Wild Sheep in Seistan 129 



fact, the account that follows has nothing to do 

 with panthers, and the only moral to be drawn 

 is that pointed by Persia's greatest poet the 

 uncertainty of things, sport included ; especially 

 when the quarry is anything so elusive as wild 

 sheep. 



The chief, and indeed one may say the only, 

 amenity of the place lay in a streamlet of bitter 

 water that oozed from the ground in several 

 places, and after running an exiguous course 

 marked by white incrustations of salts, was again 

 absorbed in the earth, not far from where it had 

 seen the light. A few tamarisk bushes and a 

 patch of kirta grass only served to make the 

 surrounding barrenness appear the more barren. 

 Near by was a small ruined fort called Kala-i- 

 Nadiri, four-square, with towers at the angles, one 

 of the numerous relics of the great conqueror's 

 march through this country on his road to India. 

 Baluch - ab, in fact, must always have been a 

 point of some strategic importance, as it lies on 

 the ancient caravan road running eastward from 

 Kermania ; and during centuries of little known 

 history, when Seistan, an independent or semi- 

 independent state, lay in a chronic condition of war 

 and turmoil, the desolate hills and rocks around 

 must often have resounded with shouts of battle. 



Nowadays, the Indo-European telegraph wire 



I 



