The incident now seems trifling enough, though it left a powerful impression upon my mind that night, on the eve of setting out through an unknown country, where the life of a European more or less is of little moment to the wild tribes of the interior.

The madman was a dervish, the head-man said, and perfectly harmless as a rule, but liable to fits of rage at sight of a European and unbeliever.

I was, therefore, not sorry to hear next morning that this ardent follower of the Prophet had been securely locked up, and would not be released till the morrow, when we were well on the road to Beila.
There are, I imagine, few countries practically so little known to Europeans as the one we were about to traverse.

I had, up to the time of my visit, often wondered that, with India so near, Baluchistan should have been so long allowed to remain the _terra incognita_ it is.

My surprise ceased on arrival at Kelat.