SISTAN. 283 
easily found, however. The delta of the Helmund, like every other delta, not only 
slopes from apex to front, but consists of a number of broad, almost imperceptible 
ridges separated by hollows equally broad. The ridges indicate tlie location of the 
main stream in former times when it built up the inner edge of its flood-plain and 
left slight depressions on either side. To-day the ridges are largely abandoned to 
the encroaching sand, although in the not far distant past they were the most 
populous parts of the country. Their slight elevation of 5 or 10 feet adds to the 
difficulty of bringing water to them, although this is of relatively slight importance. 
The main reason for abandoning them seems to be that they He above the level 
where perennial underground water can be reached by the roots of the crops. 
Therefore a greater amount of water is required for irrigation, and a drought does 
nuicli more damage than in the regions a few feet lower. In proof of this it is only 
necessar}' to examine the distribution of vegetation. The ridges and the upper 
parts are for the most part, though by no means uni\ersally, abandoned to the 
prickly camel thorn where they are not being o\er\vhelraed by sand. The troughs, 
on the other hand, are occupied by the tamarisk jungle wherever they are liable to 
inundation, and are tliickh' studded with villages. The larger part of the cultivated 
land, however, lies in the low, flat regions along the borders of the delta, where the 
level of permanent underground water is but a few feet below the surface and can be 
easily reached by the crops. Lovett, {b, p. 146) cites a good example of the rapidity 
with which changes in cultivation take place in response to changes in the water 
level, although he himself ascribes the change to an improvement in the government 
and a temporary' sense of greater security. Arriving in Sistan in 1872, at the 
end of a six years' drought, during which the lake had practically disappeared, he 
found that the countrj- around Kuh-i-Khoja was dr^- and was covered in part with 
tamarisks and in part with fields, although Connolly in 1842 described it as under 
water. "Now, however," says Lovett, "cultivation has advanced to within two 
miles or so of the island (Kuh-i-Khoja) ; in fact, has been developed pari passu with 
the retreat of the waters which has been assigned as the cause." To-day the 
villagers endeavor to plant their fields as close to the lake as possible. In February' 
I saw men ploughing in deep mud on the very edge of the water, and rode across 
old fields which went under the lake and had e\identh- been CTilti\'ated a few years 
before during some drier season. At present, ruins, camel thorn, and sand occupy 
the higher portions of the delta, while villages, fields, and tamarisks occupy the lower 
portions. Strangely enough, the latter contain no ruins of any considerable age, 
although if conditions in the past were the same as to-day these must have been the 
most desirable parts of the country. The only adequate explanation of this phenom- 
enon seems to be that the lake stood at a higher level during a past not far remote. 
THE SHILA AND THE GOD-I-ZIRRAH. 
In times of heavy flood the lake of Sistan overflows and sends a stream of water 
down the Shila 40 miles to the south and then 50 to the .southeast, to the God-i- 
Zirrah. The Shila, where Sykes (</, p. 364) crossed it on the road from Kinnan, 
is "a watercourse 350 yards wide, with banks 50 feet high." It lies in a "great 
