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 ••• • •• 
 
 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 FROM A PORTRAIT BY THE HON. JOHN COLLIER 
 
 Frontispiece 
 
PIONEERS OF PROGRESS 
 
 EMPIRE BUILDERS 
 
 edited by A. P. NEWTON, M.A., D.Litt., B.Sc, and 
 W. BASIL WORSFOLD, M.A. 
 
 SIR 
 ROBERT G. SANDEMAN 
 
 K.C.S.I. 
 
 PEACEFUL CONQUEROR OF BALUCHISTAN 
 
 BY 
 
 A. L. P. TUCKER, CLE. 
 
 FORMERLY OF THE POLITICAL DEPARTMENT OF THE GOVERNMENT OF INDIA 
 
 WITH A PORTRAIT AND MAP 
 
 LONDON: 
 
 SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING 
 CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE 
 
 NEW YORK: THE MACMILLAN COMPANY 
 1921 
 
^ 
 
 irtf 
 
 itf* 
 

 CONTENTS. 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Introductory 5 
 
 CHAP. 
 
 I. Early Years . 8 
 
 II. The Indian Frontier 12 
 
 III. Among the Tribesmen 21 
 
 IV. The First Mission to Kalat 27 
 
 V. Kalat Again 34 
 
 VI. Quetta in the Afghan War 43 
 
 VII. The Further Settlement of Baluchistan ... 51 
 
 VIII. Last Days 58 
 
 449869 
 
 Hi 
 
INTRODUCTORY. 
 
 Sir Robert Sandeman was one of many of our 
 countrymen who have given their lives to the service of 
 our Empire on the Indian frontier. He spent his life 
 there, from early manhood until his death on January 29, 
 1 892, in his fifty-seventh year. " He died, as he lived, 
 in the discharge of his duty" — says the inscription on 
 the memorial tablet in our church at Quetta — " Fervent 
 in spirit and serving the Lord." The truth of these few 
 simple words is not to be challenged. It is manifest to 
 all who knew and remember him, as well as to those who 
 know the wild country which he served so well. There 
 his memory is yet green and his name still casts a 
 spell. 
 
 It was in Baluchistan, the southern portion of our 
 Indian frontier, that his life's work was done. That wide 
 region of mountain and desert he found in a state of mis- 
 rule and misery, at times of open civil war. At his death 
 he left behind him a well-ordered country where British 
 influence was supreme and — more than that — welcome. 
 His was no military conquest. No great victories in the 
 field marked his career. Force was not his weapon, al- 
 though, on proper occasion, few could be more forceful 
 or swift to act than he. In a country where bravery is 
 the first of native virtues, his courage was often tried and 
 his fearlessness well known. But over and above these 
 qualities, which in our frontier service have been common 
 and indeed are expected, there was in him much more. 
 His leading motive, so strong that it was almost a passion, 
 
 (5) 
 
6 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 was love for his fellow-creatures, especially the half- 
 civilised peoples among whom his life was spent. It was 
 a delight to him to adjust their fierce quarrels, and re- 
 dress the grievances among them which caused so much 
 misery and bloodshed. This, coupled with a strong 
 sense of duty and inexhaustible tenacity and patience, 
 made him the great man that he was. For Sandeman 
 was great undoubtedly, although he himself did not know 
 it. "I might have been a great man," he once remarked 
 in his home circle, "but for the telegraph." Official 
 distinction was probably in his mind when he spoke : of 
 this no great share fell to him. His greatness lies rather 
 in the work which he actually did, the value of which is 
 now clearer than it was in his lifetime. He came to that 
 wild country as a messenger of peace and goodwill, much 
 opposed, much misunderstood, and greatly daring. 
 Peace and goodwill were the foundations that he built 
 upon : a structure so founded was bound to last. In his 
 lifetime his influence and hold upon the country stood 
 firm in the Afghan War of 1878-80 under the most 
 exacting strain. After his death the widespread frontier 
 troubles of 1 897 did not affect Baluchistan. And now, 
 in the past few years, when the strain on our Indian 
 frontier has been greater and more protracted than ever 
 before, Baluchistan has proved a source of strength and 
 security. It has most amply fulfilled its founder's hopes 
 and plans. 
 
 Sandeman's life ] has already been written by his con- 
 temporary, Dr. T. H. Thornton, who was Secretary to 
 the Governments in India under which Sir Robert 
 worked. This book is of great value and gives a full and 
 sympathetic description of Sir Robert and his work. 
 Much more, however, has been made public during the 
 twenty-five years which have passed since the "Life" 
 appeared ; and his story will bear telling again in the 
 
 1 Thornton's " Life of Sir Robert Sandeman ". Murray, 1895. 
 
INTRODUCTORY 7 
 
 briefer fashion of this series of Empire Builders, among 
 whom he merits a high and honoured place. The writer 
 can only claim that, holding for upwards of two years 
 (1905-7) the same office, he was able to learn on the spot 
 how marvellous was the hold on the chiefs and peoples 
 of Baluchistan which Robert Sandeman had established, 
 and which his memory and system maintained. 
 
CHAPTER I. 
 
 EARLY YEARS. 
 
 Robert Groves Sandeman was born at Perth on 
 February 25, 1835. He came of a good old Scottish 
 stock, which gave to Perth in the seventeenth and eight- 
 eenth centuries several distinguished citizens. One of 
 the best known was Robert Sandeman, who founded the 
 " Sandemanian " Church of simple Christian people, to 
 which the great scientist Faraday belonged. This Robert 
 died in America in 1771. His "patience, boldness, and 
 love of conciliation " passed in a marked degree to his 
 namesake and kinsman a century later. His fourth 
 brother, Thomas, was Treasurer and Magistrate of Perth. 
 Thomas' grandson, Robert Turnbull Sandeman, entered 
 the military service of the East India Company in 1824. 
 His regiment was the 33rd Bengal Infantry which he 
 commanded throughout the first Sikh War. He retired 
 in 1862 with the rank of Brigadier-General. He married 
 a Miss Barclay, and Robert, the subject of this memoir, 
 was their son. 
 
 Robert was one of a family of ten. When he was ten 
 months old his parents returned to India, leaving him 
 and his elder brother in the care of his aunts at Perth. 
 For these four ladies, who were unmarried, Robert had 
 and retained a lifelong affection. Their love he never 
 forgot : the strong religious beliefs, which they imparted, 
 he carried with him all his life. He did not see his 
 father again until many years later, when he arrived in 
 India, a young military Cadet, as his father had been 
 
 (8) 
 
EARLY YEARS 9 
 
 before him. Then father and son at once became fast 
 friends and companions : the man and the boy loved 
 each other. 
 
 Robert was sent to school at the Perth Academy, and, 
 later, to St. Andrews University. At neither did he 
 distinguish himself. He was not studious then or 
 afterwards. Nor was he, when a boy, great at athletics. 
 He was a strong fellow, mischievous and bold enough, 
 ready to fight on occasion, tender-hearted to animals, 
 and very sensitive and affectionate. When a home letter, 
 which he expected, did not come, he walked thirty miles 
 to Perth to find out the reason. Dr. Miller, his old 
 schoolmaster, thus summed him up before he sailed for 
 India : — 
 
 " Robert Sandeman ! Ye did little work at school, 
 but I wish ye well. And I would not like to be the 
 Saracen of Bagdad or the Tartar of Samarkand that 
 comes under the blow of your sabre." 
 
 Robert went to India in 1856. Although for a brief 
 while he had tried life in a business office, he was resolved 
 to be a soldier. So he sailed as soon as his commission 
 was granted, bearing with him a pleasant face and 
 manner, a stout frame and heart, little learning, and no 
 interest. In India he soon joined his father's regiment. 
 
 Early in 1857 rumours were afloat in India of danger 
 and coming trouble. The mysterious unleavened cakes 
 were being passed from village to village. Mutiny by 
 the native army was in the air. By May the cloud had 
 burst in the outbreaks at Meerut and Delhi, and the storm 
 was gathering strength on all sides. The disarming 
 of all doubtful or disaffected regiments was ordered. 
 Among them was the 33 rd. 
 
 Colonel Sandeman was one of many British officers in 
 the Indian Army who absolutely believed in their men. 
 He and his officers, says Lord Roberts, 1 trusted in them 
 
 111 Forty-one Years in India," Lord Roberts, Vol. I., Chap. X. 
 
to SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 "to any extent". The disarming was carried out on 
 June 25, at Phillour, immediately after that of the 35th 
 regiment, and on the same parade ground. In both cases 
 the command was obeyed by the sepoys without a word. 
 
 The order came to Colonel Sandeman and his officers 
 as a bolt from the blue. They had been told nothing. 
 The Colonel, on hearing it, exclaimed — " What ! Disarm 
 my regiment ! I will answer with my life for the loyalty 
 of every man." When Roberts repeated the order he 
 burst into tears. In later life Sir Robert told Lord 
 Roberts how terribly his father had felt the disgrace of 
 his old corps. 
 
 Lord Roberts makes it clear that there was great feel- 
 ing. The officers of the 33rd, he says, did not take things 
 so quietly as those of the 35 th had done. The scene 
 must have been distressing to all, and especially to father 
 and son. The latter acted admirably, with perception 
 and discretion beyond his years. No doubt he softened 
 the blow to his shocked and overstrung father. He did 
 not share his father's sublime confidence in the sepoys. 
 For some time past he had followed him through the 
 lines, carrying a loaded pistol, ready to shoot the first 
 man who threatened the Colonel's life. He had also 
 escorted his two sisters to a place of greater safety, all 
 three disguised as natives. It is pleasant to record that, 
 after the disarming, the regiment remained faithful. The 
 arms were publicly restored when the crisis was over. 
 
 After the disarmament the younger Sandeman was 
 transferred to another corps. He volunteered for active 
 service before Delhi. After its fall he took part in 
 various operations. He was in the storming of Dilk- 
 husha and the final capture of Lucknow. He was twice 
 severely wounded, and gained a high reputation for 
 pluck and zeal. Report has it that he was sent to carry 
 despatches to Sir John Lawrence, over a dangerous tract 
 infested by mutineers, and that he performed this duty so 
 quickly and well that Sir John offered him civil employ- 
 
EARLY YEARS n 
 
 merit under the Panjab Government It is probable that 
 Sir John, who knew most men and things in his Province, 
 took no leap in the dark when he made the offer. He 
 and Colonel Sandeman were old friends. He knew the 
 Phillour story and the young man's fighting record as 
 well. Robert was still anxious to be a soldier : however 
 he accepted the offer. In May, 1859, therefore, his 
 strictly military career ended and he entered civil employ. 
 After two and a half years' training in administration he 
 was posted to the Panjab frontier. He brought to his 
 new work an experience of men and things which must 
 have been unusual in so young an officer, even in those 
 stirring times. 
 
CHAPTER II. 
 
 THE INDIAN FRONTIER. 
 
 By the "frontier of India" is meant the north-west 
 frontier : for the north-eastern frontier is impassable. 
 With the far east borders, which touch China and Siam, 
 this memoir is not concerned. The south-east and south- 
 western borders of the great Dependency are, of course, 
 the seas, by which we entered India and by which we 
 hold it. The north-west frontier is India's land frontier. 
 Our dealings with it commenced little more than a 
 century ago, and form in our Indian history a chapter of 
 their own. 
 
 The frontier is some twelve hundred miles long, and 
 is fenced by mountain barriers which stretch from the 
 Himalayas to the coast of the Arabian sea. The river 
 Indus may be conveniently taken as its base line, from 
 the point where the stream bends southward in the 
 great mountain ranges, to the sea which it reaches below 
 our harbour at Karachi, the port and capital of Sind. 
 But the river is by no means the frontier itself: that lies 
 considerably to the west of it. The distinguishing- 
 feature of the frontier is that its mountain walls are 
 pierced by passes, by which the plains of India have been 
 entered and overrun from Central Asia from time im- 
 memorial. These passes are very few. The physical 
 features of the frontier are stupendous. Its distances are 
 immense. The mountains from which the river Indus 
 flows are the highest in the world ; and the river itself is 
 one of the greatest known to geographers. In the Indus 
 
 (12) 
 
THE INDIAN FRONTIER 13 
 
 valley and the foot-hills beyond it the heat of summer is 
 terrible. In winter the cold is bitter everywhere, and 
 above the lower levels it becomes piercing. So scorching 
 is the heat of the desert which lies at the foot of the 
 Bolan pass, that the native proverb says of the village 
 there, " Having Dadar, why did the Almighty create a 
 hell ? " The aspect of the mountains round the pass is 
 so forbidding that Sir Charles Napier was moved to say, 
 that this must be the place where, after the creation of the 
 world, the spare rubbish was shot down. Of the passes 
 the Bolan and the Khyber are the principal. The first 
 leads from the Sind desert to Quetta, whence lies the 
 road to Kandahar, the chief city of South Afghanistan. 
 The Khyber leads from our border city of Peshawar to 
 the Afghan border and the road to the Afghan capital, 
 Kabul. There are other passes, but they are less im- 
 portant. 
 
 These passes, or their ancient and mediaeval equivalents, 
 have witnessed the passage into India of many invading 
 hosts and hordes. Alexander the Great's legions (327-5 
 B.C.) came through them ; as did armies led by Grseco- 
 Bactrian kings who ruled in Central Asia after his time. 
 One of these, 1 Menander (153 B.C.) was the last general 
 of European extraction to lead an army into India by 
 land. Great Hindu emperors controlled the frontier 
 country in and about the Christian era. Buddhist re- 
 mains still attest their ancient supremacy. In the long 
 centuries that follow, Hun, Tartar, Afghan, Moghul, and 
 Persian hosts have swept down the passes and plundered 
 India below. The wasting of Baluchistan by the great 
 Timur (A.D. 1399) is still remembered there with shudder- 
 ing and dread. The last two of the invaders were Nadir 
 Shah, the Persian conqueror who sacked Delhi (A.D. 
 1739); and Ahmed Shah Abdali, the Afghan King of 
 Kabul, who repeated the exploit (A.D. 1756). These 
 
 1 " Early History of India," V. A. Smith, Chap. VIII. Oxford, 1904. 
 
14 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 two invasions took place when the empire of the Great 
 Moghul at Delhi had fallen into decay. 
 
 The peoples that dwell in the frontier countries match 
 well with its stern conditions. They are hardy, brave, 
 fierce, and lawless. They have long been Mohammedans ; 
 though the precise dates when they embraced Islam are 
 not known. The Arabs from Mesopotamia entered 
 Baluchistan in the eighth century, passing through the 
 coastal country between Persia and the Indus. They 
 conquered the lower and middle Indus valleys, and held 
 them for two centuries, when their rule ended. The date 
 of the conversion in this region has been placed in this 
 period. The inhabitants of the frontier country at the 
 present day are composed, broadly, of two races. The 
 tribes on the northern portion, from the Himalayas to 
 the middle Indus valley, are Pathan. From there to the 
 sea the tribes are Baluch, or akin to Baluch. Between 
 the two races there is a considerable difference. The 
 Pathans (the name is supposed to mean " hill-men ") x 
 include the Afghans, by whom we generally mean the 
 inhabitants of Afghanistan proper. There are numerous 
 Pathan tribes and clans outside Afghanistan. The 
 Afghans call themselves children of Israel, although it 
 is not clear that they claim Jewish descent. 2 
 
 The Baluch, who have given their name to Baluchistan, 
 by tradition came from the region of Aleppo, whence they 
 migrated, through Mesopotamia and Southern Persia, to 
 Baluchistan. They are said to have first settled in the 
 coastal tract which is called Mekran, and borders with 
 Persia. This is the country where Alexander's army 
 suffered cruelly from thirst on its way back to Persia. 
 
 The Baluch then moved north-eastwards in the direc- 
 tion of the Indus valley, in which the towns of Dera 
 Ghazi Khan and Dera Ismail Khan bear the names of 
 
 1 Thornton's "Sandeman," Chap. II. 
 
 9 Ibid. t Chap. II. ; also " The Life of Amir Abdur Rahman," Vol. II., 
 Chap. VII. ^Murray, 1900. 
 
THE INDIAN FRONTIER 15 
 
 Baluch chiefs, who pitched their encampments (de>as) 
 there. The Baluch migration was followed by that of 
 the Brahuis ! (Brohis), who occupied the tracts which the 
 Baluch had vacated, and fixed their stronghold at Kalat 
 in the uplands. The date of neither migration is known. 
 The Brahuis also came, by their tradition, from Aleppo. 
 
 Both Baluch and Brahuis are divided into numerous 
 tribes and clans. The Murrees and the Boogtis are, 
 perhaps, the chief Baluch tribes. The Brahui tribes 
 form a loose confederacy, of which the Khan of Kalat is 
 the head. They are divided into two main groups — the 
 highlanders (Sarawans), who inhabit the uplands; and 
 the lowlanders (Jhalawans), who live in the country 
 below. The Brahuis greatly outnumber the Baluch. 
 
 The Baluch, though fierce and warlike, are not fanatical 
 or bigoted. They are brave, with a bold and manly 
 bearing and frank manners ; good horsemen, and of good 
 physique. Their long oiled curls, which hang down to 
 their shoulders, give them a most striking appearance ; 
 and a Baluch chief in gala dress is a fine figure of a man. 
 They are profuse in hospitality and expect to receive it 
 in equal measure. The Brahuis are not unlike them, but 
 are less striking and martial. The Baluch appear to be 
 the older and purer race. They do not give their 
 daughters in marriage to the Brahuis, but the latter will 
 marry daughters into a Baluch family, without scruple. 2 
 Some of the Brahui clans are called Baluch : others seem 
 to have absorbed Hindu and other races whom they 
 found in the country. The Baluch recognise and obey 
 the leader of the tribe, or "Tumandar," as he is called — 
 " the leader of ten thousand ". With the Pathan tribes 
 this is, generally, not the case. Here the tribesmen 
 are democratic, obey no authority for long, and are, 
 
 1 Colonel Webb Ware, "Journal, Central Asian Society," Vol. VI., 
 1919. 
 
 2 •* The Brahui Language," Bray, Part I., 1919, Introduction, CzU 
 cutta, 1909. 
 
16 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 moreover, fanatical, vindictive, and treacherous. The 
 Pathan tribes in Baluchistan live in the country north- 
 east of Quetta, which includes Pishin, and the Zhob 
 valley and its outskirts. 
 
 The whole tribal country has been called " Yaghistan," 
 or the " country of the lawless/' by all outside authorities 
 that have had to deal with it, Persian and Afghan as 
 well as ourselves. The love of freedom is strong in all 
 the border tribes, although Baluchistan has never been 
 independent for long. This passion for independence 
 would merit respect, were it not for the fierce and cruel 
 rapacity which has long made and still makes the 
 tribesmen a terror to their peaceful neighbours in the 
 plains. 
 
 In the days of the Moghul Empire at Delhi, which 
 Babar founded in 1526, the frontier country was con- 
 trolled by Viceroys or Governors at Kabul and Kandahar. 
 This last province was wrested from the Moghul by 
 Persia. On the break-up of the Persian Empire, after 
 Nadir Shah's death in 1 747, a powerful Afghan kingdom 
 was established by Ahmed Shah Abdali. This covered 
 much of the frontier region and the Panjab, while the 
 Afghans further claimed suzerainty over the Amirs of 
 Sind. Ahmed Shah died in 1773. His successor was 
 ousted from the Panjab by the powerful and warlike 
 Hindu government established by the Sikhs at Lahore, 
 which developed into the Sikh kingdom ruled by the 
 famous Maharaja Ranjit Singh. By this ruler the 
 Afghans were driven beyond the passes, and the Sikh 
 border was carried to the foot of the network of mountains 
 that forms the home of the Pathan tribes. In the 
 southern portion of the frontier Afghan rule was better 
 preserved. But Baluchistan contained a ruler of its own in 
 the Khan of Kalat, the head of the Brahui confederacy. 
 Nasir Khan I. (1755-95) was the great Khan of Kalat, 
 and is still the hero of Baluch legend and lay. He con- 
 trived to avoid absorption, proved a useful ally both to 
 
THE INDIAN FRONTIER i; 
 
 the Persian and the Afghan, and added much to his own 
 dominions and power. 
 
 Our dealings with the frontier countries commenced in 
 1809. We were then engaged in our great struggle 
 with France, and Napoleon had planned to attack our 
 Indian possessions, in concert with Persia. The value 
 of a friendly alliance with Afghanistan was realised, and 
 a treaty was concluded with Shah Shuja, the Afghan 
 King. Shah Shuja was soon afterwards driven from his 
 country and replaced by a ruler of the Barakzai dynasty ; 
 but the danger from France had ceased in 18 15. By 
 that time British ascendancy was established in India, 
 and we controlled the whole country, except the two 
 frontier kingdoms of the Panjab and Sind. With 
 Afghanistan and Baluchistan we had little to do. 
 
 By 1837 a new danger to India had arisen — the ad- 
 vance of Russia in Central Asia. This menace, which 
 still exists, has been ever since a dominant factor in the 
 frontier policy of the Government of India. The exiled 
 Afghan ruler, Shah Shuja, had sought refuge in India, 
 and had more than once endeavoured to regain his 
 throne. Afghanistan was now of prime importance to 
 India, as an outwork against the aggression of a great 
 foreign power ; and Baluchistan, which marches with 
 south Afghanistan and Persia, was hardly less so. We 
 engaged to replace Shah Shuja on the throne in Kabul, 
 and he guaranteed to us in return a friendly alliance. 
 
 The project failed disastrously. British armies were 
 sent up the Indus, with a contingent under Shah Shuja. 
 They passed up the Bolan and through Quetta and 
 Kandahar to Kabul in 1838. There the exiled ruler was 
 reinstated and maintained for two years. In 1 84 1 there 
 was a general rising against both him and us. Our 
 envoys at Kabul were murdered ; and our Kabul garrison, 
 compelled to retreat to India by the nearest road, was 
 massacred on the way. Avenging armies were sent from 
 Kandahar and India to Kabul. They withdrew in 1842, 
 
 2 
 
iS SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 when Afghanistan regained, in Amir Dost Mahomed, a 
 ruler of its own choosing. 
 
 A minor incident in this unhappy story was the storm- 
 ing of Kalat in 1839. The Khan had engaged to sup- 
 port us. He was — unjustly, as it proved — suspected of 
 treachery. Kalat was stormed by our troops and Khan 
 Mehrab died fighting in defence of his fort and palace. 
 His death was followed by disorder, in which our agent 
 at Kalat was barbarously murdered. Mehrab Khan's 
 son was installed as his successor, partly in tardy justice 
 to his father's memory, partly as the best means of paci- 
 fying the country ; and a treaty was concluded with him 
 in 1 841, which was negotiated by Major, afterwards Sir 
 James, Outram. Sandeman used to tell afterwards that 
 this son, Khudadad, the young Khan of his day, could 
 never speak of his father's death without marked agita- 
 tion and grief. 
 
 During these hostilities our troops and transport 
 suffered heavily all along the immense line of communi- 
 cations from the tribesmen, who lost no opportunity of 
 plundering and murdering the unarmed and unwary. On 
 the Baluchistan side the Murree tribe were the most 
 mischievous. In 1840 a force was sent to their country 
 to punish them. One detachment was surrounded and 
 besieged at Kahan, the chief Murree village. It was 
 withdrawn after a memorable defence, but not until a 
 relieving column had been beaten back by the tribesmen, 
 who captured three guns and almost destroyed it. Two 
 of these guns were recovered in 1859. The third, which 
 could not then be found, was still in Kahan twelve years 
 ago. 
 
 In 1843 we conquered the Amirs of Sind and annexed 
 that country. We were then, for the first time, brought 
 up against the tribal country, border to border. Our 
 border, or rather the only dangerous part of it, was 
 covered by the Sind desert, which stretches from the 
 Indus to the foot of the hill countrv and the mouth of 
 
THE INDIAN FRONTIER i£ 
 
 the Bolan pass. This desert, which is the hottest part of a 
 burning country, is about 200 miles long and 1 50 across. 
 
 In 1845 an d again in 1848 we were at war with the 
 Sikhs : for on the death of Maharaja Ranjit Singh in 1839 
 his kingdom had lapsed into anarchy. The Sikh armies 
 were defeated after a very severe struggle, and the Panjab 
 became a British province. We were then again brought, 
 border to border, with the tribal country over a long 
 stretch of 800 miles. And here, all along, the tribes are 
 Pathan, except at the southern extremity where the 
 Panjab and Sind meet, and the Baluch tribal country 
 begins. 
 
 One of the first tasks of our two border administra- 
 tions was the protection of the Indian plains. Sir Charles 
 Napier, conqueror and governor of Sind, was compelled 
 by continued raids to march into the Murree and Boogtee 
 tribal country in 1845. He proclaimed the tribesmen to 
 be outlaws, and offered a reward for every one of them 
 who was killed or captured within his borders. He tried 
 to guaru his border by military posts and forts ; but he 
 had little success until, in 1847, he formed a frontier 
 force, and gave its command to Captain, afterwards 
 General, John Jacob. Jacob soon brought the raiders 
 under control. Disdaining the use of forts or defensive 
 posts he used his troopers to wage swift and unceasing 
 war against cattle-lifters and all who harried the plains. 
 The desert and its heat were no obstacle to his in- 
 domitable energy and courage. In 1847 a force of 
 marauders, seven hundred strong, was cut off by a 
 detachment of the Sind Horse under Lieut. Merewether. 
 The band was destroyed, only two men escaping death 
 or capture. This, with other successes, effectually 
 stopped the evil. Nor did Jacob confine himself to 
 watch and ward. He dug canals, made roads, and 
 founded in the desert the thriving town of Jacobabad 
 which is called after him. He also conducted our rela- 
 tions with the Khan of Kalat, with whom he had much 
 
20 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 influence, and arranged with him the treaty of 1854. 
 Jacob clearly saw the value of Quetta ; and in 1855 he 
 was as anxious that our troops should be there, as 
 Sandeman was many years later. Jacob left the frontier 
 in 1855 : he returned there to die in 1858 at Jacobabad, 
 where he is buried. In the Mutiny he would have been 
 given a high military command, had he not been struck 
 down suddenly by fever. His early death was a heavy 
 loss to the Government which he had served so ardu- 
 ously. The Khan of Kalat died shortly before him, and 
 was succeeded by his half-brother, Khudadad Khan, 
 then a boy. 
 
 After Jacob's death Kalat affairs fell into disorder. 
 The Baluch, afraid of plundering Sind, raided the Khan's 
 country and made the Bolan pass impassable, save by 
 large caravans. So widespread and destructive were the 
 Murree raids that the Khan, assisted by our Resident, 
 overran their country in 1859. For the moment the 
 tribes were repressed, but not for long. Fierce disputes 
 broke out between the Khan and his chiefs. He was 
 deposed in 1863, and restored in 1864. Anarchy con- 
 tinued. The Khan employed a force of mercenaries, 
 mostly Pathans. They are described as scoundrels of all 
 sorts and a scourge to the country. He fought with 
 his chiefs with varying success, capturing some and then 
 pardoning them ; defied and resisted by others. The 
 Bolan pass remained quite unsafe, and other ways were 
 closed altogether. This was the general condition of 
 Baluchistan in 1866. 
 
CHAPTER III. 
 
 AMONG THE TRIBESMEN. 
 
 Robert Sandeman's service on the frontier began at 
 the close of 1861. He was first sent north and did good 
 work of a minor kind in more than one district. In 
 1863 he did duty with one of the military expeditions 
 sent against tribes on the Peshawar border. He was 
 in charge of communications, scoured the country with 
 mounted levies, collected intelligence, and was happy. 
 He is said to have put a telegram, postponing the attack 
 on a fort, in his pocket, and kept it there until the place 
 had been carried. Several similar stories cling to his 
 memory : he did not like telegrams. He was then en- 
 gaged to be married to his cousin, Miss Allen.' He was 
 seen under dropping matchlock fire reading a letter from 
 her, laying it down to issue an order and then taking it 
 up again. The marriage took place in 1 864 ; and after 
 two more years' service in this part of the border he was 
 promoted to the charge of the district of Dera Ghazi 
 Khan, in the mid-Indus valley, where the borders of the 
 Panjab and of Sind meet and the Baluch tribal country 
 begins. He arrived there in 1866. 
 
 Along this frontier raiding by the tribesmen was still, 
 as it always had been, the order of the day. It was met 
 by stern reprisals. Before the Panjab was annexed, the 
 Sikh governor at Peshawar, the Italian general, Avitabile, 
 used to have captured raiders flung to the ground from a 
 high tower in the city. In 1853 an officer employed on 
 our frontier writes : " All outside our border, and many 
 
 (21) 
 
22 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 within it, were to us thieves and robbers. Our outposts 
 brought in heads. I saw them rolled out on the ground 
 by the troopers." I have mentioned Sir Charles Napier's 
 proclamation of outlawry. His officers were of milder 
 mood and withdrew it. Jacob, riding through the desert, 
 was met by a man carrying a sack, who rolled out two 
 heads of tribesmen and asked what reward should be 
 given to him. " Give him two dozen " was Jacob's 
 answer. 
 
 The head of a border district in those days was, and 
 still is, a " universal provider" of administration. He 
 controlled the land, the taxes, the magistrates, and the 
 police. He had a voice in the management of roads, 
 canals, hospitals, forests, and schools. He was re- 
 sponsible for the good behaviour of the tribesmen within 
 his border, and dealt with aggressors from beyond it. 
 To guard against raids he had border police and levies, 
 and was supported by military garrisons from which he 
 could call for aid on occasion. But there was on the 
 Panjab border a stringent rule that district officers, with- 
 out special sanction, were never to risk their lives beyond 
 it, or to dream of its extension beyond present limits. 
 This rule, which dates from Sir John Lawrence's day, 
 has often been criticised. But there were excellent 
 reasons for it. 
 
 Sandeman's district was a strip of the Indus valley 
 about 200 miles long. Away from the river it was a 
 dreary country, intolerably hot in summer. The Baluch 
 lands of the district stretched to its border, where they 
 came close to the hilly tribal country of the Murrees and 
 other tribes over whom Sandeman had no authority. 
 The control of these tribes rested in the Sind frontier 
 officer at Jacobabad, who was subordinate to the Com- 
 missioner in Sind, while Sandeman served under the 
 Lieutenant-Governor of the Panjab. These high 
 authorities, and the services under them, were indepen- 
 dent of each other but both alike subordinate to the 
 
AMONG THE TRIBESMEN 23 
 
 Government of India. Either could make or mar the 
 career of any of his officers. 
 
 Sandeman first set to work to gain the respect and 
 confidence of the tribes under his own control. This did 
 not take him long. He was Scotch himself and clannish- 
 ness appealed to him. He liked the men and understood 
 them. He found their chiefs wanting in authority and 
 means ; and he gave them both. The chief Baluch tribe 
 of Dera Ghazi Khan was the Mazaris, so called from 
 the word Mazar which means a tiger in the Baluch 
 tongue. 1 Their chief was then young and poor. 
 Sandeman restored him and other chiefs to their rightful 
 places as '* Tumandars ". Henceforward he had no more 
 faithful and valued adherent than Nawab Sir Imam 
 Baksh Mazari, as the chief afterwards became. Sir 
 Imam Baksh is now dead ; but his son, Nawab Sir 
 Bahram Khan, survives him and well maintains the 
 reputation of his loyal and distinguished father. Nawab 
 Jamal Khan, chief of the Lagharis, was another of the 
 Baluch chiefs who worked with Sandeman from the be- 
 ginning and proved a worthy colleague of the Mazari 
 leader. 
 
 In another matter Sandeman was fortunate. He 
 found in 1866, in Dera Ghazi Khan, a valued assistant 
 in Mr. Bruce, who worked with him for more than 
 eighteen years. In the early Quetta days Mr. Bruce was 
 Sandeman's right hand ; and he has published a graphic 
 account 2 of the work which he and Sandeman did to- 
 gether. Sandeman found, too, in a very lowly position, 
 a Hindu clerk named Hittu Ram. This extraordinary 
 man was little more than five feet high, spare and thin, 
 and perhaps the last person in the world to be thought 
 capable of dealing with the stalwart tribesmen. But 
 Sandeman saw that there was good stuff in him, tested 
 
 " The Baluch Race," Dames, Royal Asiatic Society, 1904. 
 a " The Forward Policy and its Results," R. I. Bruce, CLE. Long- 
 mans, 1900. 
 
24 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 him, and soon made him one of his most trusted sub- 
 ordinates. Hittu has left a full record of Baluchistan 
 history, one section of which deals with Sir Robert's 
 work from 1866 until his death. This has been admir- 
 ably translated by General Sir Claud Jacob, himself an 
 old Baluchistan officer ; while Colonel Archer, who long 
 served under Sir Robert, has written the preface. As 
 one reads it one seems to hear the little man's wonder- 
 ful voice dominating, as Colonel Archer tells us it did, 
 the clamour of a tribal assembly, and seeming to " ride 
 the whirlwind and direct the storm ". On this work 1 I 
 shall draw largely, speaking of its author as the 
 " Chronicler " ; since his quaint, simple, and obviously 
 truthful narrative often recalls other chronicles. Indeed 
 the country, and its peoples and their doings, frequently 
 bring to mind Old Testament scenes. 
 
 Another of Sir Robert's trusted and valued Hindu 
 subordinates was Diwan Ganpat Rai. He, too, was most 
 insignificant in physique, but his authority and ability 
 were not far short of Hittu Ram's. Both these Hindu 
 officers are now dead. Both received and enjoyed well- 
 earned honours. Sandeman's judgment in the choice 
 of the men who worked for him, seldom erred ; it was 
 shown conspicuously in the careers of these two men. 
 
 When Sandeman had composed the many feuds and 
 quarrels within his own limits, set the chiefs on their 
 legs, and got his own house fairly in the way to order, 
 he turned to his border neighbours. With these he had 
 a long account to settle for raids, murders, and other 
 heinous offences; but his authority was confined to 
 offenders captured within his border. He began by 
 summoning the chiefs concerned to a conference. To 
 this they came ; but they flatly declined to enter into any 
 arrangement for keeping the peace. Sandeman therefore 
 dismissed them, warning one notorious raider that, if he 
 
 1 " Sandeman in Baluchistan," by the late R. B. Hittu Ram, C.I.E., 
 Government of India. Calcutta, 1916. 
 
AMONG THE TRIBESMEN 25 
 
 again crossed the border for plunder, he would not return 
 alive. The ruffian, one Ghulam Husain (Mr. Bruce des- 
 cribes him as the most ill-favoured looking scoundrel in all 
 the Baluch hills) laughed at the warning, and went his 
 way. He soon gathered a force of twelve hundred men, 
 and broke into the plains again. He was not unexpected ; 
 for Sandeman had organised his own chiefs well, and 
 various parties were on the watch. The fire of burning 
 hamlets gave the alarm to one of the military posts. 
 Forty troopers, with a contingent of five hundred tribes- 
 men, galloped to the spot. A fierce fight ensued and 
 the raiders were cut to pieces. The leader, with one 
 hundred and twenty of his followers were killed, and two 
 hundred were made prisoners. Sandeman, riding fast 
 to the scene, was met by a mounted tribesman, much 
 excited, who galloped up to him. Crying " Here is the 
 head of Ghulam Husain," he rolled it out of his mare's 
 nose-bag on to the road. Sandeman gave orders for its 
 decent interment. It was carried away afterwards by 
 relations and buried with the body, which they had 
 taken back to the hills. 
 
 The fame of this achievement spread far and wide. 
 Sandeman's star was regarded as lucky, and his words 
 of warning were proved to be words of weight. The 
 border respected him. He kept his prisoners and 
 summoned their chiefs to appear before him, if they wanted 
 them back. At first the chiefs feared to obey the sum- 
 mons. Some had gone before the Khan of Kalat and 
 been flung into prison. Others, shortly before, had ap- 
 peared before the Afghan governor at Sibi, and been 
 beheaded. However, they had some trust in Sandeman, 
 and at length they came. They then agreed to abstain 
 from further outrages on his border and were honourably 
 dismissed ; while a few horsemen from each tribe were 
 taken into Government service to be employed as des- 
 patch riders and the like. This new arrangement worked 
 well. Sandeman also introduced among the tribes the 
 
26 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 system of referring their disputes to councils of chiefs 
 and notables, according to the usage of the country. 
 This system, which he had first seen at work among the 
 Pathan tribes, took wonderful hold among the Baluch 
 It is now extended all over their country, and forms one 
 of the most popular and useful features of the adminis- 
 tration. It is called the " Jirga " system, from the Persian 
 word for a "circle/' and is, in practice, a form of trial by 
 jury. 
 
 So far Sandeman had done very well. Much of his 
 influence with the Baluch tribes was due to his habit 
 of always dealing with them in the Baluch manner and 
 settling disputes in accordance with their own customs. 
 He used the Baluch chiefs whenever he could. Baluch 
 horsemen generally formed his escorts, and offered them- 
 selves eagerly for the duty. They liked his well-looking 
 features, and, in the lays of which they are so fond, the 
 praises of "Sinniman" were sung in many a border 
 village. But in 1868 a heavy blow fell upon him. 
 His wife and children were attacked by diphtheria, 
 which broke out in the cantonment in a very fatal form. 
 His wife and one child died : another, whom he was 
 taking to the hills, died on the journey. Grief-stricken 
 he returned to a desolate house, after a short journey to 
 England to take home the child left to him. The tribes- 
 men saw and felt for his sorrow, and they respected the 
 patience with which he bore it. He flung himself into 
 his work with tenfold vigour. It was then that it 
 became his absorbing passion. He had begun to feel 
 his strength and know that there was work for him to 
 do, and that, under Providence, he could do it. 
 
CHAPTER IV. 
 
 THE FIRST MISSION TO KALA*T. 
 
 FROM 1869 onwards Sandeman began to range further 
 afield. He was now well established within his own 
 border. He and his officers could travel about without 
 fear of harm in hills that had been " Yaghistan" for 
 centuries; where, says the Chronicler, "even natives 
 could only resort at peril of their lives ". He broke the 
 border rule repeatedly and successfully. These trans- 
 gressions were condoned : it was impossible to resist 
 him. He was allowed to place his summer headquarters 
 in a hill twenty-five miles beyond his own border ; and 
 he named the place " Fort Munro," after his Commis- 
 sioner, Colonel Munro. 
 
 But the Murrees and their neighbours, while they re- 
 spected the district of Dera Ghazi Khan, could not be 
 held back from harrying Kalat lands and the Sind 
 border villages, where they had no longer Jacob to fear. 
 Sandeman did his best. He was in friendly correspond- 
 ence with the Sind frontier superintendent, Colonel 
 Phayre, who sympathised largely with Sandeman's 
 method of dealing directly with the tribes. But Kalat 
 had now gone from bad to worse. The chiefs, highland 
 and lowland, were again at open rupture with the young 
 Khan, who remained in his fort at Kalat, while his 
 soldiery ravaged the country and committed every sort 
 of excess. The chiefs clamoured for the disbandment 
 of his troops, and the restoration of their own ancient 
 rights. Their demands were flatly refused and anarchy 
 continued. 
 
 (27) 
 
28 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 So serious was the situation that high authority 
 was called on to intervene. A conference was held in 
 February, 1 871, between the Lieutenant-Governor of 
 the Panjab and Sir William Merewether, the Commis- 
 sioner in Sind, who in 1847, when a young lieutenant, 
 had inflicted such signal chastisement on the Baluch 
 raiders. The conference did little. Sir William held 
 strongly to the view that the Khan was a supreme ruler, 
 and that all dealings with the tribes of his country must 
 be carried on through him. Sandeman, however, gained 
 one point. His dealings with the Murrees were recog- 
 nised, and, as far as they were concerned, he was placed 
 in subordination to the Sind frontier officer. The 
 Khan's troubles with his chiefs were not touched. By 
 the close of 1 87 1 there was a general rising, and some 
 of the Khan's towns were seized. His post at Dadar 
 was attacked and his official there burned alive ; robberies 
 and murders took place all over the country. Sir William 
 was then called upon to arbitrate between the Khan and 
 his rebellious Sardars. He reached the frontier for this 
 purpose in March, 1872. Sandeman was sent to 
 Jacobabad to attend this meeting, but was not allowed 
 to take part in it. Sir William, who regarded the rising 
 as due to sympathy with the cause of the chiefs indis- 
 creetly shown by our frontier officers, removed Colonel 
 Phayre from his post, and ordered Sandeman to leave 
 Jacobabad — it is said, within twenty-four hours. This 
 Sandeman did without a word : but before he left he put 
 on record a note on the position of the chiefs, of which 
 he had gained a fairly accurate knowledge. His fol- 
 lowers were more upset than Sandeman himself. They 
 had heard him described as a mere boy, and consoled 
 themselves with the Persian proverb that "greatness 
 depends on the intellect, not on the age ". Thus they 
 went back, much grieved. Sandeman observed that 
 right would win at last, and that he looked for the day 
 when he himself would be at Quetta and control Kalat 
 
THE FIRST MISSION TO KALAT 29 
 
 affairs. " That," ill though he was, he would say, " is 
 where we ought to be, and where I will be." 
 
 Sir William's award effected little : it was based upon 
 his view that the Khan was supreme, and that the chiefs 
 had no valid grievances. The award was approved by 
 the Government of India (of which Lord Northbrook was 
 then the head), but it was not more fruitful than the con- 
 ference of the year before. 
 
 The Khan, indeed, did visit the Viceroy in Sind in 
 November, 1872. But Kalat affairs did not mend, and 
 in 1873 tne Khan's subsidy was stopped and our agent 
 withdrawn. This was a curious step to take at a time 
 when friendly personal influence with the Khan was 
 clearly needed ; and misrule continued. The Khan's 
 minister, who was a party to the award, fled from Kalat 
 and sought refuge in Sind. The Brahui chiefs fled to 
 the Murree hills and raided the Sind border, along with 
 the Murrees. Sir William Merewether was driven to 
 propose the despatch of a military force to Kalat, the 
 deposition of the Khan, and the blockade of the Murrees. 
 To these steps the Government were unwilling to agree. 
 The question was long debated. Sandeman offered to 
 proceed himself to the Baluch hills and ascertain by 
 friendly enquiry the cause of these disturbances. His 
 offer was at length accepted, and he was authorised to 
 proceed on this mission, acting under the orders of Sir 
 William, the Commissioner in Sind. He was to deal 
 with the Murrees, make them give up their plunder and 
 then, as he understood, go on to Kalat. The decision to 
 send him was not easily taken. Sandeman was a young 
 officer, quite unknown ; while the Commissioner, with 
 the high authority of his long and distinguished record, 
 was much opposed to him. However, Lord Northbrook's 
 Government decided that they would try Sandeman, and 
 he was sent. 
 
 Before Sandeman started for Kalat he set to work to 
 settle with the Murrees in his own special way. The 
 
30 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 tribe, always dangerous, were then unusually restless and 
 disturbed. They knew of his errand to them, and re- 
 sented it. But he knew them, too, and he knew himself. 
 With no military escort he rode into their hills, insisted 
 on the return of the stolen cattle, and remained as a 
 hostage until messengers came back to report that this 
 had been done. He then went back, on good terms with 
 the Murree chief, who sent his brother with the mission. 
 
 The mission started in November, 1875. It had a 
 small British escort of one hundred and twenty men ; and 
 a numerous tribal following went with it. Chief after 
 chief joined Sandeman. From his own district came the 
 Mazari chief, the Laghari, and many more: the Baluch 
 tribes outside were not behind-hand. In all, the train, 
 as recorded by the Chronicler, comprised eleven chiefs 
 of rank, with 1 106 horsemen and 300 footmen. The 
 Chronicler was himself in the mission, as was his Hindu 
 colleague. And with it too went Sandeman's major-domo, 
 "Mr. Bux," whose infinite resource and stately presence 
 have been admired by all Sir Robert's many guests, and 
 by those too who have stayed at the Residency after Sir 
 Robert's time. " Mr. Bux," now a titled native gentle- 
 man, still lives in retirement at Quetta, where any one 
 bearing the name of Sandeman is very dear to him. 
 
 The mission did well. It passed through the Murree 
 country. Among the halting-places was one known as 
 "the place of vast mutton feasts," where returning 
 raiders were in the habit of feasting on their way back 
 from a foray. A halt was made at Sibi, then in Afghan 
 hands, where the Murrees were a terror to the villages 
 outside the town. Then the Bolan was entered at 
 Dadar, which the Chronicler calls a small town and very 
 dirty. Here the shopkeepers used to carry their goods 
 every evening for safety to the house of a holy man, and 
 bring them back the next morning. The Khan had 
 troops at this place and his representative was a negro 
 slave. The troops saluted the mission, and supplies were 
 
THE FIRST MISSION TO KALAT 31 
 
 provided. Then the mission wound its way by three 
 long marches through this grim defile, suffering much 
 from lack of forage. Reaching the head of the pass they 
 entered the " plain of destitution," and then passed on 
 to Sar-i-ab, the " head of the water," with its springs. 
 This village was empty, as the tribesmen had gone down 
 the pass as usual, to winter in the plains below. The 
 mission was now in the Quetta valley, and entered 
 Quetta, then known as Shal, on the next day. 
 
 But while the business of the mission was progressing 
 thus hopefully, affairs had taken an ill turn behind 
 Sandeman's back. The Commissioner, far away at 
 Karachi, was still in touch with Kalat, and his informa- 
 tion from that quarter caused him to send express 
 despatches, ordering Sandeman not to proceed beyond 
 the Murree country, not to enter the Bolan, and to return 
 at once. He had, in fact, been told that a revolution in 
 Kalat was imminent. Sandeman was now in a most 
 difficult position. The success of the mission seemed 
 assured ; he was in no alarm, and had no occasion to ask 
 for help. On the other hand, disregard of these specific 
 orders might bring danger to the mission and ruin to 
 himself. But his natural tenacity and shrewdness did 
 not fail him. He decided to refer the whole matter to 
 the Government of India, and then proceeded on his way. 
 Kalat was reached on December 30, when he saw for the 
 first time the great palace-fort, or " Miri," on the hill, 
 and the clustered dwellings round it that form the town. 
 
 The Khan received the mission in state; but when 
 Sandeman paid his first visit to His Highness on De- 
 cember 31, one of the notables asked the significant 
 question : " Has the post from Sind reached the mission ? " 
 Kalat, then, was well aware of the purport of the Sind 
 despatches. The Khan held a formal Durbar on Janu- 
 ary 1, when he received Sandeman and the chiefs who 
 had joined the mission. These now included various 
 Brahui chiefs, among them the premier chieftain of the 
 
32 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 Highlanders. The Khan met Sandeman at the door and 
 seated him on his right, placing his own eldest son on 
 his left. The premier chief he stood up to greet ; to the 
 Baluch chiefs he half rose ; to the others he merely gave 
 greeting without rising. All the chiefs sat on the carpet, 
 as was, and is, the Baluch way. Then conversation was 
 opened on the matters in dispute, and resumed on the 
 next and following days. In the course of the discussion 
 the Khan observed that he had heard that Captain 
 Sandeman was without authority. 
 
 The discussions were friendly. The Khan seemed 
 willing to come to an understanding with the chiefs, if 
 they would undertake to be loyal to him. He was warm 
 in his expressions of loyalty to the Government of India 
 and Her Majesty the Queen, saying that he was pre- 
 pared to appear at any place to which they might 
 summon him, even in London. The Murrees and other 
 tribes spoke of amendment. At this stage, on January 
 4, 1876, news arrived of an affray between the Khan's 
 troops and certain Brahui villagers, ten of whom were 
 killed. Sandeman gave orders for striking camp and re- 
 turning at once. This reached the Khan's ears, for he 
 came on that same evening to the mission camp. He 
 was, however, in an intractable mood, and treated the 
 affray with levity. "It is impossible," he said, "to rule 
 the country without the sword. If Captain Sandeman 
 is so annoyed at this insignificant matter, what will he be 
 if I kill an ill-behaved chief to-morrow ? " The mission 
 marched for the plains on the next morning, but not by 
 the route by which they had come. On January 13 the 
 Khan wrote reporting a fight between his men and one 
 of the leading lowland chiefs, who was killed. He said 
 also that he was releasing, at Captain Sandeman's 
 instance, the villagers whom his troops had captured in 
 the recent affray. Thus he showed some sort of feeling 
 of responsibility. With this the work of the first mission 
 ended. It was disappointing : nothing definite had been 
 
THE FIRST MISSION TO KALAT 33 
 
 achieved. Sandeman, however, had gained much know- 
 ledge, and made some impression upon the Khan ; nor 
 was he without hope for the future, although he saw 
 that he "had a hard nut to crack in His Highness the 
 Khan". 
 
 When he reached the plains good news awaited him. 
 The Commissioner's action in recalling him had been 
 considered by the Government, and held to be mistaken. 
 The supreme authorities decided that Sandeman must be 
 supported. As his views and the Commissioner's could 
 not be reconciled, they relieved the latter of all further 
 responsibility for Kalat affairs. 
 
 Thus ended a long controversy. The relief to Sande- 
 man was immense. Writing to his father he says : " I 
 have had a hard battle, but the conquest is complete. 
 Thank God for His goodness to the people and to me." 
 That was his first thought. It was clearly recognised, 
 moreover, that the success of his mission had been 
 affected injuriously by the orders which sought to recall 
 him, when his work was hardly begun. 
 
CHAPTER V. 
 
 KALA*T AGAIN. 
 
 KalAt affairs did not improve after the first mission. 
 The chiefs, enraged at the killing of one of their number, 
 took to reprisals. The tribesmen were up and the Bolan 
 was closed. Caravans could not pass through, and the 
 traders clamoured for redress. The Government of 
 India could not remain inactive. They resolved to try 
 Sandeman again, and to give him this time a better 
 chance. He was now sent on a formal mission, bearing 
 a letter from the Viceroy to the Khan, in which Lord 
 Northbrook said that he was sending Major Sandeman 
 (as he had now become), in whom he had full confidence, 
 to confer with His Highness on the affairs of Kalat, and 
 effect a settlement, if possible, of all disputes. The 
 strength of the escort by which the mission was accom- 
 panied has sometimes been criticised to Sandeman's dis- 
 advantage : but it was clearly appropriate to the occasion 
 and was not excessive. The Baluch following was much 
 reduced. The faithful Mazari chief, with his colleague, 
 the Laghari, went with the mission ; the Chronicler was 
 in due attendance. The mission started on April 4, 
 1876, and six marches brought them to the mouth of the 
 Bolan. The summer heat had now set in. Cholera 
 broke out, and the mission had to make a long halt in 
 the pass, until the disease was stayed. A large caravan, 
 which had followed in its wake, was also attacked and 
 had to be moved up the pass as quickly as possible. By 
 April 27 the mission had reached Mastung, in the up- 
 
 (34) 
 
KALAT AGAIN 35 
 
 lands, and left the scorching pass behind. By that time 
 Sandeman was in correspondence with the Khan, and 
 numerous chiefs had joined him. There was much 
 fencing by His Highness with the invitation to meet the 
 mission. There were rumours of disturbances, and 
 threats and counter-threats of action by the Khan's 
 troops and the chiefs. Sandeman remained calm and 
 unperturbed. The news of his father's death reached 
 him at this time. He felt it deeply, but bore the blow 
 with his customary patience and resignation. At last 
 the Khan decided to accept the invitation ; and he 
 arrived at Mastung on May 31. 
 
 Meantime Sandeman had other anxieties. Lord 
 Northbrook, who had much regard for him, had resigned 
 the Viceroyalty ; and Lord Lytton was appointed by Mr. 
 Disraeli's Government to succeed him. The position on 
 the Indian frontier had become a matter of grave con- 
 cern to the British Government. Khiva had been con- 
 quered by Russia in 1873, an< ^ m tne two following years 
 Russian occupation had been pushed much further 
 towards India. Russian intercourse and influence with 
 the Afghan Amir, Sher Ali, had rapidly grown. It was 
 rightly surmised in India that a change of policy in our 
 Afghan and other frontier relations would be initiated by 
 the new Viceroy ; but how that change might affect his 
 mission Sandeman could not forecast. Lord Lytton had, 
 in fact, projected, with the authority of the Cabinet, the 
 despatch of a friendly mission to Kabul, to be combined 
 with one to Kalat and reach Kabul by Quetta and 
 Kandahar ; * and he had asked Lord Northbrook there- 
 fore to suspend Sandeman's mission. To this Lord 
 Northbrook was unable to agree. In the event Sandeman 
 had started only a few days before Lord Lytton 's arrival 
 in India, feeling that his mission might be superseded or 
 modified at any moment. He received no communica- 
 
 1 " Lord Lytton's Indian Administration," Lady Betty Balfour. Long- 
 mans, 1S92. 
 
36 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 tion from the Viceroy until June, and that was nothing 
 more than a very guarded message of congratulation on 
 his progress. Thus he was kept in a state of suspense 
 which he felt acutely. Still he set himself steadily to 
 the work in hand. 
 
 The Khan rode into Mastung on May 31. Sandeman 
 with a troop of cavalry rode out to meet him. He and 
 the Khan dismounted, shook hands, and rode in together 
 in friendly talk. This ceremony is one to which great 
 importance is attached ; it is called the " Peshwai," or 
 advance meeting. The Khan brought with him an 
 escort of three hundred horse and foot, and many villagers 
 were gathered in to swell the grandeur of his camp in the 
 Mastung "Miri". In the afternoon Sandeman visited 
 him there, performing the ceremony of " Mizaj-pursi," or 
 "asking after health". This, too, is a grave ceremony 
 that must never be omitted. On June 1 a formal Durbar 
 was held in the mission camp, where it was noticed that 
 the Khan looked ill at ease and gloomy. Sandeman 
 said a few general words only, on the need for union and 
 consultation, and the uselessness of seeking peace by 
 fighting. 
 
 On the next day Sandeman, with his two Baluch 
 chiefs, visited the Khan, who asked, point-blank, if the 
 Government would help him with an army to punish the 
 Brahuis. Sandeman replied, point-blank and emphati- 
 cally, that they would not. This frank exchange alto- 
 gether cleared the air ; for the Khan at once agreed that 
 he would leave his affairs in the hands of Major Sandeman, 
 and abide by his decision. A Commission was then 
 appointed. The Khan named two representatives ; and 
 Sandeman nominated the two Baluch chiefs as arbitrators 
 on the part of the Brahui chiefs. Two better mediators 
 could not have been found ; since the Baluch were in- 
 dependent of the Khan and were not connected with the 
 Brahuis. Statements of grievances by both parties were 
 drawn up, and good progress was made towards agree- 
 
KALAT AGAIN 37 
 
 ment. The lowland chiefs were now on their way up. 
 They did not get through, however, without a skirmish 
 with the Khan's troops, in which men were killed on 
 both sides. 
 
 By June 7 the agreement regarding the disputes be- 
 tween the Khan and the chiefs was ready. The Khan 
 had assented to it and affixed his seal. The highland 
 chiefs were summoned to the mission : each came in with 
 a following of two hundred men. The premier chief, the 
 Raisani, was taken by Sandeman to see the Khan on the 
 next day. The Khan's manner was off-hand : he did not 
 give the chief the customary greeting. Some of the 
 chiefs followers kissed the Khan's hand : some did not. 
 There was silence, when Sandeman, rising, took the 
 chief's hand and placed it in the Khan's, saying, "The 
 Khan is the master : you are his chief. He should be 
 favourable to you." The Khan replied that, if God 
 willed, all would be well. 
 
 On June 10 and 11 all the highland chiefs attended 
 the Khan's Durbar. They were well received. The 
 Khan observed that they now attended his Durbar 
 according to the old custom, and how beautiful and 
 pleasant a thing it was. The chiefs replied that they 
 considered the day very fortunate, in that they held their 
 seats in the Durbar of their old ruler. 
 
 On June 12 a characteristic incident occurred. The 
 mission post-bags were attacked in the Bolan. The 
 carriers, having dismounted to drink, were fired on and 
 fled to a hill. The horses, which ran away with the bags, 
 were carried off. They were recovered later. On June 
 16 the premier highland chief went to see the Khan 
 alone. He touched the Khdn's feet, and laid his sword 
 before him saying, " I offer my head also ". The Khan 
 was much moved. He embraced him, and girt him with 
 the sword with his own hands, saying, " You are my old 
 Sardar and I consider you my arm. Use this sword 
 against my enemies. I will favour you to the utmost of 
 
38 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 my power." The news of this, soon noised abroad, 
 caused general cheerfulness. The Khan ordered his 
 troops to withdraw to Kalat. 
 
 The lowland chiefs were now drawing near, while 
 messengers came in from the Pathan tribes beyond 
 Quetta and from the Zhob valley. They were perturbed 
 at the arrival of British officers and troops, and anxious to 
 find out what it all meant. They had grievances against 
 the Murrees for raids, and said that they would fall upon 
 and annihilate them. On June 29 measures were ar- 
 ranged for the protection of the Bolan pass. The Khan 
 agreed to keep it secure, and for this purpose to act in 
 consultation with Major Sandeman, and to maintain 
 communications with his subjects. He and Sandeman 
 were now on very friendly terms. " The burden," His 
 Highness said, " must now be borne half by myself and 
 half by Major Sandeman." On July 5, the lowlanders 
 arrived. They were no small body : the chiefs and their 
 following numbered 2000 men. They had been delayed, 
 they said, by the heat of the road and the loss of eighty 
 camels and horses. Otherwise they would have travelled 
 as fast as a bird. The settlement already agreed to by 
 the highlanders was announced to them. Councils were 
 convened to hear and decide minor disputes. Concilia- 
 tion made rapid strides in all directions. Prisoners and 
 their families were released, as well as female slaves who 
 had been sent to the Khan's harem. On July 13, when 
 agreement had been reached on all matters, a final 
 Durbar was held. 
 
 This was a great and imposing function. On chairs in 
 the centre sat the Khan and Sandeman. On the right 
 sat the Khan's relations and officials: on the left the 
 chiefs in due order. The mission escort furnished one 
 guard of honour. The Khan's troops furnished another, 
 with a band. The document containing the agreed terms 
 of the settlement was brought in, with the Koran, and 
 placed on a chair. All Mohammedans rose as their sacred 
 
KALAT AGAIN 39 
 
 book was brought in. The document was read aloud. 
 The seals attached to it were shown to, and recognised 
 by, the parties. All affirmed the binding nature of the 
 agreement in the most solemn manner. Then a salute 
 was fired : gifts of embroidered turbans, brocade and 
 muslin, horses and silver-mounted saddles, were bestowed : 
 and the Durbar ended. The Mastung Settlement, which 
 is the foundation of all order in the Kalat country, thus 
 came about, and it has remained in force ever since. 
 The parties then dispersed, the Khan going back to 
 Kaldt. Sandeman soon followed, after sending back part 
 of his escort, and he remained there until December. 
 
 It was in these two months, June and July, 1876, that 
 the pacification of Baluchistan was accomplished. To 
 Sandeman it was a time of strenuous and constant effort. 
 The pleasant Mastung valley in the upland mountains 
 was strangely transfigured. One can picture the group 
 of mission tents, with the flag flying on the flag-staff 
 before them ; the long lines of the escort ; the scattered 
 camps of the chiefs with their crowds of retainers and 
 horses ; the Khan in the fort, with his escort and follow- 
 ing pitched round its walls. The camp was full of stir 
 and animation. Messengers were coming in hourly with 
 news from all quarters, sometimes good, sometimes 
 alarming. Rumour was busy : wild men brought in wild 
 stories and talked them over with excited groups of men 
 as wild as themselves. Over all this stir and hum 
 Sandeman was the one controlling influence. Anxious, 
 but unperturbed, he steadily pursued his one aim ot con- 
 ciliation, overcoming difficulty after difficulty, composing 
 quarrel after quarrel. The chiefs now knew and trusted 
 him, and he had secured also the Khan's goodwill. 
 He was a commanding figure, with heavy frame, strong 
 jaw, and small light eyes which, when he was — as often 
 — deep in thought, looked rather through than at the 
 person or thing before him. At Mastung in this wild 
 mixed concourse he was at his best. Among the curious 
 
4 o SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 features of his unequalled hold on the tribes was his 
 ignorance of their language. He could speak Hindu- 
 stani fluently, but incorrectly : few beside the chiefs could 
 understand him. Yet they rarely failed to gather his 
 meaning, and, still more rarely, did they disregard it. 
 He was no lawyer: he disliked law. But the most 
 eminent lawyer could not have drawn up a better settle- 
 ment. 
 
 Sandeman was able in September to report to the 
 Viceroy the settlement which he had effected. Lord 
 Lytton, says the Chronicler, was "not quite convinced 
 of the improved state of the country ". The Chronicler, 
 as usual, puts matters in a nut-shell. The settlement, 
 in view of the past and recent history, must have 
 appeared almost incredible. Lord Lytton's Military 
 Secretary, Colonel Colley (who afterwards fell on Majuba 
 Hill), was sent to Kalat. He bore letters from the 
 Viceroy to the Khan and to Major Sandeman. These 
 dealt with the preparation of a fresh treaty with the 
 Khan, which the Viceroy proposed to ratify at Jacobabad, 
 where he invited His Highness to meet him. Lord 
 Lytton also invited His Highness to take part in the 
 coming great assembly at Delhi, when Her Majesty 
 Queen Victoria was to assume the title of " Empress of 
 India ". The Khan received Colonel Colley in Durbar, 
 pressed the Viceroy's letter to his forehead, accepted its 
 invitations, and prepared for the coming meeting. 
 Colonel Colley' s report on Kalat affairs was favourable, 
 and Robert Sandeman's official reputation was made. 
 
 In the interval at Kalat, Sandeman and the Khan met 
 frequently. Khudadad Khan had entered young on his 
 stormy public life. Young advisers seem to have had 
 the same attraction for him as they had for King Reho- 
 boam ; and but for Sandeman he could hardly have kept 
 his kingdom. He reminds one constantly of Mr. 
 Kipling's words: — 
 
 Half devil and half child. 
 
kalAt AGAIN 41 
 
 At this moment, however, the Khan and the envoy de- 
 bated matters of State policy with mutual goodwill. The 
 Khan, in dealing with his chiefs and subjects, favoured 
 a doggerel Hindustani couplet, which may be para- 
 phrased : — 
 
 First beat them ; 
 Then treat them. 
 
 Sandeman suggested a better rhyme : — 
 
 When reasoning fails, 
 Then twist their tails. 
 
 This has been labelled an old proverb ; but it seems pos- 
 sible that it was an original effort of the Sandemanian 
 muse. If so it stands alone. The two couplets were 
 gravely discussed in Durbar, and show what manner of 
 people Sandeman had to deal with. 
 
 From Kalat to Jacobabad and Delhi the road was now 
 easy. The Khan with a retinue of 3000 followers moved 
 down to the plains. The chiefs passed down the Bolan. 
 A portion of the British escort marched to Quetta, where 
 we had by treaty the right to place troops. Early in 
 December Lord Lytton reached Jacobabad. He re- 
 ceived the Khan in a great Durbar, and the new treaty 
 was signed. Lord Lytton describes the assembly as 
 most picturesque and uncouth. "The little Khan," he 
 says, "was very nervous or alarmed and trembled 
 violently. He has the furtive face and restless eye of a 
 little hunted wild beast which has long lived in danger of 
 its life. But his manners were good, and his face, as 
 soon as it loses its expression of alarm and mistrust, not 
 unpleasing." Poor Khudadad ! He was deposed not 
 long after the death of Sandeman — his elder brother, as 
 he used to call him. A cruel series of murders, which 
 he directed, was the occasion of his fall. He lived many 
 years in retirement, in comfort and ease. His manners 
 were pleasing to the last ; the restless eye he never lost, 
 but he caused no difficulties and passed a peaceful old 
 age, a fatalist and a philosopher. 
 
42 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 At the Delhi assembly the Khan and his wild Sardars 
 were an object of great interest. The chiefs and re- 
 tainers, with their long ringlets, were the observed of all 
 observers. The KMn was much delighted with all that 
 he saw, especially with the banners given to the feudatory 
 princes of India ; for one of which he pleaded, although 
 he was no feudatory but an ally. Sandeman received 
 Lord Lytton's cordial congratulations. The C.S.I, was 
 bestowed on him, and he was now appointed as the 
 representative of our Government at Kalat, with head- 
 quarters at Quetta and a suitable staff. He was anxious 
 for a holiday after his long and strenuous labours. But 
 leave could not be granted. Trouble was coming on the 
 border. 
 
 Of the decorations then bestowed a good share fell to 
 those who had worked for Sandeman. He never forgot 
 his men. The two Baluch chiefs received honours : the 
 Chronicler was not overlooked. Of his leader he writes : 
 " No sooner had the boat of his mission reached the shore 
 of success than the first thing he did was to reward those 
 who had prominently assisted him ". 
 
CHAPTER VI. 
 
 QUETTA IN THE AFGHAN WAR. 
 
 So, in the spring of 1877, Sandeman went to Quetta, 
 where he had long said that he meant to be. He was 
 now clothed with authority, and was, in fact, supreme in 
 Baluchistan. He was cheered by letters from Lord 
 Northbrook, and by the cordial support given to him by 
 Lord Lytton. On his way he was badly thrown from 
 his horse and had to be carried in on a litter. At Quetta 
 he purchased land for a Residency and for lines for the 
 troops. During the building of the Residency one of 
 the engineers, Lieutenant Hewson, was murdered by 
 fanatical Pathans who had become " ghazi " ; that is, had 
 vowed at all cost to take the life of an unbeliever. The 
 men came behind the officers, with knives hidden in 
 their cloaks. Hewson was stabbed through the back, 
 and his companion wounded. The murderers did not 
 escape. Captain Scott, who was not far away on parade, 
 heard the shouting and ran to the spot, taking a rifle and 
 bayonet from his orderly. He bayoneted two of them 
 and closed with the third, who was also cut down. 
 Captain Scott's conspicuous gallantry was rewarded with 
 the Victoria Cross. There were several of these murders 
 in the early Quetta days. The valley was water-logged 
 and unhealthy; and the town long had an ill name, 
 preserved in Mr. Kipling's "Jack Barrett went to 
 Quetta » :— 
 
 I shouldn't like to be the man, 
 Who sent Jack Barrett there. 
 
 (43) 
 
44 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 At that time the Khan's representative occupied the old 
 fort, with a few troops ; and within its enclosure were 
 the dwellings of Hindu traders and artisans, squalid and 
 poverty-stricken. The Bolan traffic, by which these men 
 had lived, had ceased. They could not cultivate, as the 
 Khan's revenue charges were enormous, and their har- 
 vests were raided. Cattle were only safe close to the 
 fort. The Khan's official could not go far outside it. 
 The Brahuis defied him : so strong had been the feeling 
 between them and the Khan that the latter had said 
 openly : " Should a Brahui chance to find his way to 
 Heaven, I will apply to God either to allot me a separate 
 room or permit me to go and live in hell ". The Pathan 
 tribes were equally lawless and defiant. Pishm was in 
 Afghan hands and the roads were closed. "When 
 Major Sandeman first came to Quetta it was," says the 
 Chronicler, "a fearful time. Thieves and robbers in- 
 fested it in those days. It was seldom that a night 
 passed over our heads without the report of firearms, 
 and often one would get out of bed through fear." 
 
 Sandeman dealt successfully with these evil surround- 
 ings. From the Khan he leased the Quetta valley on a 
 favourable rent, which was nearly double the amount of 
 its yearly value to him. He took over the fort, removed 
 the traders to a site outside, and housed the escort there. 
 The Residency was built on another site. It was a 
 domed mud house, comfortable, but very different from 
 the luxurious residence of his successors. He then 
 turned to the Bolan pass and completed the arrange- 
 ments for protecting and keeping it open. This done, 
 after a visit to Kalat and the lowland chiefs' country, he 
 was able to snatch a brief visit to England. He was 
 back in July, 1878. 
 
 By this time war with Afghanistan was imminent. A 
 "jehad," or holy war against the unbeliever, had been 
 proclaimed at Kandahar. The Pathan tribes round 
 Quetta were much excited, as were the Khan's soldiery 
 
QUETTA IN THE AFGHAN WAR 45 
 
 and some of the Baluch chiefs. Sandeman had no light 
 task in keeping the country quiet and preserving loyalty 
 and goodwill. He also gathered intelligence from south 
 Afghanistan and Kandahar, and stored advance sup- 
 plies of grain and fodder. All these things, says the 
 Chronicler, he did exceedingly well. 
 
 In September, 1878, the storm broke, and our mission 
 to the Amir of Afghanistan was refused passage through 
 the Khyber pass. The Quetta garrison was at once 
 strengthened by a division under General Biddulph. On 
 November 2 1 war was declared. Biddulph's force moved 
 forward and occupied Pishin without resistance. Sande- 
 man went with it. Sibi, below, was also occupied. In 
 both places the inhabitants were quite friendly. A 
 further force, seven thousand strong, moved up the Bolan 
 under General Stewart, while a reserve force was placed 
 at Sukkur on the Indus. Meantime Sandeman, with the 
 aid of the Pathan tribes, crossed the mountains between 
 Pishin and Kandahar, and found the pass, the Khojak, 
 unoccupied. The Khan of Kalat proved a loyal and 
 helpful ally. Stewart crossed the Afghan border on 
 January 1 , 1 879. Sandeman was most anxious to go with 
 him ; for he thought that, acting with the chiefs, he could 
 effect a settlement at Kandahar, as he had done at Mas- 
 tung. But he was considered indispensable at Quetta. 
 Stewart reached Kandahar on January 9, 1879, without 
 righting. Meantime on the Kabul side events were hap- 
 pening in quick succession. General Roberts, advancing 
 on Kabul through the Kurram valley, gained a brilliant 
 victory at the Peiwar Kotal on December 1, 1878. The 
 Amir, Sher Ali, fled from Kabul ; and in February, 1879, 
 he died. His son, Yakub Khan, succeeded him and sued 
 for peace. 
 
 So far everything had been easy, far too easy. The 
 great value of Quetta and Sandeman's pacification had 
 been clearly shown. Stewart was left in Kandahar with 
 a garrison of six thousand men. Biddulph's force was sent 
 
46 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 back to India, not by the Bolin pass, but by a much 
 shorter road which led to Sandeman's old district of Dera 
 Ghdzi. On this road Sandeman set a high value. It 
 was an old trade route between India and Kandahar, and 
 passed through Pathan tribal country, adjacent to the 
 Zhob valley, of which a certain Shah Jahan, a tribal 
 chieftain, was called Padshah, or King. 
 
 Amir Abdur Rahman l had passed down this valley 
 in 1869, with his uncle, when both were fugitives after 
 their defeat by Amir Sher AH. They were in evil case, 
 hard put to it to find food enough to keep them alive. 
 The " King of Zhob w was an old man, wearing an old 
 patched coat of sheepskin and a filthy turban. His mare, 
 all skin and bone, had bells tied round her knees, and 
 bells hung from her cloth bridle. This dreadful appari- 
 tion scared the uncle's horse and he cried to his nephew 
 for help. This Abdur Rahman refused ; he could not, he 
 said, come between two Kings. Nor would he help until 
 his uncle promised to give him one of his two swords. 
 Then he quieted the animals. The " King" was a sub- 
 ject of much mirth to Abdur Rahman: "King of the 
 Devils " he calls him, and curses him for leading them 
 the wrong way among thieves. 
 
 Shah Jahan was still to the fore in 1879. He was a 
 holy man and a reputed worker of miracles. He gathered 
 together a large body of tribesmen and attacked Sande- 
 man, who was with the advance party of Biddulph's 
 force. The tribesmen were defeated in a sharp fight and 
 sued for peace. At one place the advance was delayed 
 by a single tribesman, who, behind a stone barricade, 
 defied the whole force. He was entangled in shawls 
 thrown over him by friendlies, and made prisoner. On 
 the next day the hillmen collected in another defile and 
 refused to give way. The prisoner broke loose ; and 
 shouting to them, " Who are you to dare to fight when I 
 have surrendered ! " he dispersed them. 
 
 1 " Life of Abdur Rahman, Amir of Afghanistan." Murray, 1900. 
 
QUETTA IN THE AFGHAN WAR 47 
 
 On May 26, 1879, the peace treaty of Gandamak 
 between ourselves and Amir Yakub Khan was signed. 
 This ceded to us Pishfn, Sibi, and other Afghan places 
 in Baluchistan. An uncle of the Amir was sent to 
 Kandahar as Governor, and our troops were ordered to 
 withdraw. Sandeman was busy taking over the ceded 
 districts, when an outbreak of cholera swept over Quetta. 
 Mrs. Bruce, the only lady there during the first three years 
 of our occupation, was attacked. Sandeman at once 
 took her children into the Residency, where several of his 
 servants died of the disease ; but Mrs. Bruce herself 
 recovered after a very dangerous illness. In July, 1879, 
 appeared the Honours Gazette for services rendered in 
 the war. Sandeman became a K. C.S.I. "No decora- 
 tion," says Dr. Thornton, his biographer, " was ever better 
 earned." 
 
 The work and strain had told heavily on Sir Robert, 
 who suffered from insomnia and greatly needed rest. 
 But it was no time for rest. The boundary with Kan- 
 dahar had to be fixed that summer. On September 5, 
 when the tents had been struck in Kandahar, and the 
 division had started on its march back to Quetta, came 
 the grave news of the massacre at Kabul of our envoy, 
 Sir Louis Cavagnari, and his entire staff and escort. 
 
 Kandahar was at once occupied again. Sandeman 
 left for the Afghan border to reassure the tribes, and help 
 to keep open communications. On the Peshawar side 
 General Roberts reached Kabul, after severe fighting, on 
 October 12. The Amir Yakub Khan abdicated and was 
 sent to India. In December there was heavy fighting 
 round Kabul, and a general rising : but Roberts held his 
 ground. At Kandahar things were quiet. Below Quetta 
 the railway was pushed on as fast as possible from 
 Sukkur to the foot of the Bolan. It was open for traffic 
 up to Sibi by January, 1880. One of the stations in the 
 Sind desert is still called "Jhutput," which means 
 " Hurry". The engineers had to find a name for it and 
 
48 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 could think of none better. It was arranged that the line 
 should be taken on through the mountains, not by the 
 Bolan but by the Harnai valley. This lies in Murree and 
 Pathan tribal country. Great numbers of labourers were 
 employed, and it was not easy to protect them. The 
 Pathans ambushed and shot down Captain Showers, of 
 the Baluch guides, and defied Sandeman. He at once 
 attacked them with a small escort, drove them from the 
 hills and blew up their towers. He was conspicuous in 
 the fight in white clothes : and his sun-hat was pierced 
 by a bullet, as he stooped down to help his orderly who 
 had fallen wounded. In the spring of 1880, an indepen- 
 dent ruler of Kandahar was recognised. Stewart's force 
 was relieved by a division under General Primrose, and 
 marched to Kabul ; where it arrived at the end of April. 
 On the way Stewart had fought and won two fierce battles 
 before Ghazni. 
 
 In England a general election took place at this time 
 (March, 1880), and on April 28, Lord Beaconsfield's 
 Government was replaced by Mr. Gladstone's. As the 
 Afghan War had been denounced by the new Prime 
 Minister, Lord Lytton resigned the Viceroyalty; and 
 his successor, the Marquis of Ripon, reached India on 
 June 8. The policy of cutting off Kandahar from 
 Afghanistan was abandoned. Abdur Rahman, a member 
 of the ruling house, who now had returned to his country 
 after twelve years of exile in Russian Turkestan, was re- 
 garded with favour as a likely successor to the vacant 
 throne of Afghanistan. 
 
 At the same time rumour had long been busy regard- 
 ing the plans and movements of Ayub Khan, Yakub's 
 younger brother, who had fled to Herat on his father's 
 death. No importance was attached to these stories at 
 Kandahar ; but Sandeman, at Quetta, is said to have 
 warned the Government that there was danger from 
 Ayub. The warning, if given, was not heeded, and in 
 June it was known that Ayub was marching on Kanda- 
 
QUETTA IN THE AFGHAN WAR 49 
 
 har in force. The Kandahar Governor sent troops to 
 drive him back. They were mistrusted, and a British 
 brigade was sent with them. On July 13 they mutinied, 
 and moved off to join the enemy. The British brigade 
 attacked and dispersed them, and then marched to 
 Maiwand to intercept Ayub. It was attacked on July 27, 
 by Ayub's force, which was largely swollen by fanatics 
 and tribesmen. The brigade gave way, and the battle 
 of Maiwand ended in a disastrous defeat in which we lost, 
 in killed and missing, over 1200 officers and men. 
 The news reached Quetta on the morning of July 28. 
 By August 8, Ayub had invested Kandahar. 
 
 At this crisis Sandeman's resource and counsel were 
 most helpful. General Phayre, his old comrade of 
 Jacobabad days, was now commanding in Quetta. Jointly 
 they pressed for an immediate concentration on Pishin of 
 all troops that could be spared. This involved the aban- 
 donment of the great railway works and the posts on the 
 new road to India. It was done at once, and Phayre's 
 column started to relieve Kandahar. On August 9, 
 Sir Frederick Roberts also started for Kandahar from 
 Kabul, on the long and difficult march of 313 miles 
 which is famous in our history. He reached Kandahar 
 on August 31, and on the following day completely routed 
 Ayub. Abdur Rahman had been recognised already as 
 Amir of Afghanistan. The war was now over. 
 
 While these events were happening, Sandeman was 
 tireless in his activities. He defeated Ayub's attempts 
 to intrigue with Kalat, and both the Khan and the chiefs 
 remained thoroughly loyal. The heavy demand for 
 transport and supplies to serve our armies at Kandahar 
 was largely borne by Baluchistan. Sandeman was the 
 inspiring genius. Twenty thousand camels were col- 
 lected, hired, and worked in relays over the long road 
 from rail-head to Kandahar. No such transport had 
 been got together and paid for in the country before. 
 Sandeman was everywhere conspicuous, encouraging, 
 
 4 
 
50 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 threatening, persuading, and settling with the chiefs 
 and camel owners. His work was on the simple lines 
 of prompt, just payment ; and he carried it through. 
 The tribesmen along the railway alignment gave trouble. 
 The Murrees could not keep their hands from a weakly 
 guarded treasure convoy, which they fiercely attacked 
 and plundered. The Pathan tribesmen, too, broke out. 
 Shah Jahan of Zhob, with a large gathering, attacked 
 one of our posts, but he was beaten off. The Murrees 
 were severely punished when Roberts' force returned to 
 India through Quetta. The railway alignment was 
 again guarded, and the military road to the plains once 
 more taken in hand. 
 
 The Afghan frontier was now quiet, and a breathing 
 time began. Baluchistan had come well through the 
 long crisis. The Chronicler observes that, " had not 
 Sir Robert Sandeman already spread the influence of 
 the British power, the people would have deserted the 
 country on seeing such a large number of troops pass 
 through it ; and the troops would have been put to great 
 inconvenience and trouble ". He is right. In January, 
 1 88 1, the Home Government decided to abandon Kan- 
 dahar ; and the troops were withdrawn in April. On 
 this question of large policy Sandeman's opinion was 
 clear. "The new Amir of Afghanistan, whoever he 
 may be," he wrote, " can never be our friend as long as 
 the most valuable part of the Afghan kingdom is in 
 our possession." In the spring of 1881, he left for 
 England on his first long holiday since he landed in 
 India twenty-five years before. The Khan of Kalat's 
 farewell letter to him ends : "I pray you to think of the 
 sincere friend who is ever with you, like a second kernel 
 in one almond ". 
 
CHAPTER VII. 
 
 THE FURTHER SETTLEMENT OF BALUCHISTAN. 
 
 Sir Robert returned to India at the close of 1882. 
 He had married again while on furlough, and the union 
 was a most happy one. Lady Sandeman came out 
 with him to see, in a wild, strange country, a wonderful 
 welcome given to her husband. Horsemen dashed 
 ahead and signalled his coming as he marched through 
 the Bolan : great and small rejoiced as one man. He 
 had not been idle in England. In the settlement with 
 Afghanistan the proposal to cede Pishin and Sibi had 
 been entertained favourably by the British Government. 
 Sandeman would have none of it. He knew how 
 slender was the Afghan claim to these places, and their 
 importance to Baluchistan, of which they formed an in- 
 tegral part He urged his views strongly in every way 
 open to him. Sir Charles Dilke (who was then at the 
 Foreign Office) is believed to have adopted them and 
 pressed them on the Cabinet. In the end the districts 
 were retained. 
 
 Sandeman was now free to resume the task of estab- 
 lishing order throughout Baluchistan. There still re- 
 mained great areas where peace was unknown, life cheap, 
 the land untilled, and the people backward and impover- 
 ished. Hitherto the strain of the war had kept him 
 busy at Quetta — now a great place of arms — and in 
 northern Baluchistan, where the work which he had done 
 was bearing fruit. In the winter of 1883, therefore, he 
 went south to visit the lowland country, where many 
 
 (so 
 
52 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 disputes were composed. He then passed on to Kharan, 
 the desert stronghold of a chief whose name was very- 
 famous on the Persian border. Azad Khan of Kharan 
 — the chief in question — was then ninety-seven years 
 old. Bowed with age, he could still, once assisted into 
 the saddle, sit his horse and ride with the endurance of 
 a much younger man. He could look back on a long 
 career of border forays and strife. He claimed Persian 
 rather than Baluch descent : though his house and that 
 of the Khan of Kalat were connected by marriage. He 
 had fought against us in 1839, and again in 1856. He 
 had joined the Brahui chiefs in their rebellion in 1 871 ; 
 and in 1876 he had raided the Persian border. He was 
 now at feud with the Khan of Kalat and the lowland 
 chiefs on the Mekran side, one of whom his son had 
 lately attacked and slain. He was no party to the 
 Mastung settlement. However, he trusted Sir Robert, 
 and knew, as all the country knew, what had been done 
 in northern Baluchistan. Hence the aged chief received 
 the British Resident and his cortege with every mark of 
 favour, welcoming the prospect of peace at last. His 
 disputes and feuds were enquired into and settled, and 
 Kharan joined the Baluch confederacy. No British 
 official had visited this region before, and the " Kharan 
 conciliation " was one of the most striking of Sandeman's 
 minor triumphs. Azad Khan died in 1886 in his 101st 
 year. His son, Sir Nauroz Khan, who succeeded him, 
 died not long ago. There were no further troubles in 
 Kharan in Sandeman's time. From there he passed on 
 into Mekran, composing quarrels as he marched along, 
 much grieved by the misery which he found there. u A 
 life," says the Chronicler, " would there be sacrificed for 
 a piece of cloth worth a few pence." Having reached 
 the coast, Sandeman took ship for Karachi, and returned 
 to Quetta early in 1 884. 
 
 In the spring he marched east to the other end of his 
 vast charge. Shah Jahan of Zhob could not look on 
 
FURTHER SETTLEMENT OF BALUCHISTAN 53 
 
 idly while a new road, with military posts, was being 
 built on the outskirts of his country. Many murderous 
 attacks were made on our people. A camp of labourers 
 was badly cut up, and seven men killed. In these cir- 
 cumstances a force was sent into the Zhob country in the 
 autumn, which destroyed Shah Jahan's fort, dispersed his 
 following and reduced the tribes to submission. 
 
 Sandeman had also the task of transporting across the 
 desert, as far as the Helmund river, the Indian section 
 of the British Boundary Commission, which was to de- 
 limit the Russo-Afghan border in conjunction with the 
 Russian Commission. This was a matter of considerable 
 difficulty. The party, which consisted of 1500 men 
 and as many animals, had to be taken over 225 miles of 
 desert, where a road had to be marked out with plough- 
 shares, flares, and posts. 1 The number of wells that had 
 to be dug was 800 ; and the party was formed into 
 separate contingents which left at intervals of a day, 
 so that the wells might have time to fill up again after 
 they had been drained of water. These arrangements 
 were carried out successfully, and the party crossed the 
 desert without a hitch. In 1885, after what is called the 
 Panjdeh incident, when the Russian forces on the Afghan 
 border attacked and routed the Afghans, war with Russia 
 seemed imminent ; and Sandeman was again called upon 
 to provide transport for a large force at Quetta. An- 
 other great corps of camels was collected and worked on 
 his simple and most efficient method. The crisis passed, 
 however, and war was avoided. 
 
 In 1886 the special calls on Sir Robert were less ex- 
 acting. He could apply himself to making roads, re- 
 placing military posts by tribal levies, starting hospitals, 
 and generally improving the tracts which he administered. 
 The work on the railway, which had been discontinued 
 after the Afghan War of 1878-80, was resumed in 1884, 
 
 1 Sir Hugh Barnes, " Journal, Central Asian Society," Vol. VI., p. 79, 
 
54 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 and the line was carried through the mountains on to the 
 Afghan border. The condition of the country was im- 
 proved so greatly that distinguished visitors began to 
 find their way to Quetta. Among them were the Duke 
 and Duchess of Connaught, who stayed there in March, 
 
 1887. On this occasion the railway bridge across the 
 great Chappar rift was opened for traffic by the Duchess, 
 and its name, the " Louise Margaret " bridge, commemor- 
 ates the event. Later on Sir Robert was able to take a 
 six months' holiday in England. 
 
 He returned to Quetta in December, and in April, 
 
 1888, he was called away to Las Bela, where the chief 
 had died. Towards the close of this year he marched up 
 the Zhob valley, where he hoped that, in his own special 
 way, he could make friends of the chiefs, bring the tribes 
 under control, and put an end to the constant trouble 
 in that quarter. The valley was still a no-man's land, 
 neither British nor Afghan. Its tribes were at feud 
 among themselves and a pest to their neighbours. 
 
 This tour was most successful. The chiefs were re- 
 conciled among themselves, and Sandeman was willing 
 to support their authority. They petitioned that their 
 country might be taken under British protection — a step 
 which Sandeman strongly pressed. He was anxious, 
 not only to benefit the inhabitants, but also to gain 
 friendly access to the old trade route from Afghanistan, 
 that entered India through the Gumal pass. This route 
 he hoped to re-open and develop. It had long been 
 closed to regular and peaceful traffic by the fierce and 
 rapacious Waziris, through whose mountains the caravans 
 bought, or fought, their way to the old trading centre 
 of Dera Ismail Khan in the Indus valley. 1 The Zhob 
 valley question was decided late in the year 1889. Sir 
 Robert's proposals were adopted, and he started from 
 
 1 It is with this large and powerful group of tribesmen that our forces 
 have now (1920) long been fighting in what is called the Derajat cam- 
 paign. 
 
FURTHER SETTLEMENT OF BALUCHISTAN 55 
 
 Quetta for the valley in December, taking a considerable 
 staff and escort, and his customary following of Baluch 
 chiefs. When he reached the village of Apozai l he was 
 met by a small group of tribesmen, unmounted, ragged 
 and unkempt. Four or five young men came to Sande- 
 man's horse, kissed his hand, held his stirrup, and gave 
 him a letter. It was from the chief, their father, written 
 on his deathbed. He welcomed Sir Robert, commended 
 his family to his care, and prayed him to excuse his sons 
 if they were late for the meeting, since they had stayed 
 to watch their father die. Sandeman, much moved, 
 passed into camp. 2 
 
 On December 27, Sir Robert proclaimed the pro- 
 tectorate of Zhob, and commenced to build the station 
 at Apozai, now called Fort Sandeman after its founder. 
 He remained there until the latter half of January, to 
 watch the new buildings and give time for the assembly 
 of the tribesmen who had been summoned from Waziri- 
 stan. These came in in great numbers, bristling with 
 arms ; but they were well disposed and tractable. When 
 all was in train at Apozai, the mission started for the 
 Gumal pass, which had not been traversed before by 
 any British official, marched through it and reached the 
 plains below. There was but one misadventure. A 
 non-commissioned native officer of the escort, who had 
 gone, against orders, some distance from camp, was 
 shot. Sandeman, writing, says : " The Waziris have 
 behaved in a most exemplary way : not even a petty 
 theft has occurred, and we have 700 in camp, many of 
 them most accomplished thieves ". At the end of Janu- 
 ary the pass was declared open : tribal service was ap- 
 portioned on a new and liberal scale and posts established. 
 This done, Sandeman reached the rail and moved back 
 to Quetta. He was attracted by the Waziris, whom he 
 describes as a wild but really fine people. He adds that 
 
 1 Sir T. Holdich, "The Indian Borderland," Chap. VIII. 
 
 2 The family is still cared for by the Government of India. 
 
56 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 a little time and patience with them would give our 
 Government entire control of the pass. In this he was 
 over-sanguine, as subsequent events have shown. 
 
 Even at this time the work of settlement in this 
 quarter was not complete. The Shiranis, a fierce Pathan 
 tribe who live in the mountain range of the Suliman and 
 on the slopes of the great peak which is called the Takht, 
 or throne, of Solomon, had only in part come in to 
 Apozai. Two of the Zhob chiefs were "out," and had 
 also not come in. These men plundered the valley and 
 even attacked Apozai. It was necessary in the autumn 
 of 1890 to send a military expedition to bring them into 
 order. The towers of the two outlaws were blown up 
 and the Shiranis reduced to submission. The force met 
 with little resistance and returned to Quetta in November. 
 Sir Robert was badly hurt by a fall from his horse, which 
 came down with him and crushed his knee ; but there 
 was no rest for him. In December, 1890, he was called 
 to the distant coastal region, where disturbances had 
 broken out. The work took him far inland and was 
 important. He returned in February, 1891, leaving his 
 assistant, Major Muir, to carry it on, and planned a 
 journey to Calcutta where he was anxious to explain in 
 person certain proposals which he was making regarding 
 the Mekran country. But he was suddenly called back 
 again. Major Muir had been attacked and wounded very 
 seriously by one of the Mekran chiefs. The man was 
 well known personally to Sir Robert as a thorough 
 scoundrel. Muir was strolling outside his tents in the 
 evening with only one attendant, when he met him. The 
 chief cut down and killed the attendant, and Muir, who 
 carried only a walking stick, was terribly wounded by 
 sword cuts. Sir Robert reached the coast in March, and, 
 having sent Major and Mrs. Muir by troopship to Bombay, 
 arranged matters in Mekran and returned to Quetta. Here 
 he framed his Mekran proposals. That dry, sun-baked 
 border region had a great hold on him. He was most 
 
FURTHER SETTLEMENT OF BALUCHISTAN 57 
 
 anxious to redress the misery which he found there, and 
 to develop the country in various ways. But his health 
 broke down. He was worn out by work and exposure, 
 and compelled to take leave home in May. He was 
 replaced at Quetta by Sir O. St. John, who died there 
 in June. Sir Robert returned in November, 1 891. He 
 should never have done so. But his passion for work 
 was strong, and Mekran had greatly moved him. The 
 call for one more tussle with his old enemies of misrule 
 and misery was irresistible. Disregarding his doctor's 
 urgent protests, he set his face once more to the East. 
 
CHAPTER VIII. 
 
 LAST DAYS. 
 
 In November Sir Robert returned with Lady Sandeman 
 to Quetta. Much work awaited him and kept him there 
 till Christmas. Early in January (1892) he started for 
 Mekran. He sailed from Karachi with his staff on the 
 1 6th; but he had arranged to visit Las Bela, where the 
 chief and his son were at strife, on his way down the 
 coast, and for this purpose the party disembarked at the 
 little roadstead of Somniani. From this point they 
 marched for Bela, which was reached on January 23. 
 Heavy rain fell on the way. Sir Robert caught cold, 
 but made light of it. At Bela, where he was received with 
 ceremony, he was busy with work, and equal to seeing 
 the illuminations of the little town. But in the evening 
 he was very unwell and took to his bed. On the 24th 
 Dr. Fullerton found him down with influenza. His lungs 
 were affected and pleurisy set in. The camp was moved 
 to higher ground, and he was carried there in a litter. 
 On the 26th he was a little better. He sent for Hittu 
 Ram (the " Chronicler ") and talked with him pleasantly, 
 saying that he had thought yesterday that he, too, was 
 departing from this world, like Sir O. St. John ; and that 
 if Baluchistan treated him like Sir Oliver, no officer would 
 willingly come to take charge of it. He was anxious, 
 too, about the arrival in his camp of the Mekran chiefs. 
 But on the next day he was in high fever. Again he 
 spoke with Hittu Ram, saying: "Rai Sahib, I have 
 
 (58) 
 
LAST DAYS 59 
 
 been caught as in a net. I feel very uneasy. I cannot 
 recollect having done an injustice to any one for which I 
 should suffer. Mind that no one is tyrannised over." 
 To Hittu Ram it then appeared that Sir Robert had be- 
 come conscious of the approach of the angel of death : 
 his conversation was of eternal separation. All was done 
 for him that could be done, but Sir Robert sank. He 
 spoke little ; but his few words were very courteous and 
 kind to those about him. On the 28th he was a little 
 better. He asked that prayers might be said, and was 
 anxious to say good-night to his staff. But on the 29th 
 he was much weaker. He spoke but little, but once or 
 twice he repeated the text : "If the trumpet give forth 
 an uncertain sound, who shall prepare for battle ? " It 
 may be that he was thinking of his own failing strength, 
 and the battle with the misery of Mekr&n, to which he 
 was no longer equal. In the afternoon he fainted. 
 When he recovered consciousness, he called for the chiefs 
 and his native assistants, raised his hand as they drew 
 near him, and heard and returned their salaams. To 
 Hittu Ram he whispered — "This is our last interview. 
 Give my salaams to all." They touched his hand and 
 withdrew, some with tears running down their cheeks. 
 He fell back on his pillow. The last words that fell from 
 him were " The Baluch people ". At about seven o'clock 
 Robert Sandeman passed away. 
 
 The grief in the camp was intense. All the Sardars 
 and the camp followers refused to take a morsel of food. 
 On the next day great numbers of them begged that they 
 might see his face once more. This was allowed ; and 
 they passed through the tent where he lay, with his 
 sword and decorations beside him, to make their last 
 salaam to one whose love for them they knew. He was 
 buried at Las Bela on February 1, on a spot where he 
 had held his Durbar in 1889, when he proclaimed the 
 chief. His staff and escort, the chief of Las Bela, the 
 Sardars of Mekrdn and some 1000 persons in all were 
 
60 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 present to see him laid to rest. "Those," says the 
 Chronicler, " who had witnessed the Durbar and now saw 
 his burial on the same spot, were very much astonished 
 and overawed to see the works of Providence — that Sir 
 Robert, who was one day making a speech like a lion at 
 that place in a Durbar among thousands of men, should 
 now be buried there." 
 
 The Government of India deeply deplored Sir Robert 
 Sandeman's sudden and unexpected death ; and an 
 official Durbar of mourning was held at Sibi. The chiefs 
 and all who attended it expressed their deep sorrow, and 
 determined to erect a memorial to him. Offerings came 
 in freely, and the Sandeman Memorial Hall was erected 
 at Quetta. It is a fine domed building, well suited to 
 its purpose. Once a year the chiefs assemble there and 
 decide, by the usage of the country, as Sir Robert laid 
 down, the matters in dispute between the different tribes. 
 This is one of the great assizes of the country. The 
 other is held at Sibi in winter, in the plains below. The 
 Hall has been the scene of every great Durbar held in 
 Quetta. Viceroys have addressed gatherings there ; but 
 the greatest has been that presided over by His Majesty 
 King George, the present King-Emperor, who, when 
 Prince of Wales, visited Quetta in March, 1906. The 
 Princess, now the Queen-Empress, was with him and 
 witnessed the Durbar from a private gallery. In his 
 address the Prince recalled Sir Robert Sandeman, and 
 all that he had done for Baluchistan. These words went 
 straight to the hearts of those who heard them. Chiefs 
 and the sons of chiefs who had worked for and loved Sir 
 Robert were greatly moved. 
 
 Nor was Sandeman forgotten in his old district of 
 Dera Ghazi Khan. The faithful Baluch chiefs erected to 
 him there a memorial of their own. The Las Bela chief 
 built a dome over his tomb, and his resting-place there 
 below the Baluch mountains is still carefully tended. 
 The Khan of KaUt expressed profound grief. He was 
 
LAST DAYS 61 
 
 surprised, he said, that Sir Robert's last resting-place 
 should be in Las Bela. "He should be buried," His 
 Highness continued, " either in his native home or in my 
 dominions. If the Las Bela chief objects, I am prepared 
 to send an army and forcibly convey the body from 
 his territory to Quetta." I doubt if any Mohammedan 
 ruler has ever, before or since, made such a proposal. 
 
 In my Introduction I claimed for Sir Robert a high 
 and honoured place among our Empire Builders. May 
 I hope that the claim has been made good ? For the 
 value, political and strategical, of Baluchistan to the 
 Empire I would refer the reader to the standard works 
 of Sir Charles Dilke and Sir Alfred Lyall. 1 But Sande- 
 man's aim was not only to secure for the British Common- 
 wealth of nations a position of rightful advantage. He 
 knew the importance of Baluchistan as an outpost of the 
 Empire — none better. But he was moved also by the 
 strong conviction that his work was for the good of the 
 people of Baluchistan; and that it would give them, as 
 he says in one of his letters, " a larger share of happiness 
 in this glorious world of ours ". To his success in this 
 respect there is a cloud of witnesses. He was not, of 
 course, the first in the field. His predecessors at Kalat 
 were brave and able men. But they lacked the oppor- 
 tunity for which Sandeman had to struggle, and at last 
 made for himself. I doubt if there is any part of India 
 where our influence and authority have taken root more 
 kindly and rapidly than they have done in Baluchistan 
 under Sandeman. And yet he had not to deal with fertile 
 plains teeming with Hindu villages, ready to submit to 
 any ruler who might happen to gain power. His work 
 
 1 " Problems of Greater Britain," by Sir Charles Dilke, Vol. II. ; 
 *• British Dominion in India," by Sir A. Lyall, Chaps. XVII. to XIX. 
 
62 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 lay in a wide barren region inhabited by fierce peoples, 
 very different from those of the Indian plains. Whether 
 or not he would have been successful in dealing with 
 Afghanistan must always be a matter of conjecture. At 
 one time he was willing to be sent on a mission to the 
 Amir. In whatever dealings he had with the Afghans 
 he showed himself conciliatory and just. He favoured 
 the restoration of Kandahar. He was averse from the 
 piercing of the Khojak railway tunnel, which Amir 
 Abdur Rahman regarded as a knife thrust in his vitals. 
 With his peculiar gifts he might have done much in 
 Afghanistan, and have made the story of our relations 
 with that country very different. But he did not have 
 the opportunity. He had hoped to carry his own 
 methods of friendly conciliation further with the Waziri 
 country. But the prospect ended with his death, and 
 Waziristan has since remained hostile and untameable. 
 
 Like most successful men he had critics and detractors. 
 His large employment of tribal levies has been called 
 extravagant, organised blackmail, and the like. The 
 criticism is ill-founded. He had no police in the tracts 
 which he administered or supervised. His levies did, 
 and do, much Government work. They are contented 
 and loyal and belong to the people. His police force 
 was confined to cantonments and towns. There was no 
 police oppression in Sandeman's day. Oppression of 
 any sort was hateful to him; and he would have no 
 alien departments playing mischief among his tribesmen. 
 His own men he kept in perfect order. 
 
 As a high official he was, probably, a mystery to 
 Viceroys until they knew him. Then they recognised 
 his sterling character and work. He never had the gift 
 of writing clearly and expressing, in reasoned sequence, 
 all that he had to say. Baluchistan, when he entered it, 
 was an uncharted country, largely unknown. Sandeman 
 knew its conditions, and expected them to be understood 
 equally well at Calcutta. He was something of a 
 
LAST DAYS 63 
 
 stumbling-block to distant secretaries. His hand-writ- 
 ing, often almost illegible, did not help matters. Hence 
 his despatches were not always well received. A com- 
 plaint that, instead of answering a specific question, he 
 had telegraphed five pages of irrelevant matter, was 
 probably justified. In these ways Sandeman was a law 
 to himself. He would break every rule of correspond- 
 ence, and seek the aid of any personage whom he knew 
 in support of his plans, which were all in all to him. 
 His tenacity was invincible. He hated red tape, and 
 red tape did not always like him. In later life when he 
 had troublesome telegrams from the Government of India 
 ("ring-tailed roarers" he used to call them), he would 
 leave the framing of the answer to his assistants, after a 
 talk. In work of his own choice he never grew weary. 
 He loved to get to the spot and see things himself. He 
 complains of some of his officers that they will not see 
 that good work means ceaseless labour. There is no 
 doubt that his life was shortened by toil and exposure. 
 A rapid journey from Zhob to the coastal country seems, 
 on paper, a small thing. In fact it meant a dozen long 
 daily marches, sometimes as long as forty miles, with a 
 three days' rail and steamer journey in between. Once 
 in the war he rode eighty miles on each of three con- 
 secutive days. 
 
 In his dealings with the tribesmen he was quite fear- 
 less. The Chronicler records that he used to travel 
 freely among the Baluch and Pathans and mix with 
 them. M He was in no danger of any sort with them, 
 owing to his own goodwill and pure-mindedness, so much 
 so that they were prepared to sacrifice their lives at his 
 order." His cheery but masterful presence and address 
 appealed to them. Once in his younger days he found 
 that the Murrees, who had come into Jacobabad, were 
 willing enough to pay their respects to the Khan ot 
 Kalat there, but could not stay on longer, as they were 
 without money. Sandeman had no authority at all in 
 
64 SIR ROBERT SANDEMAN 
 
 the matter, but he was very anxious that they should 
 pay their respects to the Khan. So he had it whispered 
 to the Murree chief that, if one of his men stole that 
 night into his tent, he would find something that might 
 be of use to all of them under his pillow. The man 
 came. Sandeman watched the bearded Baluch lift the 
 tent curtain, felt him grope for the bag of money, and 
 heard him creep away with it, breathing heavily. He 
 used to chuckle at the story afterwards. The visit of 
 ceremony was paid ; but not many men would have 
 taken such a risk. One other instance may be given. 
 Once, when he was without escort in the Murree country, 
 the tribesmen gathered and threatened to carry off his 
 horses. Sandeman came out of his tent, faced the crowd, 
 and dared them to do it. The horses remained. 
 
 He could not, I think, be called a clever man ; nor 
 was he witty or widely read. His talk abounded in old 
 saws and sayings, and was full of interest when he was 
 on his own ground, where there was no better travelling 
 companion. Kindness and hospitality abounded in him. 
 Ambition he had, but no sort of self-seeking entered into 
 it. His shrewdness was remarkable : none of his plans 
 when put into effect has ended in failure or fiasco. The 
 punitive expeditions, which have been so often necessary 
 on the northern section of the frontier, have been a very 
 small feature in our Baluchistan story. Like most men 
 who have done lasting work in India, he had a mission. 
 His was to pacify a large wild country, and he did 
 it. The Chronicler sums up his career in two pregnant 
 sentences : " Sir Robert Sandeman was not a man of 
 ordinary nature. He was created by God, it would 
 appear, for putting in order the disturbed country of 
 Baluchistan, and as soon as the country was settled God 
 called him to Himself." Few of our countrymen have 
 received or deserved so noble a tribute. Robert Sande- 
 man did both. 
 
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