Government has given much pleasure to the natives by sanctioning a "mufi"
or remission of revenue for ever of all the land belonging to this Ziarat
in order to provide for the support of it.

The people of the district are extremely religious, and they have erected
Mesjids and Ziarats on every possible hill in the neighbourhood. The most
interesting is the Shah-Hussein Ziarat, which has a curious legend of its
own. They say, that when the Arabs attacked Shah-Hussein, he killed all
his enemies by merely praying to God. With their heads, which suddenly
turned into solid stone, he built the Ziarat. The tomb is made, in fact,
of round stones, some of enormous size, evidently worn into that shape by
water, but the natives firmly believe that they are petrified heads of
Arabs!

Nushki is most conveniently situated in a large valley with mountains
sheltering it from the north, north-east, east, south-east, south,
south-south-west, but from south-south-west to north there is a stretch
of open flat desert (the _Registan_, or "country of sand") as far as the
eye can see. To the south of the bungalow is a hill range stretching from
north-north-east to south-south-west, and suddenly broken by the valley,
through which runs the stream which, then proceeding along the Nushki
plain from east to west, turns in a graceful curve round the western side
of the hill on which the bungalow is situated, and proceeds across the
desert in a north-north-west direction, where, having supplied several
villages and irrigated their fields, it eventually exhausts itself in the
desert. A broad river bed can be noticed on the east side of and parallel
with the above hill range. The east side of these hills has been much
worn by water action; so much so that actual holes and caves in the soft
strata of sand and gravel have been corroded by the water, and these
holes, as we have seen, are now inhabited by destitute Beluch.

CHAPTER XL

The fast growing city of Nushki--The Tashil--the
Tashildar--Beluch law--Hospital--Pneumonia and consumption--Lawn
tennis--The Nushki Bazaar--Satisfactory trade returns--The
projected Quetta-Nushki Railway--A great future for Nushki--An
extension to Sistan necessary--Also a telegraph--Preferable
routes for a railway to Sistan--From Nushki to Kishingi--A
curious Mesjid--Mudonek Ateng Mountain--A fast of twenty-five
days--The Chiltan and Takatu Mts.--The Gurghena tribe--Huts a