SIND, SINDH, or SCINDE from sindhu, a collection of waters), British India, an ex tensive territory and division of the province of Bombay, comprising the lower course and delta of the Indus, and bounded on the west and northwest by Baluchistan; northeast by the Punjab; east by Rajputana; and south by the Rann of Cutch and the Arabian Sea; length, north to south, about 380 miles; greatest breadth, east to west, 280 miles. Area of part under British administration, 46,986 square miles. This with the native state of Khairpur makes a total area of 53,031 square miles. The capital is Hyderabad, the chief port of Karachi, both of which are connected by rail. The seacoast, ex cept at the western extremity (Cape Monza), is very low, being composed of mud-banks de posited from the rivers of the delta, or of low hills of sand blown in from the beach, the whole shore being a dreary swamp, destitute of trees or shrubs, and submerged at spring tides. In the dry season the stiff clay soil, which is strongly impregnated with nitre, bears an abundant crop of gigantic grass, with furze, mimosas and cacti, and affords pasture to nu merous herds of buffaloes. West of the Indus the Hala Mountains approach the river at Sih wan and come close to the sea at Cape Monza. Between the former place and Karachi, on the northwest mouth of the Indus, is a maze of hills, the highest of which reach an elevation of about 1,500 feet, terminating abruptly on the west bank of the stream. The general appear ance of Sind is that of a jungly wilderness; spotaneous vegetation takes the place of cul tivation.
The climate is dry and sultry. In the upper districts frost is not unknown, and the heat often varies in the 24 hours from to F. The hot season lasts from March to Sep tember, the cold season lasts from October to March; and the changes from the one to the other are rapid that spring and autumn are not experienced. Sind agriculture is still in a primitive state. In those parts under tillage the land yields two crops annually ; the spring crop consisting of wheat, barley, millet, durra, sesa mum and other oil seeds, hemp, opium and to bacco; the autumn crop of rice, maize, cotton, sugar indigo. Rice, wheat and maize form the principal staples, being both extensively used for food and exported. Pulse, pumpkins and other succulent plants are raised, and the date, mango, plantain, pomegranate, lime, citron, tamarind, fig, mulberry, pistachio, melon and grape are among the principal fruits. In moist parts gigantic grasses abound. The wild animals of the country include the tiger, panther, hyena, jackal, wolf, fox, antelope and other kinds of deer, wild ass and wild hog. The domestic animals include camels, buffaloes, horses, sheep and goats. The camels are valuable, both as beasts of burden and as furnishing a rich milk. Their hair is used for making shawls and cloths. The buffaloes are prized for their hides, flesh and milk. From the latter ghee is made. This is an important article of traffic in Indian com merce. Birds are in great variety. Fish form
a chief part of the food of the poorer people. Venomous snakes, scorpions and centipedes are common.
The Sindians, a mixed race of Jats and Baluchis, are partly of the Hindu and partly the Mohammedan faith. They are well made, and handsome, tall, inclined to corpulence and of dark complexion. The women are noted for their beauty. The Sind language differs little from the Hindi of Upper India, though it is more regular and complete in the inflexions of its nouns and verbs. Baluchi is also much spoken, especially in the districts west of the Indus; and Persian may be considered as the language of the higher orders. The natives are very ingenious as weavers, turners and artisans, and are specially noted for their skill in the production of wooden lacquer work, famed throughout India. The leading Sind textile fabrics are coarse silk, cotton or mixed cloths. The silk goods are woven from silk imported from China and Persia. Sind imports British manufactured goods, sugar, groceries and spices and raw silk. Its exports comprise rice and other grains, ghee, indigo, potash, dried fish, wool, hides. There is a transit trade with the Punjab, Persia and Afghanistan, which has been improved by the Indus Valley Railway. The harbor of Karachi has been improved at considerable expense, and trade is increasing.
Sind was governed by Hindu rajahs at the time of its invasion by Alexander the Great, but subsequently, after many changes, it became an independent state. It was finally subdued by the Emperor Akbar in 1580 since which period it has always been either nominally or really tributary. In 1739 it fell under the power of Nadir Shah, but on his death it reverted to the imperial sway of Delhi. It was in 1756 pre sented by the Mogul court as a dowry to Timur Shah Derani, king of Kabul, to which country it was, down to its annexation to British India, deemed subordinate. The country, however, was, during the whole of the 18th and the early part of the 19th century, a stole Of almost con stant civil dissension, caused by disputes between the two leading tribes of Baluchis, which led at last to the elevation to power of the Talpur dynasty of the The government under these Amirs was a wholly unchecked military despotism, upheld by a feudal soldiery, sup ported by their respective chieftains, and esti mated to have numbered 102,000 men. The hostility displayed by the Amirs of Sind to the British, during and after the operations against the Afghans, led ultimately to its invasion by British troops, and conquest by Sir C. Napier's victory at Miani, 17 Feb. 1843. It was soon af terward annexed to the presidency of Bombay. Pop. about 3,500,000, of which over 2,600,000 are Mohammedans; 850,000 Hindus; while the remainder consist of Sikhs, Christians and sev eral native sects. Consult 'The Imperial Gazet teer of India' (Oxford 1908) ; Burton, R. F., 'Sind Revisited' (London 1886) ; Hughes, 'A Gazetteer of the Province of Scinde' (London 1876).