Band, a kind of barrage.

Some explanation is necessary to make things clear.

On the present Afghan-Perso boundary, at a place called the
"Band-i-Sistan," is the great dam across the Halmund, completely turning
the waters of the stream, by means of semi-artificial canals, for the
irrigation of Sistan. Hence the fertility of that district. The dam, "the
Band," as it is called by the natives, is a barrier slightly over 700
feet long, constructed of upright wooden stakes holding in position
horizontal fascines of tamarisk interwoven, strengthened by stones and
plastered with mud to form a semi-solid wall. In olden days the Band was
so feebly constructed that it was generally carried away every year at
the spring floods, but now greater attention is given to its construction
and it is kept in fairly good repair, although portions of it usually
collapse or are carried away by the force of the current during the
floods. The height of the Band is not more than eighteen or twenty feet.
Practically the actual river course comes to an end at this Band, and
from this point its waters are spread into a delta of canals, large and
small, subdivided into hundreds other tortuous channels. The Hussein Ki
Canal is one of the most important, and feeds Zaidan, Iskil, Bunjar and
Sher-i-Nasrya, Husseinabad, and other places, and is subdivided into
minor channels during its course. It flows roughly in a north-west
direction.

In 1896, according to Major Sykes (_Royal Geographical Society's
Journal_), a new canal, known as the Rud-i-Perian, was formed, and
destroyed Jahanabad, Ibrahimabad and Jalalabad. This canal, he says, is
not far from the Rud-i-Nasru, which he seems to think was at one time the
main stream and flowed in a natural bed past Zaidan to the west of it,
but personally I have my doubts about the accuracy of this statement. I
believe that the Rud-i-Nasru was merely a shallow canal that passed to
the west of Zaidan, but that the river course of the Halmund itself was
always to the east of Zaidan as well as of the other adjoining cities
north of Zaidan. The Canal to the east of Nad-i-Ali is no doubt a
naturally cut channel, the obvious continuation under natural
circumstances of the river course. The same remark might apply to the
small channel self-cut to the west of that place. There are other
important channels, such as the Madar-Ab, which supplies water to
Chiling, Pulki and Sekhuka; the Kimak canal and the Kasimabad. Before