226 SINDHIAN PROMISES. 



crown, but none of them afforded sport ; by this 

 time it had become too dark to fly the hawks, 

 so we returned to Khyrpoor. We should, proba- 

 bly, have accomplished more during the after- 

 noon, had not the Meer repeatedly stopped to 

 hold conversation with the villagers, who came 

 out to congratulate him on his safe retm^n, and 

 prefer requests on the subject of wells, &c. 

 They certainly, on leaving him, appeared well 

 satisfied with the assurances of their sovereign, 

 though whether those promises have ever been 

 fulfilled is anotlier affair, for Sindhians, whether 

 prince or peasant, have, probably, as little re- 

 gard for truth as any people in the world ; in- 

 deed, a political officer, in reporting upon the 

 different members of the Khyrpoor dm-bar, 

 states, in reference to Meer Zungee, a relative 

 of Meer Ali Moorad, that the particular duty of 

 this Meer is to swear to the fulfilment of any 

 promise that His Highness Meer Ali Moorad 

 thinks fit to make. If this be really a fact, Meer 

 Zungee could have had no sinecure of his office ! 

 Shortly after Meer Ali Moorad's return, a let- 

 ter was received from Mr Brunton, Superintend- 

 ing Engineer of the Punjaub Railway, request- 

 ing permission for a day's shooting for himself 



