in the Lower Valley of the Indus and Cutchi. 27 
highly picturesque, and decidedly interesting. Strikingly 
contrasted with the rude and totally unpolished manners of 
their retainers, were the conduct and bearing of the Amirs 
themselves ; for they were decidedly as courteous, and indeed 
gentlemanlike in this respect, as all around them was to the 
contrary. How they obtained this distinction, it is difficult 
to understand ; for they are scarcely a whit more enlightened 
than any other of their Bilachi brethren,—having adopted a 
system of living excluded from the world and countries about 
them, which kept them centuries behind even the scanty 
civilization of their neighbours. Yet certain it is, and all who 
have had the opportunities of seeing much of them will cor- 
roborate it, that the Amirs, particularly of Lower Sindh, were 
individually and collectively, gentlemanly and polished men 
in their intercourse and familiar style. Nasir Khan, the late 
head, was particularly so, and could, indeed, render himself 
quite fascinating by his very agreeable deportment. The 
same may be said of his late elder brother and his nephews, 
the sons of Hair Mahmud. A Biltchi welcome to court, has 
been described by the author in his work on Sindh, (see page 
200 to 205,) and it was illustrative of the rude virtue of hos- 
pitality which this people certainly possess. The Bilichi 
forces, when assembled, were principally remunerated by 
supplies of food, and a very small proportion of pay. A cer- 
tain number of these rude troops were always on duty at the 
capital; for so distrustful and jealous were the Amirs of each 
other, that they took especial care to be well attended. The 
wild uncouth figures encountered in the bazar, and even the 
royal residence of Hyderabad, were composed of these guards. 
A Bilich army, when assembled, was not easily dispersed ; 
and the chief’s authority became subservient to the general 
feeling, and they were borne along by it. Some striking in- 
stances of the absence of any control over their savage troops 
by the Amirs, have been repeatedly given of late years, 
The wild and marauding tribes of Bilachis who inha- 
bit the desert tracts and rocky hills of Cutchi, are not to be 
confounded with their brethren who dwell in Sindh ;—little 
claim as the latter have to any but a barbarous title, they are 
yet far advanced when compared to the former; and, more- 
