'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎227] (262/714)

THE SEISTAN QUESTION 297
however, a British officer exploring Western Belnchktan f i
water two feet deep flowing down the Sarshela or Shela aTd form
mg an extensive Hamun in the northern part of the Zirreh which
was said to be over one hundred miles in eireumference
variabll i s r thf 1 f ybe ™te™toodfrom the above description how
variable is the face of Seistan, and what a puzzle to writers its
Protean comparative geography becomes. For not only do the
SSlT ^ a lately sw ell, recede, and disappear-the area
0 displacement covering an extent, according to Raw-
inson, of one hundred miles in length by flfty miles in width-but
the rivers also are constantly shifting their beds, sometimes taW
a sudden fancy for what has hitherto been an artiflcial canal but
which they soon succeed in converting into a very good imit. tioi
of a natural channel, in order to perplex some geographer of
owe t K 1S i n0t SUr P r,sin g' therefore, that while the country
owes to the abundant alluvium thus promiscuously showered upon
it its store of wealth and fertility, it also contains more ruined
™ Ilabit « tlon s than are perhaps to be found within a similar
space or ground anywhere in the world.
Such in brief outline is the physical conformation of Seistan
1 will now proceed to its history. From the earliest times there'
hSv" 1 " rr n somethm g 111 Seistan that appealed vividly to
■ the Persian imagination. The country was called Nimim
from a supposed connection with Nimrod, 'the mighty hunter': it
was e resi ence of Jamshid, and the legendary birthplace of the
W f!*™' SOn 0f Zal ' and fifth descent from Jamshid.
does tl lm ' T n0t plaj as great a part in British 'eg™ 11 as
does the heroic Enstam in the myths of Iran. For, after all
rthur was a mortal man (and, if we are to follow Tennyson
a most a nineteenth century gentleman), while Eustam fought
Zmeh Desert on the south for two days and a half without finding a solitary nool
' Nowh r T there ,he * ^es" x ;!
crumblingT and 011 the ™^tion as dry as hones
orumblmg into dost at the least tonoh.' At length, and with great dlfflcnltv he
h s WmtabU 0M ^ 1° a 1 " tle fluid tr0m tl,e soil ' ^ ««. was how, in
themselves tl^e trotdjle f ™7, he describecl it: • If any should wish to s^ve
give a reeipe, whieh won/S ^omXfnghke it. "iTte, Tta tlfflt / °T
looks" thin' 61 y0U ; m fin(1 ' mi;t SaIt wUh " til1 J ' ou taste as nastyal h
bilge-water Sb- Sr ° fr0m " Lon<ion str eet-lamp, and add a little
p. 183, vigorously, and it is ready for use.'-
Q 2