The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume IX, No. 4 [‎213r] (96/172)

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THE SOUTHERN BORDERLANDS OF AFGHANISTAN.
Seistan, and here right away down at the very south of Seistan, at
(xodar-i-bhah, we still find them. They mark the remains of old
flourishing towns and cities of past times, and, together with the
numerous traces of old canals leading from the Helmand river, prove the
existence in some past age of extensive civilization and of a very large
population. Who built those cities, and who cultivated this once rich
country, one cannot now say. The past history of the country is buried
in obscurity. Several have offered opinions on the subject, but only to
be contradicted by others. We know that Alexander the Great marched
through this country, and found there cities and a civilized people.
Zirreh is said to be the modern form of the old name Zarenj, which was
the capital of the Zarangae or Darangae tribe mentioned by Arrian.
Persian tradition has, again, made Seistan famous as the home of the
great Persian hero Rustam. We also know that the Kayani kings
ruled in Seistan and the Helmand valley until their final overthrow and
extirpation by the Persian Nadir Shah at the beginning of the eighteenth
century. Whether the old ruins now existing mark the towns mentioned
by the writers of Alexander’s times, whether they are connected with
the age of Rustam, or as recent only as the latter days of the Kayani
kingdom, it is now hard to say. We must leave it to archa 3 ologists to
decide. They will find this country well worth studying, and it is to
be hoped that at some future date careful archasological investigation,
which has been impossible up to now, will throw light on the history of
what must have been a numerous and civilized people.
Since Sir Charles MacGregor’s visit, Godar-i-Shah has been visited
by Captain Hon. H. D. Napier and Mr. Merk, c.s.i., but both came there
from the Persian side.
We were not sorry to leave Godar-i-Shah, as the heat there was very
severe. Proceeding westwards, we reached the foot of the Koh-i-Malik
Siah range, and on April 16—a red-letter day in our mission records—we
erected our last boundary pillar on the top of Koh-i-Malik Siah, a peak
5500 feet above sea-level, to mark the end of our long boundary-line
between Afghanistan and Baluchistan. From this point northwards
runs the boundary settled between Persia and Afghanistan by Sir
Frederick Goldsmid; and from this same point southwards runs the
boundary-line between Persia and Baluchistan, just laid down by Colonel
Holdich. The massive stone cairn, some 20 feet high, which we built
at the top of this mountain, now marks the point “ where three empires
meet,” for here, at one point, British, Persian, and Afghan territories
join. As soon as our camp, both men and animals, had had a few days’
rest, and had recruited their strength with the good water we found
there and with the food supplies we had obtained from Persian Seistan,
we started homewards. The Afghans had had enough of the desert,
and preferred to strike across Afghan Seistan to the Helmand, and thence
along that river, while we returned to Robat across the desert by much