"الطرق في بلاد فارس. (المجلد I.) (خراسان وسيستان.)" [ظ‎‎١‎٣‎٢] (٥٣٦/٢٦٩)

256
ROUTE No. II (m).
KARlZ to PUL-I-KHATUN by the valley of the
HARI RUD and KALEH ISTUl.
136\ Miles. ' stages.
Authority. —Oranolisky, 1894.
Epitome. —Suitable for mule transport only.
The construction of a cart road would be a work of great
difficulty, and the route is generally only suitable for the move
ment of a small detachment.
Water. —Water supply good, except for one stretch of 10
miles in stage 5 and another of 12 miles in stage 7.
Fuel. —Plentiful.
Crrazw< 7 .—Plentiful.
Supplies.—N il.
General observations on the valley of the Hari Bud. (Condie-
Stephens, about 1885.)
Prom Kafir Kila the river runs in a northerly direction
along an uninhabited but fertile valley, piercing the Jam and
Siah Babak ranges through a gorge known by the name of
Tang-i-Daria. This gorge is exceedingly narrow in parts,
and is impassable for all arms, except in the late summer, when
a few horsemen might, by crossing and re-crossing the shallows,
force their way through the thick brushwood and jungle. On
the right bank, from the Siah Babak range northward, the
ground is high and undulating as far as Daulatabad, where the
undulations of ground finally subside into the desert. On the
left bank, after the Jam mountains are crossed, the ground is
flatter than on the right, there being a tract of open fertile land
near the river, and another further on ; the stream winds west
ward round the foot of a high range till it reaches Pul-i-Khatun.
whence, after running eastward for a few miles, it again flows
northward in a widening valley to Sarakhs. Between Kuhsan
and Nauruzabad (18 miles S. of Sarakhs) the country on both
sides of the stream is uninhabited, except at two spots, Muhsi-
nabad and Zurabad. Portions of the valley abound in natural
pasturage, and the land near the banks between Toman Agha
and Tang-i-Daria, and between Pul-i-Khatun and Sarakhs
might easily be irrigated. Rainfall is said to be small. Usual