178 AFGHAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 



converge towards Pul-i-Khisti at the confluence of the Murghab 

 and Kushk rivers. 



North of the Paropamisus, between the Hari-Rud and Murghab, 

 is the great broken plain of Badghiz, occupied at present by the 

 Jamshidi and Hazara sections of the Chahar Aimak. On either 

 side of the Chingurak range, which occupies a central position, is a 

 multiplicity of rounded hill tops, a sea of sand waves, of which 

 the materials, according to Mr. Griesbach, are due partly to the 

 accumulation of ages of sand drift borne by the almost perpetual 

 north-west wind, and partly to denudation of the mountain slopes. 

 Water is scarce and unequally distributed, but it might probably 

 be obtained without much difficulty from wells. Evidences are not 

 wanting that Badghiz was once a fairly well populated and cultivated 

 region. About Gulrau especially there are the partially sand-covered 

 remains of old towns of considerable magnitude, and of a system 

 of karez irrigation that covered all the plain between Gulran and 

 the hills. It is only the long continuance of years of misrule and its 

 position in being so open to raids that have transformed Badghiz 

 from a flourishing district into a grass wilderness, the home of the 

 wild ass, of gigantic boars, of innumerable herds of deer, and even 

 of tigers. Eastward of the Murghab river the great central chain 

 of the Paropamisan mountain system increases in altitude from 

 west to east, and the mountain torrents rushing northwards with 

 increased force have cut deeper into the loess formation of the chol 

 sand drifts. The latter becomes more complicated in feature and 

 difficult to traverse, but it still possesses the same characteristic 

 of being a magnificent grass country, and the evidences of recent 

 occupation and of cultivation are more abundant and fresher. 

 An exceedingly small percentage of the Badghiz district is under 

 cultivation. First a narrow strip bordering the main streams is 

 made tolerably certain of its water supply by a very complete system 

 of canals, beyond a small amount of cultivation which is at a le\el 

 above irrigation and dependent on rainfall. The valleys are cut up 

 by reedy swamps which in many places occupy nearly the whole 

 of their width, while the supply of water from the rivers (especially 

 in the case of the Kashan) is uncertain. 



The loess deposits forming the chol east of the Murghab preserve 

 the same general characteristics throughout the Maimana and 

 Andkhui districts. The irregular mountain tract between the 

 Band-i-Turkestan, which bounds the Maimana district on the south, 

 and the Safed Koh range, which separates it from the Hari-Rud 



