KACH GANDAVA

kach gandava, or kachhi (kach, kej, kiz), a low-lying flat region in baluchistan separating the bugti hills from those of kalat. it is driven, like a wedge, into the frontier mountain system and extends for 150 m. from jacobabad to sibi, with nearly as great a breadth at its base on the sind frontier. area, 5310 sq. m.; pop. (1901), 82,909. the mula pass, which connects it with the kalat highlands, was once (when the ancient city of kandabel was the capital of gandava) a much trodden trade highway, and is still a practicable route though no longer a popular one. the soil is fertile wherever it can be irrigated by the floods brought down from the surrounding hills; but much of the central portion is sandy waste. it is traversed by the north-western railway. the climate is unhealthy in summer, when pestilential hot winds are sometimes destructive to life. the annual rainfall averages only 3 in. kachhi, though subject to the khan of kalat, is administered under the tribal system. there are no schools, dispensaries or gaols. see _baluchistan district gazetteer_, vol. vi. (bombay, 1907).