QUETTA  , the

capital of British Baluchistan, India, which also gives its name to a district . It rose to prominence in 1876, when Sir Robert Sandeman foundad a residency there . The name is a variation of the word kwat-kot, signifying a fortress, and the place is still locally known as Shal Kot . Quetta is the southernmost point in the line of frontier posts and system of strategic railways on the north-west frontier of India, 536 M. by rail N. of Karachi . It forms the head-quarters of the fourth division of the southern army, with a strong garrison of all arms . The railway was built in 1879, with a view to its continuance to Kandahar; but its present terminus is New Chaman on the Afghan border . A branch line to Nushki was completed in 1905 . The cantonment and civil station of Quetta stand in the open plain about 5500 ft. above sea-level, within a ring of mountains (such as Takatu, I^/Iurdar and Chiltan), which overlook it from a height of over 11,000 ft . To the north-west the view is open across the base of the Pishin valley to the Khojak Pass and Kandahar . South-wards is the open valley leading to the Bolan Pass, traversed by the railway . North of Quetta is the open plain leading to Pishin and the Harnai, also traversed by the Sibi-Pishin railway, which passes through .the fortifications . These defensive works, stretching from the base of Takatu to the foot of the Mashelak hills on the west, bar the way to advance from the Khojak Pass .

During the last

quarter of the 19th century Quetta grew from a dilapidated group of mud buildings, with an inferior bazaar and a few scattered remnants of neglected orchard cultivation, into a strong fortress, and one of the most popula% stations of the Indian army . Quetta was visited by the prince of Wales (George V.) in 1906, and a staff college for the Indian army was opened here in 1907 . It has become the trade mart for western Afghanistan, eastern Persia, and much of central Asia . The population of the town and cantonment in 1901 was 24,584 . The DISTRICT OF QUETTA (including Pishin) has an area of 5127 sq. m . Pop . (1901) 114,087, of whom more than three-fourths are Afghans, showing an increase of 45 % in the decade . The general aspect,of the country is hilly, rocky and sterile, particularly towards the north; but in many parts the soil is rich and good, yielding wheat, rice, madder, tobacco, and lucerne, besides numerous grasses . The district has abundant orchards, furnishing grapes, apples, pears, pomegranates, figs, &c.; melons and all kinds of English vegetables are also largely cultivated . The valley is watered by the Pishin Lora and by government irrigation works, including artesian wells . Wild sheep and goats abound in the hills of the district . The climate appears to be healthy and the temperature moderate, ranging from 40° F. in the winter to about 78° in the summer .

The

annual rainfall (including snow) averages about 10 in . The actual line of valley which contains Quetta and the Bolan Pass was originally rented from the khan of Kalat on terms which were changed in 1882 to a quit-rent of Rs25,000 per annum, and a further compensation of Rs3o,000 in lieu of transit duties in the Bolan Pass . This perpetual leasehold was afterwards extended so as to include Nushki and give the British government the command of the trade route to Sistan . The Quetta district is now administered, together with the assigned districts of Pishin, Tal Chotiali, and Sibi (assigned by the treaty of Gandamak as being nominally Afghan territory) by a regular staff of civil officials . See Thornton, Life of Sir Robert Sandeman (London, 1896) ; Quetta-Pishin District Gazetteer (Ajmer, 1907) . (T . H .