CLIMATE AND HISTORY. 305 
Nasratabad, the one village, could hardly give supplies for a hundred men, and 
even.-thing for an army would have to be brought from Sistan. Yet the route was 
once so important that strong fortifications, caravanserais, and other ancient ruins 
occur at frequent intervals, as do also kanats or canals. Of the last 90 miles Smith 
(p. 248) says that at both of the two possible stopping-places "water was obtainable 
by digging wells 5 feet deep, but it was brackish and bad ; and at the latter place 
there is a stream so salt and bitter that none of our animals would even touch it." 
Sykes (a, p. 417) describes the same route in equally uncomplimentary terms: 
Gurg (th« first stage) is generally considered to be the worst stage in this part of the desert, 
the pools of water being quite iindrinkable. ... In summer, owing to the heat, Gurg is little 
better than a death-trap, and here, more than elsewhere, the abomination of desolation is realized. 
. . . At Shurgaz (the next stage) the water was just a little better, but so scanty that there was 
none for the camels. 
At the end of the third da}', after marching over a hundred miles through the 
worst part of the desert, a better region was reached. "A day's halt was impera- 
tive, as our camels could hardly move." That a large army could cross such a 
desert is hardly credible ; that such an army should have no hardships worthy of 
mention by the historian is less credible ; and that they could bring elephants with 
them is least credible. 
The elephants of Krateros are not the only ones mentioned in history. Mal- 
colm (I, p. 35) speaks of them as abundant in antiquity in the kingdom of Persia, 
as is shown by both the ancient history and the sculpture of the country'. Mazan- 
deran is the only part of the countrj- that could now support them, but they are 
spoken of in other places. 
Another interesting commentary' on the climate of antiquitj' is afforded by a 
comparison of a description of the province of Kirman as it is to-day, by Sykes 
(p. 44), and as it was in the past b}- Strabo (quoted by Sykes, p. 48). The modern 
description runs : " The whole province can best be described as partly desert, pure 
and simple, and partly desert tempered by oasis. ... As may be supposed, 
the ri\ers are imimportant." The ancient description is scarcely longer, but conveys 
a wholly different impression : " Kirman . . . lies more to the north than 
Gedrosia. This is indicated by its fertilit)-, for it not only produces ever)thing, but 
the trees are of large size. . . . It is also watered by rivers. ... It includes 
also a desert tract which is contiguous to Parthia." Even since the twelfth ceuturj- 
there has been deterioration, for in ninnerous cases ancient Mohannnedan towns are 
abandoned and can not be restored because no water can be procured. 
THE DESICCATION OF ANCIENT RUINS. 
The ruins of E^asteni Persia and the neighboring countries are incredibly 
abundant. The mighty cities of the dead crowding the shores of the lake of Sistan 
in the center, and the abundant vestiges of a fonner population much denser than 
the present in Kirman to the west, Baluchistan to the south, and the Helmund Valley 
to the east, have already been mentioned. E.xamples might be multiplied indefinitely, 
for the tale of ever}- traveler is full of them. North of Sistan the same is tnie. 
Half-way from Herat to Kandahar the plain of Dasht-i-Bakwa, where, according to 
