The Geographical Journal (Journal of the Royal Geographical Society): Volume X, No. 6 [‎98v] (49/186)

588
RECENT JOURNEYS IN PERSIA.
the boundless Dasht-i-Lut stretched for hundreds of miles. The descent
was easy, in comparison, and by 9 p.m. we were safely back again in
camp."'
The whole of this valley is full of ruined villages, and opposite them
are oval-shaped caves hewn out of the rock. These were some 8 feet
in length, 6 feet in width, and 5 feet in height. No marks of smoke
were visible, and, as they were very difficult of access, I would hazard
the theory that they were humble imitations of the rock tombs at
Pasargarda?.
After stopping long enough to allow my companion to scale the
great volcano, on New Year’s Day, 1894, we started forth to find the
village of Pasman, the whereabouts of which was uncertain to a degree.
As we could buy nothing on the way, we ran out of both forage and
flour, and were consequently delighted to reach our goal, which lies at
the southern end of the range of the same name. Our camel-drivers here
deserted in a body, but, as there was plenty to occupy us in exploring
the hills, this did not prove to be a serious blow. It took us three days
* Note by Lieut.-Geneuai, McMahon in a Paper on the “Volcanoes near the
Beluchistan-Afghan Frontier,” read before the Geological Society on
March 24, 1897.
^ Since ibis paper was read the authors have been in personal communication with
Captain P. Molesworth Sykes, now in England on leave, who ascended the mountain
on Christmas Eve, 1893. After gradually ascending ravines in the hills around the
mountain, the exploring party arrived at the foot of the actual cone at an elevation of
10,000 feet. Thence up to 11,000 feet the ground traversed consisted of boulders ;
but trom 11,000 feet upwards it was covered with fine volcanic ash, into which the foot
sank deeply at every step. From this point up to the top the smell of sulphur was
unpleasantly strong. The summit consists of a plateau covering an area of about 400
square yards. On its northern and southern sides the ground is slightly elevated above
a central depression. The northern elevation forms the sacrifice hill, where goats are
sacrificed by pilgrims; whilst the southern portion is called Mader Kuh (‘ Mother hill ’)
On the latter were, at the time of Captain Sykes’s visit, two apertures some yards
apart, each apparently 3 or 4 yards wide, which appeared to be connected with each
other. From both of these, dense white sulphurous smoke and some flames were
issuing. So strongly sulphurous and suffocating was the smoke, that these apertures
could only be approached from the windward side; and, owing to the heat and smoke
issuing from them, they were approached with difficulty even from that side Sulphur
and sal ammoniac were extracted from the edge of one of the apertures.
Captain Sykes has paid several visits to the burning petroleum springs at Baku
on the western shore of the Caspian sea, and he is satisfied that the heat, smoke, and
flames on the summit of the Koh-i-Taftan were not due to petroleum. There was no
smell of petroleum, and the smoke was not dark and carbonaceous.
“ Captain Sykes brought home a specimen of the rock found in situ on the Koh-i-
iaftan, and this proved, on examination, to be a vesicular, andesitic lava As the
summit ot the Koh-i-Taftan is still deeply covered with fine ash, this volcano must
have been active during a comparatively recent geological period; but, as no fresh lava-
s renms were observed by Captain Sykes on his way up the mountain, it is not probable
that the volcano has been active during the lifetime of the present generation.
" authors irif f er ’ from Uaptaiu Sykes’s observations, that the volcano is now in
the solfatara stage of its existence. The flames seen by Captain Sykes are probably due
to the emission of hydrogen sulphide (H 2 S), a very common product of solfatara action.”