BALUCHISTAN

51

Beyond the Suliméanis, on their western slopes, there
extends a system of flanking lateral valleys (of which
the Zhob is the longest) which connectedly form a line
of military communication parallel to that range and
(with reference to India) in rear of it. These valleys,
with their olive-covered slopes and grassy declivities,
are all under British occupation, dominated from a
central position at Fort Sandeman ; and thus the great
band of Sulimani Mountains, their rugged peaks and
gorges, the rocky line of summits intersected by goat
tracks, are held as securely as if they were occupied
by military posts. Their ever-restless Pathan inhabitants
find themselves with no back door of escape from certain
punishment if, from their own position of independence,
they venture to interfere with that of their neighbours.
It is this (and the same principle holds good for all the
Baluch frontier) rather than any wide distinction between
the warlike characteristics of one tribe of Pathans and
another, or between Baluch and Afghan, that renders
our southern frontier safe from periodic eruptions such
as have lately convulsed the north. Doubtless the conditions
 which govern Baluch existence, the system of
tribal confederation approaching the feudalism of the
middle ages, and the influence of the chief rather than
that of the Mullah (which is a marked characteristic
amongst Baluchis as compared with Pathans), has much
to say to the apparent readiness with which they have
accepted British control, with all the advantages of mutual
inter-tribal toleration and goodwill,
But the Baluch is by heredity and by instinct quite as
much a fighting man as the Pathan, and in many respects
he is composed of far finer material. He is more
chivalrous and less fanatical. He is of better physique
and more temperate habits. What grander specimen
of the border chieftain could be found in the record
of any frontier highland history than was presented in
the person of Azad Khan, the late ruler of Kharan, who
at ninety years of age was as bold a rider, as swift and
capable a leader of his unruly band of raiders, as powerful