4 



16. The character and history of the Karachi backwater are distinct 

 from those of the Indus creeks. Here we have no true deltaic formation but 

 a great backwater all but shut off from the sea by a long narrow sandridge forming 

 a natural breakwater extending N.-W. from Manora Point to a junction with the 

 foot slopes of the range of hills terminating in Cape Monze. This long dividing 

 bank is due to the interaction of the prevailing winds and currents with the scour- 

 ing action of the heavy spates which once or twice a year pour into the backwater 

 with great force from the Laiari River. The general set of the currents is 

 to the south-east ; in the S.-W. monsoon the force exerted on the sand brought 

 down to the sea by the hill and plateau drainage streams of the neighbouring land 

 is very powerful ; a large amount of sand is also forced round the outlying head of 

 Cape Monze from the sandy Baluchistan coast and this with the locally accumulated 

 detritus is piled as a low barrier parallel with the coast. The floods from the 

 land behind periodically scour away much of this current and wind accumu- 

 lation keeping open a number of deep channels within, the principal being that 

 from the Laiari River which now forms Kardchi Harbour. 



17. There can be no doubt that the Laiari River originally opened directly 

 to the sea; the small streams from the south slopes of the Hab Hills also 

 descended direct to the sea. Gradually an obstructive sand bank grew out 

 south-eastwards from the Hab slopes and with its growth the various streams 

 behind turned in a like direction, till the time when the only outlet came to 

 lie to the east of Manora bluff. The channels at the western end of the back- 

 water are kept open by the flow during the rains of a number of small hill 

 streams, those of the centre and east sections by the intermittent floods of the 

 Laiari. West of Cape Monze the Sind Coast consists merely of the eastern bank 

 of the estuary of the Hab River, a mountain stream rising southward of Kelat with 

 a course of some 100 miles in length. The mouth is much obstructed by sand- 

 banks which dry at low tide and leave open only a narrow channel close to the 

 Sind side. Low cliffs of gritty limestone approach the river bank in several 

 places along the Sind shore ; the opposite or Baluchistan margin is backed for some 

 distance by a sandy plain. Further details are given in the section descriptive 

 of the visit paid to the oyster beds of this estuary. 



III. THE HISTORY OF THE OYSTER INDUSTRY IN SIND. 



18. Prior to 1894 no official cognizance was taken of the fishery for edible 

 oysters on the Sind Coast ; the industry paid no dues, and was under no super- 

 vision. From statements by Umar Saffur and Sumar Ebrahim, two men who 

 shared the trade of collecting oysters for sale to the wholesale dealers of Karachi, 

 and who were examined during the first enquiry (1895) into the condition of the 

 beds, it appears that the trade began about 1855. When Umar Saffur commenced 

 business, his supplies were obtained from the Nawa Nar beds in the western 

 section of Karachi backwater. He stated that extensive beds existed there 

 originally. For a number of years the demand was purely local, none being 

 sent up-country till the opening of the Sind Railway, and so long as this was 

 the case the oystermen stated they had no difficulty in meeting the supply. 

 With improvement in distributing facilities and the consequent growth of a 

 demand in the Punjab, Baluchistan and the North-West of India generally, the 

 Nawa Nar or Mauripur beds began to show signs of exhaustion. Difficulty was 

 found in obtaining the quantities required and it became necessary to begin to 

 fish the beds in Kuranji creek, east of Brain Haidri. This creek is the northern- 

 most of the Indus deltaic system ; the rocky escarpment forming its northern 

 bank provides some outlying patches in the creek bed which render it very 

 suitable to become oyster bottom. These beds, from the evidence provided by 

 their present ruins and by the showing of the oystermen, must have been very 

 rich they and the Nawa Nar beds appear to have sufficed for all needs down to 

 1890. It is on record that in this year foul smelling sulphuretted water entered 

 Karachi Harbour and the three creeks to the southward Kuranji, Piti and 

 Khudi ; in June 1890, Karachi Harbour was full of dead fish. (1) There is general 



(!) Sir Henry Mace is quoted by the Sind Gazette dated 16th August 18'J7 as having said 

 that, when steaming along the coast of Baluchistan, he had seen the sea, for short periods, as if 

 putrid, the fish being destroyed in myriads, so that, to prevent a pestilence, measures had to be 

 taken to bury those that were .cast up ou the beach. He suggested that the cause was the out- 

 break of a submarine volcano and the liberation of sulphuretted hydrogen. 



