DESCRIPTION OF SECTIONS. 223 



map, it is not until it reaches a latitude of 28 that its strike begins 

 to take a more distinct S. W. trend. But in the immediate neigh- 

 bourhood of Nushki is the origin of two ranges with a S. W. strike 

 which soon diverge from one another in a sheaf-like manner, their 

 strike becoming more and more nearly west. All these ranges are 

 separated from one another b} great desert plains. 



The northernmost and innermost of these two ranges forms a 

 line of low hills, south of the dried-up bed, which constitutes the 

 lower course of the Lora river; it follows at a distance the same 

 direction as the river, up to the southern extremity of the Lora 

 Hamun. South-west of the Hamun it rises to a greater height form- 

 ing a conspicuous hill called the " Chapar range/' Beyond this 

 occurs a confused mass of low hills without any very definite direc- 

 tion of strike. North of this range the desert spreads uninterrupted 

 as far as the Helmand and its tributaries ; south of it, a narrow 

 strip of desert plain extending from Nushki to Dalbandin separates 

 it from the next range to the south. 



This next range which also possesses no general name is of 

 much greater importance ; one of its summits, the R£s Koh, rising 

 to nearly 10,000 ft. It runs between the Nushki-Dalbandin depres- 

 sion on the north and the Kharan plain to the south. Its strike 

 which is south-west in the neighbourhood of Nushki becomes gradu- 

 ally more westerly, and, about latitude 64 , the hills sink beneath 

 superficial deposits where the Dalbandin and Kharan deserts unite 

 into one great plain in the midst of which lies the Hamun-i-Mashkhel. 



I have had occasion to examine this range in several places, and 

 the following is an account of the principal points of interest that 

 were noticed. 



Hills between the Nushki and Dalbandin desert to the 

 north and the Kharan desert to the south. 



The extremity of the range in the neighbourhood of the village 

 of B£ghak consists of a few low ridges striking 



North-western extrem- ° . ° 



ity of the range, near S. by W. The rocks are crumpled to such 

 an extent that it is difficult to tell in which 



( 45 ) 



