1 216 SINDE.
2 3 Burnes,Com- Upper Sinde, at the same time, was 10,000/. annually.2 The ves-
3 Gar ae. Shiker- sels belonging to the port of Kurrachee were about one hundred
4 41d, on the Com- dingees,‘ or small sea-going vessels, drawing from nine to twelve
5 paeig he Hydra- feet of water, and of burthen from fifty to two hundred tons, ill-
6 constructed and put together, unable to weather severe storms,
7 5 Burnes, Practical and hence lying idle during the violence of the monsoons. From
8 eee itso four bundred to five hundred sea-going boats sailed out of the
9 port of Vikkur in 1836, but this channel, according to the state-
10 6 ji, 220. ment of Kennedy,§ was closed up in 1839. Burnes’ estimates the
11 rari Pag whole of the imports of Lower Sinde at four lacs of rupees, or
12 40,000/.; and if 30,0002. be allowed for Upper Sinde, the whole
13 will amount to 70,0002. annually for a population probably not
14 less than 1,000,000.
15 The Sindians of the present day are a mixed race, consisting
16 8 Pott. 875. partly of the Juts, probably aboriginal Sindians,® of Hindoo extrac-
17 tion (many of whom have been converted to Mahometanism), and
18 the Belooches, who have settled here in recent times. Those Hin-
19 doos who have adhered to their original religion and. manners are
20 9 Macmurdo, on divided into Bhattias® and Lohannas, with their respective gurus,
21 Re ican or pastors, and the Pokarna and Sarsat Brahmans. They deviate
22 1834, p. 247, much in their mode of life from the Hindoos of Hindostan Proper,
23 and this Jaxity is more particularly observable in the Lohannas,
24 who are the most numerous. These last decline no means of sub-
25 sistence, and readily entered into the service of the Ameers, in
26 . Sungei which case they were obliged to wear their beards} like the Ma-
27 karpore, Jour. As. hometans. Compulsory conversions to Mahometanism were not
28 Sores unfrequent ; the helpless Hindoo being forcibly subjected to cir-
29 cumcision on slight or misconstrued profession, or the false testi-
30 2 BMaemurdo, 252; mony of abandoned Mahometans.? It is still more remarkable,
31 Burnes, Pers. 2 ‘ ; 5 So ae Pr
32 Narr. 15. that this forcible conversion was sometimes inflicted as a punish-
33 ment, and in all instances operated as an irreparable loss of caste.
34 The Mahometan population sprung from the converted Hindoos
35 are a peaceable race, generally engaged in agriculture, and are
36 despised by the Belooches, who affect a bold and martial charac-
37 ter, In this, the latter have been encouraged by the Ameers of
38 the same descent as themselves. Besides these distinctive races,
39 there is a large part of the population the offspring of their in-
40 termarriages. The Hindoos, however, in many places, form a
41 > postans, 18. very large proportion of the population; at Shikarpoor,? for
42 instance, they are estimated at two-thirds.’ There are likewise