encircled with wreaths of the like materials, which has a fanciful and pleasing effect.'

From the Jam, or Chief of the province of Lus, they received the most hospitable treatment; he afforded them every assistance that his poverty would permit, and was very anxious to secure their safety, after they should leave his territory. It would seem, however, that he had some suspicion that our travellers were horse-dealers only in appearance; and indeed there is reason to suspect that they frequently enough went somewhat beyond the limits of their assumed character. Their feelings seem to have partaken rather too much of a military cast, and a slight recollection of what we have read supplies many instances, in which it is pretty clear that they were indebted for their concealment more to the local ignorance of European manners than to their own skilful performance of their part. The Jam made many inquiries respecting the power of England, and displayed a general knowledge of the existing circumstances' between Britain and France. He was, however, terribly staggered at the description of our naval force.

"He shook his head with an air of incredulity, and observed, " You tell me of a vessel that will carry one hundred guns, and one thousand men on board of her; it is morally impossible! Where are the latter to get food and water? The King has scarcely so many guns in his tope khanu, or arsenal; and the crews of two such ships would overrun the whole of my country." We reiterated our assurances of the truth of all we had told him regarding the navy of England, and briefly stated its effects in the battle of Trafalgar. To this he replied, "As you say it has been so, I am bound to believe it; but had the holy Prophet foretold it, the Noomrees (the people of Lus) would have demanded proof of it from him.""

This Chief is described as a shrewd man, desirous of infor'mation.' His person was handsome and prepossessing. After leaving this province, the next portion of the route lay through a country inhabited by the Bezunja Belooches, robbers by profession, who levy tribute on all travellers whose route unhappily passes through their territory, and who have wherewith to pay. From the head of this tribe, Ruhmut Khan, by the intervention of the Jam, our travellers purchased free passage and protection,' at the price of sixty rupees, and on the 30th of January, left Bela, and proceeded on their journey.

They halted on a high spot in the bed of the river, and the Belooches having quickly collected an immense pile of wood, we sat round a blazing fire the greater part of the night, while three or four Sookrees, or wandering musicians, who had come with the Bezunjas, entertained us by singing the exploits of their different chiefs, accom panying their songs with the most frantic and unmeaning gestures. Some of the songs and music were, however, soft and harmonious

enough, except when the audience chimed in with the performers, which was, for my taste, too often the case. A clearer picture of the savage life of the Bezunjas, and many other Belooche tribes, cannot well be pourtrayed than by this scene: all outward distinction and respect for chiefs were at that moment thrown aside. At intervals they, as well as their people, in the height of their enthusiasm, snatched the Setars, or musical instruments, from the hands of the Sookrees, and sung in descant wild,' their favourite airs, gradually working themselves, by ridiculous and violent action, into a state of absolute frenzy. The din then became universal, and quite stunning, and the auditory continued to applaud and join in chorus with the singers, until they were so completely exhausted, that they could exert themselves no longer. The instruments were then laid hold of by others, and then they were regularly passed round the circle."

The following day proved, that if any confidence, even of the slightest kind, had been placed in the proffered faith of the Bezunjas, it, was without good reason, for additional claims were made on the travellers, which they could evade only by threatening to take another route. Soon after this they seem to have been left almost to themselves, for Ruhmut and his party disappeared, and the owner of the hired camels obtained leave of absence. After having waited in vain for the faithless chief, who lingered behind brooding mischief, they determined to proceed on the riding camels, leaving their baggage to follow more slowly under the care of their Hindoo servants. On the first of February they entered the province of Ihalawan, by the Kohenwat, or mountain road. They had here the first opportunity of witnessing the manners of the Brahooes, or Mountain Belooches who proved to be friendly and hospitable. Their ghedans, or tents, for they are nearly all shepherds and wanderers, are

merely composed of a few thin sticks, bent so as to form an arched roof, and covered with a kind of coarse black blankets. The one I entered was scarcely high enough to admit of my standing upright in it; the length of it appeared to me to be about ten or twelve yards, and the breadth as many feet, and it was most comfortably spread with coarse carpets, that I found were made by the Brahooe women.'

The next day they reached Khozdar, a town containing about five hundred houses, built in a valley encompassed by moun'tains, and surrounded by a low mud wall.' The inhabitants are chiefly Hindoos. On the 6th they renewed their journey, and the following day experienced such intensity of cold, that the water they carried with them was frozen into a mass of ice.' On the 8th they reached a place

'named Rodenjo, from a curious tradition, 'firmly believed by all the natives, of two merchants having accidentally met here on an extreme cold winter's night, the camels of one of them being laden with madder, and of the other with indigo, which two dyes are severally called in the Belooche language Roden and Jo; the merchant, whose camel

bore the latter, exchanged some of that valuable article to a great disadvantage, for a quantity of the former, with which he made a fire, and thereby preserved his life; while his more parsimonious fellowsufferer would not apply the smallest particle of his remaining merchandize to the same purpose, and perished from cold.'

6

Kelat, in Mr. Elphinston's map, Kelauti Nusseer, which they entered the following day, is, as the name is intended to imply, the capital of Beloochistan. The city' stands on elevated ground, commanding a well cultivated valley of considerable extent. It is defended in part by walls, which are in a very ruinous state, and on the open side by an artificial precipice. The palace, viewed from without, seemed to be an irregular heap of 'common mud buildings,' with terraced roofs; and the citadel, in which this palace' stands, is described as a tolerably defensible fortification. The streets are in a most disgusting state, occasioned by the want of persons to cleanse them, and the overhanging situation of the houses. The markets are well supplied, and at reasonable prices; and that best of Eastern luxuries, pure water, flows through the centre of the town. The travellers were subjected here to some rather embarrassing inquiries; they evaded them, however, with sufficient address, though sometimes at the expense of a little deviation from truth. The population of the town included nearly all the varieties resident in Beloochistan. Mr. P. describes these varieties as consisting of Belooches, Hindoos, Uffghans, and Dehwars. The first are the natives, and form the great bulk of the population. The Hindoos and Uffghans are merely visiters or settlers. The Dehwars are a race of uncertain origin; they are cultivators of the soil, a quiet, gentle, honest tribe, enjoying considerable privileges and immunities, in return for tribute and service rendered to the Khan. They are small in stature, and usually inhabit the villages. It is from this last circumstance they derive their name, which signifies villager. The great body of the natives is divided into two classes, the Belooches, properly so called, and the Brahooes; and these two are subdivided into an almost countless number of tribes. The language, features, and character, of these two races, are perfectly distinct, though by intermarriages and common interests they are gradually assimilating. The Belooches are a tall, handsome, active, and intrepid race; pastoral in their modes and habits of life, and reside in tents made of felt and wicker-work. Like most nations of this kind, they are hospitable and predatory; their chupaos or forays, are carried to a most daring extent, and attended with circumstances of the greatest atrocity; yet their slaves are treated with the greatest kindness, and become, in every respect, part of the fa mily. Their hospitality to strangers is proved by the erection, in every town or village, of a Mihman Khanu, or house for guests,

where the traveller is conducted, and immediately visited by the Sirdar, or principal man, who welcomes him to the place. The general character of the Brahooes resembles that of the Belooches; they are, like them, 'shepherds, and still more unsettled in their choice of residence, frequently shifting their abodes for the advantage of better pasture. Their stature is far inferior to that of their countrymen of a different race; their language partakes of the Hindoo dialect, while the Beloocheekee has a strong affinity with the Persian. They are hardy, brave, and faithful, and averse to the plundering and violent system adopted by the Belooches.

On the 22d, our travellers were joined by their servants and baggage; they had met with great difficulties, and encountered considerable danger in their route. The last arose from the villany of Ruhmut Khan, and was averted only by the calm and resolute intrepidity of the Hindoo attendants. The intelligence brought by these brave and faithful men, was of a nature that tended to quicken the motions of the party, as it ascertained that considerable suspicion existed, in various quarters, respecting the real object of their journey. In the mean time, they were much annoyed by applications for medical advice, which they seem to have dispensed with becoming gravity. Their patients, however, were not always quite punctual in following their prescriptions.

'One man begun to drink a bottle of eye-water, and returned to tell us that it had operated as an emetic; others swallowed what we had given them as external applications, fortunately without any bad effect; but the most serious blunder was that of a miller who lived close to us, and who took at one dose a very large quantity of aperient medicine, which nearly killed him; he had been told to divide it into seven or eight parts, but hoping to derive the same benefit by adopting a less tedious mode, he confessed he had, knowing our injunctions, mixed and drunk it off."

Capt. Christie, in his medical capacity, obtained access to the haram of a man of rank, and as the scene is sufficiently descriptive of female manners in this part of the world, we shall extract part of his narrative of this visit.

'On entering the apartment, the lady of Sooltan Saheb rose up to receive me; she was a tall thin figure, dressed in a loose brown shift, open in front, coming down to the heels. I seated myself by her on the numud (felt), and the slave girls ranged themselves opposite. After many apologies, she submitted the case of her eldest daughter, about fifteen years of age, troubled with cutaneous disorders; she stretched her hand out from under a cloth, that I might feel her pulse, but I could not obtain a sight of her face; her figure, as far as I could judge, when she raised the cloth to put forth her arm, was small, but elegant. It appeared to me that her disease originated in eating dates, and other saccharine and heating food, and I prescribed ac

cordingly. They considered it a hardship that I stinted her allowance of meat, which, to a Brahooé lady, was a great deprivation. The next case brought before me was another daughter, a beautiful girl of twelve years of age, that had weak eyes, and it excited a little mirth among them, when I innocently asked to see them; however, they instantly consented, and she unveiled as lovely a face and form as ever was beheld all she required was a little eye-wash, and I agreed to send it to her. I had taken my watch out of my pocket whilst feeling the eldest daughter's pulse, to give a greater air of science to my acts, and unguardedly trusted it into the hands of the Darogha (steward), a fat Moultanee Hindoo, who, with all the impertinent stupidity inherent in his cast, opened it, and the first notice I had of my misfortune was the watch running down. I looked up. 'Ah!' said I, koorumsak (rascal), you know not the mischief you have done.' He laughed, although confused, and told me to set it right by the skill I possessed.... At the lower gate I was attacked by all the slave girls; one wanted medicine for her eyes, another longed for a child, a third had got the Bad or wind. However, I came off without waiting to hear one half of their complaints.'

....

After a number of vexatious difficulties and delays, they succeeded in quitting Kelat on the 6th March, and on the 9th reached the village of Nooshky. The intermediate country was highly romantic, full of passes and defiles, in many parts difficult, and in some hazardous of passage. One in particular seems to have strongly excited the admiration of the travellers.

'It is,' Lieut. Pottinger remarks, beyond all comparison the most difficult defile I have ever seen in any country. It is separated on the south east side, or that towards Kelat, from the other mountains, by a deep and narrow ravine, the sides of which are solid black rock, and very nearly perpendicular. Emerging from this gulph by a rugged path, we ascended the south east face of the pass, from the top of which the desert burst on our view, extending as far as the eye could trace, with the semblance of a smooth ocean, from the reflection of the sun on the sand. The emotions of my fellow-traveller and myself were at this instant of the most enviable nature, in the prospect before us; we already saw half our hopes realized, and all our doubts regarding this far-famed desert, laid at rest.'

At Nooshky they were detained longer than they had anticipated, and were much harrassed by the equivocal conduct of Eidel Khan, the Sirdar. On their entrance into the village, the inhabitants crowded round them, and treated them with great ' rudeness; but at the suggestion of a by-stander, they entered 'the house for guests,' and as if by magic, this behaviour was instantaneously and wholly changed; they displayed an anxious desire for the accommodation of the travellers, and treated them with a kindness and courtesy that formed a perfect contrast with their former turbulence. During their detention in this place, they were greatly annoyed, in consequence of the inordi