1 SEISTAN. 177,
2 of Seistan* does not appear to have been ascertained, but an
3 approximation to its determination may be attempted. Kandahar
4 is supplied with water by canals from the Urghundab, ahd conse-
5 quently the bed of that river, at the place of their divergence,
6 five or six miles to the west, cannot lie below the town, ascer-
7 tained to have an elevation of 3,484 feet.?7 The course of the 7 Jour. As. Soc.
8 Continuous streams, Urghundab and Helmund, from the vicinity of rie Abaya oe
9 Kandahar to the Great Hamoon, is, in round numbers, two ae Rane
10 hundred miles; and if we allow to each mile a fall of five feet, in Afg. App. 74.
11 which would render the current an unnavigable and very rapid
12 torrent, the elevation of the most depressed part of Seistan would
13 reach about 2,500 feet. This elevation is: not incompati-
14 ble with the very high temperature of Seistan, as Kandahar,
15 in ‘the same latitude, and having a greater elevation by a thou-
16 sand feet, has a very hot climate.t The heat in Seistan, how-
17 ever, exceeds that of Kandahar, and is so great as to preclude
18 the comfortable enjoyment of life, except during the three winter
19 months. The Gurmseh,°t especially on the banks of the Hel- ¢conony, ut ~
20 mund, in the east of Seistan, is noted for the great heat of the tek ic on
21 climate. Caubul, 137.
22 The air throughout Seistan is unhealthy, producing various
23 kinds of fevers, especially intermittents. The country is remark-
24 ably subject to wind, a strong steady gale blowing, during the warm
25 six months, from the Huzareh mountains on the north, to supply
26 the rarified air which ascends from the sultry desert lying south-
27 wards.! This wind sweeps clouds of saline dust over the country, ! conolly, ut
28 and isso distressing to the eyes that one man in every five suffers *4P™ 716.
29 from diseases of those organs. Sometimes the wind is so loaded
30 with sand as completely to overwhelm towns.? 2 DHerbetot, iv.
31 As is frequently the case with bodies ofwater having no outlet, 188+ Elph. «0%
32 the various Hamoons are impregnated with salt to a greater or less
33 * Humboldt, in the hypsometrical map annexed to his Asie Centrale,
34 states the elevation half-way between Yezd and Lake Zirreh (the Great
35 Hamoon) at 350 toises (= 2,205 feet), but giving neither the authority nor
36 grounds for this position, it of course is of doubtful weight.
37 + Baber' states that the heat in Hindostan is not to be compared with that ! Memoirs, 334.
38 of Kandahar, not being above balf so warm as it. Atkinson,? on the 30th 2 Exp, in Afg.181.
39 of July, found ‘‘ the weather intensely hot. The paper,’’ he says, ‘‘on which
40 1 am writing curls up, and is as crisp as if it was before a blozing fire.”
41 t we warm,” and ra\™ ‘¢a place.”
42 VoL. I. sa