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and made his home in New Zealand. As a financier he enjoyed the confidence of the commercial community in India, and when four years after his retirement he was induced to return to India for the purpose of succeeding Sir David Barbour as Finance Minister, the appointment gave general satisfaction. He resigned his position as a member of Lord Curzon's Government in March, 1899, and shortly afterwards was appointed to a seat in the Council of the Secretary of State for India. Sir James Westland joined the Society in 1897, and was amongst those who took part in the discussion on Mr. J. Barr Robertson's paper on Currency at a meeting of the Indian Section a few weeks ago.

COLONEL EDMUND ARMITAGE HARDY.-Colonel Hardy, who acted for some years as Secretary of the Indian Section of the Society, died on the 12th inst., at Clifton, in his 80th year. Colonel Hardy's connection with the Society commenced in 1873, and continued to 1884, when he was obliged to give up the work in consequence of his leaving London. During these years, many valuable papers were read in the Section, which profited greatly by Colonel Hardy's energy and ability. He was educated at Rugby, and joined the Indian Army in 1841. As a lieutenant, he served with credit under Sir Charles Napier, in Sind. In 1848-9 he served in the Mooltan campaign, for which he received the medal and clasp. He served with distinction through the Mutiny, and was strongly and specially recommended for his services at Nusserabad, where the command of the regiment (1st Bombay Cavalry) devolved on Captain Hardy after his senior officers had been killed. He himself was severely wounded, but, in the words of the official report, "he continued to command his regiment with great tact and judgment during a most trying period." After the Mutiny he commanded the 4th Regiment of Sind Horse, and later joined the 21st Hussars (now 21st Lancers). His services in India continued until 1870, when he retired with the rank of Honorary Colonel.

General Notes.

LIÈGE EXHIBITION, 1905.-Information has been received from the Board of Education respecting a Universal and International Exhibition, under the patronage of the King of the Belgians, which will be opened at Liège, in the month of April, 1905, and will continue for at least six months. The Exhibition will include artistic, scientific, industrial, commercial, and Colonial sections. The Colonial section will include an exhibition of the Congo Free State. A park will surround the buildings, and the Exhibition will occupy a total area of 45 hectares (111 acres). It is proposed to reserve a portion of the site for a reproduction of Old Liège, when the monuments and

examples of architecture of the city of the Prince Bishop will be seen. The Exhibition will be treated as a bonded warehouse, foreign goods intended for exhibition being allowed provisional duty free importation, subject to being afterwards re-exported.

MEETINGS FOR THE ENSUING WEEK.

MONDAY, MAY 25... Farmers' Club, Salisbury-square Hotel,
Fleet-street, E.C., 4 p.m.

Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, W., 3 p.m.
General Monthly Meeting.
5 p.m.,

Engineers, in the Theatre of the United Service
Institution, Whitehall, S W., 71 p.m.

Scottish Society of Arts 117, George-street, Edin.
burgh, 8 p.m.

Chemical Industry (London Section), Burlington-
house, W., 8 p.m. Messrs. J. H. Coste and E. T.
Shelbourn, (1) "Neatsfoot Oil." (2) "The Nitric
Acid Test for Cotton Seed Oil."

Linnean, Eurlington-house, W., 3 p.m. Annual

Meeting.

TUESDAY, MAY 26... Royal Institution, Albemarle-street, W., 5 p.m. Prof. E. J. Garwood, "The Work of Ice as a Geological Agent." (Lecture I ) Medical and Chirurgical, 20, Hanover-sq., W.,8} p m. Photographic, 66, Russell-square, W.C., 8 p.m. Zoological, 3, Hanover-square, W., 83 p.m. 1. Mr. W. Bateson, "The Present State of Knowledge as to the Inheritance of Colour in Fancy Rats and Mice." 2. Mr. G. A. Boulenger, "List of the Batrachians and Reptiles collected by M. A. Kobert at Chapadá, Matto Grosso." (Percy Sladen Expedition to Central Brazil.) 3. Mr. Edgar A. Smith, "Note on some Bulimulidæ from Matto Grosso." (Percy Sladen Expedition to Central Brazil.)

WEDNESDAY, MAY 27...Geological, Burlington-house, W., 8 p.m.

Royal Society of Literature, 20, Hanover-square, W., 83 p.m.

British Astronomical, Sion College, Victoriaembankment, E.C., 5 p.m.

THURSDAY, MAY 28 Royal, Burlington-house, W., 41 p.m. Antiquaries, Burlington-house, W., 8 p.m.

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Journal of the Society of Arts,

No. 2,636. VOL. LI.

FRIDAY, MAY 29, 1903.

All communications for the Society should be addressed to the Secretary, John-street, Adelphi, London, W.C.

Notices.

THE ALBERT MEDAL.

The Albert Medal for the year 1903 has, with the approval of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales, President of the Society, been awarded to Sir Charles Augustus Hartley, K.C.M.G., in recognition of his services, extending over 44 years, as Engineer to the International Commission of the Danube, which have resulted in the opening up of the navigation of that river to ships of all nations, and of his similar services, extending over 20 years, as British Commissioner on the International Technical Commission of the Suez Canal.

CONVERSAZIONE.

The Society's Conversazione will take place at the Royal Botanic Gardens, Regent's-park, on Tuesday evening, June 30th, from 9 to

12 p.m.

The programme of arrangements will be announced later.

Each member is entitled to a card for himself (which will not be transferable), and a card for a lady. These cards will be forwarded in due course. In addition to this, a limited number of tickets will be sold to members of the Society, or to persons introduced by a member, at the price of 5s. each, if purchased before the date of the Conversazione. On that day the price will be raised to 7s. 6d.

Members can purchase these additional tickets by personal application, or by letter addressed to the Secretary. In all cases of application by letter a remittance must be enclosed. Each ticket will admit one person, either lady or gentleman.

Tickets will also be supplied to non-members on presentation of a letter of introduction from a member.

Light refreshments (tea, coffee, ices, claret cup, &c.) will be supplied.

UNI

Proceedings of the Society.

INDIAN SECTION.

Thursday afternoon, April 23, 1903; SIR WILLIAM LEE-WARNER, K.C.S.I., in the chair.

The CHAIRMAN expressed his regret that the Earl of Lytton, who was announced to take the chair, was unable to be present owing to illness. It seemed altogether superfluous in that Society to introduce any Birdwood, for members regarded the family as part of themselves, and especially was it unnecessary to introduce Mr. H. M. Birdwood, as he had previously addressed the Society on the subject of plague. Mr. Birdwood had served in the Province of Sind in the highest capacity possible in his branch, i.e., as Judge of the Sadar Court and Judicial Commissioner. Wherever he had served he had left behind him the truest regrets at his departure.

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It will not be possible for me, within the time at our disposal, to present a detailed description of the province of Sind, of its physical features, its flora and fauna, its people, its literature, its history, its arts and manufactures, and its progress during British rule. I can only offer a few contributions towards the illustration of this many-sided subject in some of its aspects, a few personal impressions-my own, or those of

others and a few facts more or less obvious. Some good photographs of scenes and objects of interest, for which I am indebted to friends, will also be thrown on the screen; and these, I hope, will be appreciated by all now present, whether they have visited Sind or not.

AREA AND POPULATION OF SIND. Relatively to other Indian provinces, Sind occupies a small space on the map, as will be apparent from the forest map of British India, now on the screen, the shaded parts of which show the forests on the great mountain ranges and on the banks of some of the great rivers. Thus the course of the Indus through Sind is indicated by the dark curved line on the extreme west; but that line is only one third of the whole distance travelled by the Indus from its source on the northern slopes of the Himalayas to the sea. The Sind section of the Indus, if all its windings be reckoned, is 580 miles long, but, as the crow flies, the distance from Kashmor, where the Indus enters Sind, to the southernmost point of its delta, is only 360 miles, or a little more than the distance between London and Glasgow. The average breadth from east to west is 170 miles. Including the Native State of Khairpur, the area of Sind is 53,166 square miles. It is a little smaller than Assam, and a good deal smaller than the Panjab, or the United Provinces of Agra and Oudh, or the Central Provinces, or Burma. Its area is about one thirty-third of the whole area of India, including the Native States, and about one-twentieth of the area of British India. That is, it is about as large as England, with a third of Wales added to it. Its population, including that of Khairpur, is 3,410,223, or about twice that of Wales.

PHYSICAL FEATURES AND RAINFALL. The rough sketch map which will now be thrown on the screen shows that a considerable part of the country to the west of the Indus is covered by parallel ranges of the Khirthar or Hala Mountains, which rise to a height of 7,000 feet above the sea, and the Pabb hills, which meet the sea at Cape Monze to the west of Karachi and rise to a height of about 2,000 feet. All this part of Sind is rocky and barren. In the eastern districts, there is a wide tract of sand-hills, which are outlying portions of the Thar or "Indian Desert" of Rajputana; and between the two unfertile regions there is a rich alluvial plain, through which the Indus forces its way.

The rainfall is scanty throughout Sind, as it occupies a neutral zone between two extensive monsoon areas, and derives no appreciable rain supply from either. The south-west monsoon current, which carries with it an annual rainfall of 280 inches to the Western Ghats of the Malabar coast, ceases to be rain-producing at Lakhpat, in Cutch; and the north-west mon

soon, which freely waters the country to the west of the Khirthar mountains, similarly fails at Karachi. The average annual rainfall for the Karachi district does not exceed 8 inches, and this is a higher rate than for any other district in Sind, though it is exceeded sometimes in particular places. In some places there is no rain for two or three years successively, and then there is a whole season's fall in two or three days.

THE INDUS.

For agricultural purposes, however, all such defects and irregularities are made good by the waters of the Indus on all lands which can be reached by irrigation. So long as the overflow is duly controlled the food-crops are assured. The inundations are indeed irregular, but they never fail everywhere at the same time, and widespread famine is, therefore, unknown in Sind. The conditions suggest those of Egypt and the Nile; and strangely enough, the ancient poets and geographers believed that the continent of India was in some way connected with Egypt, and even Alexander the Great, whose navigation of the Indus has been described as rather a geographical expedition than a campaign,t when he saw crocodiles in Sind, was convinced that a voyage down the Indus would bring his army to Egypt and the Nile, because there are crocodiles there also! The argument would have appealed to Fluellen, and helped to relieve him of any doubt as to the correctness of his famous comparison of the river Wye with the river in Macedon, for, as he said, "there is salmons in both." But, certainly, the Indus is to the Sindhis what the Nile is to the people of Egypt. It means life, and competence, and content. It fertilises the land, and is itself well stocked with wholesome fish, the best known being the pala, or Indus salmon,-the hilsa of the Ganges. For many centuries it has afforded a highway for navigation. After receiving the accumulated waters of the Panjab, near Mithankot, at a distance of 490 miles in a direct line from the sea, its width extends to several miles, and

"Annual Irrigation Revenue Report, Sind, 1900-1901,"

p. 58.

+ Professor Mahaffy's "Alexander's Empire," p. 36. # Sir H. M. Elliot's "History of India," Vol. I., p. 514. In quoting the authorities for this statement, Sir Henry Elliott considers it fair to remark that "such ignorance is not reconcilable, either with the general arrangement of Alexander's plans, or with the real geographical knowledge which his inquisitive mind must have imbibed."

is seldom less than 2,000 yards. Thenceforward, it is not fed by any great tributary, but, on the contrary, is tapped by many canals (the courses of some of which are shown on the map), and becomes narrower as it flows on. But even in Sind its average width, in the low season, is one-third of a mile, and its depth varies from 4 to 24 feet. Its delta covers 3,000 square miles, and its mouths extend along the coast for 125 miles.

Those who know the river best can soonest understand the fascination it has for centuries exercised on the minds of the people. And indeed for others, beyond the limits of Sind, ourselves included, whose claims to an Aryan descent are not too indistinct, its traditions must always possess a reasonable interest. It was the steady supply of water by the rivers of the Panjab and of Upper India which led the wandering pastoral Aryans to settle there as agriculturists; and so the great rivers which induced this process, “perhaps the most important step," as the late Sir W. Hunter has said, "in the progress of a race," were praised by the Vedic poets. For a like reason, Sind was invaded by the Aryans, probably from the north, but possibly also from the south-west, by a route to the south of the Baluchistan deserts; and on the banks of the Indus itself some of the hymns of the Rig Veda were undoubtedly composed. In some of these, the Indus, under the name of "Sarasvati" (which Mr. Ralph Griffith, in these particular hymns, identifies with the Indus), is described as "the mightiest" and "most divine of streams," "laden with sweets and dropping oil," a "sure defence," and a "fort of iron," and as "rich in mares,"† as Upper Sind still is. And elsewhere, under its usual name of "Sindhu," the Indus is spoken of as a mother, "animating all," and yet, once more, we are told of the Sindhu, the lord and leader of these moving floods," that§

"His roar is lifted up to heaven,

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He puts forth endless vigour with a flash of light.
Like floods of rain that fall in thunder from the cloud,
So Sindhu rushes on, bellowing like a bull.

Like mothers to their calves,

Like milch-kine with their milk,

So, Sindhu, unto thee the roaring rivers run.

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Flashing, and whitely-gleaming in her mightiness,
She moves along her ample volumes through the realms,
Most active of the active, Sindu unrestrained,

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Like to a dappled mare, beautiful, fair to see.
Rich in good steeds is Sindhu, rich in cars and robes,
Rich in gold, nobly fashioned, rich in vigorous mares.

So have I praised its power, mighty and unrestrained,
Of independent glory, roaring as it runs."

The Indus has lost none of its "independent glory" and "mightiness" since these lines were written, possibly 3,000 years ago; and, to this day it is no light matter to restrain its 'endless vigour" and vagaries, and to apply its "ample volumes," as completely as may be, to the public use and service. But the task has been attempted by the officers of the Irrigation Department, to the great gain of the people, as we shall presently see.

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ORIGIN OF THE NAMES "SIND,"

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HINDU," AND INDIA."

With such a wealth of song to spread its fame, it is not to be wondered at that the Indus achieved the distinction, not only of giving its name to Sind, but of originating the word "Hindu" also, the letters "s" and "h" in the two words being interchangeable; and it was probably also one of the seven rivers the Sapta Sindhavas*" of the Rigveda-from which "the land of the seven rivers" the Bharata varsha," or Bharat's Continent-took the name of "India" by which it became known to the Persians, the Greeks, the Romans, the Jews in Babylon, and the modern world. The late Professor Cowell described the Persian word "Hindustan,” which was introduced from the same source by the Mohammedans, as "an interesting relic of Vaidik times," and pointed out that the land of the "Sapta Sindhavas re-appears as the "Hapta-Hendu " of the Zend, as the "India" of the Greeks, who obtained the word from the Persians and passed it on to the Romans, and as the "Hoddu" or "Hondu " of chapter I., verse 1, of the Book of Esther, where, according to the Authorised Version, it is written that Ahasuerus reigned "from India even unto Ethiopia.†"

It is remarkable, however, that both in Arabic and Persian the word "Hindu" means "black" and "a robber," and in these senses it is certainly inapplicable to the fair-skinned Aryan householders and cultivators of the soil. An Indian friend, an accomplished orientalist, explains this perverted use of the word by the circumstance that the Kerks, a hardy

Griffith's "Hymns of the Rigveda," Vol. III., pp. 117, aboriginal race from Sind, who found their way

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