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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 24, p. 278.

278 UPPER SIND FRONTIER DISTRICT the highest peak being Miangun (5,100 feet). These hills and the adjacent flood-swept plain are sparsely inhabited. The northern border of the District is skirted by the Bugti hills, part of the Sulaiman moun- tains. Geologically, the District consists of alluvial deposits and desert. The principal trees met with include the tamarisk or lai, bahdn (Popu- lus euphratica), babul, wild caper-tree or hirir, handi, nim, sirih (Acacia Lebbeh), black-wood or tdli, jujube or ber, and the jal. The wild animals comprise hogs, which are very numerous, gazelles, hog-deer (phdrd), hyenas, wolves, jackals, and :Foxes. Wild sheep (gad) and sometimes ibex are found in the mountains, and a leopard was recently shot on the plains near Kashmor. Tigers are now quite extinct. The imperial grouse (chural) and the raven, elsewhere rare in Sind, are found in this District. The climate is remarkable for its intense heat, the greatest in India, its variations in temperature, and the smallness of the rainfall. The hot season extends from April to October. For the remainder of the year the weather is cold and agreeable. In November and March the temperature rises considerably in the daytime, but in the winter nights cold is severe and frost. is frequent. Cool nights are experienced in April and May, after which the full force of the heat is felt, the nights being oppressive and the humidity generally over 70 per cent. During the five years 1900-4, the maximum temperature recorded was 126°, the minimum on the same day being 88°. Shade temperatures over 120° are frequently recorded, and sometimes the thermometer does not fall below go' for several successive days. After August the nights become cooler, the north-west wind sets in, and by the middle of October the temperature falls considerably. The annual rainfall averages about 3 inches. The history of the Sind Frontier is bound up with that of the border tribes and the measures taken for converting them from their predatory habits to the peaceful pursuits of cultivators and History, traders. No better account has been given of this work than that from the pen of General Jacob, who, as Commandant and Political Superintendent of the Frontier, had so large a share in its successful completion, and whose name remains associated with Jacobabad, the capital of the District, as an enduring memorial. The border tribes are the Mazaris, Burdis or Buledhis, Khosas, Jamalis, Jatois, Dombkis, Jakranis, and Bugtis. The Mazaris inhabit the country on the right bank of the Indus, partly within the limits of Sind and partly in the Punjab. They are the most expert cattle- stealers in the border country. The Burdis reside on the west bank of the Indus, between the Mazaris and the Begari canal. They first came into contact with the Ilritish in 1838, in consequence of which