'GAZETTEER OF PERSIA. VOLUME I' [‎187v] (385/820)

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KHO-KHO
easily towards Himmatabad and Shahr-i-Nau ; though there is a low rid<?e
intervening between the latter and Meshed-i-Riza. From this point
a ridge is said to run round the head of Turbat, and to be continuous with
the Kuh-i-Azqand, which bounds the Turshiz plain on the north.
From the west of Shahr-i-Nau the range runs on to the south-east, dividing
Khaf from Meshed-i-Riza. There is no doubt that it goes on south to
Kariz and is the same range crossed between Ghurian and Khaf, of which
the Kuh-i-Sang-i-Dukhtar is a spur, and on which is the Kuh-i-Dushakh.
This range runs parallel with the Hari Rud, and ends in the Herat valley.
This terminates the eastern branches of the range, but its western
* ramifications are less clearly defined. It is, however, very probable that
the part of the range near Khaf is connected with the hills about Tun by
the intermediate spurs of the Kuh-i-Sinu and the Kuh-i-Khaibar. As
suming this connection, we will continue the description from this point.
From Tun the range runs south-east; and before reaching the latitude
of Kain, it throws out a spur, over which is the Gudar-i-Gud pass,
Thence it turns more east round the head of the south drainage of Kain.
and is crossed by the Gudar-i-Khunuk ; shortly after which it throws out
to the south-east a spur called the Kuh-i-Gazik. But the main range
now turns south and a little west to the Samand-i-Shah pass, from which
a spur goes south-west to the north of Birjand, and eventually dies away
in the desert.
The main range is continued in the Kuh-i-Mianabad, which bounds the
Birjand basin on the north-east, and is crossed by the road between Is-
fizar and Darmian. Running south-east from the Samand-i-Shah pass *
to the south of the above pass the range then turns south ; and is crossed
by the Gudar-i-Gandeh Kuh between Sistan and Birjand. After this it
throws out a spur, called the Kuh-i-Baqaran, wdiich bounds the Birjand
valley on the south, and probably dies away in th,e desert near Khusf.
Finally, we will return to the point where the Tun range is connected, as
it is supposed, with that of Khaf, and trace the west and north ramifica
tions of this range. In the first place, the range runs north in the direction
of Bijistan, near which it probably ends in the desert. To the west it
throws out spurs as far as Tun—all of which end in the desert. This leaves
the mountains about Tabas unconnected with the Khorasan system,
though further exploration may perhaps show that they are continuous
with the range to the north of Yazd.
Khorasan cannot boast of many rivers ; and those that there are are
, mostly small. The most important is the
Atrak, which rises to the north-east of Kuchan
and flows into the Caspian ; the Gurgan, which also flows into the Caspian ;
the Kashaf Rud or Ab-i-Meshed, which joins its waters with those of
the Hari Rud ; andthe Kaleh-i-Mura, of which the KaraSu is a tributary,
which, rising in the Isfarain hills south of Bujnurd, flows south between
Shahrud and Sabzawar and loses itself in the great salt desert. All the
other rivers are mere torrents, which, though they have often a perennial
jsupply near their source, are so much drawn on by irrigation, that it is only
in flood that they have sufficient water to reach their last resting-place in
the thirsty desert.