UPPER SIND FRONTIER, a district of British India, forming the northernmost portion of the province of Sind, in the Bombay presidency. It comprises an area of 2139 square miles, and lies between 27° 56′ and 28° 27′ N. lat. and between 68° and 69° 44′ E. long. It is bounded on the N. and W. by the Derajat districts of the Punjab and the territory of Khelat, on the S. by Shikarpur district, and on the E. by the Indus. In the north-east the country is hilly; the remainder consists of a narrow strip of level plain, one half being covered with jungle and subject to inundation, from which it is protected by artificial embankments. The land is watered by canals from the Indus, of which the chief is the Begári (85 miles in length), navigable throughout by large boats, and the Desert Canal, which irrigates the country west of Kashmor. The district contains several thriving timber plantations. The wild animals comprise an occasional tiger and hyænas; wild hogs and jackals abound; foxes are occasionally met with; and antelopes, hog-deer, and a species of sámbhar deer are found in the dense jungle tracts adjoining the Indus. The climate is remarkable for its dryness and for its extraordinary variations of temperature. The average annual rainfall at Jacobabad is less than 5 inches. There are numerous roads of all descriptions, and the Frontier Military Railway from Sukkur via Jacobabad to Sibi crosses the district.
The census of 1881 returned the population as 124,181 (males 70,166, females 54,015), Hindus numbering 9894, Mohammedans 109,183, and Christians 230. The chief town is Jacobabad, with a population of 7365. In 1885-86 the cultivated area was estimated at 361,415 acres, of which 137,149 were cropped, and of these again 8163 were cropped more than once. The principal crops are wheat, joar, bajra, rice, barley, mustard-seed, and a little cotton and gram. Salt, lacquered work, leathern jars, embroidered shoes, woollen carpets, and saddle-bags are the principal manufactures. The internal trade is principally in grain, the greater part of which is sent to the Punjab, and the transit trade from Central Asia into Sind crosses the district, bringing wool and woollen goods, fruits, carpets, and horses.
