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Rh civil station of Quetta stand in the open plain about 5500 ft. above sea-level, within a ring of mountains (such as Takatu, Murdar and Chiltan), which overlook it from a height of over 11,000 ft. To the north-west the view is open across the base of the Pishin valley to the Khojak Pass and Kandahar. Southwards is the open valley leading to the Bolan Pass, traversed by the railway. North of Quetta is the open plain leading to Pishin and the Harnai, also traversed by the Sibi-Pishin railway, which passes through the fortifications. These defensive works, stretching from the base of Takatu to the foot of the Mashelak hills on the west, bar the way to advance from the Khojak Pass. During the last quarter of the 10th century Quetta grew from a dilapidated group of mud buildings, with an inferior bazaar and a few scattered remnants of neglected orchard cultivation, into a strong fortress, and one of the most popular; stations of the Indian army. Quetta was visited by the prince of Wales (George V.) in 1906, and a staff college for the Indian army was opened here in 1907. It has become the trade mart for western Afghanistan, eastern Persia, and much of central Asia. The population of the town and cantonment in 1901 was 24,584.

The (including Pishin) has an area of 5127 sq. m. Pop. (1901) 114,087, of whom more than three-fourths are Afghans, showing an increase of 45% in the decade. The general aspect, of the country is hilly, rocky and sterile, particularly towards the north; but in many parts the soil is rich and good, yielding wheat, rice, madder, tobacco, and lucerne, besides numerous grasses. The district has abundant orchards, furnishing grapes, apples, pears, pomegranates, figs, &c.; melons and all kinds of English vegetables are also largely cultivated. The valley is watered by the Pishin Lora and by government irrigation works, including artesian wells. Wild sheep and goats abound in the hills of the district. The climate appears to be healthy and the temperature moderate, ranging from 40° F. in the winter to about 78° in the summer. The annual rainfall (including snow) averages about 10 in. The actual line of valley which contains Quetta and the Bolan Pass was originally rented from the khan of Kalat on terms which were changed in 1882 to a quit-rent of Rs25,000 per annum, and a further compensation of Rs30,000 in lieu of transit duties in the Bolan Pass. This perpetual leasehold was afterwards extended so as to include Nushki and give the British government the command of the trade route to Sistan. The Quetta district is now administered, together with the assigned districts of Pishin, Tal Chotiali, and Sibi (assigned by the treaty of Gandamak as being nominally Afghan territory) by a regular staff of civil officials.

See Thornton, Life of Sir Robert Sandeman (London, 1896); Quetta-Pishin District Gazetteer (Ajmer, 1907).

 QUEUE or CUE (from Fr. queue, O. Fr. cue, Lat. cauda, tail), a tail of hair, either of the natural hair when so worn or of a wig, plaited together and tied with ribbon, hanging down the back of the neck. In Europe and European colonies and settlements this method of wearing the hair prevailed after the heavy periwig had gone out of fashion. The bob-wig or tie-wig with the queue survives in the English barrister's wig. In the second half of the 18th century the queue was worn thick and short and sometimes encased in leather, when it was termed a “club.” In the navy and army the queue survived its disuse in civil life. The three pieces of black velvet sewn on to the collar of the full dress tunic of the officers of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers, and styled the “flash,” are said to be a relic of the ribbon which tied the queue. The most familiar use of this fashion of wearing the hair is the pigtail of the Manchus, which was imposed on all Chinese men as a symbol of loyalty and obedience at the conquest of China (see : Social Life). A particular meaning of the word is for the line of persons formed in order awaiting their turn for admission to a theatre or other place. This appears also in French, from which it is borrowed. In the form “cue” (Fr. queue) the word is used of the tapering, striking implement in the game of (q.v.) It is often stated that the theatrical

use of “cue” for the concluding words of an actor's dialogue or speech which marks the beginning of another actor's part is merely an adaptation of the meaning “tail.” The New English Dictionary points out that there is no trace of this use in French. In 16th and 17th century plays the endings of parts are marked Q. or qu-, which has been taken to represent Lat. quando, when.  QUEVEDO Y VILLEGAS, FRANCISCO GÓMEZ DE (1580-1645), Spanish satirist and poet, was born at Madrid, where his father, who came from the mountains of Burgos, was secretary to Anne of Austria, fourth wife of Philip II. Early left an orphan, Quevedo was educated at the university of Alcalá, where he acquired a knowledge of classical and modern tongues—of Italian and French, Hebrew and Arabic, of philosophy, theology, civil law, and economics. His fame reached beyond Spain; at twenty-one he was in correspondence with Justus Lipsius on questions of Greek and Latin literature. His abstruse studies influenced Quevedo's style; to them are due the pedantic traits and mania for quotations which characterize most of his works.

He betook himself to the court and mingled with the society that surrounded Philip III. The cynical greed of ministers, the meanness of their flatterers, the corruption of the royal officers, the financial scandals, afforded ample scope to Quevedo's talent as a painter of manners. At Valladolid, where the court resided from 1601 to 1606, he mingled freely with these intrigues and disorders, and lost the purity of his morals but not his uprightness and integrity. In 1611 he fought a duel in which his adversary was killed, fled to Italy, and later on became secretary to Pedro Téllez Girón, duke de Osuna, and viceroy of Naples. Thus he learned politics—the one science which he had perhaps till then neglected,—initiated himself into the questions that divided Europe, and penetrated the ambitions of the neighbours of Spain, as well as the secret history of the intriguers protected by the favour of Philip III. The result was that he wrote several political works, particularly a lengthy treatise, La Politica de Dios (1626), in which he lays down the duties of kings by displaying to them how Christ has governed His church. The disgrace of Osuna (1620) compromised Quevedo, who was arrested and exiled to his estate at La Torre de Juan Abad in New Castile. Though involved in the process against the duke, Quevedo remained faithful to his patron, and bore banishment with resignation. On the death of Philip III. (31st of March 1621) he recommended himself to the first minister of the new king by celebrating his accession to power and saluting him as the vindicator of public morality in an epistle in the style of Juvenal. Olivares recalled him from his exile and gave him an honorary post in the palace, and from this time Quevedo resided almost constantly at court, exercising a kind of political and literary jurisdiction due to his varied relations and knowledge, but especially to his biting wit, which had no respect for persons. General politics, social economy, war, finance, literary and religious questions, all came under his dissecting knife, and he had a dissertation, a pamphlet, or a song for everything. One day he is defending St James, the sole patron of Spain, against a powerful coterie that wished to associate St Theresa with him; next day he is writing against the duke of Savoy, the hidden enemy of Spain, or against the measures taken to change the value of the currency; or once more he is engaged with the literary school of Góngora, whose affectations seem to him to sin against the genius of the Castilian tongue. And in the midst of this incessant controversy on every possible subject he finds time to compose a picaresque romance, the Historia de la Vida del Buscón, llamado Don Pablos, Exemplo de Vagamundos, y Espejo de Tacaños (1626); to write his Sueños (1627), in which all classes are flagellated; to pen a dissertation on The Constancy and Patience of Job (1631), to translate St Francis de Sales and Seneca, to compose thousands of verses, and to correspond with Spanish and foreign scholars.

But Quevedo was not to maintain unscathed the high position won by his knowledge, talent, and biting wit. The government