Fahr. In The Mornings, Rising No Higher
Than 65 Deg.
At any portion of the day.
At Kelat, on the other hand, which
stands 6800 feet above sea-level, the extreme maximum heat as yet
recorded during the months of July and August is only 103 deg. Fahr.,
while the extreme minimum during the same months is as low as 48 deg.
Fahr. In winter the cold is intense. Pottinger, the traveller, relates
that on the 7th of February, 1810, when at Baghivana, five marches
from Kelat, his water-skins were frozen into masses of ice, and seven
days afterwards, at Kelat, he found the frost so intense that water
froze instantly when thrown upon the ground. Bellew, a more recent
traveller, in the month of January found the temperature even lower,
as when at Rodinjo, thirteen miles south of Kelat, the thermometer at
7 a.m. stood at 14 deg. Fahr., while the next night, at Kelat, it fell
to 8 deg. Fahr. The weather was at the time clear, sharp, and cold, the
ground frozen hard all day, while snow-wreaths lay in the shelter of
the walls. A detailed account of the eight days' journey from Gajjar
to Kelat would weary the reader. A description of one village will
suffice for all, while the country between these two places is nothing
but bare, stony desert, varied by occasional ranges of low rocky
hills, and considerable tracts of cultivated land surrounding the
villages of Gidar, Sohrab, and Rodingo, at each of which we were well
received by the natives. With the exception of a strike among our
camel-drivers, which fortunately lasted only a few hours, and a
dust-storm encountered a few miles from Sohrab, nothing worthy of
mention occurred to break the monotony of the voyage till, on the
morning of the _9th of_ April, we sighted the flat-roofed houses, mud
ramparts, and towering citadel of the capital of Baluchistan.
[Footnote A: Cossack whips.]
CHAPTER XI.
KELAT - QUETTA - BOMBAY.
We encamped in the suburbs of the city, about a couple of miles from
the northern or Mastung Gate, and near the telegraph office, a small
brick bungalow in charge of an English-speaking native. There is a
single wire laid to Quetta, a distance, roughly speaking, of ninety
miles. A terrific hurricane, accompanied by thunder, vivid lightning,
and dense clouds of black dust, sprang up about sunset the day of our
arrival. Both tents were instantly blown down, and in a few moments
reduced to shapeless rags of torn canvas. So great was the force of
the wind that it snapped the tent-poles short off, and, tearing them
from the ropes, sent the tents flying over the plain as if they had
been shreds of tissue paper. We managed, however, to find quarters in
the telegraph office, and remained there till our departure, two days
later, for Quetta. During the storm the thermometer sank to 50 deg. Fahr.,
although a few moments before it had marked 78 deg..
Kelat contains - with its suburbs, which are of considerable
extent - about 15,000 inhabitants, and is picturesquely situated on the
edge of a fertile plain thickly cultivated with wheat, barley, and
tobacco. The city is built in terraces, on the sides and summit of a
limestone cliff, about a hundred and fifty feet high. This is called
the "Shah Mirdan," and is surrounded at the base of the hill by high
mud ramparts, with bastions at intervals, loopholed for musketry.
The "Mir," [A] or palace of the Khan, overhangs the town, and is made
up of a confused mass of buildings, which, though imposing at a
distance, I found on closer inspection to consist chiefly of mud, which
in many places had crumbled away, leaving great gaping holes in the
walls. The Mir mounts a few primitive, muzzle-loading cannon, and the
citadel is garrisoned by a thousand men, chiefly Afghans, deserters from
Cabul, Kandahar, and other parts of the Ameer's dominions. They are a
ragged, undisciplined lot. The Khan himself has a wholesome dread of
his soldiery, who break out at times, and commit great depredations
among the villages surrounding the capital, robbing and murdering the
peasants with impunity, for few dare resist them. The remainder of the
troops, three thousand in number, are quartered in barracks, or rather
mud hovels, at some distance from the palace. Each man is supposed to
receive three rupees a month and a lump sum of forty-eight rupees at
the end of each year, but pay is uncertain and mutiny frequent. When
not engaged on military duties the Khan's Baluch soldiers are put to
agricultural work on his estates, while the Afghans pass their time
in pillaging and plundering their neighbours. As we entered Kelat we
passed a regiment at drill on a sandy plain outside the walls. With
the exception of a conical fur cap, there is no attempt at uniform.
The men, fine strapping fellows, are armed with rusty flint-locks.
Though there appeared to be no officers, European or otherwise, I
was rather surprised to hear the word of command given in
English, and to see this band of ragamuffins march off parade to
the strains of "Home, sweet Home," played by a very fair fife-and-drum
band.
The morning following my arrival, I was startled by the apparition at
my bedside of a swarthy, wild-looking Afghan sowar - a messenger
from the Wazir, to say that his Highness the Khan wished to make my
acquaintance, and would receive me, if convenient, at three o'clock
that afternoon. It had not been my intention to solicit an interview,
for, from all accounts, the Khan is anything but friendly towards
Europeans, Englishmen in particular. To refuse, however, was out of
the question. The morning was therefore devoted to cleaning up, and
getting out a decent suit of wearing-apparel; while my Beila escort,
who evidently had uncomfortable forebodings as to the appearance
of the Beila uniform in the streets of Kelat, polished up arms and
accoutrements till they shone like silver, and paid, I noticed,
particular attention to the loading of their rifles and revolvers.
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