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Imperial Gazetteer of India, v. 10, p. 118.

1:18 CHAGAI DISTRICT Agriculture is in its infancy, and the people are wanting in industry. The cultivated area is considerable only in the Nushki lahsil, but it Agriculture. depends chiefly on uncertain floods. In the ddh or alluvial plain the clay soil is very fertile when irrigated. Between 1899-19oo and 1903-4, about Rs. 28,500 was advanced for the encouragement of cultivation. Large numbers of camels, sheep, and goats are bred. Bullocks and ponies are scarce. The only sources of permanent irrigation are hdrez and streams, the former numbering twenty-one and the latter seven. In rainy years water raised by means of dams from the Pishin Lora is capable of irrigating immense areas in the ddh lands in Nushki ; and, with this object, a dam in the Bur Nullah was constructed by Government in 1903, at a cost of Rs. 14,ooo, but it was washed away in 1904. It has since been replaced. Area in Number Number Population Tahsil. square of of Population. per square miles. towns. villages. mile. Nushki 2,202 ... 10 10,756 5 Chagai sub-tahsil . 7,283 ... 22 4,933 One per- son to I•5 square miles. Western Sinjrani . 9,407 ... ... Not enu- merated. Total 18,892 ... 32 25,689 1 A small establishment is maintained for the protection of the pistachio and tamarisk jungles in the hills east of Nushki. Lead, copper and iron ores, sulphur, gypsum, alunogen, and various ornamental stones, such as Oriental alabaster, occur abundantly, but, owing to the in- accessibility of the region, are of no present industrial value. The women make a few rugs in the darn stitch for home use, which are of good texture and pattern and have fast dyes. Trade converges on Nushki from Seistan, Afghanistan, and Kharan; Trade and communications. the District has acquired much of its importance . from the opening of the Nushki-Seistan trade-route connecting India with Persia. During the five years ending 1904 the average value of the total trade on this route was 14-1 lakhs, the exports averaging 7-2 lakhs and the imports 6.9 lakhs. The District itself produces a little wool, ghi, and asafoetida. A branch of the North-Western Railway on the standard gauge was opened from Spezand to Nushki in 1905. The Nushki-Seistan trade- route has nineteen stages in the 327 miles between Nushki and Robat Kila, the frontier station. Shelters have been provided for travellers throughout, and post and telegraph offices and shops are located at