The last two Asiatic dynasties were the Kullora and Talpur tribes. In the early part of the 18th century, the Kullora, a Sind tribe, took posses sion of Sind, and were recog,nised by Nadir Shah or his deputies. The Kullora traced their descent from the Abbasside khalifs, and the Talpuri from Mahomed, but both seem to be Baltich. The Talpuri (Tal or Tar, Borassits flabelliformis or palmyra, and Pura, a town) amount to one-fourth of the population of Hyderabad, which they call Lohri or Little Sind. Previous to the invasion of Nadir Shah, the Kullora, a religious sect, had risen to power in Sind, and the chief of the tribe, Nur Muhammad, had been reco,gnised as governor of the province. During the rule of his brother, Gholam Shah, the connection of the British Government with Sind commenced by the establishment of factories tit Matta and Slaah-bunder in 1758. In that year Gholam Shah granted an order for the establish ment of the factories and for certain inminuities to trade. This order was renewed in 1761 ; but during the rule of Sirfaraz Khan, the eldest son of Gholain Shah, the trade was so much interfered with, that in 1775 the British withdrew their factories. The violence and tyranny of Sirfaraz Khan and his successors, who front jealousy put to death three of the chiefs of the Talpur tribe, led to the overthrow of the Kullora dynasty. The Talpttr chiefs had long held the first place in the service of the rulers of Sind. To avenge the death of their chiefs, the Talpur tribe rose, and, headed by Mir Futteh Ali Khan Talpur, in A.p. 1786 expelled the Kullora ruler Abdul Nabbi. The ineasures which Futteh Ali Khan took to establish his authority alarmed his re latives, Mir Solirab and Mir Thara, who fled, seized on Khairpur and Shah-bunder, and re nounced the authority of their kinsman. Mir Futteh Ali Khan was never again able to extend his authority over the whole province, which bencefotth remained divided into three separate principalities, viz. Hyderabad or Lower Sind, under Futteh Ali Khan ; Khairpur or Upper Sind, under Mir Sohrab ; and Mirpur, under Mir Thara. In Hyderabad, Futteli Ali divided his power with his three brothers, Gholam Ali, Kunn Ali, and Murad Ali, and from their real or apparent unanimity, the brothers received the appellation of the Char Yar, or four friends. In 1799, the commercial intercourse between the British Government and Sind was revived, and Futteh Ali Khan issued an order granting certain privileges in favour of British trade.
Sind fell to the Indian Government, from the Muhammadan Talpur dynasty, after the battles of Hyderabad On the 15th, of Meanee on the 17th February 1843, and of Dubba on the 24th March 1843, all fought by Sir Charles Napier, and this gave to the British the course of the Indus up to Multan. In August 1842, Sir C. Napier had been appointed to the military command in Sind and Baluchistan, and invested with authority over all civil and political officers in these territories. On the 14th February 1843, the Amirs, except Nasir Khan of Khairpur, signed a• treaty, leaving Mir Roostum's rights to future investiga tion. Next day the residence of Major Outram was attacked by 8000 of their troops. After a most gallant defence, the escort made their way to the main army. The battles of Meanee and Dubba subjected the whole of Sind to the British Governnient, with the exception of the possessions of Ali Murad, who was established as chief of Khairpur, in tbe territories which belonged to Mir Roostum, both by inheritance and in right of the turband, as well as in the lands of which he himself stood rightfully possessed at the time of the conquest. But a fraud was clearly established
by a commission, which met in 1850, and Ali Murad was degraded from the rank of rais of Khairpur, and deprived of all his territories, except those which he inherited under his father's will. The revenue of his possessions in A.D. 1860 was estimated at Rs. 3,50,000, with power to try for capital offences any persons except British subjects. After the conquest, the deposed Arnirs were removed from Sind, and pensions were granted them by the British Government.
For British administrative purposes Sind is arranged into the five districts of Kurachee, Hyder abad, Thar and Parkar, Shiltarpur, and Upper Sind frontier. The valley is fertilized by the great river, which, like the Ganges, the Irawadi, and the Nile, has an annual rise in the summer months, overflowing its banks and fertilizing. the soil to a distance on 'both sides. Strabo (Geogr. lib. xv.) and Arrian (Hist. Ind. c. 2) compare the delta of the river Indus to that formed by the Nile, and almost every part of the delta has at some time or other formed a channel for the river or one of its many branches. Parts of the territory are almost rainless; the average fall of Sind and Cutch is given by Mr. Blanford at 9.2 inches. Some times, indeed, for two or three succeeding years, no rain falls in the province. The N.W. mon soon deluges the Baluchistan hills, but Kurachee, in long. 67° 2' E. is its eastern limit, and the S.W. monsoon ends abruptly at Lakpat Bandar, on the boundary of Cutch. In Upper Sind, the country is diversified. The Lakhi range forms an abrupt escarpment facing the river, 600 feet high. The towns of Sukkur and Rohri over han,g the stream, and lying in the river between them is the island fortress of Bukkur with its lofty castellated walls, crowning the range of limestone hills through which the Indus streams. A little to the south of Bukkur is the island of Sad'h Bela, with its sacred shrine. In the Sehwan district is the Manchar lake, formed by an ex pansion of the Western Nara. During the inunda tion it measures 20 miles iu length, and covers an area of about 180 square miles; while the Eastern Nara, at the same season, forms dandhs or flood lakes. The extreme S.E. border of Sind is formed by the Runn, a salt-water waste with an area of 7000 square miles. In the Thar and Parkar district, in the eastern portions of Khairpnr, and in Rohri subdivision, is the desert, which consists of sand-hills which succeed one another like great waves. The soil of Sind conSists of a plastic clay, strongly impregnated with salt. The alluvial strip which borders either bank of the Indus for a distance of 12 miles, is for productiveness the best in Sind, and in places on it are extensive forests of acacia. The exhalations arising from the pools left after the annual inundations give rise to fever. • Religion.—Two-thirds of the population follow Muhammadanism, 17.84 per cent. Hinduism} but all retain their clan designations. These are multi tudinous, and many of the tribal names indicate the country from which the first immi,grants came, —Syuds from Arabia, 13aluch from the mountain region on the west, descendants of slaves from Zanzibar or Abyssinia, with Mehman and Khaja of Hindu origin, with Awan, Chuwan, Guda, Nakhuda, and Solang. Burton (pp. 368-69) gives 79 names of Baluch tribes. Othor Muhanimadans, generally known _as Sindi, of whom there are about 300 clans of tribes, are descendants of converts from Hinduism.