30 
E. Mockler —Origin of the, Baloch. 
[No. 1, 
Origin of the Baloch.—By Colonel E. Mockler, Political Agent , Muscat. 1 
[Read November 1893.] 
Professor Rawlinson derives the name of the “ Baloch ” from 
Belus, king of Babylon, who is identified with Nimrod, the son of Cush, 
and says that “ the names of Belus and Cush, thus brought into juxta- 
“ position have remained attached to some portion or other of the region 
“ in question from ancient times to the present day. The country East 
“ of Kirman was called Kusem throughout the Sassanian period. The 
“ same region is now Beloochistan, the country of the Beloochees or 
“ Belus, whilst adjoining it to the East, is Cutch or Kooch. ” With the 
name of Cush may be yoked “ Kech” (the capital of Makran), “ Kachl ” 
(a province of Baloochistan) and “ Cashmere ”; and, as the Sindhls call 
the Baloch, “ Baroc”, “ Kach and Baroch ” (Cutch and Broach of our 
maps) may be linked together. 
The country now called Balochistan was called by the Greeks 
“ Gredrosia ” and was inhabited on the seacoast by the “ Ichthyophagi ” 
(fish-eaters) and on the North-West by the Paricanii, Utii, Maki and 
other tribes. One of the tribes or clans now inhabiting it, viz., the 
Rind tribe (whose name signifies a “ turbulent, reckless, daring man”)— 
which, it may be noted, has never acknowledged the authority of any 
ruler in the country, and each individual member of which professes 
to owe obedience to no one, so that the tribe has no recognised head— 
assert that they originally came from “ Alaf, ” which is supposed by 
themselves and most other people, 1 fancy, who have heard their tra¬ 
dition, to be Haleb or Aleppo in Syria. They say that they are Arabs 
of the tribe of Quraish and were forced to the number of 40,000 
to emigrate from “ Alaf” by Yazid I, for having rendered assistance 
to Husain “the martyr,” nephew of the prophet Muhammad, in A. H. 
61. There is a popular ballad well-known throughout the whole coun¬ 
try to that effect which, however, states that from “Alaf” to Makran 
i 
1 [This article has not had the benefit of revision by the author. Names of well- 
known places and tribes are given in the conventional spelling of the maps. Thus 
Baloch and not Baldc. Ed.] 
