National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

kōh, took us first through a gap in the hill chain westwards to the hamlet and
fort of Ghazab. These had been abandoned since the river finally changed its
course about a generation ago. About a mile to the west of Ghazab there rises
in isolation a bold ridge to a height of about 250 feet, bearing on its narrow top
the remains of structures known as the Qal'a-i-Naushirwān. As the name shows,
local tradition attributes to them considerable antiquity, but I failed to discover
definite archaeological proof of this. At the highest point of the ridge stand two
small but massive structures built with undressed slabs set in mud plaster. The
walls of one still rise to 15 feet and show a large window arched with horizontal
courses. Repairs are indicated in places by small stones set in 'herring-bone'
fashion, a method of masonry very common in modern buildings of Makrān.
Lower down, a small fairly level plateau bears a row of small rooms showing
the same kind of masonry as the structures above; nearby are the remains of a
large enclosure supposed to have been used for stabling. What potsherds could
be found were all plain and of coarse fabric, suggesting occupation of com-
paratively late date and short duration.

Turning thence to the south-west after a march of only 9 miles, we were
obliged to halt for the night at the hamlet of Sand, to suit our old Sirdār's con-
venience. Fortunately rain held off in the mountains, and next morning the deep-
cut flood bed of the river, fully 50 yards wide and quite unfordable after rain,
could be crossed without trouble. The height of the banks into which the river
has cut its bed since the latest change of its course is here well over 40 feet.
This affords some indication of the great depth of alluvium which the river has
deposited over this plain; it may also help to explain why our rapid survey
failed to trace any relics of prehistoric occupation in this deltaic area.

The ground beyond Dalgān, where the ford lay, is reached in certain years
by flood water from the Kājū Kaur, a western tributary of the Bāhū, and hence
bears a less barren appearance than the eastern portion of the tract. But the
small village about 14 miles farther on which the map marks as the 'Mīrī Bāzār',
or chief market-place of Dashtiārī, was found quite deserted and the water in
its tank too brackish even for the taste of the local people. They are mostly
Jadgāls, speaking an Indian dialect apparently allied to Sindhī. They represent a
tribe left behind by some unrecorded migration from the east of Makrān but now
strongly affected in physical appearance by mixture with African slave blood.

We found drinkable water 2 miles farther on in a pool left behind by a flood
of the Kājū Kaur. Proceeding from the camp pitched there we succeeded next
day, after a long ride, in visiting two debris areas reported beyond the graziers'
huts of Kumb. At the first, situated about 11 miles in a direct line to the
north-west, a stretch of ground rising about 2 feet above the level flat and

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