294 TRAVEL, ADVENTURE, AND SPORT. 



separates the province of Las from that of Mekran, 

 and were foiled after all. Being composed of alter- 

 nate pyramidal-shaped layers of sandstone and mud, 

 tilted up not far from perpendicular to the height of 

 four thousand feet, and the action of the elements 

 having washed away most of the mud, there re- 

 mained the curious phenomenon of a mountain-range 

 out of which there had been taken a series of cuts, 

 isolating each remaining slice from every other. Con- 

 sequently, it was possible to wander for miles through 

 narrow clefts arched by the blue sky ; but what with 

 cross passages, sudden terminations, losing oneself in 

 the labyrinth, and ascending delusory slices which 

 turned out to be lower than many around, no real 

 progress was made toward reaching the central eleva- 

 tion, which, after the trouble and danger of mounting 

 some pasteboard-like pyramid a thousand feet high, 

 always seemed as far off as ever. There are other 

 mountains, as portions of the Hala, on which a broad 

 backbone of black basalt has been tilted up through 

 secondary rock ; and the summits of these form small 

 portions of table-land. No Beluch of Brahui feeds 

 his flock up there ; but the wild mountain-sheep, with 

 their magnificent horns, afford difficult and exciting 

 sport. From the edge of one of the mountain pla- 

 teaux which we managed to reach, there was a per- 

 pendicular fall of at least two thousand feet ; and at 

 mid-day the climate was cool and bracing compared 

 with what it was below. It was in the evening that 



