'Military Report of the Nushki-Chagai-Western Sinjarani Country' [‎20r] (44/302)

at Ziarat-i-Haji, the majority were only a third full and some
quite empty. The supply, however, such as it was, was ample to
see the party as far as Zirreh.
<f At 4-30 r.M. on the 18th the whole camp marched off again.
For the first 8 miles or so the track was over the same gravelly
dasht and very well marked. Beyond this, however, and almost
right away as far as Zirreh, the track is extremely difficult to follow
especially on a dark night. As it was, on two occasions, our party,
though accompanied by three guides, manasred to lose the track and
we had to retrace our steps once for nearly a mile. I do not think
it is safe to travel over this part except by daylight, or when there
is bright moon. Camp Zirreh was reached at about 4 a.m., and tfie
t )tal distance covered from the last camp was something like 25
miles. For about 5 miles before Zirreh is reached the track passes
through a fairly dense tamarisk jungle and, for some 3 miles before
that again, through sand-hills.
“ At Zirreh, which is situated on the Shela, we found a pool of
stagnant water, red in colour and incrusted with salt and, generally,
a-: evil to contemplate and to smell as it was to drink. In fact it
was hopelessly undrinkable for both man and beast. The only
drinkable water is to be obtained from w'ellsat the edge of the pooh
There were a couple such when w r o arrived, but even the water
in these was so had that the majority of camels and horses utterly
refused to touch it. We dug a few more wells at the edge of the
pool in the hope of obtaining sweeter water, but the mistake w r as
made of digging them too near the pool, instead of as far away
from it as possible in the bed of the Shela, with the result that the
w^ater in these new wells turned out to be worse than that in tho
wells alrea<ly in existence. These latter were subsequently slightly
improved by digging and clearing, but the water was so bad that,
by the afternoon, the whole camp was down with severe diarrhoea ;
and this state of affairs continued until Kirtaka was reached the
next morning, and good water obtained. There is any amount of
camel grazing all round Zirreh, but owing to the animals having
been practically two days without water, the majority refused to
graze. Another evil effect of the Zirreh water was that, so far
from being thirst quenching, it seemed to have the opposite effect,
with the result that, once a man began, be had to go on drinking
it in greater quantities and this of course intensified the diarrhoea.
Altogether what with the men down with diarrhoea, the camels
ungrazed and unwatered for the two preceding days and the pros
pect of a 80-mile march ahead to Kirtaka, I must admit, at this
point, to having felt somewhat anxious as to ever reaching Kirtaka.
Indeed I very much doubt whether tho men would ever have
reached Kirtaka the next day had there not been nearly 40 spare
camels by means of which followers and all were able to get a
ride for a very great portion of tho distance.
“ We marched from Camp Zirreh for Kirtaka at 5-30 p.m. on
the 19th. For the first 8 miles or so in the daylight the track
was clear and the going easy. So long as it was light I rode on