BELOOCIIISTAN', or BALUCHISTAN, a country of southern Asia, bounded on the n. by Afghanistan, on the e. by Sinde, on the s. by the Arabian sea, and on the w. by the Persian province of Kerman. B. corresponds in general with the ancient Gcdrosia, excepting that the latter name appears to have extended to the Indus. while the former nowhere reaches that river. B. sticulies in 0. lat. between 24' 50' and 30' 20', and in e. long. between 61' and 40', having a :oast-line of :,00 The area is about 106,000 sq.m., and the population is variously estimated alit from 400, 01N1 to 1,000,000. Though it was anciently 0 part of Persia, yet its modern re:ations connect it rather with India. more 1 artienlarly since Sinde and ;11°11110n have fallen under the dominion of the English. In the bygone ages of the overland invasions of Hindustan, the Gedrosian or Belooeliec (:cseit formed. ts it were, a barrier for the lower Indus, constraining every assailant, from Alexander downwards, to prefer the less bar ren, though perhaps more rugged route through Afghanistan into the l'unjah—a prefer ence strengthened by Alexander's direful experience in returning from the Ii this along the coast. The suriace is generally mountainous, more especially towards the the peak of Takkatu being said to be 11.000 ft. high. Even the bottonms of some of the valleys have an elevation of 5700 ft.; and the capital, Kelat, situated on the side of one of them, is 6000 ft. above the level of the sea. The rivers are inconsiderable, unless' after heavy rains: even the largest of them. the Dusti. after n course of about 1000 m., has been found to be only 20 in. deep, and 20 yds. wide at its nurtli. The •as
tures, as may be supposed, are poor. so that there tire few cattle: sheep and goats, how ever, are numerous. The dromedary is the ordinary beast of burden, and it is only in the n.w., towards Kerman, that horses are bred. Wherever there is a sittlIcieney of water, the soil is productive—the lowlands yielding rice, sugar, cotton, indigo, and tobacco; and the higher grounds. wheat. barley, madder, pulse, and European fruits. In the sandy waste of 3Iekran, where Alexander's army suffered its severest hardships and privations, the only valuable product is the date. The minerals are copper, lead, antimony, iron, sulphur, alum, tmd sal-ammoniac: and the manufactures are skins, woolens, carpets. and tent-covers of goat's and camel's hair, :IA rude fire-arms. B. has but one seaport, Sonmennee, near the fi miner of Sinde. The trade is insignificant, being, such as it is, chiefly monopolized by Hindus. The chief peoples of 13. are the distinct races of the Belooches and the Einhoes; all the inhabitants are :Mohamme dans of the Sunnite confession. Nost of the e. provinces, Which alone come into con tact with British Iudia, are under the authority of the khan of Eclat, who, with a revenue of about £30.000, maintains an army of ::000 men. This pt ity sovereign having acted treacherously towards the British during the Afghan campaign of 1t.:311, his royal city was taken by storm in the same year. In 1840. it was abandoned; but, in 1841, it was again captured, for temporary occupation. by the British.