1840.] Sketch of the Physical Geographij of Seistan. 721 



had sent down as a present four years before. The beast had never been 



mounted, had hardly left the stable, and the owner was glad to accept any 



trifle for it to escape the expence of its keep. 



The symptoms of the fatal disease, which is called " Soorkh surgeen," 



or red dung, are as nearly as I could collect from in- 

 Disease of the horse. . . ,-, .. , i 



quiries among the natives, and my own observation, as 



follows. First, the hind legs swell. The Seistanis then say " Bad gerift," 

 "the wind has seized him," an expression applied commonly to a rheumatic 

 complaint. One of my riding horses refused its food ; we were standing 

 by inquiring the cause, when a man who was looking on, came up, opened 

 the mouth of the animal, and exclaimed, "Your horse will die — he has got 

 white gums :" this is the second symptom. The dung now turns of a 

 Vermillion colour, the skin is frequently covered with pimples, the urine is 

 bloody, and at last a paralysis seizes on all the limbs, and soon after death 

 ensues. The eye during the progress of the disease is of a pale yellow 

 colour, only a few specks of white remaining, and it is said that the " tail 

 dries up," so that you can pull out the hairs by hands full. The disease in 

 some cases I witnessed, killed in three days ; but horses passing through 

 Seistan generally live for a few months, dying however in certainly two 

 cases out of five, within the year. The Seistanis having found all their re- 

 medies fail, now generally abandon a horse to its fate as soon as it is taken 

 ill. Bleeding, the most obvious treatment, is, I was assured, useless, and 

 the only mode of cure recommended to me, (warm goat's blood) is evidently 

 absurd. This epidemic is confined to Seistan ; it is not known at Jowaine, 

 or Neh, or even Kuddeh. The Seistanis pretend that it has only appeared 

 in their country of late years, but the ancient Zarangeans, and the armies 

 which fought against Timoor, were foot soldiers, which argues the contrary. 

 The climate is unfavourable, but in a less degree, to camels. Both these 



animals and sheep die in great numbers from eating the leaves 

 Camels. x o o 



of a plant called Trootk. Not more than 3 or 4000 camels 



could be procured in Seistan ; when required, they are brought from Gurm- 



sehl, or the sandy desert to the S.E. Sheep. Sheep feed generally on a small 



creeping plant called Boonoo, which abounds in the salt grounds, and which 



tastes like salt itself. Boonoo is sometimes used for horses' food, but it is 



first washed, by which process it loses much of its bitterness. There are many 



varieties of grasses all over the country, but several of them were said to have 



noxious qualities. (13) The only domestic animal which thrives well except 



13. I collected specimens of them which are not at present available for verification. The most 

 common is called Kirta, when we passed through Furrah, that whole plain was covered with it, and 

 resembled a rich English meadow, sheep and cows thrive on Kirta, but it acts on horses as an 

 aperient. 



