he one above it. Where the two layers met they deviated at
an angle, or practically interrupted what would, under ordinary
circumstances, be direct rays of vision. (The same effect, in other
words, as produced by placing a stick vertically in water.) The real
horizon was obliterated, as well as the lower part of the mountain, by
the white haze caused by the warm lower layer of air.

Some nineteen miles from Tretoh, where the hill range to the north became
low, a few sand hills were to be seen, then where another gap existed in
the range yet another long row of barchans stretched southwards. A mile
or so beyond this spot a long sand and gravel bank stretched across the
plain from north-north-east to south-south-west and near Chah Sandan
another similar bank existed, fifty feet high, parallel to the first.

At Chah Sandan (altitude 3,380 ft.) we were most enthusiastically
received by the _duffadar_, who was politeness itself. The Beluch
salutation is somewhat lengthy. In the Ba-roh-iya or Brahui language, as
spoken in north Beluchistan where I was travelling, it sounds
thus:--"_Shar joroz druakha joroz haire meretus me murev huaja khana_,"
after which the persons greeting seize each other's hands and raise them
to the forehead, bowing low. Inquiries follow about the _mulk_ or
countries one has crossed on one's journey, and whether the people have
treated one kindly.

The _duffadar_ at Chah Sandan was an Afghan, Belind Khan by name, and had
the following good points about him. He was a most sportsmanlike fellow;
was very bright, civil and intelligent, and owned chickens that laid
delicious eggs. He possessed a beautiful dog to which he was passionately
attached, and he and his brother had a greater capacity for tea than
almost any men I have known. Above all, Belind Khan had intense
admiration for the British and what they did, and as for Captain
Webb-Ware, his superior officer, he pronounced him to be the greatest
"Bahadur" that ever lived. "Even in my own country (Afghanistan)," he
exclaimed, raising his right hand in the air, "there is no 'Bahadur' like
him!"

This was not pure flattery but it was truly meant, and it was most
pleasant to find that such was the opinion, not only of Belind Khan, but
of every one of Captain Webb-Ware's subordinates on the entire length of
the road from the frontier to Quetta.

There is a _thana_ of three rooms at Chah Sandan and a Ziarat to the
Sultan Mountain. I took a photograph of