Proceedings
of the
Royal
Geographical Society (Great Britain)
Norton Shaw, Francis
Galton, Clements Robert Markham, William Spottiswoode,
Henry Walter Bates, John Scott Keltie
Published 1879
The Basin of the Helmand.
By C. E. MARKHAM, C.B., Secretary K.G.S.
(Read
at the Evening Meeting, February 24th, 1879.)
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Turnuk rivers, 233 miles south-west
of Ghazni,
318 from Kabul, and 330 from Herat; and here
the Arghandab is easily fordable in July, the stream
being 40 yards wide. Fraser Tytler preserved several
manuscript route-maps of portions of the basin of the
Arghandab, which are now in the Geographical Department
of the India Office. These are a route from Kandahar
across the Arghandab, and north as far as a place called
Gunda; a survey of the district of Nesh between the
Arghandab and the Helmand; the country on the right bank
of the Arghandab to the east of Nesh; the district of
Kakrez between the Helmand and the Arghandab, with much
detail, especially on the right bank of the latter river;
and a detailed survey of the Valley of Kandahar by
Fraser Tytler himself, down to the junction of the
Arghandab and Turnuk. Below the Jaguri Hazaras, the Arghandab
Valley is occupied by the Ghilzi Afghans, and below them
are the Alizais, a sept of the Durani clan.
The Turnuk River is better known
than any other in Afghanistan, because the road from Kandahar to Ghazni passes
up its valley. This road was traversed by the armies of
Lord Keene and General Nott, and has been traveled over
by many Europeans. The sources of the Turnuk are 7040
feet above the sea, at the base of a rock on the high
road, and to the north of the village of Mudur, where
there is a pool of water supplied by six or seven
springs. Thence the river flows through an open ravine to
Kalat-i-Ghilzi, where the valley becomes more contracted.
Kalat-i-Ghilzi is a strong fort on
the right bank, 89 miles from Kandahar, and
144 from Ghazni,
situated on an isolated plateau, having a command to the
south of several hundred feet above the surrounding
country. It is 5773 feet above the sea. The Turnuk in its
lower course supplies irrigation to a rich and populous
valley, and passes 8 miles south of Kandahar to
join the Arghandab about 40 miles lower down ; but most
of the water is consumed in irrigation. The whole length
of the course of the Turnuk is 200 miles, and the fall 18
feet per mile.
General Lynch explored several of
the valleys down which the streams flow from the Gul-Koh Mountains
to swell the Turnuk. One of these, called Resenna, ho
describes as a basin about 7 1/2 miles long by 5, and
surrounded by high mountains. This valley was highly
cultivated, yielding fine crops of corn and lucerne, and
was irrigated by khariz, or underground watercourses. It
was densely populated by people of the Hazara race, and
covered with forts, in which they reside for safety. He
visited a similar valley, within the Turnuk Basin, called
Angori, and he describes the valleys of Resenna and
Angori as perfect little paradises, surrounded by
barriers of rocky mountains, from which numerous streams
descend. In the Angori Valley there were no less than 150
forts, in which all the inhabitants lived, and into which
they drove their cattle in times of danger. In these
valleys there is a plentiful growth of the Salab
(Salap-i-Misri), a plant like an onion. The bulbous root,
when dried in the sun, shrinks into a small hard
substance, which
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