1840.] Account of Khyrpoor and the Fortress of Bukur. 1091 



It is difficult to define the extent of territory belonging to the prince of 

 Khyrpoor, because intermixed with that of Hydurabad, but I shall describe 

 first his possessions east of the Indus, and afterwards those on the west 

 bank of the river. 



The territory east of the river is included within the parallel of Lat. 

 26o 50' and 28° 50' N., and Lon. 68° and 70° E. It is bounded on the 

 north by the independent chiefship of Daodpootra ; on the south by the 

 possessions of the Ameers of Hydurabad ; on the west by the Indus ; and 

 on the east by the Rajpoot principality of Jeysulmeer. Its extreme length, 

 measured from the Daodpootra frontier southward, is 100 kos,* or about 120 

 English miles ; and its breadth from east to west nearly the same. 



Two-thirds of the district attached to the petty fort of Subzulkot in 

 north Khyrpoor belong to Noor Moohummud, the senior Ameer of Hydu- 

 rabad, and the remaining third to Meer Roostum of Khyrpoor. They 

 nominate their own governors and divide the revenues. Subzulkot is on 

 the route travelled by caravans from Kabul, the Punjab, and Northern 

 India, which pass through Buhawulpoor to Sind ; and duties are levied at 

 the custom-house on transit merchandise. 



The purgunnah of Shikarpoor is often called Moghulee, from having been 

 peopled in the time of the Dooranee kings by Puthans and Moghuls from 

 Afghanistan. It lies near the northern limit of Sind, on the west bank of the 

 Indus, and the revenues and expences are divided into five shares, three of 

 which belong to Noor Moohummud and Nuseer Khan, the senior Ameers of 

 Hydurabad, and the remainder to Meer Roostum and his brothers. It 

 extends north-west to Rojhan in the province of Kuchee, about twenty-five 

 miles beyond the city of Shikarpoor, on the road to Kandahar. Southward 

 it reaches within about sixteen miles of Larkhanu in the purgunnah of 

 Chandkoh in Lower Sind, and has the Indus on the east. This district was 

 invaded several times by the Talpoorees prior to 1810, when Meer Sohrab 

 Khan, the father of the reigning Ameer of Khyrpoor, seized upon Sukhur, 

 and twelve years later wrested the whole of Shikarpoor from the royal 

 family of Kabul, and annexed it permanently to Sind. 



North of Shikarpoor and west of the Indus, Meer Roostum holds the 

 districts of Boordgah and Keen, inhabited by tribes of Boordees and 

 Kuchees, who are poor, idle, addicted to plunder, and under imperfect 

 subjection. Boordgah is celebrated for its pastures, which nourish the 



* The Khyrpoor kos is i\ or 1| English mile. The people call it fifty kos from 

 Bukur to the fort of Shahgurh in the desert, on the confines of Jesulmeer, and the 

 same from Shahgurh to the city of Jesulmeer, and accomplish the whole distance 

 in ten days. Subzulkot is forty kos from Bukur, or three days' journey for a horseman, 

 and four for a pedestrian. 



