'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎243] (278/714)

THE SEISTAN QUESTION
248
as large as rivers, and a network of smaller ditches and dykes,
but also veiy fieqnently to run to waste in superfluous swamps and
lagoons. Let us, however, quote the opinion of eye -witnesses
upon the actual capacities of the soil. This is what Ferrier said
in 1845 :—
Seistan is a flat country, with here and there some low hills. 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, hut very
rich in vegetable matter, and covered with woods of the tamarisk,
saghes, and tag, and reeds, in the midst of which there is abundant
pasture. The detritus and slimy soil which is deposited on the land
after the annual inundation of the Helmund fertilises it in a re
markable manner, and this has probably been the case from time
immemorial; at any rate, the number of ruins on the banks would
lead one to suppose so. 1
To this let me add the opinion of Sir F. Goldsmid :
The soil is of proved fertility. Wheat or barley is, perhaps, the
staple cultivation ; but peas, beans, oil-seeds, and cotton are also
grown. Melons and water melons, especially the latter, are abundant ;
giazmg and fodder aie not wanting. Ly means of the canals in their
ordinary course, and by occasional inundations, a system of profuse
inigation is put in force, which, with an industrious and a contented
population, should be productive of most extensive grain cultivation. 2
Finally, to both may be added the testimony of those who have
visited Seistan since the Boundary Commission, and who report
that its resources have already been wonderfully augmented, and
that its capacities of production under a more scientific system of
irrigation are enormous. The future of Seistan depends indeed
upon the application of hydraulical skill to the course and overflow
of the Helmund. The river now runs northward, and spends it
self in superfluous swamps. There is nothing .in the lie or in the
levels of the land to prevent it from being turned southward, and
entirely devoted to cultivation.
Nor should a concluding but most important consideration be
forgotten. Though railways will not come in Persia with the head-
A link in a lon ^ ra P idit y tliat some imagine, and though it is not
cham desirable in many parts that they should, yet most of us
look forward to a time when there will be some more
rapid means of communication between the great cities and trade
1 Caravan Journeys, p. 426. 2 Journal of the R.G.S., vol. xliii. pp. 71, 73.