Bismarck daily tribune. [volume] (Bismarck, Dakota [N.D.]) 1881-1916, 1907-02-10
IA LAM OF B BILLIARDS.
THE FIERCE GALES THAT sWgEP,AN
59S WRECK sEisTAN.

THE FIERCE GALES THAT SWEEP AND
WRECK sEtsTAN.
| These TerriHc Windst0rms Always
/. I'M How, ms They Have Dome For. Ages,
4 From the Same Direction--A Pam
Every one who has visited Seistan or
/ written about Seistan has mentioned
Its celebrated wind, called the "bad-i-
sad-o-bist roz,' or wind Of 100 days,
/ which blows in the summer. Few Of
these have had the misfortune to ex.
perience 1t, but as we went through
! two seasons of this wind we are able
! to say something about It, It more
! than justifies its reputation. It sets in
! at the end Of May or the middle Of
June and blows with appalling VIC
Hence and with little or no cessation till
! about the end of September. It always.
blows from one direction, a little west
| Of north, and reaches q velocity of
more than seventy miles an hour. 1t
| creates pandemonium of noise, sand
| and dust and for time gets on ones
nerves, but it is in reality blessing in.
disguise, for it blows away the insects
| which from April to June make life in
Seistan a perfect purgatory, mitigates
! the awful summer heat and clears the
country of typhus, smallpox. and other
diseases rife in the country in May and
June One would think this 120 day
wind enough, but violent winds prevail
all through the winter from December
to April, and billiards. are Of constant
occurrence. These winds, always come
from the same direction. The winter
billiards. are, terrible, and the wind at
tains a terrific velocity. In. blizzard
at the end Of March the thermometers
registered maximum Of 120 miles an
hour. The average velocity for whole
sixteen, hours was more than: eighty.
eight miles an hour. .i II. & I,
The extraordinary frequency and VIC.
ularity with which it blows from the
same quarter are very remarkable.
That it has blown from the same quar-
ter in past ages is proved by the fact
that all the ruins Of Seistan are built
at the same angle, with their front and
back walls at a right angle to the
wind and their side walls at the same
angle as the wind. No wind can blow
with such violence and frequency
without leaving it's mark on the coun-
| try. Its effects are everywhere visible
in Seistan. Everything looks wind
swept and wind stricken. Over the
greater part of the country not a single
| tree exists. 5#5t
| The present villages and habitations
are all built with their backs present
ing lines of dead wallis on the wind
ward side. The old ruins are oriented
at exactly the same angle on account
Of the wind. The effect Of wind is ev-
erywhere visible on these ruins. Their
| bases are undercut by wind as though
| by water action. The thickness of the
walls, the excellent quality Of the
burned bricks. made and used by the
ancient inhabitants for the lower
| courses Of their buildings and the ex-
! treme hardness and durability Of the
! Seistan soil when made into the SUB
dried bricks of which the upper por-
tons Of the ruins are composed, have
| withstood the destructive effect Of the
wind in wonderful manner, but in
/ the older ruins we often find that the
walls facing the wind have entirely
disappeared, and only the side walls re-
main, while in still older ruins only
one or two solitary pinnacles remain to
mark what were once large, massive
and extensive buildings.
4 The wind has buried large tracts Of
the country under sand. Many Of the
old ruined towns are wholly or partly
buried in sand, and this burying process
4 goes on all the year and every year and
is covering up not only valuable lands,
but inhabited villages. In Seistan, as
elsewhere, the invading army Of sand
Is preceded by lines Of skirmishers In
i the form Of travelling ..burkhans, 2
horseshoe shaped sand hills, which
steadily advance until they meet some
obstacle which retards them until the
reserves come up to their support and
bury all before them under hills Of sand.
4 On our arrival In Seistan we found
4 Kilainau, big and fourishing village,
built on the south side Of high Ridge
1 for protection from the wind. Before
4 we left the sand had attacked that
ridge, surmounted 1t and buried the
4 village, forcing the inhabitants to build
& q new village elsewhere. An example
4 Of still greater rapidity was afforded
at the village of Kilaikohna. Up ts
June, 1904, this village had larga
deep pond on its northern side. By
4 September-that Is, less than thres
months-this deep pond was converted
a into q sand hill some ten feet high.