The country of Bári is said to be less fertile, particularly towards the mountains, than Jaléndra; but, as it lies on the same level, it must possess nearly the same climate and soil. The inhabitants of the country between the Ráví and Chanháb, are called D'harpí Singh, from the country being called D'harpí. The D'haníghéb Singh are beyond the Chanháb[72], but within the Jéhalam river. The Sind Singh is the term by which the inhabitants of the districts under the Sikhs, bordering on the Sind, are known; and Nakái Singh is the name given to the Sikhs who reside in Multán. With the leaders of the Sikhs in these provinces, the extent of their possessions, or the climate and productions of the country under their rule, I am little acquainted. Those in Multán, as well as those settled on the river Jéhalam, are said to be constantly engaged in a predatory warfare, either with the officers of the Afghán government, or with Muhammedan chiefs who have jágírs in their vicinity. The government of the Sikhs, considered in its theory, may, as has been before stated, be termed a theocracy. They obey a temporal chief, it is true; but that chief preserves his power and authority by professing himself the servant of the Khálsá[73], or government, which can only be said to act, in times of great public emergency, through the means of a national council, of which every chief is a member, and which is supposed to deliberate and resolve under the immediate inspiration and impulse of an invisible being; who, they believe, always watches over the interests of the commonwealth. The nature of the power established by the temporal chiefs of the Sikhs, has been sufficiently explained in the narrative of their history. It will be necessary, before any account is given of the forms and actions of their Gúrú-matá, or great national council, which is intended to have a supreme authority over their federative republic, to take a view of that body of Acálís, or immortals, who, under the double character of fanatic priests and desperate soldiers, have usurped the sole direction of all religious affairs at Amritsar, and are, consequently, leading men in a council which is held at that sacred place, and which deliberates under all the influence of religious enthusiasm. The Acálís[74] are a class of Sikh devotees; who, agreeably to the historians of that nation, were first founded by Gúrú Góvind, whose institutes, as it has been before stated, they most zealously defended against the innovations of the Bairágí Banda. They wear blue chequered clothes, and bangles, or bracelets of steel[75], round their wrists, initiate converts, and have almost the sole direction of the religious ceremonies at Amritsar, where they reside, and of which they deem themselves the defenders; and, consequently, never desire to quit it unless in cases of great extremity.