THE AFGHAN DELIMITATION COMMISSION. 7 
Quetta and the Helmand, consisting of great gravel and clay plains, with seas of moving 
sand, bearing a similar scanty vegetation. Тһе drainage from these high plateaus, 
except that in the immediate vicinity of the Helmand, seemed to be absorbed at once by 
the soil, owing to its limited amount, due to the small rainfall of this climate; in our 
route we crossed no tributaries or affluents to the river. "There can be no doubt that the 
level of the bed of the river was once much higher than it is at present, inasmuch as in 
those parts where the high lands recede, plateaus of alluvial deposit of great extent occur at 
different levels. Оп these plateaus stand the ruins of forts, towns, and dwellings, the 
records of past ages and of a dense population. Looking up from the bed of the river at 
the escarped ends of the receding plains, they appeared like a range of low hills on 
either side. We at first marched down the left bank of the river, crossed it at Chakr- 
burja, and then followed its course on the right bank to its Hamun, reaching the 
Takht-i-Rustam, or throne of Rustam, on the 31st of October. Тһе general appearance 
of this valley is desolate in the extreme, there being little cultivation and few inhabitants ; 
the feeling of desolation being deepened by the constant sight of masses of clay-built 
ruins. The ruins extend on both sides of the river, and are situated usually on immense 
plains of alluvial deposit, now utterly treeless and barren. Without an exception all the 
edifices were built of clay, moulded into great blocks, or of sun-dried bricks, the walls of 
immense thickness, the roofs and doorways domed and arched, and all of the same material 
—conclusive proofs of the absence in those days, as now, of good timber and plentiful fuel. 
On a more close examination of the structure of the material of which these ruins were 
built, it was seen that it contained similar fragments of glazed and coloured pottery, 
glass, and slag as were now found spread over the plains on the alluvial clays, proving 
without doubt that the earlier inhabitants of this valley had possessed the knowledge 
requisite for the manufacture of glazed pottery and of glass. In a few instances large 
fire-burnt bricks lay about the plains, usually associated with great masses of slag. Some 
of the ruins could be traced to a much later period, from having the basement walls 
pierced with loopholes for musketry, unless similar structures existed in the days of 
bow-and-arrow equipment. То the archeologist and antiquarian a study of these relics 
would prove highly interesting, particularly if he could get the present inhabitants to aid 
him in his researches. There were still to be seen traces of the great irrigation-works of 
the past, originally built of the stiff clay soil alone, and which centuries ago had been 
allowed to go to ruin. 
Having given an outline of the physical features of the country, I will now from my 
notes alone describe the vegetation of this the second stage of our journey. The islands 
of the river and its low banks, which are annually flooded, are in many places covered 
with good forests of Populus euphratica called Padda, the trees varying in size from four 
to six feet in girth, and up to about twenty-five feet in height. Тһе timber is poor, 
soft and light, but makes good fuel, and would do well for the construction of rafts. 
The trees were covered with a large climbing Apocynum (?), of which the fruit, called 
Shangar, was eaten in a raw state by the camel-drivers. It was considered excellent 
fodder for the camels, and was collected for this purpose by their owners. In similar 
localities a bushy Tamarix reaching twelve feet in height, with several tall grasses, reeds, 
