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31 month; and all the while the great Helmand, curving north-ward in its course, pours down its steady volume of silt brought from the highlands, carrying tons of debris into open plains where it is spread out, dried, wind-blown and swirled back again southward in everlasting movement. The Helmand in Seistan is a different river from that of its early course. Its character changes from the point where it makes its great bend north towards its final exit into the lagoons and swamps of the Hamun. At Charburjak the Helmand is a wide, rippling stream when in flood. To its north lies the great flat, wind-swept Dasht-i-Margoo, about as desolate and arid a region as fancy could depict. To the south lies Dasht-i-Zirreh, with its innumerable sand-dunes resembling islands in a sea of sand. The Arghandab.—This is a tributary of the Helmand, and takes its source in the Hazarajat country near Barhaq Pass. It flows in a south-westerly direction, and, after crossing Kilat-i-Ghilzai, it emerges into an open plain and irrigates the richest part of Kandahar province. It is a small stream in winter, but deep and rapid when fed by the melting snow. Other rivers of this group are : the Khash Rud the Farah Rud, and the Harat. All three rise in the Hazarajat, drain the south-western part of the country and ultimately empty themselves into the Hamun.