295 
1892.] H. G. Raverty —The Mihrdn of Sind and its Tributaries. 
“ The Badshah named the part between the Sutlaj and the Biah, 
Bist-Jalandhar ; that between the Biah and the Rawi, the Bari [not 
between the Harihari, Nurni, or Ghard, and the Rawi, it will be observed. 
This is important, because, even now it is considered to extend from the 
dried up Biah to the Rawi] ; that between the Rawi and Chin-ab, 
Rachin-ao or Rachin-ab; that between the Ohin-ab and Bihat, Ohin- 
many of them contain much arrant nonsense, old statements re-dished up, and the 
stories of Dow and Briggs renovated. There is a compilation issued from the “ In¬ 
telligence Branch of the Quarter-Master General’s Department ” in India, called 
the “ Pe'shin Gazetteer,” which is called Part III of a “ confidential ” Gazetteer of 
Afghanistan, “ intended for 'Polit ical and Military reference.” 
“Pdshin” means ‘ anterior 1 antique,' and also ‘ the afternoon,' but the tract of 
country which the compilation in question is intended to give information upon 
chiefly, is that part of the southern Afghanistan called Pushang (which’Arab writers 
called Fushanj, according to their system of writing old Tajzik words), through 
which part we are carrying a Railway (a good part of which, from a recent “ Report ” 
lias been found useless), and call it in public documents “ Balochistan,” because it is 
in the Af gh anistan. 
I will give a specimen of the historical information contained in this “ Antique ” 
or “Afternoon” Gazetteer, suggested by the above statement of Abu-i-Fazl. It 
says:—“ The Baluch tribes to the west {[the Baluchistan is referred to], being the in¬ 
habitants best known to Nadir Shah, that monarch bestoioed their name on the country, 
which properly should be styled Brdhuistdn, if supremacy and numbers are of any 
weight .” I venture to say that there is no authority for stating that Nadir Shah 
gave name to the Baluchistan, which was known by that name centuries before his 
time. 
It will be seen from what Abu-1-Fazl states, that it was the well known name of 
their country, ages before Nadir Shah’s time, and also before the Brahuis were known 
to history. Of course, it is not to be supposed that the above was intended to mis¬ 
lead, but it is misleading nevertheless. It is the outcome of persons writing on 
subjects respecting which they have no special knowledge, and copying the incorrect 
statements of others, upon which they have to depend. 
The compiler of the “ Peshzn” Gazetteer, however, is not the only one: there 
is a “pamphlet”—written for some political purpose apparently, entitled “Our 
Western Frontier,” London, 1887—containing much after the same fashion, by Mr. 
C E. Biddulph, of the Bombay Uncovenanted Service. At page 8 he assures us 
that “the terms Afghanistan and Belooehistan, are arbitrary and fictitious that 
“ they are terms we have adopted from motives of convenience that “ the region 
called by us Baloochistan (p. 13),” is a “ term invented by us (p. 15) and that, “ the 
term Afghanistan is one of European invention (p. 16).” 
It is very evident that the writer is unacquainted with Abii-l-Fazl, much less 
with older writers by five or six centuries. When a person sets himself up as a 
teacher of others respecting the geography, history, and ethnography of a country, 
he ought, at least, to know something of its past history. The author of the 
pamphlet in question will find considerable information on this head from the Mu¬ 
hammadan writers in the Fifth Section of my “ Notes on Afghanistan and part 
of Baluchistan.” 
