BALUCHISTAN

45

of sandy littoral, broken, however, near the Hinglaz River
by the square-headed buttresses of Malan, the feet of
which are washed by the Arabian Sea. Here indeed is
some variation in the usually rigid conformation of ridge
and valley. Amongst the gigantic cliffs of Malan which
overlook the deep-set valley of the Hingol River are narrow
little gorges and ravines, each carrying its tribute of fresh
water (so rare elsewhere in the country) to the blue depths
of the main stream, and abounding in a freshness of green
vegetation which is to be found nowhere amongst the
hills of lesser altitude. The scenery is impressive and
grand, as is usually the case where the rivers of the frontier
 burst through the barrier of frontier mountains ; and
the rare beauty of this exception to the sterility of Makran
landscape has been recognised through past ages by a
people who are ever ready to devote all things beautiful in
Nature to the direct service of the gods. Near Hinglaz,
hidden away in one of these green byways of the mountains,
 is a shrine (the shrine of Bibi Nani) which is celebrated
 from the Euphrates to the Ganges. Here Hindoo
and Muhammadan pilgrims alike resort, each claiming
the divine protection of the presiding goddess or of the
departed saint, according to the tenets of their faith ; and
neither recognising that the object of their veneration is
probably the same goddess who was known to the Chaldeans
 under the same old-world name (Nana) a thousand
years before the time of Abraham. Nothing testifies so
strongly to the unchangeable nature of the geographical
link formed by Makran between east and west than does
this remarkable ziarat hidden away in the deep folds of
the Malan Mountains.
A curious feature in coast formation is presented by
the headlands of Ormara, Pasni, and Gwadur, which,
with the enchanted island of Astola, lying between Pasni
and Ormara, apparently indicate the former existence of a
now submerged mountain chain in which these headlands
were dominating incidents. The nature of recent changes
that have occurred on the Arabian sea-coast will, however,
be referred to hereafter. Meanwhile it should be noted