The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume IX, No. 4 [‎209v] (89/172)

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THE SOUTHERN BORDERLANDS OF AFGHANISTAN.
West of Chagai the character of the desert changes; instead of plains
we have lofty ranges of desert mountains, upwards of 8000 feet high,
and stretching westwards for some hundred miles. North again of
these, as far as the Helmand, lie deserts of sandhills interspersed with
flat plains of black gravel.
Briefly speaking, we marched along the southern fringe of the sandy
Registan desert to the foot of the massive range of mountains west of
Chagai. As one first approaches these mountains from the east, they
stand out in a grand, high, rugged black mass with jagged peaks,
several of which are over 7000 feet high. Crossing the level plains
towards them, one cannot fail to be struck with the likeness the scene
presents to a mountainous sea-coast as seen from a few miles out at sea
on a clear calm day. The mirages which produce the reflection of the
black cliffs beyond on long wide stretches of seemingly calm water at
their base, with here and there a black rock standing out as an island
in the watery expanse, render the similarity very life-like and effective.
The lava and other volcanic rocks of which this mass of mountains is
formed, lead to the conclusion that we have here the remains of ancient
extinct volcanoes. These mountains are, for the most part, very in
accessible, and abound in ibex and oorial, or wild sheep.
Working through the Chagai range, we reached Robat on March 21.
Our camels by now were getting very knocked ap, not so much from
heavy work as from want of food, and the mortality among them had
given us cause for much anxiety. The abundant camel-grazing we had
been led to expect by every authority who had previously reported on
this country had proved a sad failure, as the land was suffering from a
severe prolonged drought. All the vegetation was dried up, and even
the taghaz, or white tamarisk, which grows all over the country, was
dried up even more than usual, and useless as camel food. The warmth
of spring had as yet failed to renovate the parched vegetation, but had
succeeded in doing something else less useful and pleasant, i.e. in
bringing out in vast numbers snakes, lizards, spiders, and scorpions of
every kind. We used to secure large numbers of specimens daily.
These and the ibex and the wild hill sheep appeared to be the only
living inhabitants of the country. The few natives of these parts,
whether from fear of strangers or from absence of food for their flocks,
had fled and deserted the country. We had scoured the country round
for miles to find natives, in order to procure sheep and goats from them
for food, but without success. This was not reassuring, more especially
as we knew that at Robat the real difficulties of the country were
only beginning.
As I said before, the Afghan Boundary Commission had traversed
the desert as far as Robat in 1884, and the adventurous traveller,
Captain Christie, had used much the same route as that mission as far
back as 1810. The only two Europeans, however, who had ever visited