GEOLOGICAL DIVISIONS. 213 



evidence that the process of dessication has gone on to a marked 

 degree even within historical times. As the region became unfit for 

 cultivation, the population gradually dwindled until the few tribes that 

 still lingered back were forced by necessity to seek in pillage and 

 robbery the sustenance that industry could no longer provide them 

 with. It is the natural aggravation of physical difficulties which 

 engendered anarchy, not, as is usually thought, anarchy which has 

 caused the decay of the land. 



This erroneous impression is still further encouraged by the 

 apparent revival of prosperity which takes place when nations pro- 

 vided with all the resources of a well-equipped civilisation take over 

 the government of these countries. This is due to a double cause : 

 First the protection against robbery and misrule, which permits the 

 more enterprising and industrious part of the population to pursue 

 their occupations in peace ; secondly, a.better dispensation, by means 

 of improved irrigation, increased means of communication, and so 

 forth, of those natural resources which still exist. It is a better 

 employment of those resources, but the resources themselves are 

 decreasing. Where there used to be no culitivation, but now, owing 

 to an artesian well or a " ka*rez " an artificial oasis has been created, 

 this indeed seems an improvement. But it must be remembered that 

 the rainfall is ever decreasing, that it is the ultimate source from 

 which all the water used for irrigation is derived, and that 

 consequently the supply is gradually dwindling. Of late years 

 kcirezes have dried up at Quetta, which had given an abundant 

 supply since more than a century, and this notwithstanding that 

 the work is kept in perfect repair. 



In one of the regions which I visited, amongst the mountains of 



the State of Kharan, there are some very inter- 

 Ancient terraced fields. . . 



esting relics which bear evidence to a very 



different set of physical conditions than those that prevail at the 



present day. In all the valleys round Zard there are to be seen 



hundreds of stone walls which are called "gorband" or (( dams of the 



infidels." Sometimes they stretch right across the flat pebbly floors 



D2 . ( 35 ) 



