southern offshoot of the Himalayas, lying in the centre of the Balochistān plateau, Pakistan. It extends southward for about 225 miles (360 km) from the Pishīn Lora and Zhob rivers to the Mūla River. The range is a series of parallel limestone ridges covered with juniper forests and hemming in narrow valleys, and its trend is north-south between Mūla and Quetta but turns sharply east-southeast just north of Quetta to meet the Sulaimān Range. Summits generally exceed 6,000 feet (1,800 m) and gradually decline toward the south; the highest peaks are Khalifat (11,440 feet 【3,487 m】) and Zarghūn (11,738 feet 【3,578 m】) north of Quetta. The Bolān, Harnai, and Mūla are the principal passes. Brahui tribes are predominant in the south, as are Pashtuns, with chiefly Kākaṛs in the north.