DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.15172#0280
chap. vi. FROM TATTA TO HYDRABAD. 245
their journey to Candahar and the upper provinces
of the Indus, quit the Sindian territories with all
despatch. The only encouragement which the
chiefs give to trade is in opium, yet they levy the
exorbitant duty of 250 rupees for a camel-load. The
revenue from this article alone amounted last year
it is said to seven lacs of rupees ; a sum equal to
the land revenue of the Hydrabad Ameer.
Nor do there exist any hopes of improving or in-
creasing commercial intercourse by this river, till
the rulers of it have more just notions of policy, and
some one of them, more enlightened than the rest,
discovers that the true riches of a country are to be
found by encouraging the people in industry and art.
At present there is no wealth in Sinde but what is
possessed by its rulers; and had the people the in-
clination, they have not the means of purchasing the
manufactures of Europe. The case was otherwise
in the beginning of this century, when the East
India Company traded at Tatta by a factory;and the
rulers, intimidated by their lord paramount in Ca-
bool, did not object to the transit of goods to that
and other countries. Sinde must follow the fate of
that portion of Asia; and, if any of the Dooranee
tribes be yet able to seize the crown of Cabool, we
may expect a change for the better, in the depend-
ent provinces at the mouths of the Indus.
At present there is not a sufficiency of vessels for
any considerable trade : between the capital and
Tatta they do not exceed fifty, many of them small
and used for fishing, others old and worn out, that
R 3
their journey to Candahar and the upper provinces
of the Indus, quit the Sindian territories with all
despatch. The only encouragement which the
chiefs give to trade is in opium, yet they levy the
exorbitant duty of 250 rupees for a camel-load. The
revenue from this article alone amounted last year
it is said to seven lacs of rupees ; a sum equal to
the land revenue of the Hydrabad Ameer.
Nor do there exist any hopes of improving or in-
creasing commercial intercourse by this river, till
the rulers of it have more just notions of policy, and
some one of them, more enlightened than the rest,
discovers that the true riches of a country are to be
found by encouraging the people in industry and art.
At present there is no wealth in Sinde but what is
possessed by its rulers; and had the people the in-
clination, they have not the means of purchasing the
manufactures of Europe. The case was otherwise
in the beginning of this century, when the East
India Company traded at Tatta by a factory;and the
rulers, intimidated by their lord paramount in Ca-
bool, did not object to the transit of goods to that
and other countries. Sinde must follow the fate of
that portion of Asia; and, if any of the Dooranee
tribes be yet able to seize the crown of Cabool, we
may expect a change for the better, in the depend-
ent provinces at the mouths of the Indus.
At present there is not a sufficiency of vessels for
any considerable trade : between the capital and
Tatta they do not exceed fifty, many of them small
and used for fishing, others old and worn out, that
R 3