'Report on the North-Eastern Frontier of Persia and the Tekeh Turkomans' [‎108r] (7/50)

country between Sagand and Tabbas can only be described as a terrible descent. At
the end of 14 miles the country slightly improves, and a little tamarisk scrub and a
few other bushes are seen. Here there is a ruined village called Illahabad, plundered
and burnt by the Biluchis about 25 years ago. The village is situated on some rising
ground, and the fort is far stronger and better than the forts ordinarily are in this
part of the country. This place is a wonderful instance of how long mud buildings
last in this dry land, as the fort is in very fair repair, though it is 25 years since it has
been repaired. There is a fine caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). , but the only water is from a deep well, and
the water is very brackish. Illahabad reminds me of the more desolate parts of the
frontier between India and Afghanistan, so few bushes are seen in this desert, that the
few tamarisk bushes make one look upon Illahabad as a sort of oasis, though it really
is a wretched enough place. In ordinary times camels and sheep are brought here to
graze on the scant herbage, but just now all animals have been driven away in con
sequence of the Biluchi raid. If travellers remain in the caravanserai A roadside inn providing accommodation for caravans (groups of travellers). they have to
bring water from Sukand, the water in the well being not only brackish, but the well
is very deep, and there is no means of drawing w r ater unless the traveller comes pro
vided with apparatus. The people I have conversed with tell me that formerly
Biluchi raids were very frequent, but for 25 years they have been unfrequent. There
was one five or six years ago. Soon after passing Illahabad I reached a piece of
kavir or salt desert. Though the whole country I am travelling over is known as the
Kavir or Salt Desert, that is a misnomer. It is certainly a desert, and some parts of it
could be surpassed by no desert tract in the w T orld, still it is not really kavir or salt
desert. Kavir or true salt desert only occurs in patches here and there. Some of
these patches are, however, of very great size, extending perhaps 100 miles in length,
and from 25 to 30 miles in width. The larger pieces of kavir are all to the northward.
In the southern portion the rainfall being so small the pieces of kavir are much less
in extent. The kavir I am now crossing may be taken as a type of salt desert, and
I will describe it, and point out what I consider is the cause of this curious formation.
I believe at a former period the whole of the country I am travelling over was the bed
of a shallow sea. The mountains have all the signs of strata formed in lakes or
shallow seas during the Palaeozoic and Mesozoic periods. When the upheaval took
place which raised the bed of this ancient sea to its present level, the portion of
country known as the kavir still remained considerably lower than the high plateau of
Persia, and the rivers which originally fell into this sea continued to pour their waters
into the lowest parts of the desert and formed marshes. The waters of all springs and
rivers contain salt in minute quantities, and the rivers of Persia often are so salt as to
be quite undrinkable. The salts brought down by the rivers were deposited in the
marsh, and as there was no outlet the salt accumulated each year adding to the quantity
of salt contained in the marsh. Every summer the marsh dried up, and the surface of
the marsh when dry formed the sort of desert known to the Persians as “ kavir.”
Where a comparatively large river forms the marsh, the extent of country affected
is great, the area of salt marsh depending upon the volume of water brought down and
the saturation of the soil.
One sort of kavir looks as if the ground had been ploughed up, left for some time,
and that afterwards a thin glazy coating of salt clay had been laid over it. When this
coating is trodden upon, it gives way, and the horse’s hoof sinks into a powdery sort
of soil, containing much salt. When riding over this sort of kavir, a continued
crackling sound is heard, caused by the horses’ feet breaking through the glazy
surface. At other times the whole soil looks rotten, the horses’ feet sinking deeply
into it, salt showing on the surface. Sometimes a damp spot is come upon, looking as
if it had sweated up from below, which I believe it has. Crossing over this salt
desert on a bright moonlight night, as it was to-night, the appearance of it is very
peculiar. As we had a long march in prospect, I halted in the kavir to rest the horses
for a few hours. At 1 a.m. I started again, and marched over the same desolate
country. On the road two small holes are passed, containing very bitter water, which
only camels will drink. These water holes are permanent, being filled by percolation
from a water-bearing strata, but the water is almost useless ; one of my horses drank
a little. Soon after passing these small water holes, an open pass between low hills is
entered. Then, after the pass, which extends for 34 miles, the road leads over a bare
stony plain, and at 38 miles from Sukand the poor desolate village of Pusht-i-Badam
is reached.