1 Administration of Ranjit Singh. 121
2 affected the position and policy of the ruler of the
3 Punjab must be briefly referred to.
4 In 1830,, Lord William Bentinck received from the
5 Board of Control instructions to investigate the value
6 of the Indus as a commercial highway, and at the
7 same time to cultivate friendly relations with the
8 Amirs of Sind with a view to opening up that country
9 to British trade, and securing the co-operation of its
10 rulers against foreign enemies. Sind, at this time,
11 consisted of three states, Mirpur in the south, Hyder-
12 abad in the centre, and Khairpiir in the north, each
13 with its own government and its own ruler, or Amir.
14 The district which intervened between Sind proper
15 and the Punjab had belonged to the Durani kings of
16 Afghanistan, but on the death of Muhammad Azim
17 it came under the joint sway of the Sind Amirs. Its
18 principal town, Shikarpur, was an important com-
19 mercial centre, and was situated on one of the best
20 trade-routes into Baluchistan. On this district Kanjit
21 Singh had long cast an envious eye ; and having
22 pushed the boundaries of his kingdom eastwards,
23 northwards, and westwards, as far as they could be
24 made to go, he turned to the south as the only
25 quarter where further expansion was possible. He
26 particularly desired to take Shikarpur, the possession
27 of which town would give him control of the turbulent
28 tribes of the surrounding neighbourhood, who were
29 constantly committing depredations on the borders of
30 his Multan province. War is incompatible with
31 commerce, and the schemes of Kanjit Singh were
32 therefore in direct conflict with \hose of the British
33 Government. As to the Amirs, they were as little