BELOOCHISTAN. 



IlKLOOCHISTAN. 



Hala Mountains, and belongs, properly speaking, to the plains on the 

 Indus, but is separated from that river by a desert tract Its length 

 from north to couth is about 1 20 mile*, but the habitable and fertile 

 part of it I- Ii-'.l- more than 60 miles broad. The southern boundary 

 > formed by a jungle of low trees, which between Saatee and Poonoo 

 runs east and west, and extends southward to the Indus, whose banks 

 it fringes. 



The whole of this province consists of a plain of arid white soil, the 

 crusted surface of which in dry weather is cracked like the dried bed 

 of a maroh. In the rainy season the rivers inundate a large portion 

 of the plain, and their water U carried by canals and embankments to 

 the places which lie farther off, and is reserved to fertilise the country 

 in the dry season. The two must considerable rivers are the Naree 

 and the Kauhee, both of which issue from the mountains where the 

 Tukkatoo range crosses the Umbar chain, and unite nearly in tin- 

 centre of the plain. Its course hence is southerly, and it is said to 

 lose itself in the sand and impenetrable jungle. This river has an 

 immense quantity of water when heavy rains prevail or the snow on 

 the mountains melts, but it is often almost dry for months at a time. 

 In this plain the year is divided into two seasons, the dry and the 

 rainy. The rainy season lasts during the south-west monsoon (from 

 July to September), and the dry season occupies the remainder of the 

 year. Tbe winters are mild, but the heat of the summer is oppressive. 

 In summer the Badd Sumoom, or Pestilential Wind, blows frequently, 

 and many people lose their lives by it. In Cutch Gundava many 

 sort* of grain are cultivated to a great extent, more especially jawaree, 

 bajree (7/o/ciw tpicatiu), and wheat, besides cotton, indigo, sugar, 

 mndder, fruits, and til (Setamum), or assafoetida. The villages are very 

 numerous. Gundava, the capital, is not so large as Kelat, but it is better 

 built, and probably contains about 20,000 inhabitants. The other 

 considerable places are Dadur (near the southern entrance of the 

 Bolan Pass), Bhag, and Lheree. 



The province of Liu, which extends along the shore of the Indian 

 Ocean, is a plain perfectly flat. On the banks of the rivers abundant 

 crops of grain, sugar-canes, &c., are grown. The ivin:iin.l.T of the 

 country in partly covered with sand and partly bare and stony, or 

 diversified with thick jungle. Along the sea-coast a salt marsh 

 extends twelve or fifteen miles inland, which is diversified with 

 tamarisk and other jungle, and in many places perfectly white with 

 alt To the north of Bela the country is undulating, and towards 

 the mountains it ill hilly. 



This plain is separated from Sinde by the Hala Mountains, and by 

 another chain from Mukran. This latter chain branches off from the 

 upland region to the north of 26 K. lat, and runs in a south-western 

 and southern direction to Has Kutcherie, where it terminates on the 

 shores of the bay of Sonmeany. On this chain a Hindoo pagoda 

 called Hinglatz stands, from which it receives the name of Hinglatz 

 Mountain*. Two passes lead over this range, one at the temple, 

 called the Hinglatz Pass, and the other farther to the north near Bela, 

 called Bela Pass. Two passes likewise traverse the Hala Mountains ; 

 one not far from the coast leads to Kurachee, and the other farther 

 to the north to Hyderabad. There U one pass to the upland, which 

 is called Kohun Wat, or the Mountain Road. 



The whole coast of this province lies on the bay of Sonmeany, 

 which is formed on the east by Ras Mooaroe and Chiluey Island, the 

 BibacU of Nearchus, and on the west by Cape Arubah, or Oremarrah, 

 in Mukran. It is a large sheet of water, said to be free from rocks or 

 shoal*, and contains a good port, named by Nearchus Port Alexander. 

 This bay receives the rirer Poorally, the Arabis of Nearchus, which 

 KM* north-east of Bela, runs along the base of the Jhalawan Moun- 

 tains, and afterwards turns to the south, in which direction it traverses 

 the plain and reaches the sea about two miles south-west of the village 

 of Sonmeany. At Lyaree, 20 miles N.N.E. from Sonmeany, it 

 becomei navigable for small boats. At Bela it is only from fifteen to 

 twenty yards wide, and a foot or two deep in the dry season , l.m 

 during the rains it U a quarter of a mile across and unfordablc. Tin- 

 bar at the mouth of the river has only two fathoms of water 

 low water, but near the village of Sonmeany the river is froi 

 fathoms deep. Bela or Beylah, the capital of the province, u on the right 

 bank of the Poorally. It consists of nouses built of mud and has about 

 6000 inhabitant*. In itc vicinity the sugar-cane is much cultivated. 



The countries which we have described were formerly tributary to 

 the khan of Kelat and perhaps are so still In the remainder of 

 Beiooehiatan his authority is only nominal 



The province of Ifeckra* or Mukrnn, called Qedrosia by 

 the ancient geographers, extends from the western boundary of 

 Liu and Jhalawan to the borders of Persia, and from the shores 

 of the sea to the desert of r..-l....,-liiUui. It is divided from thi.< 

 desert by a range of mountains, called the Wushutee, or Much 

 Mountains, which nm east and west, and on the east are con- 

 nected with the mountains of Jhalawan, on the west decline to 

 the northward and join the mountain region of Kohintan. Another 

 rang* of mountains runs nearly parallel with the Wushutee Moun- 

 tains, at a distance of from twenty to fifty miles from the sea, being 

 on the cart connected with the Hinglatz range, and on the west with 



the mountain region called Hn-hkmd. N,,n these ranges seem* 



to attain any great height The southern range divides Mukran into 

 two parU, the upland and coast, but both are very little known. 



The upland of Mukran seems to consist of a succession of plains, 

 divided from one another by ridges of hills or mountains, win. K, 

 commonly running north and south, connect the two mountain range* 

 which form its boundary. The soil of these plains generally con- 

 sisting of bare rock, and large tracts, according to Arrian, are covered 

 by sand. (' Anab. Alex.' vi. 24, &c.) Most of these plains seem to 

 bo at no great elevation above the level of the sea, because nearly in 

 all of them the date-palm grows, and produces excellent fruit . 

 best are those of the valley of Punjgoor, situated nearly in th 

 of the province. 



The sen-coast consists of flat bare plains, which contain many salt 

 marshes, and extend to the base of the nearest mountains. They 

 frequently show no trace of vegetation : Nearchus says (' Indike,' 

 chap. 2ii) that the sheep which were supplied by the natives to the 

 ships of Alexander had a fishy taste from iH-ing fed on fish, 

 being no grass in the country. The wretched mode of lifu of tin- 

 inhabitants of this coast, to whom the Qreeks gave the general name 

 of Ichthyophagi, or Fish-caters, is described by Nearchue (chap. 'J:'l. 



The provinces of Mukran and Lux have four seasons, two wet, one 

 hot, and one cold. The first wet season begins in February or March, 

 and lasts only two or three weeks; the wind tlu-n Mows fro m tin- 

 north-west. The second wet season comes on with the south-west 

 monsoon, and continue* through June, July, and August These wet 

 seasons are particularly favourable to the growth of grass, and change 

 many tracts into pasture ground. The hot season begins after the 

 rain in spring, and continues till October, those months exec] 

 which the south-west monsoon blows. Tbe heat is sometimes so 

 excessive, as to prevent even the natives fr"in venturing abroad during 

 the days called the Khoorma 1'u/., or Date Kipening, which takes place 

 in August The cold season lasts from Decemlx-r to February, l>nt 

 even then the air is warmer in Mukran and Lus than at any time in 

 the upper parts of Jhalawau and Sarawan. 



No port of Beloochistan suffers more from scarcity of water than 

 Mukran, except the desert Owing to the stony and sandy nature of 

 the surface, and its slight elevation, the abundant rain which dem-cnd-i 

 is not absorbed, and no permanent streams are formed. The water- 

 courses, except in the rainy season, are usually overgrown with 

 impervious jungle, in which camels and goats find a supply of food, 

 and wild beasts obtain shelter. 



The river Suduck forms a small harbour at its mouth, a mile from 

 which is the village Pusunee, a place of some trade. 



The river Dustee Nuddee, or Bugwur, is a small river at its mouth. 

 but it is supposed that it runs a distance of six or seven degrees of 

 latitude in a direct line to the coast, and that the water from it* 

 northern extremity traverses little less than a thousand mile-*. It 

 seems to be the same river which under the name of Boodoor 

 traverses the desert of Beloochistan, and in Sarawan is called Bale. 



Kedge U a small decayed town of about 3000 inhabitants ; it stands 

 on the Dustee River nt the foot of a high rock, crowned with a .-in. ill 

 fortress. 



At the western extremity <>f Mukrnn stands an extensive mass of 

 mountain ridges, colled Bushkurd, in which the hills seem to rise to 

 a considerable elevation, and to inclose high and cold valleys. Tin \ 

 are inhabited only by herdsmen. 



The mountains of Kobistan, which occupy the north-western 

 of Beloochistan, are connected with those of I'.u-hkurd by a range, 

 which attains a considerable height and divides the plain of Mukran 

 from that of Lushar and Bunpoor, which form the plain (M\ 

 of Kohistan. These plains produce dates in abundance. The sandy 

 desert of Bunpoor, which extends westward, divides these plums and 

 the mountains of liushkurd from the Persian province of Kirni.-iii. 

 A portion of the Bunpoor district however is fertile, yielding wheat, 

 dates, and pasture for sheep and camels. Tbe town 

 poor is built on a Urge mound near 27 40' N. lat., 60 20' 11. ! 



In the northern half of the province of Koliui<m and tin 

 tiguous districts of Mukruj are the Surlnnl Mountain- (('"Id Moun- 

 '> called on account of their elevation. 11. -ti < n 2:1 and :'.n 

 N. lat, tin van- visible, at the distance of eighty or ninety miles 

 declivities and lateral branches toivimU tin .1 i> : I 

 are covered with trees, and contain many fertile districts and valleys, 

 with a black loamy soil. But the western dc ( -livities and branches 

 are commonly nothing but a black rock destitute of verdure. These 

 mountains are rich in mineral productions. There are several brooks 

 of brine, and some pools of water are covered with n scum similar I.' 

 naphtha, li , and other metals are plentiful, and enough of 



them i* obtained to supply the consumption of the inhabitants. Sal- 

 ammoniac in the native product of a mountain called Koh-i-Nuushodir 

 (the Hill of Sal-ammoniac) ; it is found in the fissures of the 

 Brimstone in plentiful. 



The climate of this mountain-tract resembles in some measure that 

 of Sarawan and Jhalawan, but is much milder. It partakes of the 

 rains of the south-west monsoon, but these rain*, which in Mukran 

 are always regular, are here often partial, and at other times so heavy 

 as to destroy the croj* ; in cither case they arc followed by a famine. 

 Tin- K"hnkec, "r hilly part of Kohistan, contains no place of note. 

 hi tin. Mydani-. <>r Plain, the town .,!' I'ulira is tin- largest 



The desert of Beloochistan extends to north .it' tin- \Vu.-hut< >-. 

 range, between the provinces of Sarawan and Kohistan, and measures, 



