The acrid waters support no animal organization; birds shun them; the plain grows nothing but a few stunted and sapless shrubs.

The only signs of life which greet the traveller are the carts of the natives, which pass him laden with the salt that is obtained with ease from the saturated water.
The Zerreh or Sea of Seistan--called sometimes the Hamun, or "expanse"-- is situated in the Seistan Desert on the Great Iranic plateau, and consequently at an elevation of (probably) 3000 feet.

It is formed by the accumulation of the waters brought down by the Helmend, the Haroot-rud, the river of Khash, the Furrah-rud and other streams, which flow from the mountains of Afghanistan, with converging courses to the south-west.

It is an extensive basin, composed of two arms, an eastern and a western.

The western arm, which is the larger of the two, has its greatest length from N.N.E.to S.S.W., and extends in this direction about ninety miles.