BELA, LAS BELA or LUS BEYLA, a town situated in 26° 27' 3o" N. lat. and 6o° 45' o" E. long., 35o ft. above sea level, the capital of Las Bela, south of Kalat (Baluchistan), ruled by the Jam (or Cham), who occupies the position of a protected chief under the British Raj. From time immemorial the trade route between Sind and Persia has passed through Las Bela and Makran. The area is 7,132 sq.m., and population (1931) 63,008, 61,365 being Muslim. Two rivers from the north, the Purali and the Kud, unite to provide water to irrigate the fertile, alluvial, hot and malarial plains of Las Bela on the north-east corner of the Arabian Sea. The hill-ranges to the east, parting the plains from Sind (generally known locally as the Mor and the Kirthar), between which lies the long narrow line of the Hab valley, strike nearly north and south, diminishing in height as they approach the sea and allowing of a route skirting the coast between Kara chi and Bela. To the west they are broken into an infinity of minor ridges massing themselves in parallel formation with a strike which curves from south to west till they form the coast harrier of Makran. The Persian route from India, curving some what to the north, was important in the mediaeval days of Arab ascendency in Sind, and it is to this route that Bela owes a place in history. Bela is itself rather prettily situated and about four miles to the south are the well-kept gardens which surround the tomb of Sir Robert Sandeman. The population of the town numbers (1931) 3,340. The Jam's retinue consists of about 300 infantry, 5o cavalry and 4 guns. Liability to assist on active service is the only acknowledgment of the suzerainty which is paid by the Jam to the Khan of Kalat.
There are traces of ancient Arab (possibly Himyaritic) occu pation to be found in certain stone ruins at Gondakeha on the Kud river, Jo m. to the north-west of Bela, whilst the Greek name "Arabis" for the Purali is itself indicative of prehistoric connec tion with races of Asiatic Ethiopians referred to by Herodotus. On the coast, near the village of Sonmiani may be traced the indentation which once formed the bay of Morontobara, noted in the voyage of Nearchus ; and it was on the borders of Makran that the Turanian town of Rhambakia was situated, which was once the centre of the trade in "bdellium." In the 7th century A.D. Las Bela was governed by a Buddhist priest, at which time all the province of Gandava was Buddhist, and Sind was ruled by the Brahman, Chach. With the influx of Arabs into Makran, Bela, under the name of Armel (or Armabel), rose to importance as a link in the great chain of trading towns between Persia and Sind; and then there existed in the delta important towns each with its citadel, its caravanserai and bazaar, which are not only recorded but actually mapped by one of the mediaeval Arab geographers, Ibn Haukal, and many old sites can be traced. The Lumris, or Lasis, who originate the name Las as a prefix to that of Bela, are the dominant tribe in the province. They are compara tively recent arrivals who displaced the earlier Tajik and Brahui occupants. It is probable that this influx of Rajput population was coincident with the displacement of the Arab dynasties in Sind by the Mohammedan Rajputs in the 1 1 th century A.D. Some authorities connect the Lumris with the Sumras.