1 122 A Short History of the Sikhs.
2 disposed to surrender a valuable strip of territory as
3 they were to allow a British official to pry into the
4 resources of their several domains.
5 Now it happened that, soon after Lord William
6 Bentinck received his communication from the Board of
7 Control, a present from his Majesty, King William IV.,
8 to the ruler of the Punjab, consisting of four English
9 cart-horses, arrived in Bombay. It was necessary
10 that these ponderous animals should be forwarded
11 without delay to Lahore, and the Governor-General
12 decided to send them via Sind, and to make use of
13 the opportunity thus afforded to carry out the Board's
14 instructions. He accordingly entrusted the convey-
15 ance of the royal gift to Captain (afterwards Sir
16 Alexander) Burnes, and directed that officer to
17 ascertain in the course of his journey all that he
18 could of Sind trade and Sind politics, and to make a
19 report on the navigation of the River Indus. The
20 Amirs put every obstacle they could in Burnes' way ;
21 but after many wearisome and dangerous delays, the
22 journey was successfully accomplished, and on reach-
23 ing Lahore the envoy received a hearty welcome from
24 Ranjit Singh, who was delighted with his horses, and
25 deemed himself highly honoured by his Majesty's
26 regard.
27 Lord William Bentinck considered Burnes' report so
28 encouraging that, early in 1831, he dispatched a
29 mission to Hyderabad with the object of concluding a
30 commercial treaty with the Amirs. Ranjit Singh
31 knew little of these transactions ; and, during the
32 meeting at Rtipar the following October, he en-
33 deavoured to sound his neighbours as to their real