1 SHAWL. 187
2 SHAWL,' in Beloochistan, a small town with a fort, the ! B.1.0°Ms. Doc.
3 principal place in the valley of the same name. Though
4 generally mentioned by British writers under this name, it is
5 better known to the natives under that of Quetta.* It is meanly
6 built of mud, and surrounded by a crenated wall of the same
7 material, twelve hundred ? yards in circumference, and containing agian
8 four gates. Amidst these houses, and overlooking them, is a Masson, Bal. Afg.
9 small castle on a mound of earth, seventy or eighty feet "5%
10 high. Hough® describes it as a most miserable mud town, with * Narr. Exp. in
11 a small castle on a mound, on which there was a smalf gun Aah:
12 on a ricketty carriage.” ‘The description given by Allen‘ is much ¢ Diary, 118,
13 more favourable :— This was certainly the prettiest spot I had
14 seen in these lands. The fertile and well-watered valley of
15 Shaul is surrounded by hills of the boldest form, and several
16 thousand feet in height. In the middle of the valley is the little
17 town surrounded by a mud wall, in the centre of which rises the
18 Citadel upon a mound seventy or eighty feet high, whether
19 artificial or natural no one could inform me.” As the eleva-
20 tion above the sea is great, exceeding 5,000 feet, the cold in
21 winter is severe, and the seasons as late as in England. Thus
22 the British force which marched into it on the 20th of April
23 found the spring then opening, and as the immediate vicinity of the
24 town is fertile, well watered, and graced by numerous orchards,
25 the scene as described by Kennedy* was very pleasing :—‘ We § Sinde and Ka-
26 rested on a noble orchard. Fine standards of the size of forest °°" '””
27 trees, apple, pear, peach, apricot, and plum, were surmounted
28 and overhung with gigantic vines, which, wreathing round the
29 trunks, and extending to the remotest branches, festooned from
30 tree to tree, in a wild luxuriance of growth, such as I had never
31 dreamed of seeing in fruit-trees and the vine. It was the first
32 month in spring, and they were covered with blossoms which
33 perfumed the air, and presented a picture of horticultural beauty
34 Surpassing description.” There is an abundant supply of fine
35 water from numerous kareezes, or subterraneous aqueducts.
36 During our military operations in Afghanistan, this was an im-
37 Portant post in the line of communication between Sinde and
38 Kandahar. It was occupied in April, 1839, by the army of the
39 * Probably for 5S Persian plural, from 95 ‘© fort.”” Accord.
40 ing to Masson, Quetta is a word used by the Afghans as an equivalent for Kalat, 312,
41 fort.