1880.] R. C. Tem])h—Boufe of the Tal Ghotiali Field Force. 159 



The Kare'z has been frequently noticed by travellers in Central Asia 

 beginning with Marco Polo, who, according to liamusio's version, writes 

 about " the weai'isome and desert road in Keeman (Kieman)", that* 

 " after those days of desert you arrive at a stream of fresli water running 

 underground, but along which there are holes broken in here and there, per- 

 haps undermined by the stream, at whicli you can get sight of it. It lias 

 an abundant supply and travellers worn with the hardships of the desert 

 here rest and refresh themselves and their hearts." Col. Yule remarks on 

 this (p. 116) " tlie underground stream was probably a subterraneous canal 

 (called Kanat and Kaee'z) such as is common in Persia, often conducted 

 from a great distance. Here it may have been a relic of abandoned culti- 

 vation". Khanikoff on the road between Kirman and Yezd, not far west 

 of that which I suppose Marco to be travelling, says : " At the fifteen 

 inhabited spots marked on the map they have water which has been 

 brought from a great distance and at considerable cost by means of sub- 

 terraneous galleries to which you descend by large and deep wells. Al- 

 though the water flows at some depth its course is marked upon the surface 

 by a line of more abundant vegetation." Elphinstone says he has heard 

 of such subterranean conduits 36 miles in length " MacGregor describes 

 the construction of a Kaue'z thus : " a shaft 5 or 6 feet in deptli is sunk at 

 the spot where the stream is to issue on the surface, and at regular intervals 

 of from 20 to 50 or more paces in the direction of the hill, whence it has 

 been previously ascertained that a supply of water will be obtained, other 

 shafts are sunk and the bottoms of all connected together by slightly slop- 

 ing tunnels. The depth of tlie shafts increases with their distance from 

 the original according to the slope of the ground. Their number and the 

 length of the Ka'ee'z depends on the supply of water met with, the 

 quantity required and tlie distance of the habitable or cultivable spot. 

 The position of the shafts is marked by circular heaps of earth on the 

 surface and their orifices are usually closed, the covering being removed 

 at intervals of a year or more for the purpose of cleaning and i-epairing 

 the shafts and tunnels. Much experience is required to select a spot from 

 which a plentiful and lasting supply will be obtained. Some Kaeb'zes 

 afford a constant supply of water for ages whilst others become exhausted 

 before they have paid for the cost of construction." To this I may add 

 the advantage of the Kaee'z is the prevention of the rapid evaporation 

 the water would undergo in such a climate if freely exposed to the air. 

 K.vee'zes are frequently very deep, 40 feet and more below the surface. 

 Judging from one seen under construction in the Pishin, the shafts or 

 wells are sunk as usual with pick and shovel and with crate and windlass, 

 and the water-passage tunnelled out afterwards. One cause of the per- 

 * Yule's Marco Polo I, 115. 



