48 SOME ACCOUNT OF THE 



fast being washed down by aqueous denudation, and thus purified they 

 are scattered by irrigation over the Ghor. A minute beetle, of the 

 genus .Galbella, was a slight exception to this barrenness, which is of course 

 interrupted in the beds and by the margins of the occasional watercourses. 

 This new species, whose description will subsequently be given, is most 

 nearly allied to G. beccari, Gest., of Abyssinia. 



The upper Gh6r is by no means so fertile as that watered by the larger and 

 more northern stream. The latter issues, with a south-westerly direction, 

 from a narrow cleft, or ' sik,' in the red sandstone, by which I penetrated 

 for a few miles into that desolate country. The river is here confined to 

 the base of the sharply cut cleft, and confers no fertility on the unaltered 

 marls above. This cleft is 50 to 1 50 feet in depth, or more, and the period 

 required for its formation must place the marls above at a high antiquity. 

 It should be borne in mind, however, that the water-supply is probably 

 now at its minimum, and the means of erosion were formerly much greater. 

 The bed of this stream was in places absolutely dangerous, from a curious 

 cause. The sides being vertical, there was no upward escape, and the bed 

 of the stream was so deeply clogged with the soft moving mass of silted 

 fine mud that, although there was not more than 18 inches of water, I was 

 compelled, and with difficulty, to retrace my course. As usual when any- 

 thing risky was attempted, my native deserted me. At its embouchure 

 from the cleft this remarkable stream passes through the lower gravel and 

 shingle deposits, which form the basement of the marls. 



On this occasion, when crossing the marls above, I came suddenly 

 upon three ibexes. They whistled or snorted like Highland sheep. I let 

 fly ball-cartridge from my fowling-piece, but missed them. My shots 

 attracted some wild and villainous-looking mountaineers, who followed me 

 to camp that night, where I first became aware of their existence. They 

 could not make themselves understood, but I fancy wished to know if they 

 should hunt the ' beden.' Almost immediately after I lost sight of the 

 ibexes I came across some very interesting and rather extensive ruins of 

 apparently great antiquity. I brought the whole of our party to the spot 

 the following day. The ruins will be found planned and described in Pro- 

 fessor Hull's work, at page 121, and again in Major Kitchener's Appendix 

 to the same, at page 216. I leave it to future explorers to identify this site 

 with the ancient Gomorrah. 



