10 DR. 7. E. Т. AITCHISON ON THE BOTANY OF 
begins to dry; it then cracks all over into innumerable fissures, some оҒ which divide 
the deposit into pieces in size and shape resembling roughly made bricks; these pieces, 
while still damp, are lifted up and employed as brieks. Here I saw entire houses built 
of them: much of the land we crossed near the Hamun was іп this brick-producing 
stage, and it proved very unsafe ground for our horses. Our encampment at the 
Takht-i-Rustam was on the margin of the Hamun. Ву the term Hamun the natives 
of the district mean any piece of water deep enough to allow tamarisk-shrubs, reeds, 
bulrushes, and such like to grow. Тһе Helmand terminates by expanding out 
into a great lake, the margin of which consists of miles of Hamun, or shallow 
water. This was here bounded by a clay hill called the Takht or throne of Rustam, 
having a precipitous escarpment facing the lake, which rose to a height of about 
150 feet, and from which a fair view of the lake was obtained. The reeds extended 
into the lake about a mile; beyond was an expanse of clear water covered with 
numerous flocks of water-fowl. The natives of this part possessed large herds of a 
small species of black cattle very like Highland Kyloes, as well as sheep and goats. 
In the autumn they grazed in the drier portions of the tamarisk and reed-thickets ; 
and in this cover the natives lived in temporary reed huts, erected for protection 
for themselves and their cattle from the strong winds which had now begun to be 
prevalent. 
THE BASIN OF THE HARUT RIVER, FROM THE HAMUN OF THE 
HELMAND TO PAHIR. 
We marched from Takht-i-Rustam on the 1st of November, keeping generally to the 
basin of the Harut river, and reached Pahir on the 13th of the same month. Іп our 
first march our route lay almost due north, passing over a series of low hills of gravelly 
soil and skirting closely a town of considerable importance, called indiscriminately Lash, 
Lash-jowain, or Jowain. It consists of a number of villages close to each other, and is 
considered the centre of commerce in these parts. Тһе vegetation in the low hills was 
much the same as that seen on our journey through parts of Baluchistan. Ephedra 
pachyclada, а low shrub, occurred in great masses, and Zygophyllum atriplicioides and 
numerous Chenopodiaceous shrubs were thinly spread over the country. When we at 
length descended to a locality with water nearer the surface, the cultivation and vege- 
tation resembled that of the Helmand. Capparis was in abundance, with Prosopis and 
Peganum. Irrigation-channels were plentiful, and we passed close to miles of ruins; 
. but all appeared of a later date than those seen on the Helmand. Іп the corner of one 
2 of these ruins, partly inhabited, was the first windmill we had yet seen, though 
of very different construction and appearance to those we are familiar with in England. 
The portion of the mill that corresponds to the vanes of an English mill vip id of 
_ an upright axle, with six or eight vanes applied to it, asin the paddle-wheel of a steamer. 
e г лік placed upright on the second story of a house, the upper end working та beam 
 whieh crossed between the two side walls continued up to that height. The lower portion | 
0. 
i : _ of the azie ‘passes through the roof of the building beneath into the millstone on the 
