r was fixed, and whether Sir T. Holdich,
who was in charge, _ever_ visited the whole frontier line. The Government
maps which existed at the time of the frontier demarcation were too
inaccurate to be of any use, as has been proved over and over again to
our sorrow. It would also be interesting to know whether the
astronomical positions of some of the supposed principal points of the
boundary have been accurately tested, and whether some points which had
been corrected by really efficient officers have been omitted, if not
suppressed, in order to cover certain discrepancies. And if so whether it
was an expedient to avoid showing the weakness of the maps (on which
certain names figure prominently) which were taken as a basis for the
delineation?

The facts are too commonly known by all the officers in Beluchistan and
by the Foreign Office in Calcutta, as well as by Persians, to be kept a
secret. It is painful to have to register facts of this kind, but I most
certainly think it is the duty of any Englishman to expose the deeds of
men who obtain high sounding posts and can only manage to keep them by
intrigue and by suppressing the straightforward work of really able
officers (which does not agree with theirs) to the eventual expense and
loss of the country at large.

As we went along, leaving the plain which we had crossed for some fifteen
miles, we saw to the south-west large white patches like snow. These were
made of gypsum and white limestone covering the ground. A curious long,
low, flat hill, with hundreds of vertical black streaks at its base and a
black summit, resembled a gigantic centipede crawling on the flat desert.
At the eastern end of the long plain were mud-hills on the left side of
the track, and black, isolated, rounded mounds on the right. To the
south-east a very curious mountain could be seen, one side of which was
of beautiful white and yellow marble, and from this spot we crossed hills
of sand and gravel, and the track was more tortuous, but still travelling
in a general direction of east-south-east (110 deg. b.m.)

Other mountains there were, entirely of white marble, and a great many
beautifully tinted fragments of marble, as well as yellow alabaster, were
strewn about abundantly upon the ground. We travelled among hillocks for
about seven and a half miles, then emerged again into a plain with a hill
range to our left, but nothing near us on the south. At the entrance of
the valley on our left s