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Beluchistan warriors. (Fac-simile of early engraving.) |
The climate had changed since they left Bombay, and in the mountains, Pottinger and Christie experienced cold sufficiently keen to freeze the water in the leather bottles.
"Kelat," says Pottinger, "the capital of the whole of Beluchistan, whence it derives its name, Kelat, or the city, is situated upon a height to the west of a well-cultivated plain or valley, eight miles long and three wide. The greater portion of this is laid out in gardens. The town forms a square. It is surrounded on three sides by a mud wall about twenty feet high, flanked, at distances of 250 feet, by bastions, which, like the walls, are pierced with a large number of barbicans for musketry. I had no opportunity of visiting the interior of the palace, but it consists merely of a confused mass of mud buildings with flat roofs like terraces; the whole is defended by low walls, furnished with parapets and pierced with barbicans. There are about 2500 houses in the town, and nearly half as many in the suburbs. They are built of half-baked bricks and wood, the whole smeared over with mud. The streets, as a rule, are larger than those in towns inhabited by Asiatics. They usually have a raised footway on either side for pedestrians, in the centre an open stream, which is rendered very unpleasant by the filth and rubbish thrown into it, and by the stagnant rainwater which collects, for there is no regulation insisting upon it being cleaned. Another obstacle to the cleanliness and comfort of the town exists in the projection of the upper stories of the houses, which makes the under buildings damp and dark. The bazaar of Kelat is very large, and well stocked with every kind of merchandize. Every day it is supplied with provisions, vegetables, and all kinds of food, which are cheap."
According to Pottinger's account, the population is divided into two distinct classes—the Belutchis and the Brahouis, and each of these is subdivided into a number of tribes. The first is related to the modern Persian, both in appearance and speech; the Brahoui, on the contrary, retains a great number of Hindu words. Intermarriage between the two has given rise to a third.
The Belutchis, coming from the mountains of Mekram, are "Tunnites," that is to say, they consider the first four Imans as the legitimate successors of Mahomet.
They are a pastoral people, and have the faults and virtues of their class. If they are hospitable, they are also indolent, and pass their time in gambling and smoking. As a rule, they content themselves with one or two wives, and are less jealous of their being seen by strangers than are other Mussulmen. They have a large number of slaves of both sexes, whom they treat humanely. They are excellent marksmen, and passionately fond of hunting. Brave under all circumstances, they take pleasure in "razzias," which they call "tchépaos." As a rule, these expeditions are undertaken by the Nherouis, the wildest and most thievish of the Belutchis.
The Brahouis carry their wandering habits still farther. Few men are more active and strong; they endure the glacial cold of the mountains equally with the burning heat of the plains. They are of small stature, but as brave, as skilful in shooting, as faithful to their promises, as the Belutchis, and have not so pronounced a taste for plunder.
Pottinger says, "I have seen no Asiatic people whom they resemble, for a large number have brown hair and beards."
After a short stay at Kelat, the two travellers, who still passed as horse-dealers, resolved to continue their journey, but instead of following the high road to Kandahar, they crossed a dreary and barren country, ill-populated, watered by the Caisser, a river which dries up during the summer; and they reached a little town, called Noschky or Nouchky, on the frontier of Afghanistan.