On the north: beginning from east, the great range of Hindu Kush, a western offshoot of the Himâlya, parting the Oxus basin from the Afghan basins of the Kabul river and Helmand. From long. 68° this boundary continues westward in the prolongation of Hindu Kush called Koh-i-Bâbâ. This breaks into several almost parallel branches, enclosing the valleys of the river of Herat and the Murghâb or river of Merv. The half-independent Hazara tribes stretch across these branches and down into the Oxus basin, so that it is difficult here to assign a boundary. We assume it to continue along the range called Safed Koh or “White Mountain,” which parts the Herat river valley from the Murghab.

On the east: the eastern base of the spurs of the Suli-mâni and other mountains which limit the plains on the west bank of Indus, and the lower valleys opening into these, which plains (the “Derajât ”) and lower valleys belong to British India. North of Peshâwar district the boundary will be, for a space, the Indus, and then the limit, lying in unknown country, between the Afghan and Dard tribes.

On the south: the eastern part of the boundary, occupied by practically independent tribes, Afghan and Bilûch, is hard to define, having no marked natural indication. But from the Shâl territory (long. 67°), belonging to the Bilûch state of Kelat, westward, the southern limits of the valleys of the Lora river, and then of the Helmand, as far as the Lake of Seistan in lat. 30°, will complete the southern boundary. Thus the whole breadth of Bilûchistân, the ancient Gedrosia, a dry region occupying 5° of latitude, intervenes between Afghanistan and the sea.

The western boundary runs from the intersection of the Lake of Seistan with lat. 30°, bending eastward, so as to exclude a part of the plain of Seistan on the eastern bank of the lake, and then crosses the lake to near the meridian of 61°. Thence it runs nearly due north, near this meridian, to a point on the Hari-Rûd, or river of Herat, about 70 miles below that city, where it encounters the spurs of the Safed Koh, which has been given as the northern boundary.

But if we take the limits of the entire Afghan dominions, as they at present exist, the western boundary will continue north along the Hari-Rûd to lat. 36°, and the northern boundary will run from this point along the borders of the Turkman desert, so as to include Andkhoi, to Khoja Saleh ferry on the Oxus. The Oxus, to its source in Great Pamir, forms the rest of the northern boundary. These enlarged limits would embrace the remainder of the Hazara mountain tracts, and the whole of what is now called Afghan Turkestan, as well as Badakhshan with its dependencies, now tributary to the Afghan Amir.

The extreme dimensions of Afghanistan, as at first defined, will be about 600 miles from east to west, and 450 miles from north to south; and, if we take the whole Afghan dominion, the extent from north to south will be increased to 600 miles. Within both the areas so defined, however, we have included some territory over which the Afghan government has no control whatever, and much over which its authority is respected only when backed by a special exertion of force. Under the former head come the valleys of the Yusufzai clan north of Peshâwar, the Momands, Afridis, Vazîrîs, &c., adjoining that district on the west and south-west, the high-lying valleys of Chitrâl or Kâshkâr, and of the independent Pagans or Kafirs, among the loftier spurs of Hindu Kush. Under the latter head come the eastern districts of Khost and (partially) of Kurram, the Kâkar country in the extreme south-east, much of the country of the tribes called Eimâk and Hazara in the north-west, and probably Badakhshan with its dependencies.

If we suppose the sea to rise 4000 feet above its existing level, no part of the quadrilateral plateau that we have defined would be covered, except portions of the lower valley of the Kabul river, small tracts towards the Indus, and a triangle, of which the apex should be at the Lake of Seistan in the extreme south-west, and the base should just include Herat and Kandahar, passing beyond those cities to intersect the western and southern boundaries respectively. Isolated points and ridges within this triangle would emerge.

Further, let us suppose the sea to rise 7000 feet above its existing level. We should still have a tract emerging so large that a straight line of 200 miles could be drawn, from the Kûshân Pass of Hindu Kush, passing about 35 miles west of Kabul, to Rangak on the road between Ghazni and Kandahar, which nowhere should touch the submerged portion. And we believe it is certain that a line under like conditions, but 250 miles in length, could be drawn at right angles to the former, passing about 25 miles south of Ghazni. The greater part of this latter line, however, would lie in the Hazara country, in which we have no observations.

In the triangular tract that would be submerged according to our first supposition, the lowest level is the Lake of Seistan, 1280 feet above the sea. Herat is 2650; Kandahar, 3490.

The Afghans themselves make a broad distinction between Kabul, meaning thereby the whole basin of the Kabul river, and the rest of their country, excluding the former from the large and vague term Khorasan, under which they consider the rest to be comprehended. There is reason for such a distinction in history as well as nature. For the Kabul basin was in old times much more intimately connected with India, and to the beginning of the 11th century was regarded as Indian territory.

Natural Divisions. —Of these, this Kabul basin (1) forms the first. As others we may discriminate—(2.) The lofty central part of the table-land on which stand Ghazni and Kala’t-i-Ghilzai, embracing the upper valleys of ancient Arachosia; (3.) The upper Helmand basin; (4.) The lower Helmand basin, embracing Girishk, Kandahar, and the Afghan portion of Seistan; (5.) The basin of the Herat river; and (6.) The eastern part of the table-land, draining by streams, chiefly occasional torrents, towards the Indus.

Kabul Basin.— Its northern limit is the range of Hindu Kush, a name which properly applies to the lofty, snowclad crest due north of Kabul, and perhaps especially to one pass and peak. But it has been conveniently extended to the whole line of alpine watershed, stretching westward from the southern end of Pamir, and represents the Caucasus of Alexander’s historians. Its peaks throughout probably rise to the region of perpetual snow, and even on most of the passes beds of snow occur at all seasons, and, on some, glaciers. We find no precise height stated for any of its peaks, but the highest probably attain to at least 20,000 or 21,000 feet. The height of the Kushan Pass is estimated by Lord at 15,000 feet.

The Kabul river (the ancient Kophes) is the most important river of Afghanistan. It may be considered as fully formed about 30 miles east of Kabul, by the junction thereabouts (the confluence does not seem to have been fixed by any traveller) of the following streams :—(a. ) The Kabul stream, rising in the Unai pass towards the Helmand, which, after passing through the city, has been joined by the Logar river flowing north from the skirts of the Ghilzai plateau; (b. ) A river bringing down from the valleys Ghorband, Parwân, and Panj shir, a large part of the drainage of Hindu Kush, and watering the fruitful plain of Dâman-i-Koh (the “Hill-skirt”), intersected by innumerable brooks, and studded with vineyards, gardens, and fortalices. This river was formerly called Bârân, a name apparently obsolete, but desirable to maintain; (c.) The river of Tagao, coming down from the spurs of Hindu Kush on the Kafir borders.

Some 30 miles further east, the Alishang enters on the left bank, from Laghmân, above which this river and its confluents drain western Kafiristan. Twenty miles further, and not far beyond Jalâlâbâd, the Kabul river receives from the same side a confluent entitled, as regards length, to count as main stream. In some older maps this bears the name of Kama, from a place near the confluence, and in more recent ones Kuner, from a district on its lower course. Higher it is called the river of Kashkar, and the Beilam. It seems to be the Choaspes, and perhaps the Malamantus of the ancients. It rises in a small lake near the borders of Pamir, and flows in a south-west direction through the length of Kashkar or Chitral, an independent valley-state, whose soil lies at a height of 6000 to 11,000 feet. The whole length of the river to its confluence with the Kabul river cannot be less than 250 miles, i.e ., about 80 miles longer than that regarded as the main stream, measured to its most remote source.

The basin of the Kabul river is enclosed at the head by the Paghman range, an offshoot of Hindu Kush, which divides the Kabul valleys from the Helmand. Up the head-waters of the stream that passes Kabul, leads the chief road to Turkestan, crossing for a brief space into the Helmand basin by the easy pass of Unai (11,320 feet), and then over the Koh-i-Baba, or western extension of Hindu Kush, by the Hajjigak passes (12,190 and 12,480 feet), to Bâmiân.

The most conspicuous southern limit of the Kabul basin is the Safed Koh, Spin-gar of the Afghans (“White Mountain,” not to be confounded with the western Safed Koh already named), an alpine chain, reaching, in its highest summit, Sîta Ram, to a height of 15,622 feet, and the eastern ramifications of which extend to the Indus at and below Attok. Among the spurs of this range are those formidable passes between Kabul and Jalalabad, in which the disasters of 1841-42 culminated, as well as the famous Khybar passes between Jalalabad and Peshawar. This southern watershed formed by the Safed Koh is so much nearer the Kabul river than that on the north, that the tributaries from this side, though numerous, are individually insignificant.

After flowing 60 miles (in direct measurement) eastward from the Kuner confluence, the Kabul river issues from the mountains which have hemmed it in, and enters the plain of Peshawar, receiving, soon after, the combined rivers of Swât (Soastus) and Panjkora (Guraeus), two of the great valleys of the Yusufzai. This combined river is called by the Afghans Landai Sin or Little river, in distinction from the Abba Sin or Indus, and the name seems often to adhere to the lower course of the Kabul river. Both rivers on entering the plain ramify, in delta fashion, into many natural channels, increased in number by artificial cuts for irrigation. Finally the river enters the Indus immediately above the gorge at Attok.

The lowest ford on the Kabul river is a bad one, near Jalalabad, only passable in the dry season. Below the Kuner confluence the river is deep and copious, crossed by ferries only, except at Naoshera, below Peshawar, where there is usually a bridge of boats. The rapid current is unfavourable to navigation, but from Jalalabad downwards the river can float boats of 50 tons, and is often descended by rafts on blown skins. The whole course of the river, measured by a five-mile opening of the compasses, is as follows :—From source of Kabul stream in Unai pass to Attok, 250 miles; from source either of Logar or of Panj-shir to the same, 290 miles; from source of Kashkar river to the same, 370 miles.

A marked natural division of the Kabul basin occurs near Gandâmak, above Jalalabad, where a sudden descent takes effect from a minimum elevation of 5000 feet to one of only 2000. The Emperor Baber says of this :—“The moment you descend, you see quite another world. The timber is different; its grains are of another sort; its animals are of a different species; and the manners and customs of its inhabitants are of a different kind.” Burnes, on his first journey, left the wheat harvest in progress at Jalalabad, and found the crop at Gandamak, only 25 miles distant, but 3 inches above ground. Here, in truth, nature has planted the gates of India. The valleys of the upper basin, though still in the height of summer affected by a sun of fierce power, recall the climate and products of the finest part of temperate Europe; the region below is a chain of narrow, low, and hot plains, with climate and vegetation of an Indian character.

Accounts of Kabul strike us by apparent contradiction. Some give scarcely any impression but that of extreme ruggedness and desolation, awful defiles, and bare black crags; others dwell on the abounding orchards, green sward, charming dells, and purling streams. But both aspects are characteristic. The higher spurs, both of Hindu Kush and Safed Koh, are often clad with grand forests of pine, oak, and other alpine trees, and resemble the wooded ranges of Himalya. But the lower hills generally are utterly woodless, and almost entirely naked. In the bottoms, often watered by clear and copious streams, we have those beauties of verdure and fertility on which some writers dwell, and which derive new charms from contrast with the excessive sterility of the hills that frame them.

We cannot speak at equal length of the other natural divisions of Afghanistan, but some chief points will be noticed with the rivers. In general the remainder of the country, regarded by the Afghans as included in Khorasan, exhibits neither the savage sublimity of the defiles of the Kabul region, the alpine forests of its higher ranges, nor its nests of rich vegetation in the valleys, save in the north-east part adjoining Safed Koh, where these characters still adhere, and in some exceptional localities, such as the valley of Herat, which is matchless in richness of cultivation. Generally the characteristics of this country are elevated plateaux of sandy or gravelly surface, broken by ranges of rocky hills, and often expanding in wide spaces of arid waste, which terminate to the south-west in a regular desert of shifting sand. Even in cultivated parts there is a singular absence of trees, and when the crops are not visible this imparts an aspect of great desolation and emptiness to the landscape. Natural wood, however, is found in some parts of West Afghanistan, as in the almost tropical delta of the Helmand, in the Ghûr territory, and on the Herat river below Herat. Generally, indeed, in such cases the trees appear to be mimosas, tamarisks, and the like, with little body of foliage.

Rivers. —Next to the Kabul river in importance, and probably much exceeding it in volume as it certainly does in length, is the Helmand (Etymander), the only considerable river in its latitude from the Tigris to the Indus. The Helmand has its highest sources in the Koh-i-Baba and Paghman hills, between Kabul and Bamian. Its succeeding course is through the least known tract of Afghanistan, chiefly occupied by Hazaras; indeed, for a length of nearly 300 miles no European has seen the river. This unvisited space terminates at Girishk, where the river is crossed by the principal route from Herat to Kandahar. Till about 40 miles above Girishk the character of the Helmand is said to be that of a mountain river, flowing between scarped rocks, and obstructed by enormous boulders. At that point it enters on a flat country, and extends over a gravelly bed. Here, also, it begins to be used in irrigation. Forty-five miles below Girishk the Helmand receives its greatest tributary, the Arghand-âb, coming past Kandahar from the high Ghilzai country. It here becomes a very considerable river, said to have a width of 300 or 400 yards, and a depth of 9 to 12 feet. But this cannot be at all seasons, as there are fords at long intervals as far down as Pûlalik, 100 miles from the mouth. The desert draws near the left bank in the lower course, and for the last 150 miles the moving sands approach within 1¼ mile. The vegetation on the banks is here of luxuriant tropical character. The whole of the lower valley seems to have been once the seat of a prosperous population, and there is still a good deal of cultivation for 100 miles below Girishk. Even this, however, is much fallen off, and lower down still more so, owing to disorders and excessive insecurity.

The course of the river is more or less south-west from its source till in Seistan it approaches meridian 62°, when it turns nearly north, and so flows on for 70 or 80 miles, till it falls into the lake of Seistan by various mouths. The whole length of the river, measured as before, is about 615 miles. Ferrier considers that it has water enough for navigation at all seasons, from Girishk downwards. At present boats are rarely seen, and those in use are most clumsy; rafts are employed for crossing.

Arghαnd- â b.— Of this tributary of the Helmand little is known except in its lower course. It rises in the Hazara county, N. W. of Ghazni. It is said to be shallow, and to run nearly dry in height of summer; but when its depth exceeds 3 feet its great rapidity makes it a serious obstacle to travellers. In its lower course it is much used for irrigation, and the valley is cultivated and populous; yet the water is said to be somewhat brackish. Its course may be reckoned about 235 miles.

It is doubtful whether the ancient Arachotus is to be identified with the Arghand-ab or with its chief confluent the Tarnak, which joins it on the left about 30 miles S. W. of Kandahar. The two rivers run nearly parallel, inclosing the backbone of the Ghilzai plateau. The Tarnak is much the shorter (length about 197 miles) and less copious. The ruins at Ulân Robât, supposed to represent the city Arachosia, are in its basin; and the lake known as Ab-i- Istâda, the most probable representative of Lake Arachotus, is near the head of the Tarnak, though not communicating with it. The Tarnak is dammed for irrigation at intervals, and in the hot season almost exhausted. There is a good deal of cultivation along the river, but few villages. The high road from Kabul to Kandahar passes this way (another reason for supposing the Tarnak to be Arachotus), and the people live off the road to eschew the onerous duties of hospitality.

The Lora is the most southerly river of Afghanistan, and may be regarded as belonging to the Helmand basin, though it is not known that its waters ever reach that river. It rises near the Kand and Joba peaks in a branch of the Sulimani, and flows nearly east, passing through the large valley of Pishîn, but lying too deep for irrigation. The river has a course of nearly 200 miles, and considerable breadth, but is never for a week together unfordable. In the Shorâwak district (long. 65°-66°) a good deal of irrigation is drawn from it. The river is said to terminate in a lake, on the verge of the sandy desert.

Rivers belonging to the basin of Seistan and the Lower Helmand...