e road has only just been opened and all the arrangements for
the accommodation of travellers are not quite completed, but large
comfortable bungalows had already been erected--as we have seen--at
Robat, Mirui, and Dalbandin, while smaller buildings of the same type
will shortly be completed at Mall, Kuchaki Chah, Yadgar Chah, Sotag, and
Chah Sandan. In addition to these, the erection of bungalows has been
taken in hand at Chakal, Tretoh, Mushki-Chah, Saindak, Kirtaka, and
Mahommed Raza Chah, and it was anticipated that all these rest houses
would be finished before the close of 1902.

Owing to the great increase in the traffic upon the route, the
accommodation at Mall, Yadgar Chah, and Karodak, has been nearly doubled,
and two rooms added to the already extensive _thana_ at Dalbandin, while
the Tretoh, Mushki-Chah, and Mukak posts have been much enlarged and
strengthened.

On the Persian territory the Vice-Consul in Sistan has erected small
shelters, which, although necessarily not quite so luxurious as those
under the direct control of the British authorities, are yet quite
good enough for any one to spend a a night in. We have thus a complete
belt of rest-houses extending from Quetta to Sher-i-Nasrya in Sistan.

Every effort has been made to improve the water supply upon the road, and
new wells are constantly being sunk. True, the water, all along the
route, is not of the best, but one does not generally expect to find
delicious sweet spring water in a desert. One thing is, nevertheless,
certain, that the best has been made of given circumstances. Barring the
most trying section of the route (in Beluchistan territory) between Mukak
and Mushki-Chah, where the water is really foul, the majority of wells
may be more or less brackish, but, as I have said before, not necessarily
unwholesome. In fact, I have a firm belief that brackish water is the
water one should drink in the desert to keep healthy, and is the remedy
provided by nature for the purpose of balancing other ill-effects
produced by travelling over hot, sandy, dry, barren land. Brackish water,
however, should not be confounded nor classified with dirty water.

There are post offices at the principal stations, such as Robat, Saindak,
Mirui, Dalbandin and Nushki, and a bi-weekly service links Robat with
Quetta, the time taken to convey letters being now reduced to 100 hours.
A Consular postal service in connection with this continues from Robat,
_via_ Sher-i-