Baluchistan

BALUCHISTAN (ba-loo-chi-stahn'), a country within the borders of British India which derives its name from its chief inhabitants. It extends from the Gomal river to the Arabian Sea, and from the borders of Persia and Afghanistan to those of Punjab and Sind. It is divided into two main divisions, British Baluchis tan, which is a portion of British India under the chief commis sioner, and the foreign territories under the administration of the same officer as agent to the governor-general. The former portion, with an area of 9,096 sq.m., consists principally of tracts ceded to the British government by Afghanistan under the treaty of Gandamak (1879), and formally declared to be part of British India in 1887. The second class comprises three subdivisions : areas directly administered, native states and tribal areas. Of the directly-administered districts some portions are held on lease from the khan of Kalat, while others are tribal areas in which revenue is taken. They include the whole of the Zhob and Chagai political agencies, the eastern portion of the Quetta tahsil and other tracts, among which may be mentioned the Bolan Pass, comprising 36,401 sq.m. in all. The whole of the northern boundary, with the north-eastern corner and the railway which traverses Baluchistan through Quetta up to New Chaman on the Afghan-Baluch frontier, is therefore in one form or other under direct British control. The remainder of the territory (80,410 sq.m.) belongs to the native states of Kalat (including Makran and Kharan) and Las Bela. Tribal areas, in the possession of the Marri and Bugti tribes, cover 7,129 sq.m. The centre of the country is traversed by a broad gauge railway from the Indus to New Chaman on the Afghan frontier. The main line runs through Sibi at the foot of the Siulimans up to the Quetta plateau via the Mushkaf Valley. An alternative loop runs from Sibi on a north easterly alinement via Harnai, joining the main line north of Quetta at Bostan. From Spezand, 17 m. S. of Quetta, a branch runs south-west to Nushki.

Baluchistan as a whole is a sparsely populated country, larger than any Indian province save Burma, Madras and Bengal (area, 134,638 sq.m.; population [1931] 868.617). Three hundred miles of its mountain walls facing the Indus are south of the railway from the Indus to Quetta, and about 25o north of it. The great break in the curving mountain lines about Sibi, and its extension in the passes followed by the railway, divide Baluchistan into two distinct parts. To the north, hedged in between Afghanistan and the plains of the Indus, stretch the long ridges of rough highlands which embrace the Suliman system, where vegetation is often alpine. The average breadth of this northern Pathan district is r5o m., but it narrows to less than too m. on the line of the Gomal. South of the railway lies a square block of territory, measuring roughly 30o m. by 300, primarily the home of the Brahui and the Baluch, but with great variety in physical condi tions and in inhabitants. In the Jalawan the streams run in deep gorges eastwards into the plains of Sind. South of the Jalawan highlands the rivers either run in long straight lines to the Arabian Sea or, curving westwards parallel with the mountain arcs, disappear into inland swamps. A narrow coastal strip, including Makran, discharges its waters into the Arabian Sea. Between southern Baluchistan and the north-easterly lobe comes the wedge shaped desert of Kach Gandava (Gandava) , which is thrust west wards from the Indus as a deep indentation into the mountains, and, above it, the central uplands of "British Baluchistan." All Baluchistan has now been surveyed.

Northern.

From Domandi, at the junction of the Gomal and Kundar, the boundary on the side of Afghanistan follows the Kundar stream for about 4o m. to the south-west. It then diverges northwards for about ioo m., striking the Kadanai river and turn ing the northern spurs of the Toba Range to wind through the open plains west of the Kojak Range (Khwaja Amran). It returns to the hills 4o m. S. of Chaman, and thenceforward is defined by hill ranges southwards to Nushki. The eastern boun dary of this northern section of Baluchistan is the "red line" at the foot of the frontier hills, which defines the border of British India. The occupation of a line of posts on the Zhob river, which flanks the Suliman range on the west, places the doors of communication with Afghanistan in British hands.

The central range of the Suliman hills is the dominant feature in the geography of northern Baluchistan. Towards the north of the range occurs a group of peaks, which form an oblong "massif" known as "Kaisargarh" or, more generally, as the "Takht-i-Suliman" (Solomon's throne), from a celebrated shrine of that name near its southern abutment. This high tableland (about 8,000 ft. above sea-level) is formed by a huge cap of coral limestone, estimated to be from 4,00o to 5,000 ft. thick. Deep gorges, with mighty precipices, form the channel of the Draband or "Gat" on the north, and of the Dhana on the south. The higher slopes of the plateau have a fairly thick growth of the chil ghosa or "edible" pine and a sprinkling of juniper. It is bounded east and west by high, rugged parallel ridges. The western ridge culminates on the north in the peak of Kaisargarh (11,3oo ft.), and the eastern in a block, or detached headland, on the south, where rests the immortal "ziarat" or shrine (11,295 ft.), which attracts thousands of pilgrims (Mohammedans and Hindus) yearly. To the west is the Shingarh Mountain, a geological repe tition of the Kaisargarh ridge, black with pines towards the sum mit. Beyond it are the grey outlines of the close-packed ridges which enclose the lower reaches of the Zhob and the Kundar. The upper parts of the Zhob valley towards the mountain knot north of Quetta are comparatively open and fertile, with flourishing villages, and are bounded by long, sweeping, gentle spurs clothed with wild olive woods. The lower reaches of the Zhob and Kun dar are hemmed in by rugged limestone walls, with deep gorges forming a stony wilderness. The parallel ranges of the Sulimans end eastwards in the high ridge of the Siwaliks, facing the Indus plains. Between the Takht Mountain and the Siwaliks is a belt of transverse drainage with valleys cut as the hills gradually rose above the plain level. Beyond the Siwaliks are the sand waves of the Indus plain ; a yellow sea broken here and there with the shadow of village orchards, extending to the long fringe of trees bordering the Indus. All this northern section is independent Baluchistan within the jurisdiction of the Baluchistan Agency, with the exception of certain clans of the Sheranis on the eastern slopes of the Takht-i-Suliman north of the Vihowa, who are under the North-West Frontier Province administration and conse quently separate from the Northern Section.

As the Sulimans approach the Quetta railway they turn west ward and merge in the broad mountain which hedges in the uplands of Quetta and Pishin, and here are some of the grandest peaks in Baluchistan. Khalifat (11,440 ft.), south of Ziarat, flanking the Harnai loop of the Sind-Pishin railway; Takatu to the north of Quetta; Chahiltan (Chiltan) on the south-west; and the great square-headed Murdar to the south. Lying in the midst of them, on an open plain formed by the high-level tributaries of the Lora, 5,50o ft. above the sea, is Quetta. The southern end of the Suliman system, is occupied by true Baluchis, the Marri and Bugti sections of the great Rind confederation of tribes owning an Arabic origin. There are no Pathans. To the north of them are the Bozdars, another Rind clan ; and these Rind tribes form the exception to the general rule of Pathan occupation of northern Baluchistan. Amongst the Pathans, the Kakars and Dumars of Pishin, with the Mando Khel of Zhob, are the most prominent tribal divisions.

Central.

The curved recession of the Suliman Ranges to the north-west leaves a flat alluvial desert to the south, striking deep into the Baluchistan mountain system. The point of this inlet receives the drainage of two local basins, the Bolan and the Nari. Their waters finally disappear in the irrigated flats of the alluvial bay (Kach Gandava), which extends 13o m. from the Indus to Sibi at the foot of the hills, and which offers (in spite of periodic Indus floods) a unique opportunity for railway approach to Baluchistan. Kach Gandava is a land of dust-storms and ruinous winds; a land where the thermometer never sinks below i oo ° in summer, and drops below freezing-point in winter.

British.

The irregular block of upland territory known as British Baluchistan includes all the upper Lora tributaries, and the Toba plateau beyond them; resting on the Khwaja Amran (Kojak) Range on the west ; reaching south to Nushki; including the basins of the Bolan and Nari as far as Sibi to the south-east ; embracing the Thal Chotiali valley on the east, and following the main water-divide between the Zhob and Lora on the north. It is leased from Kalat, and forms a distinctive province, under the ordinary civil administration of British India. Beyond it, north and south, lies independent Baluchistan which is under British political control. The degree of independence enjoyed by the various districts of Baluchistan increases with the distance from Quetta. The climate of British Baluchistan is dry and bracing and, though subject to extremes of temperature, is on the whole favourable to European life.

Southern.

The square block of Southern Baluchistan, with its mountain folds opening fanwise from the Kalat plateau, nat urally drains south and west, either to the Arabian sea or to the central swamps of Lora and Mashkel. The Hab river, which forms the boundary west of Karachi; the Purali (the ancient Arabus), draining the low-lying flats of Las Bela; the Hingol (the ancient Tomerus) and the Dasht in Makran, are all considerable streams, draining into the Arabian sea and forming important arteries in the network of internal communication. An exception to the general rule is found in the Mula, which carries the floods of the Kalat highlands through magnificent gorges into the Gan dava basin and forms one of the most important of the ancient highways from the Indus plains to Kandahar. The fortress of Kalat (6,800 ft.) is situated between the sources of the Bolan and the Mula, near a small tributary of the Lora on the western edge of a cultivated plain in the very midst of hills (see KALAT). To the north are the long sweeping lines of the Sarawan ridges, en closing narrow fertile valleys, and passing south-west to the edge of the Kharan desert. Some streams drain northwards as affluents of the southern Lora ; but the Lora drains also the Pishin valley on the north, the two systems unit ing in Shorawak, to lose them selves in the desert and swamps to the west of Nushki, on the road to Seistan. Sixty miles south of Kalat begins the remarkable hydrographic system which in cludes all southern and south western Baluchistan. To the west lies the Kharan desert, with in termittent river channels often lost in the sand-waves ere they reach the Mashkel swamps on the far borders of Persia. To the south-west are the long sweeping valleys of Rakshan and Panjgur, which, curving northwards, likewise discharge into the Mashkel. Directly south come the meridional arteries, the Hab, the Purali and the Hingol, which end in the Arabian Sea, leaving the mountainous seaboard (Makran) south of the Panjgur and west of the Hingol poorly watered by the long lateral Kej river and several smaller mountain streams. The eastern frontier of southern Baluchistan over against the desert of Sind follows the foot of the Kirthar range, whose lime stone walls rise sheer for thousands of feet.

Western Boundary.—The boundary between Baluchistan and Afghanistan runs westwards from near Nushki across the Lora Hamun, leaving the frontier post of Chagai to Baluchistan; and from this point to the Koh-i-Malik Sia it is based partly on the central water-divide of the Chagai Hills and partly runs in straight lines through the desert south of the salt swamps of the Gaud-i Zirreh. It thus passes 5o m. to the south of the Helmand, entirely shutting off from Baluchistan the approach to Seistan north of the Gaud-i-Zirreh. The route to Seistan from Nushki thus runs south of the Chagai Hills. Towards the end of the World War, when the North Persian Cordon was established to Meshed, to keep Turks from Afghanistan, and to connect with the Anti-Bolshevik element in Russian Turkestan, the rail was extended along this line to Duzdap (439 m. beyond Nushki and 52 m. into Persia) but was pulled up later.

Geology.—The mountain ranges of Baluchistan are formed of Cretaceous and Tertiary beds, and constitute part of an extensive system of Tertiary (Alpine-Himalayan) date arranged as if in a festoon hanging southwards between Peshawar and Mount Ararat, with the outer folds looped up at Sibi so as to form the subsidiary festoon of the Suliman and Bugti hills. Outside the folds lie the horizontal deposits of Makran, and within them lies the stony desert of north-western Baluchistan. Besides the Cretaceous and Tertiary beds, Jurassic rocks occupy considerable areas in British Baluchistan. Triassic beds lie along the south side of the upper Zhob, and Fusulina limestone has also been found there. With the exception of the later Tertiary beds the deposits are mostly marine. But in the upper Cretaceous and lower Tertiary, especially in north-western Baluchistan, there is an extensive development of volcanic tuffs and conglomerates, probably contemporaneous with the Deccan Traps of India. Great masses of syenite and diorite were intruded during the Tertiary period, and within the curve of the folded belt a line of recent volcanic cones stretches from western Baluchistan into eastern Persia.

So far as is known, the mineral wealth of Baluchistan is incon siderable. Coal has been worked in the Tertiary beds along the Harnai route to Quetta, but the seams are thin and the quality poor. A somewhat thick and viscid form of mineral oil is met with at Khattan in the Marri country; and petroleum of excellent quality occurs in the Sherani hills. Traces of oil have been found at various spots, without any sign of accessible large supplies. Sulphur has long been worked on a small scale in the Koh-i-Sultan, the largest of the volcanoes of western Baluchistan. Chrome is profitably worked near Pishin and a light line from Khanai to Hindubagh was laid in 1916 for the chrome traffic.

Races.-Baluchistan presents a remarkable field for the ethnog rapher. In the desert are to be found scattered tribes of nomads, called Rekis (or desert people), the Muhammadani being the most numerous. They are probably of Arab origin. This central desert is the Kir, Kej, Katz or Kash Kaian of Arabic mediaeval geogra phy, and a part of the ancient Kaiani kingdom; the prefix Kej or Kash denoting low-level flats or valleys. The Muhammadani nomads occupy the central mountain region, to the south of which lie the Mashkel and Kharan deserts, inhabited by a people of quite different origin, who possess something approaching to his torical records. These are the Naushirwanis, a purely Persian group who passed into Baluchistan within historic times. They appear to be identical with the Tahuki or Tahukani who are found in Perso-Baluchistan, and are a fine manly stock. Between the Naushirwanis and the fish-eating population of the coast, enclosed in the narrow valleys of the Rakshan and Kej tributaries, or about the sources of the Hingol are innumerable tribes some of which are of long-standing, while others may be traced in the records of recent immigration. Almost everywhere recognizable is the underlying Persian population (Tajik), which is sometimes repre sented by a locally dominant tribe, but more frequently by the agricultural bondsman. Such are the Dehwars or Dehkans, and the Durzadas who extend all through Makran. The Arabs have naturally left their mark on the ethnography of Baluchistan. As they occupied all southern Baluchistan and Seistan from a very early date, and finally spread through the Sind valley, where they remained till the i 2th century, their genealogical records have become much obscured. Makran contains numerous relics of their irrigation works constructed in times when the climatic conditions of Baluchistan must have been very different from what they are now. Lower Sind also contains a great wealth of architectural remains to the west of the Indus as well as in the delta. One tribe (the Kalmats), who left their name on the Makran coast and subsequently dominated Bela and Sind, west of the Indus, exhibit great power of artistic design in their sepulchral monuments. The Dravidians (Brahuis), who are chiefly represented by the Kam baranis and Mingals or Mongals (the latter doubtless of Tatar origin), spread through southern Baluchistan as well as the eastern hills, and are scattered through out the mountain tracts south of Kharan. The Boledi, who are mentioned by very early writers, were once the ruling race of southern Baluchistan, which was originally called Boledistan, and it seems possible that this may be the real origin of the much-dis puted name of the country. The fast-diminishing Sajidis (Sajit tae) and Saka (Sacae) are others of the more ancient races of Baluchistan easily recognizable in classical geography. Most re cent of all are the Gitchkis, who derive from a Rajput adventurer of the early i7th century. They are now the dominant race in Panjgur and Kej, whence they ousted the Boledis. An interesting group are the Gadaras of Makran, who once gave the name Gadrosia to Southern Baluchistan. They are now mostly repre sented by Sidi half-castes, well known in the mercantile marine as stokers and firemen. It seems unlikely that this modern admixture of Asiatic and African blood represents the "Asiatic Ethiopian" of Herodotus which was more probably a direct connection of the Himyaritic Arab builders of "bunds" and revetments who spread eastwards from Arabia.

Peoples of Arab extraction intermixed with peoples of Dravidian and Persian stock are all designated by the general term Baluch. The Marri and Bugti tribes, who occupy the most southern but tresses of the Suliman Mountains, are Rind Baluchis, almost cer tainly of Arab extraction and claim to be Qoraish. They came to Sind either with the Arab conquerors or after them, and remained there mixed up with the original Hindu inhabitants. The Arab type of Baluch extends through the whole country at intervals and has some fine traits. The Baluch is easier to deal with and to con trol than the Pathan owing to his tribal organization and his freedom from bigoted fanaticism. He is an expert rider; horse racing is his national amusement, and the Baluch breed of horses is celebrated throughout northern India.

The strategical position of Great Britain in Baluchistan is a very important factor in the problem of maintaining order and good administration in the country. The ever-restless Pathan tribes of the Suliman hills are held in check by the occupation of the Zhob valley ; whilst the central dominant position at Quetta safe guards the peace and security of Kalat and bars the way to an advance upon India by way of Kandahar.

Climate.—Extensive changes have taken place in the climatic condition of the country, as is shown by the remains of forests in districts now entirely desiccated. Wanton destruction of forests may have been a factor but the widespread desiccation of large areas of the Baluch highlands, where evidences of Arab irrigation works and of cultivation attest to a once flourishing civilization, suggests secular climatic variations. There is ample proof through out the country of alterations of level within recent geologic periods, and there have even been compressions resulting in a relative rise of the ground, over the crests of anticlinal folds, within historic record.

Population.

The population of Baluchistan (868,617 [ 1931 ] ) is largely nomadic. The fact that so many as 15,000 camels have been counted in the Bolan Pass during one month of the annual Brahui migration indicates the size of the movement. The pre vailing religion is Mohammedan. Holders of this faith, mainly of the Sunni sect, numbered 798,039 in 1931. Hindus numbered Christians, 8,059; Sikhs 8,425. The chief languages spoken are vernaculars of Baluchistan, Pushtu, Panjabi, Urdu and Sindhi. The Baluchi language belongs to the Iranian branch of the Aryan sub-family of the Indo-European family. It is divided into two distinct main dialects, separated by the belt of Brahui and Sindhi speakers who occupy the Sarawan and Jalawan hills, and Las Bela. Makran was for many generations under the rule of the Persian kings, and the Baluchi spoken on the west of the province is largely impregnated with Persian words. There is no indigenous literature, but many specimens of poetry exist in which heroes and brave deeds are commemorated, and a good many of these have been collected from time to time. Brahui is one of the Dravidian group of languages. It is remarkable to find in Baluchis tan a Dravidian tongue, surrounded on all sides by Aryan lan guages, and with the next nearest branch of the same family located so far away as the Gond hills of central India; and this is said to be evidence for the route followed by the prehistoric Dravidian intrusions into India, most probably through Makran. There are thirteen indigenous tribes of Pathan origin of which the Kakars (q. v.) are by far the most important. They are to be found in the largest numbers in Zhob, Quetta, Pishin, and Thal Chotiali, but there are a few of them in Kalat and Chagai also. The most important Baluch tribes are the Marris, the Bughtis, the Boledis, the Domkis, the Magassis and the Rinds.

BIBLIOGRAPHY.-T.

H. Holdich, The Indian Borderland (i9oi) ; Bibliography.-T. H. Holdich, The Indian Borderland (i9oi) ; J. J. McLeod Innes, Life and Times of General Sir James Browne (1905) ; The Administration Report of the Baluchistan Agency (Annual) ; "Baluchistan," Census of India (1921) and the District Gazetteers of Baluchistan.

See also W. T. Blanford, "Geological Notes on the Hills in the neighbourhood of the Sind and Punjab Frontier between Quetta and Dera Ghazi Khan," Mem. Geol. Surv. India, vol. xx., pt. 2 (1883) ; E. Vredenburg, "A Geological Sketch of the Baluchistan Desert, and part of Eastern Persia," Mem. Geol. Surv. India, vol. xxxi., pt. 2 (1901) ; E. Vredenburg, "On the Occurrence of a Species of Halorites in the Trias of Baluchistan," Rec. Geol. Surv. India, vol. xxxi. 0904), pp. 162-166, pls. 17, 18.

The earliest mention of the country now called Baluchistan, apart from a reference in the Avesta to Vara Peshin-Anha or the Peshin Valley, is in the pages of Herodotus, who states that the Mykians—the Maka of the Behistun inscription—were included in the fourteenth satrapy of the Persian empire, as it was organ ized by Darius in the 6th century B.C. Makran, the name for the coastal province of Baluchistan and of neighbouring Persian Baluchistan, probably signifies "the land of the Maka." There were legends that mythical Semiramis and historical Cyrus the Great, the founder of the Persian empire, had lost armies in its deserts, but the country was not explored in any sense until the appearance of Alexander the Great, who, after his victories in India, was returning to Persia, in 325 B.C. Makran was traversed from east to west by the main body under Alexander himself, while his admiral Nearchus coasted along its shores to the Persian Gulf and kept such an accurate log that many of the ports and headlands mentioned can be identified to-day. Craterus, who had been placed in charge of the invalids and elephants, had left Alex ander in the Indus delta and marched through Quetta and northern Baluchistan, rejoining Alexander in the valley of the Halil Rud, where Nearchus also reported the safe arrival of the fleet at Harmozia (the mediaeval Hormuz), to the east of modern Bandar Abbas. Arrian describes with striking accuracy the desert nature of the country, the scanty population of Ichthyophagi or "Fish eaters" and the lack of supplies ; he also refers to the aromatic plants. After the death of Alexander, his kingdom broke up and Baluchistan formed part of the kingdom of Bactria.

Baluchistan is occasionally mentioned in Persian history, after the rise of the Sasanian dynasty. For instance, Bahram Gur, who reigned in the 5th century A.D. made an expedition to India and occupied Makran. He is believed to have brought back with him some thousands of dancers who were the ancestors of the gipsies.

The province undoubtedly formed part of the Persian empire at this period and in the following century. In the 7th century, the Arabs, inspired by the teachings of Mohammed, attacked and overthrew the Persian empire, and gradually annexed its outlying provinces. We read that some Makran towns were occupied in 664 and, in 707, Mohammed bin Kasim undertook his celebrated campaign. He captured various strongholds in Makran and after making good his position in that country, he advanced into Sind and established the Muslim power in the valley of the Indus. The Arabs ruled Baluchistan from Khuzdur in Jhalawan until the loth century.

When Persia regained her independence upon the gradual weak ening of the Caliphate, Baluchistan was included in the empire, but her chiefs were practically free to rule as they liked, so long as they furnished military contingents when called upon to do so. It is, however, to be noted that from 1595 to 1638 the province formed part of the Mogul empire. The Baluchis, who have given their name to the country, are comparatively new corners. Of Aryan stock, they apparently entered it as a tribe of invaders in the eleventh and twelfth centuries, being driven out of Persia by the Seljuks. They conquered Western Makran, but failed to seize the uplands of Kalat. They therefore passed them by and half of the tribe gradually seized districts in the Indus valley. The tribes men who remained formed a race of hereditary chiefs, quite dis tinct from the peasantry, especially owing to their fair com plexions.

Their rivals, the Brahuis, who occupy the highlands of Kalat, are of Dravidian stock. They rose to power in the 17th century under their chief Kambar, who overthrew the dynasty of Hindu rajahs and seized the country and, since this period, Muslims have been dominant throughout Baluchistan. Kambar's descend ant, Abdulla Khan, conquered the fertile district of Kach Gand avar. He was a contemporary of Nadir Shah who at this period was avenging the Afghan invasion of Persia and captured Kanda har after a long siege. Baluchistan at this period was subject to Kandahar, and Abdulla submitted to the Shah, but was killed in a battle with the Nawabs of Sind shortly afterwards. His successor was incapable and was put to death by his brother Nasir Khan, who had served Nadir in his Indian campaign. He was appointed first Beglerbegi or "Chief Beg" of Baluchistan by his master in 1739; and thus began the long reign of the greatest ruler of this desert country, whose rule finally included several districts of Sind and what is now Persian Baluchistan. Upon the assassination of Nadir Shah in 1747, Ahmad Shah founded the kingdom of Afghanistan. Nasir Khan at first acknowledged his overlordship, but, in 1758, he rebelled. He was defeated by Ahmad Shah in the field, but the Afghan was unable to capture Kalat and a treaty was negotiated, by the terms of which Nasir Khan agreed to furnish troops for expeditions, but was exempted from the payment of tribute. This treaty was faithfully observed, and Nasir Khan distinguished himself in many engagements, the victory of Ahmad Shah in Khorasan being mainly due to the valour and capacity of the Baluch Khan. He died at an advanced age in 1795.

At the beginning of the 19th century, the English traveller Pottinger travelled through Baluchistan and thus inaugurated British connection with it. The First Afghan War, the object of which was to restore Shah Shuja, a refugee amir, to the throne of Afghanistan, suddenly made the attitude of Kalat of' some impor tance. British troops marched from the Indus through the Bolan pass to Kandahar, and negotiations were opened with Mehrab Khan of Kalat, mainly with a view to protect the supply columns of the army. Intrigues led the authorities to believe that the khan was guilty of attacking the British convoys, and a force was sent against him with orders to capture Kalat. The main gate was blown in by gun fire, the fort was stormed and Mehrab Khan, with 400 of his men fell fighting. Too late it was discovered that the Vizier had arranged the attacks on the convoys with the object of discrediting the unfortunate khan. Nasir, the son of the khan, was set aside at first, but the chiefs rallied to him and he was finally acknowledged by the British in 1841 they evacuated the country a few months later. The steady advance of the frontiers of British India in Sind made it desirable to have closer relations with Kalat, if only to put an end to the raids on the newly con quered territories. Consequently, in 1854, General Jacob, the commandant of the Sind frontier, was deputed to make a treaty with the khan. This was successfully negotiated, as the position of the khan had been shaken by rebellions, and he was anxious both for support and for money. The terms bound the khan "to act in subordinate co-operation with the British Government and to enter into no negotiations with other states without its con sent." On condition of a faithful performance of his duties, he was granted an annual subsidy of Rs. 5o,000.

Nasir Khan died in 1856 and, under his successor Khudadad Khan, a boy of twelve, there was a rebellion of the turbulent chiefs who, dissatisfied with the presents they had received on his succession, attempted to depose him. The British Govern ment, although the Indian Mutiny was at its height at the time, deputed a British officer to reside at Kalat in 1857. The khan was wounded by his cousin, who seized Kalat and ruled for a year, when he was assassinated. The chiefs then reinstated Khudadad, who ruled precariously and was unable to control his subjects or prevent them from raiding British territory. So bad was the state of affairs that it became evident that further intervention in the affairs of the state was imperative.

In 1875, Captain Sandeman was deputed on a mission to Kalat and he succeeded in arranging the disputes between the khan and his unruly chiefs. By a treaty, negotiated in 1876, the British Government became the referee between the khan and his chiefs and thus was inaugurated the famous Sandeman system of the administration of the tribes through their own chiefs and in accordance with tribal custom, but under British supervision.

In furtherance of the defence of India, the position at the head of the Bolan pass, which included Quetta and the surrounding country, was occupied and, in 1879, by the Treaty of Gandamak, Sibi and Peshin were annexed. In 1891, Sir Robert Sandeman extended British authority over the Zhob valley, situated between Peshin and the old frontier of India. Ultimately Baluchistan was incorporated in the British empire, and its boundaries with Persia and Afghanistan were fixed by a series of commissions, the three states meeting at the peak termed Kuh-i-Malik-i-Siah, situated some sixty miles to the south of Sistan.

In 1893, the outrageous behaviour of the khan, who ill-treated his officials, necessitated his deposition and he was succeeded by his son. Some years later, it was decided to open up a trade route to Sistan and the district of Nushki was ceded by the khan, who received an annuity on this account as also for the Quetta district. The caravan route to Sistan was opened up in the face of great physical difficulties, which included lack of drinkable water and of supplies, a predatory population and similar conditions on the Persian side of the frontier. However, thanks to British energy, a trade route was opened, which not only developed commerce, but quieted the wild tribesmen. During the Great War, the rail way line, which had been extended to Nushki, was continued to the Persian frontier. (P. M. S.) The frontiers of Baluchistan may be considered to be inter national. To the north runs the border of Afghanistan for 7 2om. and, to the west, that of Persia for 5 2om. To the south, there are 47om. of coastline on the Arabian Sea. On the east, there is a frontier 9oom. in length with the Indian provinces of Sind, the Punjab, the north-west frontier, and, last but not least, the forty miles of border with Waziristan, a source of constant trouble and expense. The borders are affected by external conditions and policy, while internal conditions are affected by the position of affairs in India.

An attack on India by a Turkish army, led by German superior officers, figured prominently in the Asiatic programme of the German Government. To prepare the way for it, German mis sions, supported by a force, were despatched to Persia which, after driving out British officials, missionaries and business repre sentatives from central and southern Persia by the end of 1915, used every means to promote risings and the assassination of British officials in Baluchistan. The fall of Kut in April 1916, constituted a terrible blow to British prestige, and it appeared probable that a wave of fanaticism would sweep across Baluchistan to India. Actually two British officers were assassinated in Mak ran through German instigation.

On the outbreak of the World War, the chiefs, following the lead of the Khan of Kalat and the Jam of Las Bela, gave demonstra tions of their loyalty and offered their resources in support of the British Raj. A camel corps was raised in the Kalat State and large sums were sanctioned by the khan to protect the Persian border from raids. The Baluch and Brahui chiefs alike rendered willing service.

Owing to the disappearance of Persian authority in Persian Baluchistan, the Germans found it an excellent field for propa ganda and for the organization of raids, although, of course, Kabul was their main objective. Professor Zugmeyer, German consul at Kerman, who, under the guise of a zoologist, had travelled extensively in Baluchistan some years previously, en deavoured to raise the tribes by the despatch of German emissa ries to the leading chiefs in Persian Baluchistan and by letters.

To meet this danger, three separate steps were taken. (I) The despatch, in 1916, of a mission under Brigadier-General Sir Percy Sykes to restore order in South Persia and to expel the German missions. (2) The creation of a cordon along the border of eastern Persia in which connection, in 1916, Brigadier-General R. E. Dyer severely punished the Damanis of Sarhad, who had raided Baluchistan and occupied Khwash. (3) The despatch of a mission under Major T. Keyes into Persian Baluchistan. There is no doubt that these operations preserved the security of the frontier.

Internally, in 1915 and again, in the following year, expeditions were sent into Jhalawan, where there was some unrest caused by German agents from Persia as well as by disloyal and fanatical preachers from Sind. Moreover, the Marris, a difficult tribe to handle even in peace time, broke into open rebellion in February 1918, necessitating the use of a large force. It is, however, a matter for congratulation that there was no serious rebellion on a large scale in the province, and this fact proves the success of the Sandeman system.

The assassination of King Habibulla of Afghanistan in Feb. 1919, and the outbreak of the Third Afghan War in May of the same year, created a feeling of intense excitement, and it could not be expected that peace would remain unbroken. The break down of the militia system on the north-west frontier, arid the abandonment of Wana, the key position in neighbouring Waziris tan, led to Fort Sandeman, situated in the Zhob valley, being besieged by a large force of Waziris, Mahsuds and outlaws. The bazaar was sacked, but the fort was stoutly held until relieved. The whole Afghan border seethed with excitement and there were frequent raids into Zhob, Loralai, Chagai and other districts, which caused intense anxiety. The long delay in making a definite settlement either with Afghanistan or with the Waziris, made it impossible for a time to reoccupy the abandoned posts. Under the Sandeman system, greater security, prosperity and happiness are enjoyed in Baluchistan than at any other period in its blood stained history, while its security means much to the peace of India.

The term baluster shaft is used of any similar vertical shaft such as those which are to be found dividing the windows in Saxon work.