Ab-i-Istada
This article has been extracted from THE IMPERIAL GAZETTEER OF INDIA , 1908. OXFORD, AT THE CLARENDON PRESS. |
Note: National, provincial and district boundaries have changed considerably since 1908. Typically, old states, ‘divisions’ and districts have been broken into smaller units. Therefore, this article is being posted mainly for its historical value.
Ab-i-Istada
A lake in the Taraki Ghilzai country, Afghanistan, lying between 32 degree 30' N. and 67 degree 50' E., about 65 miles south-south- west of Ghazni, and about 70 miles north-east of Kalat-i-Ghilzai. Its length and breadth are 17 and 15 miles respectively; it is very shallow, its extreme depth in the centre being only 12 feet. It is bounded by a shelving margin of naked clay ; not a tree is in sight, nor a blade of grass.
The water is salt and bitter, and the banks are encrusted with salt. Its principal feeder is the Ghazni river. Major Broadfoot relates that the fish brought down by the Ghazni river from its upper parts, on reaching the salt portion, sicken and die ; and Outram mentions that the point where the Ghazni river enters the lake is marked by thousands of dead fish. The surrounding country is very barren and dreary, and has scarcely any permanent inhabitants, though it is a favourite grazing-ground of the Ghilzai tribes during the summer months. No water runs out of the lake, but its waters percolate underground in streams which unite to form the Arghastan Lora.
