(4) Afghanistan - Lakes.

LAKES. – As we know nothing of the lake in which the Lora is said to end, and the greater part of the lake of SEISTAN (see SISTAN) (see that article) is excluded from Afghanistan, there remains only the Ab-I-Istada, on the Ghilzai plateau. This is about 65 miles S.S.W. of Ghazni, and stands at a height of about 7000 feet, in a site of most barren and dreary aspect, with no tree or blade of grass, and hardly a habitation in sight. It is about 44 miles in circuit, and very shallow; not more than 12 feet deep in the middle. The chief feeder is the Ghazni river. The Afghans speak of a stream draining the lake, but this seems to be unfounded, and the saltness and bitterness of the lake is against it. Fish entering the salt water from the Ghazni river sicken and die.





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Afghanistan - Table of Contents