iSo VREDENBURG: SKETCH OF BALtJCHlSTAN DESERT. 



the most meagre opportunities for geological observation, with the 

 exception of a short visit to the volcanic mountain K6h-i-Sultan. 

 On the 19th of January I reached Malik-i-Siali-Koh where stands 

 the boundary pillar that marks the triple limit of Afghanistan, 

 Baluchistan and Persia. From Malik-i-Sidh-K6h we parted with 

 the Political Assistant and travelled up to Mirjawa through the 

 Persian province of Sarhad. Here we again met the Political Assist* 

 ant. After a very short visit to the active volcano Koh-i-Tafda'n I 

 parted definitely with him and travelled back from Mirjawa to Nuskhi 

 either alone or in company with Mr. G. P. Tate of the Trigono- 

 metrical Survey. I was able this time to remain one week in the 

 Koh-i-Sultin and examine a number of other ranges ; unfortunately 

 the season was by this time far advanced and I was not able to spare 

 the time necessary for unravelling many interesting problems. 



It is a duty and pleasure for me to express my best thanks to 

 Mr. Tate to whose kindness,, and knowledge and experience I am 

 indebted for much help and assistance throughout the journey. 



Confining both on Persia and Baluchistan, and including as it 

 does some of the most inhospitable portions of 

 either country, this region has been seldom 

 visited. Explorers of Baluchistan have seldom proceeded so far 

 west, while the numerous scientific expeditions in Persia have 

 not generally reached so far east. Travellers proceeding by land 

 from India to Persia or vice versa usually avoid the desert as far 

 as possible and traverse the more populous districts to the north 

 or to the south. The few descriptions that have been published are 

 either works of general interest, or else deal with questions of physi- 

 cal geography rather than purely geological enquiry. 



The earliest explorer of Persian Baluchistdn in the present 

 century was Captain Grant who visited the country in 1809. But his 

 route lies entirely west cf the regions described in the present 

 Memoir. 1 



» Journal of a Route through the Western Parts of Mekran, by Captain N. P. Grant, 

 Jourri. Roy. As. Soc, Vol. V (1839), pp. 328-342. 



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