KELAT, a city of Asia, the capital of Beloochistan, and thence called Kelat, or the city. Its situation is elevated on the western side of a well-cultivated plain or valley, about 8 miles in length and 2 or 3 in breadth, the greater part of which is laid out in gardens and other enclosures. The town is built in the form of an oblong square; three sides of it are encompassed by a mud wall 18 or 20 feet high, flanked at intervals of 250 paces by bastions, which, as well as the wall itself, are pierced with numberless loop-holes for matchlock-men; but no cannon are now mounted. The defence of the fourth side of the city is formed by the western face of the hill on which it is built, being cut away perpendicularly. There are within the walls 2500 houses, without the wall, 1250. They are built of half-burnt brick or wooden frames, and plastered over with mud or mortar; the streets are broader than those of native towns, and have mostly a raised pathway on either side for foot passengers, and an uncovered kennel in the centre, which is a recipient for all filth, and dirt, and stagnant water. The upper storeys of the houses also stretching across the streets, render the part beneath them gloomy and damp. The palace of the chief of Kelat stands on the summit of the hill on which the city is built. Viewed from the outside, it appears an irregular heap of common mud buildings, with flat roofs, forming terraces, protected by low parapet walls pierced with loop-holes. The quarter on which the khan's residence is erected has been enclosed by a mud wall with bastions. The bazaar of Kelat is extensive, and well furnished with every kind of goods, and with provisions of all sorts, which can be procured at a moderate rate. The town is also supplied with delicious water, from a spring in the face of a hill on the opposite side of the plain, whence it meanders through the centre of it. The inhabitants of Kelat may be divided into four classes, namely, the Beloochees or Brahooes, Hindus, Afghans, and Dehwars. The latter are the principal merchants of the place, and are therefore encouraged
by the chief. On the invasion of Afghanistan by the British in March 1839, Mehrab Khan, the ruler of Beloochistan, was considered to evince such hostile feeling towards the British, as required that he should be chastised, and rendered incapable of future mischief; and in the following November, on the return of the Bombay column from Cabul to Scinde, Major-General Willshire was detached from Quetta against Kelat. One of the gates was knocked in by the fire of the horse-artillery guns which accompanied the force, and the town and citadel immediately stormed, the Khan being killed fighting sword in hand, and with him above 400 of his troops; nearly all the rest, amounting to about 2000, were made prisoners. The British force on this occasion consisted of 1261 men. Their loss was 31 killed and 107 wounded. In the following year, a weak garrison of sepoys was overpowered by some insurgent Beloochees, who made themselves masters of the town, deposed the chief placed in power by the British, made prisoner the British officer in command, and subsequently put him to death. In the close of the same year, the place was retaken by General Nott. In 1841 the British government recognised as ruler Nasir Khan, the youthful son of Mehrab Khan, and subsequently withdrew their troops from his dominions. The population of the town and suburbs is about 12,000. Lat. 28. 52., Long. 66. 29.