BALUCHISTAN

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Southern Makran in unmistakable characters ; and it was,
as we know with historical certainty, along the coast-line
that Alexander endeavoured to retreat when he lead his
army out of India back to Persia. He failed, and he lost
two-thirds of his broken force. He failed because he
attempted to support his fleet with his army, and turned
northwards, inland, too late. All the great immigrations
of western tribes and armies through Makran which have
influenced Indian history and Indian ethnography must,
however, eventually have broken through the Sind barrier
at one point only—a point which is within striking distance
 of Karachi. It is a remarkable fact that we may
examine the Sind ranges northward for 230 miles before
we find again any really practicable break in them. There
is no section of the western frontier of India so securely
guarded against any approach from the west as that 200
miles of impassable barrier formed by the straight-backed
Khirtar Mountains. At the end of it, 200 miles from the
sea, we find the Mulla Pass, a long and circuitous defile
which connects Kalat with the Indus plains at Gandava.
There are some historical authorities who think that
the Mulla route may once have served a military purpose
when Alexander despatched his general, Krateros, in command
 of the heavy division to make his way to Persia by
some other line than that of the Makran coast, although
we know that the Mulla was only developed into a
recognised trade route in later days, when Gandava
became a great trade centre under the rule of the Arabs
in Sind. We know that Krateros passed by Quetta and
Kandahar to the Helmund, so that it appears to be equally
possible that the one great open highroad to Quetta
which has been recognised through all modern histories
as affording the most direct access to Kandahar — the
Bolan—was the route which he selected. Kalat, as
already suggested, was ever a dominating position on
those trade routes which connected Seistan with India by
way of the Kharan desert, or by tracks passing through the
deserts south of the Helmund.
Between Kalat and the Gandava plains the Mulla
D