98 TOPOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS. 



it was decided that only one party sliould be employed in Baluchistan, 

 and that operations should be confined to the extension of the 2-inch 

 survey in the neighbourhood of Quetta and Pishin, and in revising 

 the survey of the country about the Bolan and Harnai routes. 



The field work of the other Baluchistan party (No. 16) included 

 the extension of the general survey of Baluchistan on the scale 

 of half an inch to the mile, and a survey of the town and canton- 

 ment of Quetta on the 16-inch scale, with a record of all 

 properties on the cadastral system. Minor triangulatiou prepara- 

 tory to further extension of the -|-inch survey was carried on 

 towards Kharan, and of the 2-inch survey south-west of Quetta. A 

 series of secondary triangles was also extended by Mr. McNair from 

 the Great Indus Series, nearDehra Ghazi Khan, along the parallel of 

 30 c latitude up to Quetta, where it will join the Kalat Series. He 

 carried out his work under trying circumstances with great care and 

 accuracy. The exposure which this energetic and enterprising 

 officer endured tried his constitution severely, and he unfortunately 

 fell a victim to typhoid fever, and died at Mussoorie in the summer 

 of 1889. Mr. McNair had joined the Department in 1867, and had 

 served for 12 years in Rajputana and Mysore. From the first he 

 displayed special aptitude for survey work, and during the Afghan 

 War he had mapped out a good deal of new countrv, including the 

 Lughman valley and other parts of the Upper Kabul valley. At the 

 close of the war he was employed in the risky work of mapping 

 the frontier line from Kohat to Bannu. But his most conspicuous 

 achievement was his adventurous journey into Kafiristan, which 

 gained for him the Murchison Grant of the Royal Geographical 

 Society.* lie was an able observer; he had readiness of resource, 

 and a marked aptitude for gaining personal influence over the 

 frontier tribesmen with whom he came in contact. 



The country topographically surveyed by the party on the i-inch 

 scale in 1S87-88 lies south and south-west of Khelat, and includes the 

 highest part of the Brahui mountain system, which forms the water- 

 parting between the Indus basin and the rivers that flow to the west. 

 A large scale map of Quetta was completed during the recess. During 

 January 1888, Captain Wahab and a sub-surveyor were told off to 

 accompany an expedition under the Deputy Commissioner of Dera 

 Ismail Khan for exploration in the Gumal pass. Unfortunately 

 little or no additional geography was obtained, as Captain "Wahab 

 was unable to ascend any commanding hill bej^ond Kajuri Kach (up 



* See page 149. 



