Sec. ii] BY THE LOWER HAUL ROD 141
for a distance of about 6 miles. Kahnû comprises now only scattered hamlets of mat-huts, besides a ruined fort tenanted down to modern times. Yet it must have been a place of some local importance from an early period, since it is the point where several routes leading from the coast at Minab, the ancient Hormuz, meet others towards Barn and Kerman. I could learn nothing of old remains in the vicinity during the two days' halt imposed by regard for the rest needed by men and beasts and for the collection of supplies. But the stay proved both pleasant and useful owing to the help and information which the capable commandant of the small local garrison, Sultan Nûr `Ali Khan, kindly provided for our onward journey.
This was to take us to Bam and thence to Kerman, where our operations of this field season were to close. Reports about the numerous mounds to be seen in the Jiruft tract stretching along the Halil Rûd, together with the advantage of gaining higher ground and thus coolness on the way by crossing the Jabal Bariz range, had previously induced me to choose this route. Instead, however, of gaining Jiruft by the direct route leading north from Kahnû, I decided to move first eastwards to Bijnabad beyond the Hall! Rûd, in order to examine a series of mounds which were indicated in its vicinity both by the Survey of India map and local information. Starting from Kahnû on April 6th, we struck the Haig Rûd once more after a march of 12 miles across a scrubby dasht and past the small date grove of Shadap. Where the river was crossed near the village of Jamalabad we found its volume less than near Tumbut, but it still filled a channel about 100 yards wide to an average depth of 1-11. feet. It was difficult to make sure whether the diminution was due to the melting of the snow on the Jabal Bariz and the ranges towards Sardûyeh and Isfandageh having ceased, or to the fact that several canals take off from the river some 13 miles higher up, and do not return their water into the river until some distance below Bijnabad.
About a mile from the left bank of the river and to the north-east of Jamalabad there extends a stretch of salt-encrusted ground measuring about 380 yards from east to west and rising to some 10 feet in the middle. The numerous frag-. ments of painted grey ware, decorated with black designs ( see Jal. 1, 3, 4, 11, 15; Pl. XX), together with pieces of alabaster cups and worked stones, clearly indicated occupation in the chalcolithic period. Moving on for 5 miles, at first over bare alluvial clay and then through a wide belt of fields cultivated in different years, the cluster of hamlets collectively known as Bijnabad was reached. Close to these, on the north-east side, there rises a conspicuous mound to a height of about 25 feet in the centre. It measures some 320 yards from north to south and about 380 yards across where widest.
By the side of plentiful plain pottery, much of it bearing a cream or greenish-
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