BALUCHISTAN.
34
therefore, only an approximation to accuracy can
be attained. It Kachh-Gandava, and the country of the Marris and Bugtis on the north-east Sarawan on the north ; Jhalawan on the east Lus on the south-east ; Mekran, occupying an extensive length of country, on the south Kohistan, or the mountain country, on the west ; and Khelat, in which is situated the capital of Baluchistan. The most remarkable features of this extensive country are its rugged and elevated surface, its barrenness, and its deficiency of water. The mass of mountains which forms the eastern boundary of that division of Baluchistan called the mountain territory, lying between the capital, Khelat (lat. 29° i' 38" n., long, about 66° 39' e.), and the plain country to the east of it, designated Kachhi or KachhGandava, is composed of several parallel ranges of limestone rock, in it,
comprises seven Divisions or Provinces,
viz.
close proximity to each other, having a general strike of north-north-
This range, east to south-south- west, and a breadth of about 55 miles. a continuation of the Sulaiman, originates in Afghanistan, and enters Baluchistan north of the Bolan Pass in about 30° n.
lat.
and 60°
30' e.
under the name of Herbuf ; and after throwing out a branch to the eastward, which touches the river Indus at Sehwan, terminates, under the designation of the Khirtari and Hala mountains, at Cape Monze on the coast, west of Karachi, in about 25° n. lat. and 66° 68' e. long.,
upwards of 300 miles. The highest mountain of this range is the Chehil Tan, bearing about north by east 85 miles from Khelat, and attaining an altitude of 12,000 feet above the sea. The western range of the Herbuf mountains in this portion of Baluchistan is barren and without timber, and scantily peopled with pastoral tribes of Brahufs, who emigrate to the plains of Kachhi on the approach of the winter months. The direction of the other mountain chains in the heart of the country are almost wholly unknown, with the long., thus having a total length of
exception of a few of the principal ranges.
One
vast chain stretches
along the entire coast from the vicinity of Ras Juni on the west to the river Puralf
on the
east.
Parallel to this range,
and
at a distance of
about 70 miles north from it, another well-defined chain intersects Makran and joins the Sarawanf mountains near Bela. A third parallel range, called the Wushuti or Mue mountains, about no miles farther north from the last-mentioned chain, forms part of the northern boundary of Baluchistan, separating it from the great southern desert of Afghanistan.
The
other remarkable chains are the
mountains, about 240 miles
in length,
Bashkhird
and the Sarawani mountains,
stretching in a north-east direction.
North of the Bolan river and Pass the Herbuf mountains are met, about 30° n. lat., by confused ranges of rough precipitous mountains, which extend to the eastward with a strike nearly east and west to the Sulaimin range, in about 29° 5' x. lat. and 69° 30' e. long. This tract
in
