-
(1) In The Year 1851, During One Of The Hot Months, Certain Officers
Of The Sind Horse Were Sleeping At Night On The Roof Of General
Jacob's House At Jacobabad.
They were awakened by a sensation of
suffocation and an exceedingly hot and oppressive feeling in the air,
while
At the same time a very powerful smell of sulphur was noticed.
On the following morning a number of trees in the garden were found to
be withered in a very remarkable manner. It looked as if a current of
fire, about two yards in breadth, had passed through the garden in a
perfectly straight line, singeing and destroying every green thing in
its course. Entering on one side, and passing out at the other, its
tract was as clearly defined as the course of a river.
(2) At the close of 1856 a party of five men were crossing the desert
of Shikarpur, being on their way from Kandahar to that city, when
the blast crossed their path, killing three of them instantly and
seriously disabling the other two.
(3) A "moonshi" with two companions was travelling about seven miles
south-east of Bagh, in Kachi (not far distant from Mangachar). About
two o'clock the blast struck them. They were sensible of a scorching
sensation in the air, accompanied by a peculiar sulphurous smell, but
remembered nothing further, as all three were immediately struck to
the ground. They were afterwards found and carried to Bagh, where,
every attention being afforded them, they ultimately, after many days
of sickness, recovered.
As regards the strength of the juloh, Pottinger writes that, so
searching is its nature, it has been known to kill camels and other
hardy animals, and its effects on the human frame are said by
eye-witnesses to be the most agonizing and repulsive imaginable.
Shortly after contact with the wind the muscles of the sufferer become
rigid and contracted, the skin shrivels, a terrible sensation as if
the skin were on fire pervades the whole frame, while, in the last
stage, the skin cracks into deep gashes, producing haemorrhage,
quickly followed by death. It is curious to note that the juloh is
peculiar to the northern districts of Sarawan and Kach-Gandava,
and does not exist in the southern provinces of Baluchistan.
The road from Mangachar to Mastung is good, though slightly
undulating, and intersected by deep "nullahs." The estimated area of
the Mastung district is two hundred and eighty miles. It is aptly
named "The Garden of Baluchistan," for considerably more than
two-thirds of its area are under cultivation. Water at Mastung is
never-failing, and the pretty town, nestling in a valley of vineyards
and fruit-gardens, fig and olive trees, reminded one more of some
secluded town in the Pyrenees or south of France than a Baluch
settlement. The soil hereabouts is light and sandy and particularly
favourable to the cultivation of grapes, of which there are no less
than five kinds. Apricots, peaches, plums, and pomegranates are also
grown, and supply the markets of Quetta and Kelat.
Enter page number
PreviousNext
Page 111 of 117
Words from 56876 to 57388
of 60127
