A Guard Of
Honour Of Thirty Soldiers Accompanied, While A Rabble Of Two Or Three
Hundred Foot People Surrounded The Party, For The Sight Of A White
Face Is Rare In Beila.
It was a strange scene:
The picturesque city,
brilliant barbaric costume of the young chief and his followers, and
crowd of wild, half-naked Baluchis were fitly set off by surroundings
of desert landscape and dazzling sunshine. A Gerome or Vereschagin
would have revelled in the sight.
Shaking hands with Kumal (no easy matter on camels), he placed me on
his right hand, and, heading the procession, we rode into Beila, where
a large tent had been erected for my accommodation. Having placed a
guard at my disposal, the prince then left, announcing his intention
of receiving me in state that afternoon at the palace.
Beila, which is protected by a fort and high mud wall, is situated on
the right bank of the river Purali, which, at the time of my visit,
was no more than a dry rocky bed. The town contains about 4000
inhabitants, and, from a distance, presents a curious appearance,
each house being fitted, as at Sonmiani, with a large "badgir," or
wind-catcher. Like most Eastern cities, Beila does not improve on
closer acquaintance. The people are dirty and indolent. There is
little or no trade, and the dark, narrow streets, ankle-deep in mud
and filth, are crowded with beggars and pariah dogs, while the dull
drab colour of the mud houses is depressing in the extreme. The fort
and palace alone are built of brick, and, being whitewashed, relieve
to a certain extent the melancholy aspect of the place. I was escorted
to the latter the afternoon of my arrival by a guard of honour,
preceded by the Djam's band - half a dozen cracked English cavalry
trumpets!
Djam Ali Khan, the present ruler of the state of Las Beila, is about
fifty years of age, and is a firm ally of England. The Djam is a
vassal of the Khan of Kelat, but, like most independent Baluch chiefs,
only nominally so. So far as I could glean, the court of Kelat has no
influence whatsoever beyond a radius of twenty miles or so from that
city. The provinces of Sarawan, Jhalawan, Kach-Gandava, Mekran, [D] and
Las Beila, which constitute the vast tract of country known as Kalati
Baluchistan, are all governed by independent chiefs, nominally
viceroys of the Khan of Kelat. Practically, however, the latter
has little or no supremacy over them, nor indeed over any part of
Baluchistan, Kelat and its suburbs excepted.
Prince Kumal Khan received me in his father's durbar-chamber, a
cheerless, whitewashed apartment, bare of furniture save for a
somewhat rickety "throne" of painted wood, and a huge white linen
punkah, overlooking a dreary landscape of barren desert and mud roofs.
The prince, a tall, slim young man, about twenty-five years of
age, has weak but not unpleasing features. He was dressed in a
close-fitting tunic of dark-blue cloth, heavily trimmed with gold
braid, baggy white linen trousers, and a pair of European side-spring
boots, very dirty and down at heel.
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