1844.] 1838 and 1839, by Hajee Abdun Nubee, of Kabul. 669 



These are only a few of the many exports from Kalat to Mukran. 

 I did not purchase more, as the above were quite sufficient credentials 

 to support my character as a small merchant. 



These preparations and an attack of illness at Mastung, delayed my 



_ departure till the 2nd October 1838, when I had the sa- 



Departure. 



tisfaction of leaving Kalat, with the conviction, that not 



the remotest kind of suspicion was entertained by the Brahoees as to 

 the real purport of my pending tour, and so emboldened was I by 

 this, that I did not hesitate to take advantage of the escort of the 

 Khan's Shahghasee, Noor Mahommed, who was on his way to Keen 

 and Panjgoor to collect the revenue, with a body of 300 horse, foot, and 

 camelry, (armed men mounted on the camels.) The title of Shahghasee 

 is of Turkee origin, and is a corruption of Ishaka Kasie, an officer about 

 imperial courts, whose duty it was to superintend the ceremony of 

 presentation. 



The office is sometimes hereditary at the Kalat court, and 

 Deen Mahomed, the present man's father, was Shahghasee to Mah- 

 mood Khan, the father of Mehrab Khan. He had two sons, Ghu- 

 lam Mohommed and Ghulam Ahmed. The duties of the Shahghasee 

 are numerous ; first he is master of the court ceremonies, to enforce 

 the observation of which he is assisted by forty chobdars or mace- 

 bearers. He is also head constable, and with his bailiffs or mahso- 

 lies executes all arrests, and he is moreover keeper of the sword of 

 state, which office is not at all a sinecure, nor is the instrument an 

 idle one, as with it he has himself to behead all state culprits; in 

 this capacity he is called " Meer Gkazab," or " Lord of wroth." 

 I mention that the office is sometimes hereditary, as in the time of 

 Nasseer Khan, Mehrab Khan's grandfather, it was held by Shah- 

 ghasees Barfee and Misree, of quite a different family from that of 

 the present man. 



Noor Mahommed is a khanehzad of the Khans; this word literal- 

 ly means " home-bred," or the progeny of a slave. Mehrab Khan has 

 a large number of men, of which he has formed a kind of body-guard, 

 and besides these slaves, Hindoos and a few Dehwans, allows no one 

 to reside within the walls of Kalat. They are divided into several 

 sects ; viz. Khorasanees, or progeny of the captives made by Meer 

 Nasseer Khan in his Khorasan campaigns; Gudads, or Sikh captives ; 



