Though rough and uncouth, however, I found the natives, as a rule, hospitable and kindly.

It was only in the far interior that any unpleasantness was experienced.

This was, perhaps, only natural, seeing that seventy miles of the journey lay through a region as yet unexplored by Europeans, the inhabitants of which were naturally resentful of what they imagined to be intrusion and interference.
Owing to the nomadic nature of the Baluchis, the barrenness of their country, and consequent absence of manufactures and commerce, permanent settlements are very rare.
[Illustration: SONMIANI] With the exception of Quetta, Kelat, Beila, and Kej, there are no towns in Baluchistan worthy of the name.

Even those I have mentioned are, with the exception of Quetta (now a British settlement), mere collections of tumble-down mud huts, invariably guarded by a ramshackle fort and wall of the same material.

The dwellings of the nomads consist of a number of long slender poles bent and inverted towards each other, over which are stretched slips of coarse fabrics of camel's hair.