'Military Report on Persian Seistan' [‎76v] (157/188)

142
NAI-NAS
NAIGARD.—NEH GARD.
NAIZAR—
A dry river-bed, forming the northern limit of Seistan proper and dividing
it from Hokat. It is, as its name implies, a belt of reeds and rushes. It
extends for many miles east and west, and connects the pool, or lagoon, of
the Helmand with that of the Farah Rud by a strip of swamp. During
the past four years this swamp has been dry. W hen the Seistan Mission
crossed, it was six miles w r ide. Its reeds had been cut, and burnt to
the stumps. Its soil was desiccated, and marked by beaten tracks over
the stubble.
Previous to its desiccation the swamp tract used! to be crossed by the
natives on foot or on horseback, or on the tutin rafts already described {vide
“ Kimak ”), by passages cut through the dense growth of reeds. Usually
the swamp was covered to the depth of a foot or so with a thick muddy
water, considerably saline; but in flood seasons its height rose to two or
three or four feet, and inundated the country to the south. In some parts
where they crossed the Naizar the reeds had not been cut or burnt, and
they rose to a height of 10' or 12' in impenetrable patches. Away to the
right of the path tall pillars of smoke rising from the burning reeds filled
the sky with dense clouds of obscurity. Vast herds of cattle, described as
of a superior breed, are fed on the young shoots that sprout from the burnt-
* down reeds.
The country north of the Naizar is broken into small tumuli of spongy
soil and white as snow with saline efflorescence. The surface of most of
it is strewed with red bricks belonging to old graves, many of which are
still distinctly traceable. The low ground between the tumuli is now hard
and marked by deep-sunk cattle tracks. Mir Alam Khan rules all that
portion of Seistan which is south of the Naizar, or reed swamp of the
Hamun. The w r est and south limits of the Naizar to the left bank of the
Helmand, therefore, form the Persian boundary in this quarter.— [Bellew,
MacGregor.)
NASIRABAD—
A small village of some 20 houses on the Adimi Canal, it possesses 6
ploughs of cultivable land. Government revenue 55 kharwars of grain.—
{Mania Baichsh, Ahmad Din.)
NASIRABAD PAIN—
A village on the Dandi Canal possessing 4 ploughs of cultivable land.
Government revenue 40 Icharwars of grain .—[Ahmad Din.)
NASRATABAD— Lat. 31° 1' 0"; Long. 61° 30' 0"; Elev. 1,770' {Walker),
984' {Napier).
The modern capital of Seistan, and the residence of the Governor of the
province.
Although the name Nasratabad exists it is not the one by which the town
is usually known. Two derivations have been given; (1) Nasratabad ‘‘the
city of victory/' so called after its capture and conquest by Mir Alam Khan,
the late Governor of Khan ; (2) “ the city of Nasr/' which is short for Nasr-
ud-din, the late Shah of Persia. The Tehran officials invariably use the
term Shahr-i-Nasriya, or Shahr-i-Seistan, when addressing letter, to the
Capital of Seistan. The local people only know and recognise one name
viz., Shahr.” Sometimes but very rarely it is called Nasratabad, but never
Nasirabad, with which place the Capital is apt to be confounded. Nasirabad