‘Persia – especially Seistan’ [‎124v] (247/949)

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Appendix “ B
Memorandum on sections taken to ascertain the possibility o£ a direct connection between the
Helmand and the eastern end of the Gaud-i-Zirreh, by W. A. Johns, Esq., Executive
Engineer, Public Works Department, Railway Branch, dated the 25 th February 1903 .
As a tradition exists among the nomad Baluch tribes of the Begistan
desert that twelve hundred years or so ago the Helmand ran in a course far to
the south of its present one, and as the northern bluffs of the Gaud-i-Zirreh
have the appearance of a river bank rather than of the shores of a lagoon and
thus lend some support to the tradition, a series of observations were taken
with a view to confirming or disproving the point.
These observations consisted of a number of barometric sections extending
from the base of the mountains at Galechah to Kuigi on the Helmand near
Khwaja Ali and thence zigzagging across the country as far as Killa Jehan
See Appendix c. ^ 53 miles down the valley. For
convenience of reference these sections
are plotted on the accompanying J inch maps roughly parallel to the
route to which they refer.
In my opinion they conclusively prove the impossibility of Baluch tradition.
Dealing with them seriatim, the first from Galechah to Kuigi shows a
steady descent from the base of the mountains at Galechah to the present
valley of the Helmand. The fall is considerable, about 2,000 / , and the drop
regular, about 50' per mile.
The section may be considered to show the physical impossibility of the
river ever having had a more southerly course than its present one within the
existing geological period at any point east of Kuigi.
2. As a depression shown on the map south of Khwaja Ali suggested the
possibility of the river having diverged to the south between Kuigi and
Khwaja Ali, a second section was run along the route followed by the 1884
Boundary Commission for 22 miles. The depression was proved to be purely
local and unimportant, entirely caused by the nulla which is shown dotted in
the map. At the point where the route crossed its lowest point its level is 220'
above the Helmand. The hypothesis, therefore, of the river having ever
broken to the south above Khwaja Ali is clearly untenable.
3. The course of this nulla was afterwards verified and proved to agree
with that shown on the map by a section running south-west from Khwaja Ali
for 23J miles till it readied high ground beyond the nulla, and tken^ returning
north-west to Rudbar recrossing the nulla a few miles lower down. Even here
the depression was still well above the level of the Helmand. No depression
exists in the hills between Rudbar and Band-i-Kamal Khan, so the possibility
of the Helmand having ever burst through there may be disregarded.
4. To exhaust all possibility of doubt as to the fact that the bed of the
Gaud-i-Zirreh was below the level of the Helmand, a fourth section was run
south-east from Killa Jehan Beg to the shores of this old lagoon. The
levels indicate a gradual rise from the river for about 8 miles, in a series of
low ridges, then two miles of gradually falling dasht; the steep scarp of the
Gaud-i-Zirreh at the 10th mile and a gradual slope down the talus to a
point in the plain UO' below the valley of the Helmand.
The subsequent discovery of an old channel leading from the Helmand to
the Gaud-i-Zirreh, leaving the river at Band-i-Kamal Khan, is not dealt with
in this note, which merely relates to the possibility of a connection between
the Helmand and the eastern end of the lagoon.
D/A one plan, J inch scale, marked Appendix C.
Note by T. R. J. Ward, Esq., Executive Engineer, Irrigation Officer, on Mr. Johns's note and
plan, dated Band-i-Seistan, the 25 th February 1903 .
I have read this note and accept Mr. Johns’s deductions from the inform
ation collected as correct.