e Helmend about Ghirisk. This is a varied
region, consisting on the north and the north-east of several high
mountain chains which ramify from a common centre, having between
them large tracts of hills and downs, while towards the south and the
south-west the country is comparatively low and flat, descending to
the level of the desert about the thirty second parallel. Here the
Thamanseans were adjoined upon by the Sarangians, who held the land
about the lake in which the Helmend terminates--the Seistan of Modern
Persia. Seistan is mainly desert. One third of the surface of the soil
is composed of moving sands, and the other two thirds of a compact
sand, mixed with a little clay, but very rich in vegetable matter. It
is traversed by a number of streams, as the Haroot-rud, the river
of Furrah, the river of Khash, the Helmend, and others, and is
very productive along their banks, which are fertilized by annual
inundations; but the country between the streams is for the most part an
arid desert.

The Sattagydians and Arachotians divided between them the remainder of
Afghanistan, the former probably occupying south-eastern Kabul, from the
Ghuzni river and its tributaries to the valley of the Indus, while the
latter were located in the modern Candahar, upon the Urghand-ab and
Turnuk rivers. The character of these tracts is similar to that of
north-western Kabul, but somewhat less rugged and mountainous. Hills and
downs alternate with rocky ranges and fairly fertile vales. There is
a scantiness of water, but still a certain number of moderate-sized
rivers, tolerably well supplied with affluents. The soil, however, is
either rocky or sandy; and without a careful system of irrigation great
portions of the country remain of necessity barren and unproductive.

The south-eastern corner of the plateau, below the countries of the
Sarangians and the Arachotians, was occupied by a people, called
Paricanians by Herodotus, perhaps identical with the Gedrosians of
later writers. This district, the modern Beloochistan, is still very
imperfectly known, but appears to be generally mountainous, to have a
singularly barren soil, and to be deficient in rivers. The nomadic life
is a necessity in the greater part of the region, which is in few places
suitable for cultivation, but has good pastures in the mountains or the
plains according to the season of the year. The rivers of the country
are for the most part mere torrents, which carry a heavy