslems, in proportion to the absence of any real feeling. We may, however, charitably conclude that there are in Sindh, as elsewhere, those who conscientiously act up to the faith they profess, but experience, sooth to say, adds to the conclusion that the instances are few and far between.

The Hindús in Sindh bear evident traces of emigration to that country from Múltan, Amritsir, and other parts to the north; locating themselves on the banks of the Indus, as in Central Asia, they have become here, as elsewhere, a highly valuable portion of the community, commanding by their commercial activity, habits of business, and energy, a certain respect despite the most unmeasured bigotry. They are still but a tolerated class, however, and nothing

enable them to exist in such a country as Sindh, where their wealth is the constant object of Mahommedan rapacity, and where they are only considered as dogs in the eyes of the true believers; they are divided into two great classes, Lohanas, and Bhatias. The whole of the trade of Sindh, from the extensive mercantile and banking transactions of Shikarpúr, to the smallest supplier of the ordinary wants of life, are in the hands of the Hindús. Their command of ready money gives them also a certain power over the rulers, who, looking only to the revenue of the country as a means of present gratification, are too happy to farm its resources to these Soucars (as the Hindú traders are called) for any sum which may be immediately commanded. In these transactions the Hindú always runs the greatest risk of being called upon to disgorge any profits he may amass, and he knows that his bonds and contracts with Mahommedan chiefs are so much waste paper; but he makes his calculations accordingly, and, despite power and despotism, never fails to accumulate wealth at the expence of the profligacy of the rulers.

Hindús, from their intelligence and habits of business, are also employed by the government throughout Sindh as revenue servants of every description, but all such are obliged to wear the beard and turban, adopting in their exterior so completely the Mahommedan garb and demeanour,