Memoir on Thar and

took many long years (the lapse of a generation nearly) before the long practised habit of
freebooting could be altogether put down on the one hand, and given up on the other. It
appears to have been to the inhabitants of the Thurr and Parkur, what the card-table is to
the gamester, or the bottle to the drunkard; and it may easily be imagined how difficult it
was to break them of a vice, the love of which they had been nurtured in, and which,
moreover, apart from the excitement it afforded them, had hitherto been their only means
of subsistence.
72. Subsequent to the establishment of the outpost in Parkur, Kutch was pretty free from
the depredations of the freebooters; an incident, however, occurred in Parkur in 1834,
already noticed, which showed the disposition of the people. The Kardar from Hydrabad,
having made himself obnoxious, by the introduction of new revenue arrangements, was
murdered, while two of his followers were wounded. As, however, the standing orders of
the British outpost were not to interfere in the administration of the district, the officer in
temporary charge * of the outpost took no notice of this barbarous act; but subsequently, at
the desire of the Resident, assisted in apprehending some of the perpetrators of the
murder. As above stated, the Parkur chiefs were severely punished for this act of
barbarity; and in due course of time, another Kardar from Hydrabad was appointed.
73. Notwithstanding that the officer commanding had no political authority in Parkur, his
position as Assistant Resident in Kutch, and commandant of the irregular horse, and the
influence he exercised in Wagur, where he also commanded, was not without its
influence on the people of the Thurr and Parkur; and tended materially to restrain the
Hydrabad Kardar from acts of oppression and exaction on the one hand, and the people
from resistance and a lawless life on the other.
74. Nothing of consequence appears to have occurred thenceforward till A.D. 1843, when
the conquest of Sind transferred the allegiance of the inhabitants of that province from the
Talpoors to the British Government. In the beginning of 1843, the outpost in Parkur was
withdrawn, and stationed at Bela, in Kutch. The cause of this retrograde movement
appears to have been apprehensions of being attacked by superior numbers, and of the
outpost, from its isolated position, being put to straits alike for provisions and its safety;
however, the chiefs and others of the district appear to have been favorably disposed
towards us, and to have shown every disposition to assist us, and the outpost was
therefore speedily re-stationed in Parkur.
75. A detachment from Bhooj was at the same time dispatched to Deepla; owing,
however, to the want of water, and other circumstances—to which it is unnecessary to
allude in detail, as being foreign to the objects of this memoir,—it eventually retraced its
steps to Kowra, in Kutch, and subsequently again advanced and took up a position at
Wanga Bazar. The commotions in Sind, resulting in the conquest of that province,
produced less effect in the Desert than might have been expected, while its affinity with
* The command of the Parkur outpost was vested in the officer commanding the Kutch Irregular Horse, who also
commanded in Wagur, where he chiefly resided, visiting Parkur, &c. occasionally; in his absence, the senior officer on
the spot of course commanded.
<strong>Memoir</strong> on the Thurr and Parkur Districts of Sind. Copyright © www.panhwar.com
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