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32 Lakes.—Afghanistan, in spite of its great size, has very few large lakes. The best known of these are :— The Hamun-i-Helmand and the Godi Zirreh, lying southwest on the Persian-Afghan border, are shallow salt-lakes. The latter is, perhaps, the mostsalt lake in the world, for it is said that its waters are even more laden with salt than those of the Dead Sea. Ab-i-Istadah is another small lake, about 80 miles south of Ghazni. It too, has no outlet, and its water is therefore salt. Sarikul (Lake Victoria or Lake Wood) lies north of Wakhan on the Russian border. It is frozen for the greater part of the year. This fine lake lies in the form of a crescent, about 14 miles long from east to west, and with an average breadth of one mile. On three sides it is bounded by swelling hills, not more than 500 feet higher than the level of the lake, while along its southern side it is enclosed by a high mountain some 3,500 feet above the lake, or about 19,000 feet above sea-level. It is covered with perpetual snow, and from this never-failing source the lake is supplied. The surrounding hills and mountains that encircle Sarikul give rise to some of the principal rivers of Central Asia. Sheva, a lake of blue, sweet water, is situated on the western border of Badakhshan, close to the Oxus. This, too, is very cold and is generally frozen over for three-quarters of the year. Band-i-Amir is a series of small but extremely beautiful lakes, lying some 50 miles west of Bamian in the lap of the Koh-i-Baba. These fine natural lakes, as we could call them, are encompassed on all sides by high hills of various colours,