SEISTAN, called also Segeetan, Ls a province, or rather a country, situated in the eastern part of the tableland of Iran, and Inclosed within the boundaries of the kingdom of Afghanistan. Taken in the larger signification which is sometimes given to It., Seat= compre hends the countries between 30' and 32' 30' N. bit, 61' and 65 E. king., a space the area of which considerably exceeds 36,000 square mile".
On the north of Seistan is the extensive mountain-region known to the ancients under the name of Paropamisus, and called by modern geographers the Mountains of Hazaureh and Eimack, from the name of tvfo tribes which occupy the most elevated part of it. On the east is the Plain of Kandahar, which maybe considered as the eastern pro loogation of that of &lean, though It constitutes a different political division, and is excluded from this notice. On the south is the Desert of Beloochistan. [Batooemsrax.] The western boundary is formed by a chain of lofty hills, which appears to extend across the table land of Iran nearly south and north.
Surface.--The Plain of Seistan, with the adjacent valleys, and the Plain of Kandahar and its dependencies, constitute a closed basin.
No water which descends on it ever reaches the sea. The southern part of the plain is a desert, large tracts of which are level and with out vegetation. In a few places the soil is impregnated with salt. The country is inhabited by some tribes of Beloochees, who wander about with their herds.
The country on the north of the Helmund elopes to the south, not regularly, but in a series of terraces. The basin of the Lake of Seistan is the lowest terrace, in which consequently all the waters that descend into the plain and the surrounding mountains are col lected. The whole of this tract approaches to the nature of a desert.
The surface generally consists of a hard earth, mixed with rocks and low hills : the soil, except in the bottoms of the rivers, is of a very indifferent quality. These plains supply herbage and water during great part of the year to the numerous herds of camels and sheep of some tribes of the D6oranees. There are permanent villages among the cultivated lands, but by fat the greater part of the inhabitants are scattered over the face of the country in tents. As the mountains of Hazaureh are covered with snow for several months, they give origin to many rivers, which in the season when the snow melts become deep and rapid stream; and run southward either to the Helmand, or fall into the Lake of Sateen. The water of these rivers
is used to irrigate the bottoms of the river valleys, and thus a portion of this region is fitted for cultivation, and produces abundant crops.
The Lake of Seistan is called by the natives Harpoon, a name which designates a plain covered by a sheet of water. It bears also the distinctive name of the Lake of Koh-i-Khwajeh, from a hill which is surrounded by the lake, and which is not far from its eastern banks. It is the Aria Pains of the ancients, to which another name it bears, Zara, has some resemblance. The lake extends (between 61° and 62' E.long., and 31' and 32' N. lat.) about 70 miles from south-south west to north-north-east, and has an average breadth of 18 miles, except towards its northern extremity, where it widens to more than 30 miles. In these wider parts of the lake there formerly existed a separate lake, called D0k-i-Teer, which was divided from the Hamoon by an isthmus of moderate width, but not many years ago the Hel round changed its course, and instead of carrying its waters to the great lake, it sent them to the Dttk-I-Teer, and the isthmus was carried away by the waters, so that the two lakes are now only one. The Deik-I-Teer Is a large sheet of water thickly studded with reed-topped islands, its depth averaging about 4 feet, and having a very muddy bottom. Along its northern banks the water is not so deep, and the reeds are not in patches, but cover the whole surface. Here and there patches of blue water appear between the reeds, but it is only towards the south-west that there is a large sheet of water clear of rushes and reeds. The water of the lIsmoon, although salt, is generally used The level country which surrounds the Hamoon may be called the Plain of Baden Proper. On the west it extends to no great distance from the banks of the lake, and seem, to 'be sterile. On the north and east it stretches to the distance of 20 or 30 miles, and to the south-east and south 50 miles and more. It is entirely composed of fiats, with the exception of one hill, and in its whole extent not a stone is found, except a few rounded pebbles in the beds of the rivers. The soil is either the light earth of the desert, or the still lighter alluvial deposit of the nvers. Ruins of ancient towns are traceable in several parts.