'Military Report on Persian Seistan' [‎85r] (174/188)

and lastly 13 miles south of Nar Nala. Regarding them Jennings
says :—
^ On the 15th March early I left the old route at the former Shela
crossing, i.e., some 55 miles from Sehkuha, and struck right across the desert,
keeping south inclined to east slightly. I had with me Duffadar A Non-Commissioned Officer in the Indian Cavalry. Sardar Leader of a tribe or a polity; also refers to a military rank or title given to a commander of an army or division.
Khan, mounted on a Persian horse — a capital animal—four Balu chis, one
mounted on my other horse, also a rare good worker, another on his own
horse, the remaining two and myself each on one of my best riding
camels. All six animals were in prime condition and carried no load,
except a couple of blankets, three days* rations, and water. For the first
9 miles the route lay over a pure white salt plain ; the going was very bad,
the horses sinking from 1 foot to 6 inches in damp salt and sand (Kauir)
and the camels several inches. Hy 12 o’clock we liad only covered 13£
miles, i.e. 3 9 miles since the Shela crossing, and all the animals were more
or less done up; and then we really came to the crux of the journey,
namely, two immense ridges of deep sand, the first 2^ to 3 miles, the second
1£ miles to *2£ miles wide. This is the sand ridge mentioned by Mac
Gregor; it extends from Kuh-i-Sultan tO miles to south east towards Tursad
mountain range, many miles away on north-west. These sand ridges are
composed of huge waves (10 to 15 feet high) of deep sand, with salt patches
here and there and thick tagaz jungle; half a mile of it quite knocked up all
our animals. It was scorching hot, and a storm of pure sand and salt blew
in our face; the camels sat down, and one of our mashaks was ‘ sat upon ’
and all the water lost; we all had to dismount, and for 7 miles to lead and
drive our animals on. The horses sank to their hocks and the camels a foot;
we some 4 to 6 inches. At the 20th mile, after eight hours of terrible
work, we emerged on the hard desert, all more or less done and the six
picked animals quite broken down, temporarily at any rate; however, we
got on another 5 miles, mostly on foot, and bivouacked on the bare desert;
two camels simply sat down and refused to be led or driven further.
“This ridge of sand waves crosses the route Ladis to Sehkuha between mile
99 and mile 103, between Hurmak and Nawar, but here the height of the
sand waves is small. They get less and less to the north-west, but increase
in size and breadth to the south-east. The edge of these sand waves, viz,, at
miles 14 from Nawar, is the limit on the south-west of the part of the
desert liable to inundation.” (Euan Smith, Jennings.}
In the afternoon 1 walked down to the Shela (from Gumbad-i-Shela),
only a little more than a mile to the west of the domes, and found it full of
bitterly salt water, which is said to always remain there.
The bed was some 150 to 200 yards in width and with precipitous banks,
SO and 40 feet high in places, and it is only when the Hamun-i-Sawari
overflows and flushes out the salt water that sweet water is to be obtained.
At 7 miles out (from Gumbad-i-Shela) towards Gudar-i-Shah the road
crossed the Shela at a place called Gardanrig and continued down the right
bank. On the left bank ran a succession of sandhills.
The road (from Dasht-i-Shela to Gudar-i-Shah) led on down the right
bank of the Shela across a bare sandy plain for fourteen miles, when it struck
and crossed the Shela again, just at the head of a stretch of salt water, on
which were a good many wild fowl. The banks here on both sides were
well-covered with tamarisk. The bed is about 150 yards wide, with sloping
bank some twenty feet high and full of sand, there having been no flood
waters down the last five years. Continuing about a mile down the Shela,
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