CHAP. XI.I A DESERT LAKE 79
it sank in the mud, and one of our guides had lost a camel in this way the year before. A little water remains in the deeper parts, even through the summer, but elsewhere the bed is shallow and white from salt efflorescence. Farther along the road to Bahabad two rather smaller streams have to be crossed, and the last lay only a farsakh south-west of that which stopped us.
I could obtain no clear information as to the origin of the three streams ; they were said to flow through parts of the desert never visited by man. It is also probable that they change their course in this flat country. Possibly they are delta arms of one and the same drainage channel. It often happens that the water in the beds remains quite insignificant after heavy rain in the neighbourhood of Fahanunch ; or on the other hand that it rises considerably, even when it does not rain at all down here. Thence it may be concluded that their sources are at a great distance. Most certainly the rain-water collects from all the northern half of the Tebbes basin, especially from Kuh-i-shuturi, and a large contribution, perhaps the chief volume of the water, comes from the flood channels we crossed round the village Deheshk south of Tebbes.
We were forced by the obstacle that thus stood in our way to make a long circuit to the east, for we had now to pass round the lake into which this stream emptied itself. We therefore turned to the east, and went up a dry furrow full of washed-down vegetable matter, and then were stopped again by a small superficial rivulet, the outflow of an irrigation canal, which seemed very innocent and insignificant ; but the ground about this kennel was softened to such an extent that it was not worth while trying to get the camels over. They sank deeply in the yielding mud, and we had patiently to follow the canal all the way to the great Pervadeh road, where the ground
bore.
Mohamedabad is a hamlet of a few huts, palms, and tilled fields, and near it rise a few low mounds, the extreme offshoots of the eastern heights. Then we come again into absolutely barren desert of pebbles and sand where not the smallest weed grows. The morning was very
IIIFカラー高解像度
