JACOBABAD. 169 



which a dozen years ago was a small village, 

 with a single well and three insignificant shops, 

 protected by a small square fort, with round 

 towers at the angles, and lancet-shaped crenelles 

 to shelter matchlock-armed defenders. Here 

 the late Brigadier-General Jacob established 

 himself with the head-quarters of the famous 

 Sindh horse. On the same spot is now a flourish- 

 ing town of 17,000 inhabitants, exclusive of the 

 trooj^s there stationed. Jacobabad is the head- 

 quarters of the north-west frontier, and by the 

 admirable management of the late Political 

 Superintendent, the country, which a few years 

 back was a desert waste, has been changed into 

 a sheet of luxuriant cultivation, producing a 

 return that is annually increasing, the revenue 

 of the district now amounting to upwards of 

 70,000 rupees annually. This has been accom- 

 plished by opening a canal from the Indus, for 

 some eighty miles into the heart of the desert. 

 In the tract of land watered by this canal, the 

 plundering tribes of the border have settled 

 down, as was jirojected by the great chief who 

 subdued them, and are now peaceful cultivators 

 of lands which have been granted to them on 

 liberal terms, with a secure title. So rapidly 



