ABSTRACT
Today the Helmand with its branches forms the delta, in which we find the cultivated area of modern Seistan. Outside it there is no water and no cultivation. M cM ahon discovered the existence of at least three deltaic areas, which have in turn constituted populated Seistan. Moreover he discovered that each o f these deltas has been used time and again as the wayward
HISTORY OF AFGHANISTAN
Helmand changed its course. The population has per force followed the river, on which its very existence depended, and it would appear that the Zarangiana, visited by Alexander the Great, covers the area now marked by the remains of Ramrod in the Tarakun area, where I noted ruins of important cities. It is also definitely established that Zaranj, the capital destroyed by Tamerlane, can be identified with the ruins of Zahidap in the present delta. Other and older sites abound. Chief among them are the ruins of Sarotar on the right bank of the Helmand, which extend for some sixty miles northwards in an unbroken line, proving the existence of a Seistan which was infinitely more prosperous and contained a much larger population than the 200,000 inhabitants of today.
