1 3 Ut supra, 711.
2 4 Ace, of Caubul,
3 402,
4 178 SEISTAN.
5 degree, s0 as in some instances not to be drinkable. The soil of the
6 southern desert is for the most part sandy; that, on the contrary, of
7 the north-western is a hard, compact, light-coloured clay, gene-
8 rally devoid of vegetation, but in some places producing a growth
9 of tamarisks and other stunted shrubs, or of harsh dry grass.
10 D’Herbelot mentions that Seistan, according to common report,
11 so abounded in gold, that it used to spring from the earth as if by
12 a vegetative process. Conolly does not appear to mention gold
13 as found in Seistan. It may, probably, be gathered from the
14 sands of the numerous rivers.
15 The beasts of prey are leopards, wolves, otters, jackals,
16 hyznas, foxes. There are also porcupines, hedgehogs, kanga-
17 roos, and rats. Wild asses and deer are very numerous. Wild
18 hogs lurk in the marshes in great numbers, whence they issue
19 to devastate the crops, of which it is computed that they de-
20 stroy one half. They are hunted with dogs and destroyed with
21 spear and matchlock; but the Mahometan prejudices of the
22 Seistanis preclude them from eating the flesh of this animal ; it
23 is, therefore, abandoned to the dogs. Cows grow very fat on
24 the reeds and sedge of the Hamoons, but are frequently subject
25 to great mortality : horses cannot be kept in Seistan, being either
26 destroyed by a species of venomous fly, which swarms there in
27 surprising quantities, or by a bloody discharge from the bowels,
28 to which the animal is liable in this country. Camels and
29 sheep are subject to a less degree of mortality, but do not thrive
30 very well. Water-fowl are very numerous; those of most com-
31 mon occurrence are pelicans, geese, and ducks.
32 Travellers in Seistan observe numerous traces of its former
33 populousness and industrious cultivation. Thus, according to
34 Conolly,? “ the violent action of the swollen streams was in a great
35 measure moderated, by large bodies of water being drawn off in
36 canals, which were conducted in some places as far as forty miles
37 through dry and sandy tracts. Massive embankments had also
38 been constructed by rich and enlightened governments, which pre-
39 vented the water from flowing without control, and confined it
40 within certain bounds for the purposes of cultivation.” To the
41 same purport is the statement of Elphinstone,‘ that “the nu-
42 merous ruins which it still contains, testify Seistan to have been
43 a fertile country, full of cities, which in extent and magnificence
44 are scarcely surpassed by any in Asia.” Though the fertility of