'MILITARY REPORT ON PERSIA' [‎44r] (92/466)

61
JWfffel, 1
It is este
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Ihe be
A is noli
ontiroi i
.cattlfflisl
igetaltt
are eli®
tare, Ufa
its trife
y smI k
Fomteeiii"
inooiilt,
jsiiews
of ft®
es to te
legated 1*1.
■ampsJE
ss ft® it
saie a®
,st and® 5
stern ta®'
rWssli*
redfittdl
afimt*
is
, tiered
fjrs, ii* 1 -
of Shiraz. Its length is about 60 miles, and breadth 3 to 6
miles. Its waters are derived almost entirely from the river
Kur or Band Amir. In dry summers the water entirely eva
porates and the inhabitants collect salt from the bed, which .
is much esteemed. The shores are soft fine mud, and the
water extremely salt.
The limits of the lake, at the conclusion of the rainy season,
are shown by the line where a light sandy loam covered by
a saline deposit begins. In June the water has so far
receded that only a narrow streak is visible in the far distance
about the centre of the bed, while all the remaining surface
is left exposed covered with this deposit, which glitters in
the sunshine like snow,- and becomes so soft a short distance
from the edge, that it is impossible to walk upon it. The
slope of tlie ground towards the centre is so gradual as to be
imperceptible. The natives say a little water always remains
in the centre, due to perennial streams that flow into it.
Lake Nargis, as the northern portion is called, in no way
differs from Niriz ; the water only remains in it at its western
end. The promontory that juts out between the two is barren,
desolate and uninhabited.
The Jaz Murldn Hdmun lies between Bampur and J al ilurian.
Khanu. As shown on the map the extent is misleading.
The entire ground, between Kalanzau on the east and
Zch Kalat on the west, is liable to inundation durum
the rains. Between these two spots is the actual limit of the
swamps, making it some 50 miles by 20. There are said to be
two separate swamps called Milan and JIhum. Jaz Murian
is a sweet-water lake, in which water remains permanently
only between Kalanzau and Gumbaz. In the hot weather the
swamp is mostly dried up.
Sistan is a deep basin into which the drainage of a threat Hamun-i-Hel
tract of country runs. The mountains from which the major maM Sistan '
portion of the water comes are far distant, the intervening
country being barren plains. The four largo rivers, which
discharge their waters, all flow from Afghanistan. The
Sistan basin is surrounded on all sides by high almost vertical
scarps, except where the skirts of the Palangan Kuh and
Kacha Kuh come down to the shores of the Hdmun. The
area liable to inundation at high flood is 2,742 square'miles
The actual Hdmun is about 1,474 square miles.