788 Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. [Oct. 



the Afghan Khoorasan, it had been compelled to travel round the 

 western end of the Paraparnisan range. In Candahar the direction of 

 the midsummer winds is perhaps from the north-west, but at a con- 

 siderable distance south from the Paraparnisan mountains the current 

 resumes its force, and perhaps nearly returns to its former direction. 

 In Seestan such is its force, that it has heaped up the sands of that 

 country into waves; not a season passes but whole villages are buried 

 under the sand, the inhabitants escaping with little beyond their lives, 

 yet do they deem these winds a blessing. They moderate the heat, 

 relieve them at times from the musquitos, and they turn their wind- 

 mills. At Kilat of the Beeloches the midsummer winds are from the 

 north, for this place is situated too far to the south to be effected by the 

 Paraparnisan mountains. 



63. Hirat lies open to the north, and if we except Seestan there is no 

 part of Khoorasan where these winds blow with such vehemence as in 

 its neighbourhood. It has a windy season of 120 days, which returns 

 with such certainty, that relying on it they here use no watermills, but 

 windmills only. These periodical winds seem to commence earlier 

 in Hirat than in Bokhara, and in Seestan earlier still. In that part of 

 Khoorasan which lies west of Hirat the summer winds though of con- 

 siderable strength and regularity, are not relied on for grinding the 

 whole of the crops, on the contrary watermills are commoner than 

 windmills ; in former times the latter were more used than now, as is 

 proved by the ruins to be seen in the districts of Cabul, Muro, Zumun- 

 dawur, in certain parts of the table land of Ghuznee, and other 

 quarters where watermills only are now employed. This change of 

 practice may have arisen from a change of opinion, watermills 

 having been found more eligible in all but the most windy climates, as 

 being oftener at command than the others; or it may be considered 

 as one proof of what all the natives assert, that the seasons and weather 

 have altered from what they were in former times. 



64. I know not how far southward we can trace these northern and 

 north-western winds, but in the eastern longitudes at least they do 

 not extend to the Ocean. The wind there on the contrary, blows 

 from the south during the greater part of summer. We can trace this 

 wind as far as Buhawulpoor, in latitude 29° 22', and perhaps a good 

 deal further. This southerly wind blowing from the ocean, communi- 

 cates to the climate of the nether Sindh an agreeable coolness. At 

 Mooltan it shews itself rather in occasional blasts, than a constant 

 current. By parity of reason these southerly winds may be supposed 

 to extend a certain distance (varying in different longitudes with cir- 



