1 (' m )
2 CHAP. IV/- ' ^ • ' '
3 aUTAUK.
4 THERE is no country to which an aHmirer of Persian poetry and
5 roiuaiice will turn with more interest than to Seestauii, and
6 tliere is none where his expectations will meet with so melancholy a
7 disi^jpointment Nor is this to be attributed to the exaggeratiMi of
8 the poets, fiw die mmiemNii nnna whidi il adll testifir
9 Sewlaim to luire been % fertile country, iUll of dtieB> wUdi in eitent
10 and nugnifioenoe are weutosAy surpassed by any in Aiie: nor era
11 the canaea of ita dedine leaa appaNnt than die prao6 of its fenner
12 |HKMpenlij«
13 EKoefit on the north, where it joina the aontli-weiteni border of
14 the Boorannee oountiy, the province it aunoonded 1^ wide and dis-
15 mal desarts, whence every wind brings clouds of a light ahifting sand»
16 which destroys the fertility of the fields, and gradually overwh^lma
17 the viUages.* The only parts whidbi stUl retain their fertility, are
18 those on the banks of the Helmund and Furra Rood, and of the lake
19 which is i<Mrmed by those rivers. This celebrated lake is termed by
20 our geographers the sea of Durra or Zereng. In Persian books, it is
21 said sometimes to be called the sea of Loukh, and, by the people of
22 the country, the sea of Zoor or of Khaujek. In truth, I suspect it
23 has no name at all in the neighbourhood, but h merely called tlie
24 Lake, or the Sea. I have heard various accounts of its extent : the
25 * Tbe native village of Moollah iaSfit, whom I have to oii» mentiaQed, baa been
26 Jtwrted riaoalK left gewtami, from i^tmm.
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