s: "Who owns Beluchistan?" To which one
might almost answer: "Yes, who does?"

Like Afghanistan, Nepal, and other such buffer states, Beluchistan is
going through a somewhat slow but sure process of absorption. Beluchistan
is a mere expression of political geography, and the country called by
that name has on the west a semi-mythical boundary with Persia; on the
north a real boundary with Afghanistan; to the south the Arabian Sea, and
to the west, the Brahuic and Lukhi Mountains, bordering with Sindh and
the lower Dejarath.

Beluchistan may be subdivided as follows:--

British Beluchistan, with the assigned districts of Quetta and
the Bolan; territories under the immediate rule of the Khan of
Kelat.

Sarawan and Thalawan, the lands belonging to the two leading
Brahui clans.

The Chiefship of Las Bela.

Makran, Kharan, and the country of the Beluch tribes, such as the
Marris and Bugtis, along the Punjab and Sind borders.

Bori and Zhob.

We have certain treaties, engagements and Sanads with the Khan of Kelat
and the other chiefs, and the country--again I have to use a paradoxical
expression--may be regarded as a sort of "dependent independent" state. I
can find no better way of describing it. We have bought up all the rights
held by the chiefs that were worth buying for our purposes, and while,
theoretically, the country is supposed to be merely under our "sphere of
influence," we might with our fast-absorbing qualities practically
consider it absolutely our own.

The Brahui Khan of Kelat is the most powerful ruler in Beluchistan, and
the city of Kelat may be looked upon as the Beluch capital of
Beluchistan. Quetta, of course, is the capital of British Beluchistan.

The Beluch may be roughly divided into two great classes, the _Brahui_
and the _Nharui_, the latter to be subdivided again into the _Rinds_ and
the _Numris_. These classes, however, are again to be split up into a
great many tribes of different names.

[Illustration: A Beluch Family.]

The meaning of the word _Brahui_ is said to be "inhabitants of the
desert," and of _Nharui_ "men of the plains." The Nharui profess to be of
Arab origin, and to have come from the west; and they despise the idea
that they are akin to the Afghans or the Turkomans. Their features and
habits would support this view, and their language undoubtedly bears
traces of strong western influence if not of actual western origin. Th