the
present dam was constructed some eighty years ago, a previous "Band"
existed, as we shall see, further up the course of the Halmund to the
south, and secured the irrigation of the southern portion of Sistan,
which is now absolutely dry and barren. Dried up canal beds of great
length are still to be found in southern Sistan.

[Illustration: Sketch Plan of "Zaidan Citadel"

by A. Henry Savage Landor.]

It would be a great undertaking to describe accurately all these canals
and the various positions they have occupied at different epochs, and
the task would at best be most thankless and useless, for, with the
exception of the larger ones, the minor ones keep constantly changing
their course by cutting themselves new beds in the soft soil. Anybody who
has visited eastern Sistan, even in a very dry season, as I did, knows
too well how the ground is intersected in all directions by myriads of
natural water channels, all fed by the Halmund, so that, unless one had
months of time at one's disposal, it would hardly be possible to map them
all out exactly.

During flood time the water flows over the Band and into its natural
channel due north up into the Hamun, where it loses itself.

There is a good deal of verdure, trees, and high reeds near the banks of
the river at the Band, with many snakes, while fish is plentiful in the
water and myriads of wild fowl are to be seen.

Curious conical temporary graves of mud can occasionally be seen, some
six feet high, the body being, it is said, buried standing within these
cones previous to proper interment with due ceremony. On the outside,
clear imprints made while the mud was still soft of several sized
hands--presumably of the deceased's relations or friends--were left on
the surface of the cone, the imprints being one above the other in a
line.

Among the ruins of Peshawaran, Bellew found traces of several canals, now
dry, one of which, however, had been restored by the chief of Hokat and
brought a stream of good water up to the Silyan ruins for irrigation
purposes.

As for the southern end of the great city at Kala-i-Fath, we have very
good accounts from Ferrier, Goldsmid, and Bellew, all testifying to its
great extent. Here, too, there is a strong citadel standing on an
artificial mound, and seeming to have been repaired some twenty-five or
thirty years ago. Bellew says that the ruins extend over several miles of
country, and Goldsmid speaks of a circumference of rui