JIG Sketch of the Physical Geography of Seistan. [No. 103. 



During the swell, as before observed, the Helmund overflows its banks, and 

 water is sometimes carried into low spots, from which some ridge inter- 

 cepts its retreat, when the river again retires to its bed. In this manner 

 numerous small lakes were formed, and each of them was called a Hamoon, 

 and was distinguished by its particular appellative. The united waters 

 are styled the Hamoon without any distinctive adjective. The old lake 

 also was in former times known as the Hamoon, though sometimes, as 

 now specified by the name of the celebrated hill in the midst of it, the Koh- 

 i-Zor, or Roostum, or as it is more generally called from a modern saint, 

 Koh-i-Khwaj eh. 



The Hamoon of Zirreh was some miles to the south the Hamoon of Koh-i- 

 Khwajeh, and was perhaps formed in the manner above 

 described, from the overflow of that lake; though 

 it is not improbable that a natural or artificial branch of the Helmund 

 went direct to Zirreh. This Hamoon will be mentioned in the sequel. 

 The lake of Zirreh, and many smaller ones, some of which are marked 

 on the map, are either dry, or are drying up in consequence of the diversion 

 of the Helmund. On the site of one, Boorj, one of the four capitals of Seis- 

 tan has been built, and the place of water is supplied by corn-fields. 



I cannot learn that the principal Hamoon, or any of the smaller ones were 

 ever styled in Seistan, Loukh; I suppose therefore, that title to be a Persian 

 or Afghan fabrication, or it may have obtained currency through some 

 misconception of the meaning of the person who originally employed it to 

 designate the lake, to many parts of which the name would be sufficiently 

 appropriate, " Loukh" in Persian and Pushtoo signifying " rushes :" but this 

 word is not known in Seistan, where a rush is invariably called " Toot." 



The most fitting appellation of the Hamoon is the classical one of 



^ , . „ , Aria Palus, for it is in reality almost every where a 

 Description of the "^ "^ 



lake. mere marsh. It has rarely a depth of more than from 



three to four feet, and is almost entirely covered with 

 reeds or rushes. There is however a considerable diff'erence in the ap- 

 pearance of the old and new lake, particularly in the dry season. 



Of the Duk-i-Teer, I have only seen the south part ; there it is a large 

 sheet of water, thickly studded with reed-topped islands, its depth averag- 

 ing about four feet, and having a very muddy bottom. The reeds are tall 

 and close together, but you can walk through them without difficulty. 

 To the north there is probably less water, and the reeds are not in patches, 

 but cover the whole surface. In the old Hamoon, on the contrary, the 

 reeds are in most places stiff" and thick with age, and stand so close 

 together in clumps, their roots being united by little hillocks of encrusted 

 earth, that quadrupeds even are unable to force their way through them. 



