Mushki-Chah--A Ziarat--Beluch dwellings--The Beluch and the
camera--Characteristics of Beluch--Three wells of good water at
Kundi--The Kuh-i-Sultan and the "Spear of the Sultan"--A big
Ziarat at Kundi--Nineteen hours on the saddle--Tretoh--Cold
wind--Parallel rows of sand barchans--Startling effect of
mirage--Chah Sandan--Brahui salutation--Belind Khan and his good
points--A respected officer--Praying at the Ziarat.
Mushki-Chah (3,570 feet) is rather more interesting than other stations
we had passed, because of the greater number of Beluch one saw about.
Here, too, however, one's sojourning had to be curtailed, for unluckily
the water was not only brackish--to which one does not object so
much--but had a sulphurous taste, with a sickening smell--not dissimilar
from that of an old-fashioned hospital ward, when the windows have not
been opened for several days. Otherwise it had no drawback.
There were four filthy pools from which water was obtainable and which
reminded us of a previous experience at Girdi in Sistan. The water of one
well had a nasty green coating on the surface; the second was of a deep
yellow colour. The other two wells were slightly cleaner but they, too,
were of a suspicious colour--that of strong tea. A cluster of a dozen
palm trees or so had grown near this water, and a little way beyond on a
sand and gravel bank was a Ziarat with a low surrounding wall of black
stones.
The Ziarat was of an ovoid shape, it just missed being circular, about 18
feet long and 16 feet broad. An entrance had been made to the east and a
sort of altar constructed to the west by north west--which is about the
accurate direction of Mecca from this spot. A high pole on which flew
red, white, and blue rags was fixed into the altar. The altar--if one may
call it so--was a mass of blocks of beautifully coloured marble. Some
pieces resembled the best Sienna marble, others were capriciously
streaked in white and dark brown; other large pieces were quite
transparent and resembled large blocks of camphor or ice. Others were
more granular, like lumps of frozen snow. Then there were some lovely
bits of a greenish yellow marble and some brown. These beautiful stones
and pieces of marble were brought to these Ziarats from great distances
by devotees. Stones reduced by nature into queer shapes, hollowed for
instance by the action of sand or water, perfectly spherical, or
strikingly coloured were favourite offerings.
At this particular Ziarat, a small marble mortar with pestle and a marble
hammer, occupied the most prominent place. A flint arrow head was also in
evidence. Further was perched a curious doll with a string and charm
round its neck, and some chips of beautiful transparent streaked yellow
marble like bits of lemon. From the pole hung a circle of wood and horns,
as well as coarse wooden imitations of horned animals' skulls. Offerings
of palm leaves had also been deposited.
West of the Ziarat was a small semicircular Mesjid of brown stone, with a
few white marble pieces to the north by north-west, and, further, long
heaps of stones extending in a north by north-west direction. The last
one was in the shape of a grave with a high white stone pillar to the
south.
The new bungalow, of which the foundations were just being laid, will be
erected near this Ziarat.
Quite a number of Beluch were settled at Mushki-Chah, and some lived in
small quadrangular mud houses, with a black tent stretched over the walls
to act as roof; or else they had put up coarse huts made of branches of
tamarisk and thatched with palm tree leaves and tamarisk, in which they
lived--apparently in the most abject poverty. Yet, although these
residences were often not higher than five or six feet, their owners did
not lack pride. In Beluchistan as in England, the home of a man is his
castle. The Beluch, however--most unlike the English--would not let
anybody who did not belong to his creed go into it.
The occupations of the stay-at-home people did not seem to have an excess
of variety, and consisted mainly of plaiting fuses for their matchlocks,
keeping the threads tightly stretched by means of a wooden bow. There
were but few coarse implements inside their huts, and a bag or two with
grain. A long matchlock and a sword or two lay in a corner in most
dwellings, and that was about all.
The house of the chief was somewhat more elaborate, having trunks of palm
trees inserted vertically into the stone wall to strengthen it. It had a
mud and stone enclosing wall, and trophies of heads of _dumbahs_ near the
flat roof. In one room of this dwelling lived the family, in the other
the animals. An out-of-door enclosure for horses was also noticeable. Two
mud huts were next to it.
The thatched semispherical huts of palm tree leaves and tamarisk were
also interesting, as was the windmill, identical with those already seen
in Sistan.
On my arrival at Mushki-Chah two large tents had been placed at my
disposal--the first time I had been under a tent on this journey--and I
received a great many callers. A very amusing incident occurred when I
asked an old Beluch and his two sons to sit for their photographs. They
put on a sarcastic smile and said they would rather die a natural death
than be taken. The old man, who said he had heard all about "the black
boxes," as he styled cameras, and all the mischief they could do,
complained that since one or two sahibs had passed along the route
carrying "black boxes" a great many Beluch had been taken ill, had
misfortunes of all kinds, and those who actually had the camera pointed
at them had died from the effects. One sahib had offered him, personally,
a bag of silver if he would only sit for his picture, but "No, sir, not
I!" said the father, as he shook his head and scratched his beard; and
"No, sir, not we!" echoed the grinning youths, "never shall we be taken!"
Before they knew where they were, and without any suspicion on their
part, I had, by a dodge of my own, taken three photographs of them, the
best of which is reproduced facing page 350.
They were rather characteristic types of the lower class Beluch of
northern Beluchistan. They possessed very quick, bright, shining eyes,
dark complexions and long noses, very broad at the base. The mouth was
generally the worst feature in their faces, the upper lip being drawn
very tight over the teeth and giving rather a brutal expression to their
countenances. The men were very powerfully built, thick-set, with ribs
well covered with muscle and fat, powerful, coarse wrists and ankles, and
square-shaped hands with short stumpy thumbs.
[Illustration: Windmill at Mushki Chah.]
[Illustration: Three Beluch who would not be Photographed!]
Their attire was simple; a sort of long white cotton blouse buttoned over
the right shoulder and ample trousers of the same material. Many,
however, wore a felt "overcoat"--or rather, "overskin," for there was no
other garment underneath. A white turban was worn wound round the head.
A _duffadar_, six _sawars_ and six camels were stationed at
Mushki-Chah.
I left Mushki-Chah on January 21st at 3.30 a.m., my camels with loads
having started some hours previously, and our way lay for eight miles due
east, first over sand hills and undulations, then on a perfectly straight
and level track. To the south we had a barren waste of flat desert. We
then veered east-south-east (110° b.m.), and fifteen miles off turned
slightly further to the south-east (120° b.m.). To the north-north-east
we had a mountain range.
On nearing Kundi we found tamarisk plentiful and good grazing for camels.
Some of the tamarisk trees were 10 feet high. The march was a very cold
one, a north-north-west gale blowing fiercely and penetrating right
through our clothes and flesh to the marrow of our bones.
Three wells of good water were found 1¼ miles before reaching Kundi. The
rest-house was uninhabited and fast tumbling down. In 21 miles 1,100
yards we had slightly risen to 3,660 feet, and this point is one which
remains well impressed on one's mind, partly on account of the splendid
view obtained of the Sultan Mountains to the north-east--a gloomy black
mass with the highest peak of a light red colour. The Kuh-i-Sultan is a
most weirdly fantastic mountain range. Sir Charles McGregor, who saw
these mountains from a distance, speaks of them as the "oddest-looking
mountains he had ever seen."
But the best description is that given by Major A. H. MacMahon, who was,
I believe, the first European to explore the range. Approaching it from
the north he, too, was struck by the grotesque shape of its numerous
sharp peaks; above all by the Neza-i-Sultan--"the spear of the
Sultan"--an enormous rocky pillar of hard conglomerate, roughly
resembling a slender sugar-loaf with tapering summit, and precipitous
sides, that rise on the crest line of the range.
"The fissures," MacMahon says, "made by rain and weather action down its
sides give it a fluted appearance from a distance. We expected to find a
high natural pillar, but were not prepared for the stupendous size of the
reality. Judging from its width at the base, which is over 100 yards in
diameter, the height must be no less than from 500 to 800 feet. The
Sultan, in whose honour this range is named, is an ancient mythical
celebrity, who is said to be buried in the vicinity of the mountains. His
full name is Sultan-i-Pir-Khaisar, and he is the patron saint of Beluch
robbers. Hence these mountains have a reputation as a robber resort. The
Sultan Mountains abound in the assafoetida plant, and in the summer
months traders come in numbers from Afghanistan to collect it."
I was in a great hurry to return to England, and could not afford the
detour entailed by going near enough to photograph the "Spear." Besides,
Major MacMahon gives a capital photograph of it in the _Royal
Geographical Society's Journal_.
At Kundi, a big Ziarat, with many trunks of tamarisk trees, some 10 feet
high, supporting bleached horns, has been erected to the Kuh-i-Sultan.
Hundreds of beautiful pieces of marble and alabaster of all sizes,
colours and shapes have been deposited here, as usual, but the sand is
fast covering the whole Ziarat.
From Kundi the track, which has come in a south-east-east (120° b.m.)
direction, now turned sharply to north-east (60° b.m.). Ten high mud and
stone _neshans_--or _Tejia_ (cairns) as they are called by the
Beluch--have been erected to warn the traveller. Four curious mounds with
tufts of high tamarisk trees upon them are to be seen at Kundi. There is
fair grazing for camels all along. One is specially attracted by the
peculiar stones corroded into all sorts of shapes, strewn all over the
ground.
We made a double march on that day, and--barring the quaint Sultan
Mountains which we saw all along--had but a very flat uninteresting
country all round.
We arrived during the evening at Tretoh, having been nineteen hours on
the saddle. It was bitterly cold at night, the drop in the temperature
being very great immediately after the sun went down. At this station,
too, the water tasted very bad--almost undrinkable--but was not
necessarily unwholesome. We were glad to get into the thana and light up
a big fire in the centre of one of the mud rooms, but no sooner had we
done this than it got so hot that I had to find a cooler abode in the new
bungalow in course of construction, which had not yet a roof.
It was always a marvel to me how the natives could stand the great heat
in the rooms with no draught for the smoke and heat to get away. It
positively roasted one alive, but my men seemed to revel in it. On the
other hand they suffered from the cold to a degree that was also
unaccountable to me. On many occasions I have heard my camel-driver moan
from pain in his frozen toes and fingers, but, true enough, when out in
the open desert the wind was rather penetrating, and his clothes, barring
a waistcoat, consisted of thin white cotton garments. Personally, I never
had occasion to make a change in my tropical clothing (I could not if I
had wanted to), nor did I ever once have to use an overcoat. But--I
seldom know what it is to feel cold.
We delayed our departure the next morning to see if the gale would abate,
but at 10 a.m. we had to venture out. One was rather at the mercy of the
wind on the hump of the camel. It did blow! The wind hampered the camels
greatly and was a nuisance all round, as one could only by an effort
remain on the saddle. The flying sand filled one's eyes and ears, and the
wind catching the brim of one's hat made such a hissing noise that one
had to find a more comfortable headgear by wrapping up one's head in a
blanket.
The desert was here absolutely flat, with some grazing for camels
(_kirri_). We were going north-east-east (70° b.m.) amid low sand
hillocks and sand banks, and the Sultan Mountain still on our left in all
its glory. To the north-east (55° b.m.) we had another mountain mass
lower than the Sultan and not nearly so picturesque, and before us, on
going over a gentle incline some 35 ft. above the level of the plain
(about 13 miles from Tretoh), three long rows of bright yellow,
flat-topped, crescent-shaped sand-hills stretching for several miles from
north to south were disclosed. These three rows of barchans were
parallel, and at intervals of about from 300 yards to 500 yards from one
another. The barchans averaged from 50 ft. to 100 ft. in height. Another
row of them stretched along the foot of the mountain range to the north
and extended from north-west to south-east.
The cause of these extensive parallel rows of barchans was to be found in
gaps in the hills to the north between the Sultan, the next range, and
two intervening obstacles in the shape of a low mound and a great rock,
the sand being blown through the interstices and gradually accumulating
in the plain on the south.
On that march we saw a most extraordinary effect of mirage. To the east
(100° b.m.) the peculiar flat-topped Gat (or Gut) Mountain, which looked
like a gigantic lamp-shade, could be seen apparently suspended in the
air. The illusion was perfect, and most startling to any one with
teetotal habits. Of course the optical illusion was caused by the
different temperatures in the layers of air directly over the earth's
surface and the one above it. Where the two layers met they deviated at
an angle, or practically interrupted what would, under ordinary
circumstances, be direct rays of vision. (The same effect, in other
words, as produced by placing a stick vertically in water.) The real
horizon was obliterated, as well as the lower part of the mountain, by
the white haze caused by the warm lower layer of air.
Some nineteen miles from Tretoh, where the hill range to the north became
low, a few sand hills were to be seen, then where another gap existed in
the range yet another long row of barchans stretched southwards. A mile
or so beyond this spot a long sand and gravel bank stretched across the
plain from north-north-east to south-south-west and near Chah Sandan
another similar bank existed, fifty feet high, parallel to the first.
At Chah Sandan (altitude 3,380 ft.) we were most enthusiastically
received by the _duffadar_, who was politeness itself. The Beluch
salutation is somewhat lengthy. In the Ba-roh-iya or Brahui language, as
spoken in north Beluchistan where I was travelling, it sounds
thus:--"_Shar joroz druakha joroz haire meretus me murev huaja khana_,"
after which the persons greeting seize each other's hands and raise them
to the forehead, bowing low. Inquiries follow about the _mulk_ or
countries one has crossed on one's journey, and whether the people have
treated one kindly.
The _duffadar_ at Chah Sandan was an Afghan, Belind Khan by name, and had
the following good points about him. He was a most sportsmanlike fellow;
was very bright, civil and intelligent, and owned chickens that laid
delicious eggs. He possessed a beautiful dog to which he was passionately
attached, and he and his brother had a greater capacity for tea than
almost any men I have known. Above all, Belind Khan had intense
admiration for the British and what they did, and as for Captain
Webb-Ware, his superior officer, he pronounced him to be the greatest
"Bahadur" that ever lived. "Even in my own country (Afghanistan)," he
exclaimed, raising his right hand in the air, "there is no 'Bahadur' like
him!"
This was not pure flattery but it was truly meant, and it was most
pleasant to find that such was the opinion, not only of Belind Khan, but
of every one of Captain Webb-Ware's subordinates on the entire length of
the road from the frontier to Quetta.
There is a _thana_ of three rooms at Chah Sandan and a Ziarat to the
Sultan Mountain. I took a photograph of Belind Khan making his salaams in
the Ziarat, the altar of which was made of a pile of white marble pieces
and rounded stones with sticks on which horns and a red rag had been
fixed.
Chah Sandan possessed three wells of excellent water. The distance from
Tretoh to Chah Sandan was 23 miles 760 yards.