nd host were really charming. Mr.
Miller, the Consul, was a very intelligent and able man indeed, a most
wonderful linguist, and undoubtedly a very efficient officer for his
country. There is also in Husseinabad a round tower where the Beluch
Sirdar fought the Amir some nine years ago, and one or two windmills
characteristic of Sistan and Beluchistan.

These windmills are not worked by sails in a vertical position like ours,
but are indeed the simplest and most ingenious contrivance of its kind I
have ever seen. The motive wheel, which revolves in a horizontal
position, is encased in high walls on three sides, leaving a slit on the
north side, from whence the prevalent winds of Sistan blow. The wind
entering with great force by this vertical slit--the walls being so cut
as to catch as much wind as possible--sets the wheel in motion--a wheel
which, although made coarsely of reeds tied in six bundles fastened
together by means of cross-arms of wood, revolves easily on a long iron
pivot, and once set in motion attains a high speed.

The flour mill has two stories, the motive wheel occupying the entire
second floor, while attached to its pivot on the ground floor is the
actual grinding stone. The wheat to be ground flows into a central
aperture in this stone from a suspended vessel, a simple system of
strings and ropes acting as an efficient brake on the axle of the upper
wheel to control its speed, and others allowing the grain to fall
uniformly and, when necessary, preventing its flow.

[Illustration: The British Bazar (Husseinabad) Sistan.]

There sweeps over Sistan in the hot weather what is called the
_Bad-i-sud-o-bist-roz_, or wind of the 120 days, which blows from the
north-north-west, and, although this may seem unpleasant to the
inhabitants, it has a most undoubtedly salubrious effect upon the climate
of the province, which, owing to the great quantity of channels and
stagnant water, would otherwise be most unhealthy. As it is the climate
is now extremely healthy. The water of the Halmund is delicious to drink.

The suburb of Husseinabad stretches for about one mile towards the south,
and contains among other places of importance the buildings of the
Customs, with a caravanserai--very modest and unsafe--a picture of which
is here given. What is called "Benn Bazaar," or the British Bazaar, is
also found at the south-east portion of Husseinabad and facing the
Consulate Hospital.

CHAPTER XVII

The