‘GAZETTEER OF PERSIA VOL. I Comprising the Provinces of ASTARÁBÁD, SHÁHRUD-BÚSTAN, KHÚRÁSÁN, AND SÍSTÁN’ [‎80v] (165/722)

DASHT-I-L(?T*— Lat. 31° O' to 33° 30', Long. 55* O' to 59° 30'; Elev.
/
A desert in Khurasan occupying a considerable tract in the south-east of
the province. Its area may be described as a parallelogram ; the angles
beino’ mark' d by the towns Nih, Tabbas, Yazd, and Karman. Its least
elevated point will be found on a right line joining Khabfs and Nih. It
is without doubt the lowest depression of surface in all Khurasan, for the
absolute height of its northern boundary varies between 3,000 and 4,000
feet; its south-eastern limit at Dih-i-Saif is only 1,200 feet, and its lowest
point is probably not more than 400 or 5S0 feet in absolute height. Its
mean slope is in the direction of north-north-east to south-south-west.
The term U/ is a general term for wastes in this part of the country ;
but differs from kavir, inasmuch as the former may have sand inter
spersed over its surface, but not kavir ; and the lut desert is generally sprinkled,
on the borders at any rate, with thorny shrubs which afford grazing for
camels. In a track called lut there is no water, but the soil is not
altogether saline, and therefore does not preclude the formation of hauzex—
a very important point. The lut soil consists generally of a greyish
coarse-grained sand, overlying a sandy bed, cemented into a compact mass
by a solution of salt. The interior of the desert is entirely devoid of all
signs of animal or vegetable life.
"The temperature of the surface of the soil of the lut in the month
of April in the shade at midday was 10(J° Fahr. and at IS inches bel -w
the surface was 96° Fahr. The relative humidity of the air was u ider
the same conditions, 11-2 per 100 of complete saturation at the temperature
of the air in the shade. This is 0’8 per 100 less than the dryness observed
by Baron Humboldt in the Barabinskaya steppe, which he considered to
be the greatest recorded dryness in the surface of the earth.— (Khan, faff,
MacGregor.)
DASHT-I-NA-tJMMfilD, i.e. (The Desert of Despair)—Lat. ,
Lomg. ; Elev. ' .
A long and very wide plateau in Eastern Khurasan, extending north and
south between parallel ranges of hills. It extends north up to the
latitude of Mashhad, and west as far as Anardara in Afghanistan, and con
stitutes the boundary between Persia and Afghanistan. It is covered
with excellent pasture, in which assafoetida, wormwood, orchids, tulips, &e.,
abound. It used formerly to be frequented by shepherds from Farah, llokat,
and Sistan, but has been abandoned by all since the Persian occupation of
Sistan. There are two depressions or daks in this plain, into which the
rivers of the neighbourhood drain ; one being near Anardara and the other
more to the south.— (Bellew, Stewart.)
DASHT-I-PtJSHT-I-KDlI-I-JAM —Lat., Long. ; Elev.
A high undulating fertile plain in Khurasan, without any population, and
bounded on the south by ridges lining the Jam stream. It lies between
Mazandaraa and Ak-Darband on the road from Mashhad to Sarakhs.—
[Napier.)
DASH r-l-SANGBAR— Lat. , Long. ; Elev.
A desert plain in Sistan between Chiling and Sehkoha, covered with hard
gravelly soil, stretching from east to west about 3 miles broad. It is
said to have formerly limited the overflow of the Sistan lake in this
direction to the north.— [Goldsmul.)
* Lut means “ bare. ”