turban was worn wound round the head.

A _duffadar_, six _sawars_ and six camels were stationed at
Mushki-Chah.

I left Mushki-Chah on January 21st at 3.30 a.m., my camels with loads
having started some hours previously, and our way lay for eight miles due
east, first over sand hills and undulations, then on a perfectly straight
and level track. To the south we had a barren waste of flat desert. We
then veered east-south-east (110 deg. b.m.), and fifteen miles off turned
slightly further to the south-east (120 deg. b.m.). To the north-north-east
we had a mountain range.

On nearing Kundi we found tamarisk plentiful and good grazing for camels.
Some of the tamarisk trees were 10 feet high. The march was a very cold
one, a north-north-west gale blowing fiercely and penetrating right
through our clothes and flesh to the marrow of our bones.

Three wells of good water were found 11/4 miles before reaching Kundi. The
rest-house was uninhabited and fast tumbling down. In 21 miles 1,100
yards we had slightly risen to 3,660 feet, and this point is one which
remains well impressed on one's mind, partly on account of the splendid
view obtained of the Sultan Mountains to the north-east--a gloomy black
mass with the highest peak of a light red colour. The Kuh-i-Sultan is a
most weirdly fantastic mountain range. Sir Charles McGregor, who saw
these mountains from a distance, speaks of them as the "oddest-looking
mountains he had ever seen."

But the best description is that given by Major A. H. MacMahon, who was,
I believe, the first European to explore the range. Approaching it from
the north he, too, was struck by the grotesque shape of its numerous
sharp peaks; above all by the Neza-i-Sultan--"the spear of the
Sultan"--an enormous rocky pillar of hard conglomerate, roughly
resembling a slender sugar-loaf with tapering summit, and precipitous
sides, that rise on the crest line of the range.

"The fissures," MacMahon says, "made by rain and weather action down its
sides give it a fluted appearance from a distance. We expected to find a
high natural pillar, but were not prepared for the stupendous size of the
reality. Judging from its width at the base, which is over 100 yards in
diameter, the height must be no less than from 500 to 800 feet. The
Sultan, in whose honour this range is named, is an ancient mythical
celebrity, who is said to be buried in the vicinity of the mountains. His
full name is Sultan-i-Pir-Khaisar, and he