1 ( xxi )
2 Within the Sind border, similar practices formerly prevailed on a very
3 large scale, but these have been for many years totally put a stop to, and
4 since 1848, no man has been allowed to bear arms. Under the arrangements
5 carried out on the Sind border, whole Tribes, amounting to many thousands
6 of men, whose sole or chief occupation formerly was plunder, have been
7 actually reclaimed from their evil habits, and have long since become useful
8 and industrious members of society.
9 The labors then of the Sind Irregular Horse have at least been attended
10 with complete and permanent success ; the Frontier has not only been guarded
11 by the corps, but our foes have been converted to friends and the Robber
12 Tribes to peaceful subjects.
13 The constant toil and exposure necessary, in the first instance, to produce
14 these results are now no longer requisite, and where proper principles are
15 followed out, such must always be the effect.
16 But the Sind Irregular Horse have not only held and quieted the Frontier
17 without aid or support from any other source, but even ata critical period,
18 when all the border Tribes were in a state of violent irritation, the Sind
19 Irregular Horse detached 500 men to serve for nearly two years in the
20 Punjab. es
21 As to the robber hordes, which “ come pouring down from the hills,” I am
22 well acquainted with the statistics of the Tribes, and the country generally,
23 at least up to Mittenkote, and it is certain that the only formidable predatory
24 Tribe in the hills, the men of which have for many years past made incursions
25 into the British Territory in that quarter, is the Murree Tribe. But these
26 men have far to go to reach that country, and the largest body of them which
27 has left the hills to plunder in the country, between Mittenkote and Kusmore,
28 since the Annexation of the Punjab, did not amount to 800 strong. The
29 Lasharees, Goorchanees, &c., are contemptible ; the Khetraneés are not a pre-
30 datory Tribe at all, and if not annoyed by the hostile incursions of others,
31 remain at peace with all.
32 The Boogtees, formerly so formidable, have long since been reduced by me
33 to total submission and obedience, and have for years past ceased to annoy
34 the Punjab Territory, or to injure its inhabitants, unless perhaps in defending
35 themselves occasionally against the inroads of the Muzzarees of Rojaun.
36 The paragraph quoted above from the Punjab Report being founded on
37 imperfect information is then evidently incorrect as to fact and unjust as to
38 conclusion, and I beg respectfully to claim (as I think that I have a right to
39 do) the protection of the head of the Province in which we have so long
40 served, from these injurious remarks made and published regarding our