olutely devoid of windows,
except for a loop-hole to the east of the tower, which I think was more
for defensive purposes than for ventilation's sake.

The village of Kardegap was seen next, and we arrived at Morad Khan Kella
(5,500 feet) twenty-four miles from our last camp.

CHAPTER XLI

Morad Khan Kella--The horrors of a camera--Seven high
dunes--Three tracks--Where the railway will be laid--A fine old
tamarisk turned into a Ziarat--Pagoda-like rest-houses--Science
_versus_ comfort--Kanak--Afghan women--The Kandahar road--How we
butcher foreign names--Quetta and Chaman--The horse fair and
Durbar at Sibi--Arrival in Calcutta--The first mishap--The death
of faithful Lawah--The end.

There was a ruined fort at Morad Khan Kella, and half a mile off a Beluch
village with two towers. Each house had a separating wall extending
outwardly. The Beluch is wretched if he is not secluded. The first thing
he ever wants to know is the exact extent of his property, then he is
quite happy and can live at peace with his neighbours. As folks live more
outside their houses than indoors, I suppose such a demarcation of
property is necessary. Moreover, people and beasts live in friendly
intercourse, and no doubt the beasts, which may be the cherished pets of
one man, may be just the reverse to his neighbours. The houses were
rectangular and plastered over with mud.

The people here were not quite so friendly as in other villages, and one
began to feel the effects of nearing civilisation. Somebody, too, had
been at this people with a camera before, for I hardly had time to take
mine out of its case before the whole population, which had collected
around, stampeded in all directions in the utmost confusion. Only a
little child--whom the mother dropped in the hurry-scurry--was left
behind, and he was a quaint little fellow clad in a long coloured gown
and a picturesque red hood.

We left Morad Khan Kella (5,430 feet) again on February 2nd, along the
vast plain which is to be crossed by the future railway from north to
south (190 deg.). On nearing the Killi range we came again to some high sand
dunes rising in a gentle gradient to 250 feet, their lowest point being
to the north, the highest to the south. The plain itself on which we were
travelling (stretching from south-west to north-east) rose gradually to
5,650 feet on undulating ground with a number of sand hills, seven high
long dunes, an