1841.] Journal kept while travelling in Seistan. 323 



verses of which were taken up by one party from the other ; and by 

 calling out to each other at the top of their voices, hoshear, " be watch- 

 ful," every five minutes. 



You leave the valley of Jaya by a narrow pass, which runs at right 

 angles to it, and enter a barren plain called Baboor ; as you approach 

 the Bobehi Barran hills, you find the whole country 

 Approach Furrah. covere( j w ith a beautiful grass, so that you may sup- 

 pose it a meadow in England. But this grass, which is called keertah, 

 has some property noxious to cattle, and is therefore useless. After 

 this, you come upon the valley of the Purrah road, which was, and 

 should be, one mass of cultivation ; the banks of the river presented 

 a lively appearance of green gardens, of villages, and fields. 



We now crossed through miles of ruined walls, and did not meet one 

 Its desolate ap- inhabitant till we were quite close to the town. When 

 pearance. t h e Candahar sirdars retired, and the present governor, 



Futteh Khan, was sent to occupy the fort, a scene of desolation presented 

 itself to him, which I cannot describe better than in his own words : — 

 " I went to the top of the castle, from whence there is an uninter- 

 rupted view for miles ; through all the wide space below me, I could not 

 perceive one human being or the smoke of a single fire." The few peo- 



Iple he had with him actually lived on the grapes, which were the only 

 things the Candaharees had not destroyed. They dried and made sugar 

 from them, and sent them to Baudan and other places around, getting 

 grain in exchange. We halted on the evening of the 21st on the banks 

 of the river, about two miles from the town ; the next morning Futteh 

 Mahomed Khan, who the evening before had been 

 amusing himself with the munzud bauzee at a village 

 some eight miles off, but who the moment he heard of my arrival left 

 his betrothed to come and meet me, rode up with a few followers, and 

 > escorted me to a wretched mud house in the fort, which I afterwards 

 learnt was his own residence, which he had vacated for me. After in- 

 ducting me into my quarters he took his leave, and shortly afterwards 

 sent me whole maunds of delicious grapes, a mule load of melons, and 

 provision for four days for my party. People came in to know whether 

 this was sufficient, that more would be sent, &c. A respectable person 

 was left to attend on my wants, who every half hour 

 brought, in a cup of tea and a kullion. In the even- 



