608 Notes on Geology and Mineralogy of Afghanistan. 



bound Afghanistan on all sides. Thus, descending rapidly 

 from the N. East, they are prevented from pursuing their 

 way to the South by interposition, in that direction, of the 

 high sandy desert sloping up to the mountains of Beloo- 

 chistan, which, extending from Mustoong on the East, pass 

 southerly till they form the Much Mountains, where they 

 again turn upwards N. Westerly, precisely as does the river 

 Helmund. 



Now, as according to the late Captain Edward Conolly, a 

 range of mountains stretches across the western side, running 

 in " a south-west direction from probably near Ghorian to 

 the Surhud,"* it will at once be evident that the country 

 of Seistan must necessarily form a hollow basin, in con- 

 sequence of its being every where surrounded by rising 

 grounds stretching away to the distant mountains. The 

 fall of the country from the northward is immense, being no 

 less than six feet per mile between Greeshk and the ruins 

 of Killa Beest, a distance of about 30 miles, which will fully 

 account for the great rapidity of the Helmund, and for its 

 being impassable from the rush of its waters during the spring 

 months, when the snows are melting in the higher hills. 



Thus the rivers all shape their course according to the 

 nature of the country, which being high on every side, natur- 

 ally turns them off towards the basin of Seistan as soon as 

 they are disengaged from the parallel ranges whose direc- 

 tion they are at first obliged to follow. The most obvious 

 characteristic of the whole southern portion of Affghanistan 

 is barrenness, arising less from the infertility of the soil, than 

 from the total want or partial distribution of water. Although 

 no doubt the cultivation might be materially extended and 

 improved, were security of life and property afforded by the 

 laws, yet the very nature of the country forbids its ever be- 

 coming the smiling paradise we were most of us inclined to 



* Vide Journal Asiatic Society Bengal, No. 103, page 710. 



