National Institute of Informatics - Digital Silk Road Project
Digital Archive of Toyo Bunko Rare Books

small site may safely be assumed to have been coeval with the construction of
the cairns, and to date approximately from the same period as the remains of
Damba-kōh.

A third and more distant site visited under Sirdār Mīr Aḥmad's guidance
lay beyond the hamlet of Ruhgām, which was reached after a ride of 11 miles
to the north-east of Damba-kōh. The flat waste passed on the way showed in
places decayed old dykes and traces of abandoned cultivation. Ascending a
shallow valley northward for about 2 miles from the few mat huts of Ruhgām,
we arrived at the point where a low ridge flanking the valley on the west ends
in a small bluff. This falls off with almost vertical cliffs towards a wide depres-
sion to the north. The bluff rises about 120 feet above the bottom of the valley,
and being detached from the ridge offers a defensive position of considerable
natural strength. The steep ascent leading up from the south-west passes three
successive terraces, each about 20 to 30 yards wide, all covered with the
remains of much decayed dwellings. Their walls, 5 feet thick in places, are
built with massive undressed slabs of calcareous sandstone quarried on the
spot and laid in rough courses without earth or plaster. Between the first
and second terrace a gate can be recognized. The scantiness of potsherds, all
undecorated, suggests that the small stronghold served only as a temporary
refuge.

About one third of a mile to the south-west there starts a series of cairns
extending for about 400 yards on low terraces along the foot of the ridge. They
show exactly the same type of construction as those at Damba-kōh. Owing to
the distance and the difficulty of securing adequate labour their clearing would
have involved much sacrifice of time, and so could not be attempted.

Section II—THE CASTLE OF JAMSHĪD, GĪTI

On the night before the visit to Ruhgām, four Persian soldiers sent by the
military commandant of Chāhbār had arrived, thus enabling me to discharge
our Makrān Levy escort and to arrange for our onward journey. My intention
was to proceed first to the Dashtiārī tract west of the river and, after examining
what old sites might be traced in that somewhat less sterile area, to make my
way to the sea coast at Chāhbār. Clouds had been seen to gather on the distant
hills to the north, and however welcome rain might be for the poor occupants
of the arid plain below, parched by a drought of more than a year, the resulting
flood of the Bāhū river would threaten to cut us off from any further move for
days if not a couple of weeks.

Our march on January 16th, starting from our Ladak camp north of Damba-