4 By Mountain, Lake, and Plain 



villages, the incidents of the road are mainly 

 connected with canals. Some are spanned by 

 shaking structures of osiers, others have to be 

 forded; both operations being of a kind that 

 horses new to the game view with horror. 

 In Seistan, a horse's life is a burden to him 

 until he has learnt three lessons : to walk with 

 equanimity through a morass ; to cross quietly 

 these frail bridges ; to let himself gently down 

 the steep and slippery bank of a deep canal and 

 climb the other side without attempting to 

 rush or jump it. A horse that has got so far, 

 without in the meantime succumbing to a disease 

 known as " Seistani sickness," may well be called 

 " salted." 



As we go on, the isolated tamarisks become 

 more numerous. A tall thin spire sticks up on 

 the horizon one of the mils or towers, by the 

 construction of which rulers of bygone times 

 hoped to prolong their name and fame. Beyond 

 this we are in a perfect wilderness of ruins. 

 For long after the old legendary days of the 

 heroes, when Zal and Eustam ruled in Seistan 

 and warred against the powers of the north with 

 the aid of demons and genii long also after 

 those later historic times when there arose 

 that great Archemenian dynasty that gave 

 birth to Cyrus and Darius this was a populous 



