Across coveted lands : or, A journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta, overland . on a folding chair on one sideof the table, and the Consul, Ghul Khan andmyself in a row on the opposite side. We weremost cordially received by Hashmat-ul-Mulk,the Amir, who—this being Ramzam or fastingtime—showed ample evidence of mis-spent had all the semblance of a person addicted toopium smoking. His Excellency was unshavenand unwashed, and seemed somewhat dazed, asif still under the effects of opium. His dis-coloured eyes stared vaguely, now at the Consul,now at Ghul Khan, now at me, and he occ
Across coveted lands : or, A journey from Flushing (Holland) to Calcutta, overland . on a folding chair on one sideof the table, and the Consul, Ghul Khan andmyself in a row on the opposite side. We weremost cordially received by Hashmat-ul-Mulk,the Amir, who—this being Ramzam or fastingtime—showed ample evidence of mis-spent had all the semblance of a person addicted toopium smoking. His Excellency was unshavenand unwashed, and seemed somewhat dazed, asif still under the effects of opium. His dis-coloured eyes stared vaguely, now at the Consul,now at Ghul Khan, now at me, and he occa-sionally muttered some compliment or other atwhich we all bowed. Presently, however, his conversation becamemost interesting, when, having gone through allthese tedious preliminary formalities, he beganto describe to me the many ruined cities ofSistan. He told me how at one time, centuriesand centuries gone by, Sistan was the centre ofthe world, and that a city existed some twentymiles off, named Zaidan, the length of which wasuninterrupted for some eighty or ninety XX A GREAT CITY 187 The remains of this city, he said, are stillto be seen, and if you do not beheve my wordsyou can go and see for yourself. In fact, addedthe Amir, * you should not leave Sistan withoutgoing to inspect the ruins. The city had flatroofs in a continuous line, the houses being builton both sides of a main road. A goat or asheep could practically have gone along thewhole length of the city, went on the Amir, toenforce proof of the continuity of buildingsof Zaidan. But the city had no great was long and narrow, the dwellings beingalong the course of an arm of the Halmundriver, which in those days, before its course wasshifted by moving sands, flowed there. Theruined city lies partly in Afghan, partly inSistan territory. In many parts it is coveredaltogether by sand, but, by digging, houses, andin them jewellery and implements, are to befound all along. I promised the Amir that I
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