Page:The Imperial Durbar Album of the Indian princes, chiefs and zamindars.djvu/44

26 Nasir Khan has been known among the tribesmen as 'the Great'. The forty-four years of his rule were years of hard work, of organisation and formation of a cohered State out of a number of turbulent clans. Nasir Khan was both a soldier and a statesman. His reign was free from internecine conflicts. During the reign of his successor, Mir Mahmud Khan, Henry Pottinger visited Baluchistan in 1810 A.D. and has written a full account of his travels in that country. Mir Mehrab Khan, the successor of Mahmud Khan, was a thoughtless and weak ruler. He had not the tact to keep the turbulent tribesmen under control, and he made up what he lacked in wisdom, by barbarity and by selection of ruthless counsellors. In the year 1840 A.D. a rebellion of the Sarwan tribesmen forced him to give up his masnad; and, Mir Mahamad Hasan, afterwards known as Mir Nasir Khan II, was placed on it. Nasir Khan died, probably by poison, in 1857 A.D.; and was succeeded by Khudadad Khan who was a heartless tyrant. One of his first acts was to open fire with his guns on the chiefs who lay encamped near the city of Kalat; and from this time till 1876 A.D. the history of Kalat contains little but one continued chronicle of anarchy. revolt, and outrage. Revolt after revolt followed, and the endeavours of the Commissioner of Sindh to arbitrate proved useless. The British Resident, who had been at Kalat since the treaty of 1854 A.D., was withdrawn. Major (afterwards Sir Robert) Sandeman undertook the task of bringing about a reconciliation between the Khan and his feudatories. By his tact and firmness, the Mastung agreement,—the Magna Charta of the confederacy, was drawn up and read out formally in Durbar, and the British Government accepted the responsibility, as the Paramount Power, of preserving the peace of the country, and a new treaty was concluded in 1876 A.D. In 1893 A.D. Mir Khudadad Khan had to abdicate in favour of his son, Mir Mahmud, the present Ruler, whose reign has been marked with very few events of importance.

The political connection of the British Government with Baluchistan commences with the out-break of the first Afgan War in 1839 A.D., and the importance of the position acquired by the British in Baluchistan has been illustrated on various occasions.

The area of the State of Kalat is 71,593 square miles with a population of nearly 4| lacs. The total revenue of the State is close upon 8 lacs of Rupees The political authority in the State is shared by the Khan with the heads of the tribesmen under the general supervision of the British Political Agent, who exercises the right of arbitration in matters regarding inter-tribal disputes, or differences between the feudatory chiefs and the Khan of Kalat.

The army of Kalat proper is an irregular force, consisting of 300 infantry, 500 cavalry, and 90 artillery with 29 old-fashioned guns, costing the State in the aggregate about Rs. 82,000 per annum.

The present ruler H. H. Beglar-Begi Sir Mir Mahmud Khan G. C. I. E.. Wali of Kalat, is entitled to a salute of 19 guns.