Directly south are the beginnings of the meridional arteries, the
Hab, the Purali and the Hingol, which end in the Arabian Sea, leaving a
space of mountainous seaboard (Makran) south of the Panjgur and west of the
Hingol, which is watered (so far as it is watered at all) by the long
lateral Kej river and several smaller mountain streams. Thus southern
Baluchistan comprises four hydrographical sections. First is the long
extension from Kalat, southwards, of that inconceivably wild highland
country which faces the desert of Sind, the foot of which forms the Indian
frontier. This is the land of the Brahui, and the flat wall of its frontier
limestone barrier is one of the most remarkable features in the
configuration of the whole line of Indian borderland. For the first 60 m.
from the sea near Karachi the Hab river is the boundary of Sind, and here,
across the enclosing desolation of outcropping ridges and intervening sand,
a road may be found into Makran. But from the point where the boundary
leaves the Hab to follow the Kirthar range not a break occurs (save one) in
150 m. of solid rock wall, rising many thousands of feet straight from the
sandy plain. The one break, or gorge, which allows the Kej waters to pass,
only forms a local gateway into a mass of impracticable hills. Secondly, to
the west of this mountain wilderness, stretching upwards from the sea in a
wedge form between the Brahui highlands and the group of towering peaks
which enclose the Hingol river and abut on the sea at Malan, are the
alluvial flats and delta of the Purali, forming the little province of Las
Bela, the home of the Las Rajput. In this hot and thirsty corner of
Baluchistan, ruled by the Jam or Cham, there is a fairly wide stretch of
cultivation, nourished by the alluvial detritus of the Purali and well
irrigated. In a little garden to the south of the modern town of Bela (the
ancient _Armabel_) is the tomb of Sir Robert Sandeman, who spent the best
part of an energetic and active life in the making of Baluchistan.

[Sidenote: Western boundary.]

The boundary between Baluchistan and Afghanistan, starting from Nushki,
cuts across the Lora hamun, leaving the frontier post of Chagai to
Baluchistan, and from this point to the Malik Siah Koh it is based partly
on the central mountainous water-divide already referred to, and partly
runs in straight lines through the desert south of the salt swamps of the
Gaud-i-Zirreh. It thus passes 50 m. to the sout