d, I think, it may eventually be found quite the
most probable.

The diagram here given will illustrate and, I hope, make quite clear the
meaning of my words. In the centre of the crescent can be noticed the
action of the parting wind currents.

[Illustration: A Caravan of Donkeys in Afghanistan.]

North of Kirtaka was a very pointed high conical hill, and not far from
it a small replica of Fujisan in Japan, so much were the lines like those
of the Japanese mountain. A great many of the drain channels from the
mountains to the south extended very far into the desert and some as far
as the God-i-Zirreh.

It is also very probable that in the days when Sistan was a most populous
region, with uninterrupted towns and villages along and near the Halmund,
numerous canals may have intersected the Zirreh region and rendered it a
very fertile plain. History would indeed point forcibly towards such a
hypothesis. Ample proof that the plain was inhabited still remains in the
ruins of Godar-i-Chah, situated at the western limit of the Zirreh salt
deposits, Chah-i-Mardan, where a ruined fort and a Ziarat are said to
exist, Gumbaz-i-Chah, and others. All these places are now deserted and
are being fast buried by the sand. They are mostly along the Shela
(river) banks, and the natives of Sistan say that they have heard from
their ancestors that when the Shela did flow freely its water was quite
drinkable.

There was a well at Godar-i-Chah--hence its name, "the well of
Godar"--almost entirely dried up and of water so foul that it was not
possible to drink it, and another just as bad was said to exist at
Gumbaz.

It would be most interesting if one could get at the actual history of
this part of the world and gain an insight into its former prosperity and
civilisation. It is quite probable that Alexander, in his progress
through Beluchistan and Sistan, must have come through this country. No
army--not even with a new Craterus at its head--could, of course, march
elephants, camels and horses through that country to-day, and this has
led some critics to doubt that Alexander could have done so, or to
believe that, if he did so, he must have been deceived by his guides who
tried to bring him as far as possible from water. But those critics
forget that in Alexander's days this portion of country was extremely
civilised, fertile, and supplied with plenty of water--or else how can we
account for the innumerable ruins we find there, and fo