Notes Prepared for Reference during Curzon’s Tour of the Persian Gulf, and Other Papers on Persia and the Persian Gulf [‎221r] (441/678)

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end of the Daram hills, which were said to he full of Ibex and Gad, we then
passed through some low hillocks and entered the Belar district which is
populated by 120 families of Baluchis called Ruzh. Belar is the name of the
nullah and we are encamped on the banks of this nullah, in the bed of which
there are four or five wells some 5 or 6 feet in depth. The water is sweet, and
any number of wells could be dug apparently if required. Tamarisk wood is
abundant. Dry jowari stalks were brought in for the horses, but no supplies
were obtainable. Grass could be got in small quantities within a little distance.
This grass is more properly a shrub. It grows like a small bush and is called
Baramshu in the south of Makran and Barshu in Kharan and to the north.
Camels do not eat it but horses feed on it readily.
Wednesday, 11th December 1901. —Biri, 18 miles—Through barren
country the whole way. Some 5 miles out we crossed the Chilian nullah,
now dry, but in wet weather evidently liable to high floods. This joins the
Belar lower down and its bed was full of tamarisk and babul trees. At
the 8th mile we arrived at the pool and well in the Telar nullah at the
foot of the gauge through the Telar range of hills. Water brackish but
drinkable. The road here is rocky and bad. We had to dismount and it took
15 minutes to walk through the pass. The road beyond leads for the greater
part of the -way through low hills known as Band-i-Talar. The watershed of
this, known as the Usman Gul Darra, was crossed at the 14th mile and then
there was a steady descent of 4 miles to Biri which consists of nothing but a
well 75 feet in depth of muddy but fairly s^veet water near an old grave yard
said to belong to the Zikris, a sect of Muhammadans said to have been started
by one Pir Tarik of Peshawar. At first the Gitchkis and many others of
Makran embraced this form of religion, but Khan Nasir Khan killed and perse
cuted them and the numbers decreased. At piesent the sect is mostly confined
to the Nomad Baluchis of Southern Makran, extending from the Jhallawan
country on the east to Sirbaz, in Persian Baluchistan, on the west. The Pir
Tarik is said to have abolished the Muhammadan prayers and to have instituted
a new formula called “ Zikr ” or recitation of the Kulima and other verses in
their place and to have established his own Mecca, or place of pilgrimage, at a
hill near Turbat in Kej called Koh-i-Murad. The Zikris are credited by
the Sunnis with offering up their women to their priest under the name of
Zakat or religious charity and of orgies of sorts, but with what truth is not
known. There are no habitations at Biri and no supplies and no fodder were
procurable. Jawari stalks for the horses had to be brought from Kohak, a
village on the Dasht River 6 miles to the west.
Thursday, 12th December 1901. —Kani, 18 miles.—The road led over
hard “ pat ” rough and broken in some places and level in others. At the
3rd mile we passed the Dadde nullah, a deep channel with banks some 40
feet in height, running west into the Dasht River. At the 8th mile we
passed Kasar, where there is a patch of rain cultivation and of babul and
palm trees and one well, said to be of the same depth as that at Biri, viz.,
75 feet. Water also is collected here in rain. There is said to he the remains
here of an old fort or Kasar (palace). At the 11th mile we passed the Nilag
nullah, which runs down to Kunjati on the Dasht River, at which place the
troops encamped instead of at Biri as water was plentiful there in pools in the
bed of the Dasht River. At the 13th mile a patch of date and babul trees,
known as Putwani, was passed and thence rounding the end of some low nullahs
we reached Kani at the ISth mile. The water-supply at Kani consist of one
well 15 feet in depth. The water is brackish. The supply in the well was not
sufficient for the party. Three or four holes were dug in the sand of the nullah
some 300 or 400 yards to the east where there is water close to the surface.
There are no habitations at Kani and no supplies. Camel grazing is obtainable
at the other stages, but the only fodder for the horses was some old dry baramshu
grass from the hills around, which they would not eat.
Friday, 13th December 2S01-—Turbat, the head quarters of the Kej dis
trict, 18 miles.—The road led east up the nullah ; at the 5th mile the watershed
was crossed ; at the 7th mile a road to Kalatuh led off to the north ; and at the
11th mile the hills were cleared and the open country of the Kej valley was