Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde: Accompanied by a Geographical and Historical Account of Those Countries...Travels in Beloochistan and Sinde is a first-hand account of a journey taken in 1810-11 through parts of present-day India, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Iran, and Iraq. The author, Henry Pottinger (1789-1856), was a lieutenant in the East India Company who, along with a friend and fellow officer, Captain Charles Christie, volunteered to undertake a mission to the region between India and Persia (present-day Iran), about which the East India Company at that time had little knowledge. The two men journeyed from Bombay (present-day Mumbai) to Sind (present-day southeast Pakistan) from where, disguised as Indians, they traveled overland to Kalat. They were quickly recognized as Europeans, but they were able to continue their journey to Nushki, near the present-day border between Afghanistan and Pakistan. There the men separated. Pottinger continued westward to Persia, through Kerman to Shiraz and Isfahan. Christie traveled north from Nushki into Afghanistan, through Helmand to Herat and from there into Persia to Yazd and Isfahan, where he rejoined Pottinger. Christie was directed to remain in Persia, where in 1812 he was killed in a Russian attack. Pottinger returned to Bombay via Baghdad and Basra. The book is in two parts. The first is a detailed account of Pottinger's journey, with observations on climate, terrain, soil, plants and animals, peoples and tribes, customs, religion, and popular beliefs. The second is an introduction to the history and geography of the provinces of Baluchistan and Sind. An appendix reproduces part of the journal kept by Christie on his travels through Afghanistan. The book contains one colored illustration at the front and a large fold-out map after the end of the text. Pottinger went on to have a distinguished career with the East India Company and the British government. In April 1843 he was appointed the first British governor of Hong Kong. |
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Common terms and phrases
Akhoond Allee appearance arrived asafoetida attended authority Bazar Beglerbeg Bela Belooches Beloochistan Bezunjas Bombay Brahooes Brahooick brother Bunder Bunpoor called camels capital Captain Christie chief Darogha Dehwars desert dispatched district dress envoy five former four Ghedan halted Heerat hills Hindoo Hindoostan horses hundred Hyderabad India Indus inhabitants Isfahan Jhalawan journey jungul Kabool Kandahar Khan of Kelat Khan's Khanu Kharan Kheil Khorasan Khozdar King Kirman Kohistan Kurachee Kutch Gundava latter likewise Lukh matchlocks Meer merchants Mihrab miles mission Mohummud Khan Moollah Moorad Moosulmans morning mountains Muhmood Khan Mukran Nadir Shah natives night Nooshky Nusseer Khan observed passed Persian person plain present Prince province rain remarks reside river road route Ruhmut Khan rupees Sarawan Seistan sent Shah Sinde Sindians Sirdar Sonmeany Soondurjee southward Tattah Toomun town travelled tribe troops Uffghans Umeers Vide village whence whole
Popular passages
Page 315 - Kelat they make the latter ingredient from the soil, and esteem it much the strongest. On the high road from Kelat to Kutch Gundava there is a range of hills, from which a species of salt, perfectly red in its colour, is extracted, that possesses very great aperient qualities. Sulphur and alum are to be had at the same place. I saw quantities of white and grey marble in the mountains to the westward of Nooshky, but it does not seem to be at all prized by the Belooches. • » » » " *
Page 134 - Bade' sumoom (the pestilential wind). So powerfully searching is its nature, that it has been known to kill camels, or other hardy animals; and its effects on the human frame were related to me, by those who had been eye-witnesses of them, as the most dreadful that can be imagined : the muscles of the unhappy sufferer become rigid and contracted; the skin shrivels; an agonizing sensation, as if the flesh was on fire, pervades the whole frame, and in the last stage it cracks into deep gashes, producing...
Page 133 - It came on most unexpectedly, and had the guide not apprised me of its strength, we should probably have fared worse than we did, for it would have been an act of temerity to have tried to sit on the camels during its impetuous fury. Before it began the sky was clear, save a few small clouds in the north-west quarter ; and the only antecedent warning it afforded was the oppressive sultriness of the air, and a vast number of whirlwinds springing up on all sides ; the moment the Brahooe saw...
Page 66 - ... a good one is valued at two or three camels, or even more, and I was informed that the Khan of Kelat has been known to pay to the value of four hundred rupees * for one dog. Firing at marks, cudgelling, wrestling, practising with swords, and throwing the spear, are likewise, all favourite diversions with them ; and neighbouring Kheils cope with each other at these exercises : the four latter they understand scientifically, and at the former, some of them are so incredibly expert, that I am...
Page 221 - Its manufactures of shawls, matchlocks, and numuds or felts, are celebrated all over Asia, and are said to afford employment to upwards of onethird of the inhabitants, whether male or female." — P. 225. 4 "Les perdrix de Perse," says Chardin, "sont, comme je crois, les plus grosses perdrix du monde, et du gout le plus excellent.
Page 58 - The depredators are usually mounted on camels, and furnished, according to the distance they have to go, with food, consisting of dates, sour cheese, and bread ; they also carry water in a small leathern bag, if requisite, which is often the case in the midst of their deserts. When all is prepared they set off, and march incessantly till within a few miles of the point when...
Page 58 - Belooches ; and, while they deem private theft dishonourable and disgraceful in the extreme, they contemplate the plunder and devastation of a country with such opposite sentiments, that they consider it an exploit deserving of the highest commendation ; and, steeled by that feeling, they will individually recount the assistance they have rendered on such occasions, the numbers of men, women and children they have made captives and carried away or murdered, the villages they have burned and plundered,...
Page 64 - Empire. and, to say the truth, the treatment they then experience, is of the harshest and most discouraging description ; they are blindfolded and tied on camels, and in that manner transported, to prevent the possibility of their knowing how to return ; the women's hair, and men's beards, are also shaved off, and the roots entirely destroyed by a preparation of quicklime, to deter them from any wish to revisit their native soil ; but they shortly get reconciled to their fate, and become very faithful...
Page 59 - ... approach of night, they mount again; and, as soon as the inhabitants have retired to repose, they begin their attack by burning, destroying, and carrying off whatever comes in their way. They never think of resting for one moment during the Chupao, but ride on, over the territory on...
Page 408 - Suraedar or tax-gatherer, who farms the tolls from government. Although, the toll on camels appears so very trivial, it is avoided by every means, to a large extent, of which I had an opportunity of knowing two or three instances.. The revenues are estimated at four and a half lacs of rupees, and are levied on the Suraes, shops and gardens ; a part is taken in kind, or grain and cattle ; and from the total amount the prince pays fifty thousand rupees annually to the King of Persia. The government...