1 4 920.
2 5 Masson, Kalat,
3 201.
4 6 806,
5 50 MEKRAN.
6 torrents are filled with dense jungle, harbouring numerous wild
7 animals. ’
8 There are two wet seasons, the one in February and March,
9 the other in June, July, and August. In the early wet season,
10 the prevailing wind is from the north-west, and the rains con-
11 tinue three or four weeks. The latter wet season, according to
12 Pottinger,4 ‘ comprises all the fury of the south-west monsoon.”
13 The hot season, which begins in March, lasts till October, and
14 the heat is so great during the khoormu puz, or “‘ date ripening,”
15 in the beginning of August, that none can venture out. Along
16 the sea-coast there is scarcely any winter. In the high lands the
17 weather is) cool during November, December, January, and
18 February. The winds during the hot weather destroy every sign
19 of vegetation, and scorch the skin in the most painful manner.
20 The population, as might be expected, are in a great measure
21 pastoral, deriving subsistence from their sheep, goats, and camels;
22 kine seem not to thrive, the country being too rugged and
23 barren. A little grain is cultivated in a few fertile and watered
24 valleys, and in the hottest parts the date-palm thrives remark-
25 ably, yielding an important article of food.) In some places
26 grapes are produced, of good quality, There is scarcely any
27 trade. The scanty exports consist of wool, felt, hides, butter,
28 dates ; the imports of raw cotton, coarse cotton cloths, iron, and
29 sugar. Fish is caught in considerable quantities, and forms the
30 principal support of the inhabitants along the sea-coast, who thus
31 retain the habits of their ancesters, the Icthyophagi, mentioned by
32 the historians of Alexander.
33 The most powerful tribe of Mekran is the Narroi Belooches,
34 who, in their predatory excursions, mounted on fleet camels,
35 have been known to tzaverse, in three days, two hundred miles
36 of country, with the design of enslaving the inhabitants and
37 driving off their cattle. Part of the north-west territory is held
38 by Kurd tribes, who have established themeelves there as offsets
39 from that branch of their nation settled in Laristan. The inha-
40 bitants of the sea-coast have a large admixture of African blood,
41 in consequence of their intercourse with the countries ving to
42 the south-west ; and hence they are of larger and more robust
43 form and blacker hue than the other Mekranis, who are described
44 by Pottinger® as “a puny, delicate race of men.” All classes