THE OUTBREAK IN INDIA.

Auckland Star, Volume XXVIII, Issue 203, 31 August 1897, Page 4

THE OUTBREAK IN INDIA.

The native outbreak on the north-weabern frontier of India seems to ba increasing in its area and seriousness. Laudakai (Lundi Kkana ?) and Guhiston fort have been captured by the insurgent Orakzais, Mahodza, Quebta, and Somana are in a stage of siege, while a number of European women and children at the Ziaret Sanifcorium are said to be in danger. Bub reinforcements are being hurried up to the threatened points, and Col. Sir Bindon Blood, having: suppressed the rising in the Upper Swat Valley, has advanced to Malandri Pass, a movement which has created excitement among the Banorwoel bribe*. The Swat district! was left alone by the Indian Government until very recently on political grounds. It is inhabited by a very fanatical race of Mohammedans, and its physical features aro said to presont even greater difficulties thaa those of other parts of the mountain ranges along which the British TransIndua frontier runs.

Inelta (or Shaikob, as it is locally called) is the chief towu of Inelta district, Baluchistan. The town has developed largely under British administration. Ib was occupied by troops in 1875, and formed the base of operations in Southern Afghanistan during tho war of 1879-80. It has been since then bhe headquarters of a strong brigade of Anglo-Indian troop*, and the defences of the old fort have been greatly strengthened and improved. Adjacent fcothe military cantonment is a flourishing civil bazaar and native town, which are administered on municipal principles. The hoadquartera of the agent to the GovernorGeneral, the chief authority in Belocchistan, are at Quetta. The place is connected with the railway system «f India. The altitude of Quetta is 5.501 feat above sea level. The' population, including thab of tho outlying stations ab Lovah aud Sibi, is absub 27,000.

Ziarat, where a number of women and children are said to be in jeopardy, must nob bo confounded with the place of the same name in Northern Persia, near Asbrabad, which ia also renowned for its mineral springs and delicious climate. The place referred to in our cablegrams is near Kelat-i-Ghilzai, a town and fort in Afghansban, on tho Tarnak River, 77 milesE.N.E. of Kandahar, and having an altitude above sea level of 5,543 feet.

Unfortunately, several of the names of places and tribes aro so mangled in course

of transmission aa to become unrecognisable, and it ia not safe to identify the places referred to in tho telegrams with those which closely resemble them in the orthography, because so many of the Indian and Afghan geographical words are very similar. However, ib is often possible to define as incidents develop themselves the position of points which are invested wiih interest in couaoctiea with the outbreak on the N. VV. Indian frontier.