204 MEER ROOSTUM. 



at its height, floods all the lower grounds, and 

 rises to within a few feet of the walls ; indeed, 

 the waters have more than once threatened de- 

 struction to all Khyrpoor. Some other half- 

 dozen houses or so of the ex- Ameer's are still 

 standing, but the whole have a very tumble- 

 down appearance, and a vast assemblage of 

 roofless ruins, the walls alone being standing, 

 to the north of the principal dwelling, mark the 

 spot where, in former days, dwelt the court of 

 Khyrpoor. These buildings mostly stand Avithin 

 the crumbling walls of a mud fort, which never 

 could have been a place of any strength. The 

 principal building was the palace of Meer 

 Roostum, the eldest son of Meer Sohrab, whose 

 death, when upwards of ninety years of age, 

 was occasioned by a fall from a window in the 

 one that we occupied ; Meer Roostum thus be- 

 came head of the Khyrpoor Talpoors, and was 

 much beloved by his people. In early youth 

 he had been a gallant leader, and on one occa- 

 sion having obtained permission of his father, 

 Meer Sohrab, to attack Sukkur, which was then 

 held by the Afghans, he captured and sacked 

 tlie town. In his latter years Meer Roostum, 

 according to popular rumour, was much ad- 



