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TRANSACTION'S OF THE SECTIONS. 143 



On Bashakard in Western Baluchistan. By Ernest A. Floyer. 



The author made two prolonged journeys into the previously almost unknown 

 interior of this remarkable country, whilst engaged in constructing the line of tele- 

 graph to India which runs through Baluchistan from Persia. Although small in 

 area, Bashakard retains all the distinctiveness of a large country. It is so exces- 

 sively mountainous that no animals except the donkeys of the country can cany 

 loads in it. The paths are intricate and so little used by the sparse population that 

 strangers cannot find them. The access of the natives of the surrounding country 

 is thus, to a certain extent, barred ; and there is in the disposition of Bashakardis a 

 mixture of pride and cowardice, added to intense ignorance, which makes them alow 

 to mix with strangers. The author went on to speak of the general grotesqueness 

 and barrenness of the huge crags which compose this district, and which take from 

 the oxides of iron and lead they contain almost every colour of the rainbow. The 

 remains of massive forts and extensive burying-grounds were described ; and the 

 Fauna of the country stated to consist chiefly of ibex, mountain sheep, bears, and 

 norcupines. The population was estimated at 2000, about half of whom are slaves. 

 t is, however, many years since any new slave blood has been introduced, and Mr. 

 Floyer was inclined to think that the ancestors of the present slaves did not come 

 from Africa ; for, though some of the men are very dark, he nowhere saw thick lips 

 or woolly hair. A wealthy Bashakardi, such as the governor of a province, has 

 about 100 slaves, a few of whom carry arms and remain near his person, while the 

 rest are distributed about in six or seven little mat villages, where they sow maize, 

 wheat, and beans, cultivate date-trees, and tend goats and a few small sheep. On 

 the least rumour of fighting or disturbance of any sort, they retire into some lofty 

 mountain fastness, where they have previously assured themselves of the existence 

 of water. The country is divided into six provinces, which are simply so many 

 clusters or ranges of mountains. These are — Marz to the north, Baroser (with the 

 capital) in the centre, Gavr and Parnrint to the east, Pizgh to the south, and 

 Jangda to the west. These provinces are each under a governor, all of whom till 

 recently submitted to a head chief at Anguhran, the capital. Seif Allah Khan, 

 however, the late rider, in pursuit of a blood-feud of long standing, shot down on 

 his own threshold four of the leading members of the family of Ghulani Abbas, 

 Governor of Baroser ; and this family having obtained help from the Persian Govern- 

 ment, which always keeps an eye on such matters, Seif Allah Khan was driven into 

 hiding, though his tribe were so powerful that he coidd not be dispossessed of his 

 extensive date-groves. After this the Governor of Kirman sent a tax-collector (one 

 sent some years before had been murdered), and, through the medium of the 

 Governor of Pizgh, whom the Persians promised to make head chief, they collected 

 about 200 tomans, being roughly three krans per head, from all the free population 

 who coidd be induced to pay. The vicinity of Anguhran is almost the only flat 

 space in the country. It is situated at the confluence of two huge torrent-beds, in 

 tlie fertile silt of which, walled up from the winter freshets, are thousands of very 

 superior date-trees. Here, as elsewhere, the only places available for cultivation 

 are the deposits of silt in the beds of torrents. The climate is almost like that of 



land, though ratherwarmer ; lime-, orange-, and fig-trees are grown, and willow; 

 a kind of pepper and pomegranate-trees thrive. The peculiarity of the scanty vege- 

 tation of the hills themselves is the unusual abundance of powerfully-scented plants. 

 The general elevation of the country is 2000 feet, sloping down to the east and up 

 to the north. The only trade is the occasional export of Sunaiti, a small red wheat, 

 to Minab and dates to Jask, in return for which the inhabitants get salt, beads, 

 coarse powder, and salt fish, and a very little calico. They make and wear a very 

 coarse cotton cloth kilt and rope sandals of bruised palm-leaves ; their arms are 

 sword, shield, gun, and dagger. The Bashakard dialect is similar to that of the 

 Makran Baluch, describee! by Mr. Pierce in the 'Proceedings' of the Bombay 

 branch of the lloyal Asiatic .Society ; but it is more corrupt, and contains many 

 words the derivation of which Mr. Floyer could not ascertain. 



