First edition, 'very rare' (Penzer), of the first attempt at a comprehensive work on the region of Sindh and a pioneering work in the field of ethnology. It was written by Burton as the companion to his travel narrative Scinde; Or, the Unhappy Valley which was published in the same year.

Burton served in the 18th Bombay Infantry in Sind from 1844 to 1850 and quickly became Sir Charles Napier's (1782-1853) do-it-all right hand man. He mastered six languages during his time, including Hindustani, Gujarati, Persian, and Arabic. He also studied Hinduism, Islam and Qur'an, and Sikhism, and immersed himself so much that he was able to disguise himself as a local or indigenous traveller, often donning the persona of a half-Arab half-Persian scholarly wanderer. It was this talent Napier used to spy on and suppress abuses such as infanticide that were prevalent in Sindh. It was Burton's investigation into pederasty and male brothels that became his undoing: his report was leaked amongst the officers and, despite it leading to Napier's successful suppression of the practise, it painted Burton as complicit and permanently tainted his career in India. He took himself home in 1850, writing four books informed by his time in India, before getting approval from the RGS to travel to Mecca and Medina in 1853.

First edition; 8vo (22.5 x 15 cm); folding map printed on light blue paper with a few small tears to folds, some repaired, and a little spotted, touch of soiling to title; later half red morocco, red cloth boards, gilt lettering to spine in six gilt compartments, top edge gilt, a very good copy; viii, 422pp.

Penzer p40.