AFGHAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 173 



just east of the Hehnand. The distance from Nushki was about 

 220 miles, and the country was most barren and difficult; but the 

 position was important to fix, as Nushki is an oasis commanding 

 the highways which lead from Quetta to Seistan. Westward for 

 70 or 80 miles no streams or springs exist, but the low-lying 

 partially sand-covered li put" or hard-baked mud-flats form the 

 edge of the basin which receives the waters of the Lora from the 

 Pishin valley at flood times. Within the limits of the Hamun or 

 final swamp of the Lora water is practically found everywhere near 

 the surface. 



The Grod-i-Zirreh or terminal swamp formed by the Helmand is 

 very similar to the Lora Hamun. The Helmand river flows through a 

 depression about 30 miles north of the God-i-Zirreh, and then turning 

 north at Chahar-burjak passes into the swamps which form per- 

 manent lakes south of Lash-Jowain. In the late autumn of 1884, 

 when the Afghan Commission was on the march to Lash-Jowain, 

 the flooded part of the Seistan Hamun extended very little further 

 than the limits represented as " permanent lake " in Walker's map 

 of Turkestan. In 1885, however, on the return march of a part of 

 the Commission, Mr. Merk found that the floods extended south- 

 wards and were connected by a well-defined channel with the God-i- 

 Zirreh. The level of the eastern end of the latter depression imme- 

 diately south of Eudbar is probably 500 feet lower than the 

 Helmand, and between the two there must be a dividing water-shed 

 of a considerable elevation towards the east but falling away 

 to the west. From Khoja Ali to Chahar-burjak, where the great 

 northern bend commences, the Helmand forms a series of picturesque 

 reaches, often sub-divided into many channels and encompassing 

 islands green with tamarisk, Euphrates poplar, and occasional 

 fringes of grass. The white ribbon of silt intersected by the deep 

 blue of the stream is generally flanked with a mile or so in width 

 of pebble-covered, sandy " dasht." Beyond stand up the deep-cut 

 and many-folded sand cliffs, presenting an infinite variety of red 

 and purple tinted wall. On the left bank many traces of a long 

 disused irrigation system were observable, and near Rudbar a series 

 of ruined houses, forts, and palaces commences, the Kala-i-Madre-i- 

 Padshah being the most remarkable. A variety of Arab, Assyrian, 

 Greek, and even Chinese coins were brought thence to the English 

 officers for sale. Nowhere else did the Commission find evidences 

 of a once highly civilized and prosperous state so strongly marked, 



