QUETTA, a valley in Baluchistan, and the most northern district in the province. It embraces an area of about 90 square miles, and is situated near the Afghan frontier between 30° 2' and 30° 14' N. lat. and between 66 α 55' and 67° E. long. 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, <fcc.; melons and all kinds of English vegetables are also largely cultivated. The valley is watered by the Lora stream. Wild sheep, goats, and hogs abound in the hills of the district. The climate appears to be healthy and the temperature moderate, ranging from 30° Fahr, in the winter to about 80° in the summer. Since 1876 Quetta has been the seat of a British political officer. Its occupation secures the Pishin valley, holds in check border tribes, and keeps open the roads of the Kojak and Gwaja passes over the Khwaja Amran range leading to Kandahar. During the Afghan compaigns of 1878-80 Quetta formed the base of operations of the southern column. In 1879 a railway was commenced to Quetta, with a view to its being pushed on to Kandahar. The line starts from the Sind railway system at Sukkur and runs via Jacobabad to Sibi, and is now in course of construction to Quetta; it is to be termed the Sind-Pishin railway. Quetta (or Shal, meaning “the fort” or “kot ”), the capital, is situated at the northern extremity of the valley, near the head of the Bolan Pass and close to the Pishin valley, at an elevation of 5900 feet above the level of the sea. The town is surrounded by a mud wall; in its centre, on an artificial ...