Memoir on Thar and

that the chiefs may obtain trifling presents from shepherds when they happen to pass
through or frequent that neighbourhood, the rareness of the occurrence prevents
inconvenience arising therefrom. In the Islamkote district also, the chief has given no
cause of complaint, though he collects what the shepherds agree to give him. When he
has occasionally asked for assistance to collect this perquisite, he has been informed that
no aid can be afforded, and that he must only take what is freely given; while shepherds
from foreign districts have been prohibited from frequenting Parkur, with the view of
preserving sufficient forage for the cattle of the inhabitants, which was formerly
sacrificed to the cupidity of the Rana and other petty Thakoors, who encouraged
shepherds to frequent the place for the sake of the grazing tax. In the Veerawow district,
however, considerable inconvenience is caused on the part of the chief, by the levying of
this tax; the shepherds and others look on him as the hereditary chief of the district, and
appear ever ready to pay reasonably, and to bear a good deal of exaction from the
different members of his family before complaining.
“It is obviously to the chiefs advantage to encourage the shepherds from neighbouring
provinces to frequent his district as much as possible, as he enjoys the whole of the
grazing tax; and equally so to retard cultivation as much as possible, to obviate the
contraction of the pasturage. Agriculture is more congenial to the ideas and pursuits of a
fixed population, than to the wandering tribes who move about from one province to
another, to graze their flocks and herds wherever grass and water are most abundant. In
proportion, therefore, to the increase of cultivation, and the number of cattle belonging to
the inhabitants of the districts, must the revenue derived from the grazing tax be
diminished, for nothing is levied from the inhabitants of the district, while their cattle and
additional cultivation cause a corresponding contraction of pasturage for the foreign
shepherds.
“It is not so much the simple fact of a portion of land having been brought under
cultivation—causing in the abstract but a trifling loss of pasturage, as compared with the
whole district,—as the inconvenience arising to the shepherds from having fields
scattered amongst the tract of sand hills frequented by their cattle, where it is most
difficult to prevent them injuring the standing corn, which threatens, by being a source of
constant litigation and expense, to have the effect eventually of retarding shepherds from
frequenting the districts, in the same way as their presence now, with the chiefs influence,
is retarding the increase of cultivation. The difficulty of preventing the cattle from
injuring the fields may be supposed, where, as is the case in the Desert, they are watered
at about 3 P. M., and driven out into the jungle to graze all night, in charge of about one
man per 100 or 150 head of cattle. Shortly after sunrise they are driven back to the
watering place or thurr, and kept there during the heat of the day.
“I have no means of ascertaining what the average amount of revenue from the grazing
tax is in the Veerawow district, as it appears to be levied in a most irregular manner.
Some shepherds give a few Rupees; others some ghee; others a bullock, cow, or camel, as
the case may be. Hitherto, though the right has been recognised, it has been in no way
defined, nor does it appear expedient to interfere in the matter, beyond affording redress
when complaints are made of the exactions of the chiefs. As yet the only chief
<strong>Memoir</strong> on the Thurr and Parkur Districts of Sind. Copyright © www.panhwar.com
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