454 



NA TURE 



[June i6, 1910 



old Arab caravan-routes and trade-centres, and much 

 that is surprisins;^ to tell of the oblivion that has over- 

 whelmed them. In Sind he has stood upon the site 

 of an Arab city of which nothing' whatever is left 

 but traces of its cemetery. In the Helmund valley 

 he has seen broken pottery "literally in tons" — the 

 only remaining evidence of a vanished polity. In 

 Central Afehanistan one may follow in the footsteps 

 of the old Arab traders, with the story of their travels 

 in hand, and may recognise the physical features of 

 the road, but of the flourishing market towns that 

 they mention there may be nowhere discernible "the 

 faintest outward indication " — everything is now by 

 Time's fell hand defaced. Only in southern Balu- 

 chistan did the author find, besides pottery and graves, 

 undoubted ruins of cities and huge masonry dams 

 that once held water-supplies. 



The mediaeval Arab traders used two main systems 

 of communication, one through Herat and Afghan- 

 istan to Kabul and Afghan Turkestan, the other 

 through southern Baluchistan (Makran) to the lower 

 Indus valley. The routes of both systems are followed 

 out by the author, and are illustrated by most excel- 

 lent maps. In the account of the northern routes 

 there are some short but interesting descriptions of 

 those parts of the country that are least generally 

 known. Something is said of Seistan, "the great 

 central basin of Afghanistan, where the Helmund and 

 other Afghan rivers run to a finish in vast swamps, 

 or lagoons." The author speaks of it as a flat, un- 

 wholesome country, with remains of a really fine sys- 

 tem of irrigation, and thinks that it does not justify its 

 olden reputation as the granary of Asia. It must be 

 remembered, however, that the Babylonian country, 

 which in the time of Herodotus was. by far the most 

 fruitful known, and where the millet grew to such 

 a height that Herodotus, though he well knew it, 

 would not mention it lest it should appear incredible, 

 does not at the present time justify its ancient repu- 

 tation. Incidentally we also learn that Zamindawar, 

 to the north-east of Seistan, and also watered by the 

 Helmund, is a prolific region ; that in northern Afghan- 

 istan the economic value of the Murghab river is still 

 great; and that much of Afghan Turkestan is rich 

 in agricultural possibilities. The author thinks that 

 some of these "roads of the old khafila travellers may 

 again be the roads of modern progress"; and he 

 extols the route from Kabul and Ghazni to the Hel- 

 mund as one of the " grandest high-roads in Asia, 

 from the days of Alexander to those of Roberts." 



The chapter on the "strange land of Makran" — the 

 land of Gedrosia, where Alexander discovered that a 

 trackless and waterless desert under a burning sun 

 was an enemy against which even his unconquerable 

 energy was impotent— is perhaps the most interesting 

 and novel of the whole interesting story. 



In days contemporaneous with the Heptarchy, the 

 Arabs ruled Makran, and it was through Makran that 

 they invaded India and conquered Sind. 



" For three centuries there existed through Makran 

 one of the great highways of the world, a link west 

 and east such as has never existed elsewhere on the 

 Indian border, save, perhaps, through the vallev of 

 the Kabul river and it affluents." 

 NO. 2120, VOL. 83] 



This highway ran about fifty miles north of the 

 Makran coast that proved so disastrous to the Mace- 

 donian army, and behind the successive ranges ol 

 hills that face that coast. The author thinks that il 

 may yet develop into a line of railway between India 

 and Europe, particularly as it would enjoy the uniqu.; 

 advantage, from a British point of view, of command 

 and protection from the sea. 



We get glimpses of some of the natural wonders 

 of the Makran coast that almost remind us of pages 

 of Hakluyt ; submarine mud volcanoes, weird and fan- 

 tastic strata, piles of sea-shells on upraised mud-flats, 

 desiccated forests with the trees waiting to be fos- 

 silised as they stand; stiff, straight, spurless ranges 

 of hills lying east and west like parallel lines of ram- 

 parts, with long, narrow, flat-bottomed valleys be- 

 tween them; and the curiosity of the archaeologist 

 will be whetted by allusions to ruined cities and tombs 

 and gigantic irrigation works. 



The interest of the latter half of the book is of 

 quite a different kind. We now shake off the fascina- 

 tion of a dim storied past, and come face to face with 

 the facts and political intrigues of the nineteenth 

 century. Here we find an abstract and brief chronicle 

 of the adventures of Christie and Pottinger, of the] 

 extraordinary Masson, of Lord and Wood, of the ill- 

 fated Moorcroft, of Burnes, of Vigne, of Broadfoot 

 and of Ferrier. 



The author remarks, as a strange fact, that we an 

 indirectly indebted to Napoleon Buonaparte and hi; 

 nefarious designs on India for these early exploration; 

 of Afghanistan. On the same chain of causes, w< 

 may note in passing, hang the discovery of the Rosett; 

 stone and the key to the arcana of ancient Egypt 

 Thus do we by indirections find directions out, an« 

 thus he that increaseth sorrow sometimes increaseti 

 knowledge. 



The author thinks nobly of his predecessors in th 

 exploration of the gates of India. As explorers h 

 calls them "magnificent." He in no way approve 

 the opinion that their work is superseded, and he i 

 inclined to doubt whether the superior mechanic 

 equipment of the modern explorer altogether balanol 

 the superior methods of the pioneers who lived amoif| 

 the people, adopted their dress, ate their salt, at 

 talked their "shop." 



A few words may be said about the first part 

 the book, which contains, inter alia, an introductic 

 and an account of Alexander's invasion of India. He 

 we think that the author hardly does himself justic 

 there is too much conjecture, not ahva3s relevant, 

 there are some statements and rather airy assertic 

 that are hard to accept. For instance, the delightfj 

 history of Herodotus, which was written to the pic 

 intent that the great and wondrous deeds of 

 might not be effaced by time, is referred to, air 

 barbarously, as a "geographical treatise," and, worl 

 still, as a "gazetteer." Again, on p. 13, there is i\ 

 extraordinary assertion about sailors and geograpt 

 If we have not misinterpreted it, it implies, if it del 

 not actually assert, that sailors are not of mill 

 account as geographers. Now, among the thii 

 that we have kept from our youth up — and we far 

 we are not singular in this respect — is a firm bell 



