Wildfowl in Seistan 73 



not, however, be ungrateful for present mercies. 

 No one who has only floated on the Hamun on 

 such a perfect day as this, watched the lights on 

 the water, the reeds whispering and nodding to 

 their reflections, been fanned by the cool sedge- 

 scented breeze, could imagine what a hell it be- 

 comes in summer. The same beauties, even 

 enhanced perhaps as regards colour, but the 

 steamy air is alive with insects. A time when 



"... loud as the drone of bees in the time of a swarming horde, 

 A horror of many insects hung in the air, and roared ! " 



Swarms of splendid dragon-flies flash among the 

 dark - green reeds. One can hear the clash of 

 their wings ; but above all there is the dull hum 

 of myriads of blood-sucking flies. People that 

 care for their horses, when in the neighbourhood 

 of the Hamun, keep them at this time completely 

 clothed (including trousers !) ; but unprotected 

 beasts even thick-skinned camels are tormented 

 by big, grey, flat, evil-looking flies till they stream 

 with blood. For this reason, travellers that have 

 to cross the Hamun in summer generally do so 

 at night, and even then it is no unmixed joy. 

 I look back on one such crossing with my family 

 in the early autumn. The embarkment had been 

 planned to take place at sundown. For an hour 

 previously we had had the company of the flies, 



