17 



Memorandum on the city of Shikarpoor, in Upper Sindh. By Lieut. 

 J. Postans, Assistant Political Agent, Upper Sindh. 



Shikarpore may be considered the most important town in the 



Shikarpore— its country of Sindh in point of trade, population, and 



position. influence. It is situated in Upper Sindh, or above 



Sindh proper, at a distance of twenty-four miles NW. from the 



Indus at Sukhur, about forty miles from the edge of the desert at 



Rojhan, which separates Upper Sindh from Cutchee. 



Shikarpore dates its origin to the year of the Hijira 1026, (a.d. 1617) 

 Origin. is an ill built dirty town, its walls in a state of 



dilapidation and decay, the consequence of the total neglect and 

 apathy of the chiefs of the country to the improvement of their posses- 

 sions, further shewn in the neglect of the Sindh. A canal flows within 

 a mile of the city towards Larkhana, providing means of irrigation 

 to a large tract of country, and a temporary, but important water 

 communication from the Indus, during a few months of the year. 

 The houses in Shikarpore are built of unburnt brick, upper roomed, 

 Description of and some of those belonging to the wealthiest 

 the city. Sonears are of respectable size, and convenient. The 



streets are narrow, confined, and dirty in the extreme ; the great Bazar, 

 which is the centre of all trade and banking transactions, for which 

 Shikarpore is celebrated, extends for a distance of 800 yards, running 

 immediately through the centre of the city. It is, in common with the 

 Bazars of all towns in Sindh, protected from the oppressive heat by 

 mats stretched from the houses on either side ; this although it imparts 

 an appearance of coolness, occasions by the stagnation of air an insuf- 

 ferable, close, and evidently unwholesome atmosphere, evinced in the 

 sickly appearance of those who pass nearly the whole of their time in 

 the shops and counting houses. This Bazar is generally thronged with 

 people, and though there is little display of merchandize, the place 

 has the air of bustle and importance which it merits. The walls of 

 Shikarpore — also of unburnt brick — have been allowed to remain so 

 totally without repairs that they no longer deserve the name of a pro- 

 tection to the city; they enclose a space of 3831 yards in circum- 

 ference. 



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