arrested by some obstacle, such as a shrub of camel-thorn or
tamarisk. Most of these sand-barchans had a striking peculiarity. They
were semi-spherical except to the S.S.E., where a section of the sphere
was missing, which left a vacuum in the shape of a perfect crescent.

By the numberless waves on the sand surface it seemed evident that the
sand had accumulated from the N.N.W. side.

The village was small and miserable, with a few scraggy trees bowing low,
like all trees of Sistan, towards the S.S.E., owing to the severe, N.N.W.
winds. Here instead of the everlasting domes, flat roofs were again
visible--wood being, no doubt, available close at hand. More curious,
however, were actual gable roofs, the first I had noticed in Persia in
purely native houses. The ventilating apertures were not in the roof
itself, as in the domed houses, but in the walls, which were of a much
greater height than in the domed habitations. The doors and windows were
invariably on the south wall, but to the north at the lower portion of
the roof in each house one could observe a triangular, projecting
structure, usually in the centre of the upper wall. This was a different
type of wind-catcher, but in winter blocked up with sun-dried bricks and
mud.

Between this village and Zaidan there was again a good deal of water to
be crossed, and in some spots it was so deep that our horses sank into it
up to their chests and we had to lie flat, with our legs resting on the
animals' backs, to escape a ducking.

To our left--to the north--could be seen in the distance a high tower,
which is said to have a spiral staircase inside, and must be of very
great height, as even from where we were--eight miles away--it rose very
high above the horizon, some 70 feet, as we guessed, and looked very big.
This tower stood alone several miles to the North of the principal Zaidan
ruins for which we were steering, and I had not therefore time to visit
it.

The pillar is locally called Mil-i-Zaidan, and is circular in shape, made
of kiln-baked bricks cemented together by clay. On the summit, above a
broad band with ornamentations and a much worn inscription can be seen
the fragments of two smaller structures, also cylindrical, which may have
been the supports of the dome of the minaret. There is said to be
another illegible inscription about thirty feet from the ground.

According to Goldsmid, who visited this place in 1872, the tower then
stood on a square foun