'Persia and the Persian Question by the Hon. George Nathaniel Curzon, M.P.' [‎140] (175/714)

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again, most travellers have been taken up the summit of the Kuh
Khisht, wliich is 1,500 feet above the level of the plateau and
4,000 feet above the sea ; but than which MacGregor was of opinion
that finer views are afforded by other elevations. The water tanks
and conduit constructed by Nadir have already been mentioned.
O'Donovan compared Kelat with the Happy Valley of liasselas;
but he would probably have shifted his simile had he been con-
„ li . demned to reside for a time within its walls. Of the
Cultivation i • • i . .
and water total inside area, only a small portion is under cultivation,
supr)ly the water supply consisting merely of the stream so often
mentioned and of five small springs. This scarcity renders the
support either of a large population or of a powerful garrison
impossible, except by supplies brought from the outside. Cultiva
tion in the interior is limited to two areas, the river valley and the
uplands. In the former, along the banks of the stream and in
the flat spaces, rice, cotton, lucerne, vines, melons, and cucumbers
flourish under the persuasive influence of water. On the higher
ground, which rises to 1,000 and even 1,500 feet above the valley
bottom, are grown barley and wheat. There are few trees or
shrubs inside Kelat; and the grass cannot be remarkable either in
quantity or quality, seeing that the inhabitants frequentlv send
their flocks outside to graze. To represent the place, therefore, as
an oasis is a misnomer.
I rom this point I may resume my return march to Meshed, the
first stage of which was by the route already traversed and
Return described between Kelat and Vardeh. The distance is
march to said to be five farsdkhs ; I should call it a bare twenty
miles. My camp was pitched outside the tiny hamlet
on the knoll, and here I found the mule which had tumbled down
the Camels Neck, but whose leg was fortunately not broken, but
only severely sprained. From standing out in the cold at night,
the limb had grown so stiff that the poor brute could scarcely
hobble.
Octoher 20.—We marched to Kardeh, nominally seven farsakhs,
but according to my reckoning not more than twenty-six miles.
Onto ^ or the first part of the route I was repeating my journey
Kardeh of three days before, up to the point where the lateral
ravine comes in from Bolghor. From here we continued down the
main gorge, following both the telegraph poles and the stream
which flows along and often entirely fills its bottom. For miles