was waiting here for me, and speedily proceeded for Padag where, in a
terrible wind which had risen again after sunset, I arrived at eight
o'clock in the evening.

At Padag (3,080 feet) a number of semi-spherical Beluch huts, 4 to 5 feet
high, with domes thatched with tamarisk and palm leaves, were to be seen.
Most dwellings were in couples, enclosed in a circular wall for
protection against the wind as well as from the observation of intruders.
Although a cold wind was blowing fiercely at the time, and the
thermometer was only four degrees above freezing point, there were some
twenty children playing about perfectly naked, and they seemed quite
happy and comfortable.

From Padag we went across another plain of salt and mud, with _sorag_
grass and _drog_, two plants much cherished by camels. To the north of
our track was an extensive surface of salt deposits, extending from west
to east, which looked just as if the country were covered by snow.
Quantities of _eshwerk_--very pretty to look at when in flower, but most
poisonous--were now found, and _brug_, good for horses. There were three
parallel ranges of broken-up mountains on our south, and lots of
tamarisks on the south edge of the salt deposits. It was rather curious
that to the north of our track the vegetation consisted entirely of
_drog_ grass, whereas to the south there was only _eshwerk_.

A few yards from the track to the south we came upon a graveyard (a
Kabistan) with some fifteen or twenty graves. Water we had seen flowing
in two or three channels from the mountain to supply villages and forming
pools here and there. We passed between two mountains into another plain
with dried up _karankosh_ bushes, much liked by camels. Good grazing for
horses was to be found north, and extended as far as the foot of the
mountains.

[Illustration: Kuchaki Chah Rest House.]

[Illustration: Old Beluch Mud Fort near Nushki.]

Kuchaki Chah, an unroofed rest-house a few feet square--a photograph of
which can be seen in the illustration here appended--lies between two
high ranges of rocky mountains with high accumulations of sand to the
south-west and north-east respectively. The rugged mountains to the south
were called Bajin. Another shrub, _trat_, also much cherished by camels,
was plentiful here. Black precipitous rocks in vertical strata, splitting
into long slabs and blocks, were to be seen along the mountain range to
the South.

We had made another double marc