by the citadel; a more respectable work of the same character,
which incloses the extensive mass of mud-terraced buildings,
denominated the palace of the khán.
Although in J ’iiálawán there is nothing deserving the
name of a river, yet abundance of water can be found even for
irrigation, by digging a few feet into the beds of those streams
which cease to flow with the rains. The province is intersected
in all directions by mountains ; and, in addition to the
district of Kelát, it contains those of Wudd, Khosdar, Nal,
Punduran, .Zuhree, Zedee, and two or three others of less
consequence. There are several towns, and also many permanent
villages, whose inhabitants, in addition to the Nomads
of the plains, constitute a considerable population. Zahri,
the chief town of J’hálawán, contains two or three thousand
houses, defended by an ordinary mud wall.1
K ach’h Gándávah lies eastward of the Hala or Brahuic
mountains; and it has Síwístán on the north, Sinde on the
south, with a desert tract lying between it and the river Indus
on the east. It is scarcely 120 miles long from north to
south, and the width of the habitable and fertile part is but
little more than 60 miles.2
There are two streams in this province; the Nárí, which
comes from the mountains N.W. of Sebee, and runs through
Míthu, Eree, Hájí, and other places, until it is finally lost in
the sand and jungle near Tambú; and the Bolán torrent,
whose bed, as we have seen, forms, at one season, the ordinary
high road to Kandahar. Numerous aqueducts lead the
water from these streams, to irrigate the rich loamy soil of
the plains, which are capable of producing supplies for the
whole of Bálúchistán, and from whence, even in their present
state, great quantities of grain, cotton, and indigo, are
exported. The villages covering the cultivated portions of
Kach’h are numérous, and it contains likewise several towns,
such as Dadur Beg and Sheree, each having 1000 or 1500
houses. Gándávah, the capital, is walled, rather smaller
than Kelát, and contains the winter palace of the khán, who,
together with the principal sirdárs, and a proportion of the
1 Pottinger’s Travels, p. 261. ’ Ibid., p. 309.
people, remove thither during the winter, in order to avoid
the extreme cold of the lofty regions of J’halawan and
Sarawan.1
The remaining territory lying eastward is the small district
of H arand D ajel, which extends westward from the Indus
to the districts of Tul and Chuteealy, or nearly to the borders
of the preceding province, and northward to Derrahi Ghazi
Khan.2 The chief town is Harand, and the second Dajel.
Although the district scarcely exceeds 50 miles in length
or breadth, the soil is so fruitful, that the khan of Kelat
receives a greater revenue from it than from the whole of the
province of Sarawan.3
K ohistan, or the land of mountains, is the third great
division: it extends in a triangular shape northward from
Mekran, into the desert country, by which it is inclosed on
three sides, the east, north, and west/ It extends about 180
miles from north to south, nearly as many from east to west
at the base, or broadest part, and it contains two principal
districts, Ma'idani (the Plain), and Kohak (the Hills).6 In
the former are permanent towns and villages, whilst the
latter has only groups of felt tents here and there along the
valleys.
Being of a primitive character, the mountains of Baluchistan
contain different kinds of marble, mineral salt, sulphur,
naphtha, sal ammoniac, and alum, with a large proportion
of iron, copper, and other metals, which are partially worked
by the natives for local purposes.6
Of late years the population has been so much diminished
by migrations into Persia, as well as to the territory lying
eastward, that at present there are not more than eight or
ten tribes of note remaining in the whole division. Except
the ordinary patriarchal authority, the Baluches have not any
particular form of government, or regular system of laws,
beyond the capricious customs and prejudices handed down in
each section; therefore, in this respect at least, the country
1 Pottinger’s Travels, p. 310.
“ Ibid., p. 311.
J Ibid., p. 313.
2 Ibid.
‘ Ibid.
• Ibid., p. 312.