n family. It is divided
into two main dialects which are so different that speakers of the one are
almost unintelligible to speakers of the other. These two dialects are
separated by the belt of Brahui and Sindhi speakers who occupy the Sarawan
and Jalawan hills, and Las Bela. Owing probably to the fact that Makran was
for many generations under the rule of the Persian kings, the Baluchi
spoken on the west of the province, which is also called Makrani, is more
largely impregnated with Persian words and expressions than the Eastern
dialect. In the latter the words in use for common objects and acts are
nearly all pure Baluchi, the remainder of the language being borrowed from
Persian, Sindhi and Panjabi. There is no indigenous literature, but many
specimens of poetry exist in which heroes and brave deeds are commemorated,
and a good many of these have been collected from time to time. The
philological classification of the Brahui dialect has been much disputed,
but the latest enquiries, conducted by Dr G. A. Grierson, have resulted in
his placing it among the Dravidian languages. It is remarkable to find in
Baluchistan a Dravidian tongue, surrounded on all sides by Aryan languages,
and with the next nearest branch of the same family located so far away as
the Gond hills of central India. Brahui has no literature of its own, and
such knowledge as we possess of it is due to European scholars, such as
Bellew, Trumpp and Caldwell. Numerically the Brahuis are the strongest race
in Baluchistan. They number nearly 300,000 souls. Next to them and
numbering nearly 200,000 are Pathans. After this there is a drop to 80,000
mixed Baluchis and less than 40,000 Lasis (Lumris) of Las Bela. There are
thirteen indigenous tribes of Pathan origin, of which the Kakars (_q.v._)
are by far the most important, numbering more than 100,000 souls. They are
to be found in the largest numbers in Zhob, Quetta, Pishin and
Thal-Chotiali, but there are a few of them in Kalat and Chagai also. The
most important Baluch tribes are the Marris, the Bughtis, the Boledis, the
Domkis, the Magassis and the Rinds. Owing partly to the tribal system, and
partly to the levelling effect of Islam, nothing similar to the Brahmanical
system of social precedent is to be found in Baluchistan.

_History._--Of the early history of this portion of the Asiatic continent
little or nothing is known. The poverty and natural strength of the
country, combined with the ferocious hab