BELOOCHISTAN. 



73 



80th were devoted to a consideration of the 

 ilik'stion of the safety of the emigrants, the es- 

 t:ilili-limont of the cause of death and proper 

 ni.lr- of interment. In its last three sessions 

 the I luil th Congress considered the question 

 of the best manner to check the excessive use 

 of liquor by the laboring classes, the measures 

 ti> In- employed for the organization of aid so- 

 cieties for sick and wounded in war, and the 

 best system of cleaning large cities. 



A Geographical Congress was opened in 

 Brussels on September 12th by the King in per- 

 son. In his opening address he pointed to the 

 growing interest taken in the civilization and 

 exploration of Africa. He stated that for some 

 time past the persons engaged in this task had 

 recognized the necessity of a closer union be- 

 tween all explorers for the furtherance of their 

 common ettbrts, and that for this reason the 

 Congress had been called. He then empha- 

 sized the necessity of organizing stations for 

 scientific purposes at the boundaries of the un- 

 explored parts of Africa, and for the execution 

 of this work proposed the establishment of an 

 international committee. The Congress then 

 elected the King its president, who thereupon 

 took the chair, this being the first time that a 

 king presided at another than a political con- 

 gress. The Congress was addressed by the 

 African explorers Nachtigal, Schweinfurth, 

 Rohlfs, Lieutenant Lux, Commander Cameron, 

 and Colonel Grant, on the results of their ex- 

 plorations. Commander Negri, of Italy, re- 

 ported on the misfortunes of the Italian expe- 

 dition to Central Africa, and Minister Baron 

 Hofrnann, of Austria, on Gessi's and Piaggla's 

 latest journeys in the territory between the 

 Albert Nyanza and the Victoria Nyanza. The 

 question of establishing stations for scientific 

 purposes in the interior of Africa was then 

 discussed. Sir H. Rawlinson made particular 

 reference to the military stations of Colonel 

 Gordon on the Upper Nile, and Sir Fowell- 

 Buxton to the stations of the English Mission- 

 ary Society, which penetrated farther into the 

 interior every year. Sir Rutherford Alcock 

 particularly proposed the erection of a strong 

 station on the east coast opposite Zanzibar. 

 After r. --diving to advocate the erection of 

 such stations, the Congress adjourned on Sep- 

 tember 14th. On October 5th the permanent 

 commission for the measurement of a degree 

 ;iM-mbled in the Royal Academy. The con- 

 ference was opened by the Minister of the In- 

 terior, and adjourned to meet in Stuttgart in 

 September, 1877. 



BELOOCHISTAN, a country of Asia, bound- 

 ed north by Afghanistan, east by British India, 

 south by the Indian Ocean, and west by Persia. 

 The government is under several rulers, of 

 whom the Khan of Kelat is the most impor- 

 tant. After deducting the territory in the 

 west, which has been ceded to Persia, the area 

 amounts, according to the latest calculations, 

 to 106,750 square miles. The population was 

 estimated by Dieterici in 1859, under the sup- 



position of a density of twelve inhabitants to 

 the square mile, and an area of 165,800 square 

 miles, at about 2,000,000. At an area of 106,- 

 750 square miles the same density would give 

 a population of only 1,250,000. Major-General 

 Ohrutches, however, estimates the total popu- 

 lation in 1868 at only 1,000,000, which gives a 

 density of about nine to the square mile.* 



The Bolan Pass, a defile in the mountains of 

 Northwestern Beloochistan, on the route be- 

 tween the Lower Indus and the table-land of 

 Afghanistan, is not only one of the most re- 

 markable mountain-passes of the world, but 

 has of late gained a considerable political im- 

 portance for the British rule in India. 



BOLAN PASS. 



A rebellion against the Khan of Kelat, which 

 had broken out in 1875, and continued during 

 a part of the year 1876, led to a British diplo- 

 matic mission to Kelat. Emil Schlagintweit (in 

 the Augsburg Gazette, No. 58, 1876) gives the 

 following report on the disturbances: "Ac- 

 cording to the British scouts, the sovereign is 

 the sole cause of the civil war now raging in 

 Kelat, on the western border of India. His op- 

 pressions had caused the high dignitaries of the 

 country to forget their old feuds, and to unite 

 against the Khan. Nasr'ed-din and Tadsh Mo- 

 hammed, Princes of Las, the southern province 

 of Beloochistan, became the leaders of tho 

 rebels. As the Khan did not succeed in con- 

 quering his enemies in the open field, he pre- 

 tended friendship, enticed them to his capital 

 in the fall of 1875, and there had them mur- 

 dered. But the cause of order was but little 

 aided by this deed, and the Khan and his 

 chiefs were much farther from an understand- 

 ing than before. Disorders increased, as the 



* For s more detailed account of the population of .Beloo- 

 chistan, ee AHNCAJ. CXCLOPJCDIA for 1S75. 



