26 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



lifted and villages looted, in the telling of which 

 the look of regret for those " good old days " was 

 hardly veiled. When the pax Britannica ex- 

 tended over Baluchistan, he thought it best to 

 come under the protection of the Power that was 

 evidently destined to bring these wild tracts under 

 her sway ; and after many ups and downs he 

 found himself in his present position. To us he 

 was useful. His influence among the Baluch of 

 Seistan was great, for no people are so loyal to 

 their hereditary nobility. A "bandobast" for a 

 caravan journey, the purchase or hire of camels, 

 were duties he delighted in. No one knew like 

 him the points or blemishes of a camel, or how 

 to diagnose and treat his astonishing ailments 

 which hind leg, for example, should be branded 

 for an ailment of the chest ; no one was his 

 equal in tracking an individual camel over a plain 

 imprinted by a thousand others. So, when an 

 Afghan came in with a story of camels looted 

 by professional Persian camel thieves or vice 

 versd for camel raiding still remains a fine art 

 in Eastern Persia, he was the man to put on 

 the track. Did he not moreover know, even as 

 he was known by, every border thief? 



Once Said Khan was sent with some levies to 

 meet and escort Captain Hunter, the Consulate 

 doctor, who was riding post - haste from Seistan 



