The territories included here will be, beginning from the east, the khanates or principalities of Kunduz, Khulm, Balkh with Akcha; and the western khanates of Sir-i-pul, Shibrghân, Andkhûi, and Maimana, sometimes classed together as the Chihâr Vilâyat, or “Four Domains;” and besides these, such part of the Hazara tribes as lie north of the Hindu Kush and its prolongation, defined in the article Afghanistan. The tract thus includes the whole southern moiety of the Oxus basin, from the frontier of Badakhshan on the east to the upper Murghâb river on the west. The Oxus itself forms the northern boundary, from the confluence of the Kokcha or river of Badakhshan, in 69½ o E. long., to Khoja Salih ferry, in 65° E. long. nearly. Here the boundary quits the river and skirts the Turkman desert to the point where the Murghâb issues upon it. Along the whole southern boundary we have a tract of lofty mountain country. Thus, in the east, above Kunduz, we have the Hindu Kush rising far into the region of perpetual snow, and with passes ranging from 12,000 to 13,000 feet and upwards. Above Khulm and Balkh is the prolongation of Hindu Kush, called Koh-i-baba, in which the elevation of the cols or passes seems to be nearly as high, though the general height of the crest is lower. The mountains then fork in three branches westward, viz., Koh-i-Siâh, “The Black Mountain,” to the south of the Herat river; Kohi-Safed, “ The White Mountain,” between the Herat river and the Murghab, and a third ridge north of the latter river. The second branch (Safed-Koh) has been assumed in the article Afghanistan as the boundary of that region. We know almost nothing of these mountains, except from the journey of Ferrier, who crossed all three watersheds in four days of July 1845. He describes the middle range as very lofty, with a good deal of snow on the pass; the southern range not so high, the northern one not nearly so high.

Rivers. —We shall first describe the rivers of this region in succession.

For the Oxus itself, see that article.

Beginning from the eastward, its first tributary within our limits is the river of Kunduz, known also as the river of Aksarai, the Surkhab, and what not. As the principal source of this river we may regard the stream of Bamian, fed close under the Koh-i-Baba by a variety of torrents which join from the pass of Akrobat and other gorges of the Hazara country, adjoining that famous site (8496 feet above sea level). The names of some of these seem to preserve a tradition of the ancient population; such are the “Cutlers’ Vale,” “the Smiths’ Vale,” the “Valley of Eye-paint.” At the eastern end of the valley the Bamian stream receives another of nearly equal bulk, descending from the pass of Hajjigak, the most important crossing of the mountains between Kabul and the Oxus, and from which the road descends upon Bamian, and thence by Saighân, Khurram, and Haibak, to Khulm, in the Oxus valley. On the volcanic rock which parts the streams stand extensive ruins, the name of which, Zohâk, connects them with the most ancient legends of Persian history.

From this the river turns nearly north, passing the country of the Sheikh 'Alis, one of the most famous Hazara clans, and closely skirting the great range of Hindu Kush. About 40 miles N.N.E. of Zohak it receives from the left two confluents, of size probably almost equal to its own—the rivers of Saighan and of Kâmard, both rising to the westward of Bamian, and crossing the highway from Bamian to Khulm. Hereabouts the river seems to take the name of Surkhab. The first considerable confluent on the right is the Andarâb river, draining the valley of that name, and joining at Doshi, about 85 miles in a direct line N.E. of Zohak. About Ghori, still a place of some note, the valley widens out greatly, and becomes in places swampy, with expanses of tall grass, a character which it thenceforth retains. The river is, or has been, bridged at Thomri, a few miles beyond Ghori, a work ascribed to Aurangzîb. It then receives from the right the Baghlan river, coming from N ârî n and the hills of Khost. The only remaining confluent is the important one which joins immediately below the town of Kunduz, sometimes called the Khânâbâd river, sometimes by the names of its chief contributaries, the Farokhar and Bangi.

The Farokhar, or river of Talik â n, is the most easterly, coming out of Badakhshan, the boundary of which runs along the watershed on its left bank. The Bangi flows through Khost from the highlands of Badakhshan, east of Andarab. A third tributary, the Shorâb, salt, as its name implies, drains the high range called Esk-mushk, above Narim

The Surkhab or Kunduz river enters the Oxus at a point approximately (no traveller has visited the confluence) 32 miles N.W. of Kunduz, its whole length, exclusive of minor windings, being about 220 miles.

From Ghori downwards, the hills which bound the valley on either side appear to be of no great elevation, and to be tolerably clothed with grass, and occasionally with fir trees; the aspect of the country gradually approximating to that of Badakhshan, in contrast to the more sterile offshoots of Koh-i-Baba to the westward.

Kunduz itself lies very low, scarcely 500 feet above sea level, and the roads approaching the town have to pass over piles amid the swampy vegetation. The adjacent plain is in the main richly cultivated and thickly peopled, but it is interspersed with extensive tracts of jungly grass, and is extremely and proverbially unhealthy. The plains, which extend, though not unbroken, from Kunduz to the Oxus, are free from the bare and repulsive character of those further west, and are described as covered in part with rich cultivation, thick with groves and hamlets, and in part with splendid pasture.

Proceeding westward, the next tributary to the Oxus basin is the Khulm river. The traveller from Bamian northward first touches the Khulm river, on descending from the Kara-Kotal, at a spot called Doâb Shâhpasand, probably 5000 feet above the sea, where its two main sources join, and the main road to Turkestan keeps on or near the river till its exit on the Oxus plain. The character of the mass of mountains which extends from the Koh-i-Baba to Khulm is utter rocky aridity, but broken sometimes in the sudden trench-like valleys by an exuberant vigour of vegetation. Along a chain of these trench-like gorges, walled by stupendous cliffs seeming sometimes almost to close overhead, the traveller descends towards Khulm. At Haibak the valley opens out, but closes in again before Khulm is reached. Here he emerges from a narrow gorge upon the plain of the Oxus, some 20 miles from the great river, and leaves the mountains suddenly, as one leaves the gate of a fortress, still rising behind in a bold rampart to the height of 2500 feet. The river is believed to be spent in irrigation before reaching the Oxus.

As far north at least as Khurram, half-way from Bamian to Khulm, the offshoots of Koh-i-Baba, west of the Khulm defile, must reach a height of 11,000 or 12,000 feet; for here Ferrier found bitter cold and snow on the top on the 7th of July (latitude nearly 36°).

The next river westward is the Balkh river, sometimes called Deh â s. It rises not far from some of the tributaries of the Surkhab, nor from the sources of the Herat river, at a remarkable spot which, under the name of the Band-i-Barbar, or Barbar dam, is the subject of various legends, though we have no distinct account of it. The valley of Yekâlang, on the upper waters of this river, at a height of 7000 feet above the sea, was visited by A. Cono11y, and is described by him as fertile, well-watered, and populous, about 15 miles in length by ¼ to ½ mile in width. Ferrier is the only traveller who has crossed the mature stream, and he merely mentions that he forded it, and that it was rather rapid. We thus know almost nothing of the river. In length it cannot come far short of the Surkhab. Beyond the lofty mountains recently spoken of, some of the hills towards the Balkh-ab have a thin clothing of wood, and the valleys opening on the river are wide and not unfertile. The main valley expands into level tracts of pasture, covered by long grass, and intersected by artificial water-courses; but (as with the Khulm river) the gorge from which the stream issues on the Oxus plain is narrow, and walled in by very high hills on either side. The ruins and gardens of ancient Balkh stand about 6 miles from the hills, but no part of the river appears to reach the site in its natural bed, nor does any part of its waters reach the Oxus in a Tunning stream.

The plains that slope from the gardens of Balkh to the Oxus are naturally white hard steppes, destitute of spontaneous verdure save sparse brush of tamarisk and other meagre growths; but the soil responds richly to irrigation whenever this is bestowed.

The next stream that we meet with, and the last that can be considered even as an indirect tributary of the Oxus, is that which fertilises the small khanates of Shibrghan and Andkhui, on the verge of the Turkman desert; whilst the two confluents that contribute to form it have previously watered the territories of Siripul and Maimana. The river, or whatever survives of its water after irrigating Andkhui, is lost in the desert. The taste of the water is abominable, and, though the inhabitants are accustomed to it, strangers suffer from its use.

The last river that we have to notice is the Murghab, which rises between the two northern branches of the Koh-i-Baba or Paropamisus. Ferrier is the only traveller who has been on the upper waters of the Murghab. He takes no notice of the river itself, but describes a remarkable plain or basin, about 120 miles in circuit, entirely surrounded by mountains, well-watered, and rich in vegetation. The people are Mongol Hazaras, and, according to Ferrier, idolaters. Their country is a part of the old territory of Garjistân. At Shah Mashad, about half-way between this and the plains, the river was crossed by Major Eldred Pottinger, but we have no access to his report. Further down, as the river approaches the foot of Murghab Bâlâ, on the road from Maimana to Herat, it runs with great violence, and the valley narrows to a defile. At Panjdeh, 35 to 40 miles below Murghab, it begins to flow through a valley of clay soil, bounded by sandy heights, and gradually opening into the plain of Merv. Hereabouts, too, it quits the Afghan territory, but the boundary does not seem as yet to have been precisely fixed. About 100 miles from Panjdeh the river reaches Merv, where formerly there was a great dam, securing the fertility of that oasis, the nucleus of ancient Margiana. This was destroyed by the Amir Maasum (otherwise Shah Murad) of Bokhara, about 1785, when he carried off the whole population into slavery. Beyond Merv the river is lost in the desert.

Provinces and Places of Note. —We do not know the precise divisions maintained under the Afghans, but they coincide generally with the old principalities or khanates, the hereditary rulers of which, in several cases, continue in authority under the Afghan governor of Turkestan. Bamian, Saighan, and the higher valleys belong, it is understood, to a special command over the Hazara tribes.

I. Kunduz.— Beginning again from the east, the first province is Kunduz, having on the east Badakhshan, on the west Khulm, on the north the Oxus, and on the south Hindu Kush. The districts of Kunduz are approximately as follows:—(1.) Kunduz, with the chief town of the province, a wretched place, as described by Wood, of some 500 or 600 mud huts, intermingled with straw sheds, Uzbek tents, gardens, and corn-fields, and overlooked by a mud fort on an extensive mound. (2. ) Hazrat Imâm, on the irrigated and fertile Oxus plain. The town, known in the Middle Ages as Arhang, is described as about the same size as Kunduz, with a better fort, protected by a wet ditch. (3.) Baghlan, and (4.) Ghori, in the swampy valley of the Surkhab. (5.) Doshi, further up the same valley, at the confluence of the Andarab stream. (6.) Killagai and Khingan, near the lower part of the Andarab stream. (7.) Andarab, at the foot of the Tul and Khâwak passes over Hindu Kush, often supposed to be the Adrapsa of Alexander’s historians. This secluded town was a favourite minting place of the Samanid sovereigns of Persia and Turkestan, in the 10th century, probably owing to the vicinity of silver mines at Paryân. (8.) Khost lies between Andarab and Kunduz. The name often occurs in the history of Baber and his successors. (9.) Narin and Ish-kimish lie to the east of Baghlan, at the sources of the Baghlan stream and of the Shorab branch of the Kunduz river. The second name appears to be the same as Eshk-mushk, which Wood applies to a high mountain in this quarter. (10.) Farhang and Châl lie on the borders cf Badakhshan, and are utterly unknown. (11.) Tâlik â n also lies on the borders of Badakhshan, but is pretty well known, being on the main road between Kunduz and Faizabad, the capital of Badakhshan. It is now a poor place, but is ancient, and was once famous. A fortress here stood a long siege from Chinghiz Khan, and the place is mentioned by Marco Polo as Taican. During the rule of Murad Beg of Kunduz this was the seat of a government that included Badakhshan. (12.) Khanabad, on the river of that name, pleasantly elevated above the swampy level of Kunduz, is, or was, the usual summer residence of the chiefs of that territory.

II. Khulm was the next of the khanates, lying between Kunduz and Balkh. The districts, as far as we know them, are the following:—(1.) Tâshkurghân. The old town of Khulm stood in the Oxus plain, surrounded by watered orchards of famous productiveness; but it lay so exposed to the raids of the Kunduz Uzbeks that the chief, Killich Ali, in the beginning of this century, transferred his residence to Tashkurghan, 4 miles further south, and just at the mouth of the defile—a cheerless group of villages, consisting of mud houses with domed roofs, connected by gardens and enclosed by a mud wall; it is supposed to contain at least 15,000 souls, and is a place of considerable trade. (2.) Haibak. The town presents rather an imposing aspect, clustering round a castle of some strength on an isolated eminence; the domed houses, however, are compared to large brown bee-hives. The Khulm river valley here opens out, and is very fertile; the banks are shaded by luxuriant fruit trees. The site is a very ancient one, and, under the name of Samangân, was famous in Persian legend. One traveller describes there a remarkable relic of antiquity called the Takht or Throne of Rustam. This, from the account, would seem to have been a Buddhist dagoba. (3.) Khurram Sarbâgh, so called from two villages in the upper defiles of the Khulm river.

III. Balkh. Balkh proper is the populous and well-watered territory upon the eighteen canals which draw off the waters of the Balkh-ab, and on which there are said to be 360 villages.

No trace has been recovered of the ancient splendours of Bactra, nor do the best judges appear to accept Ferrier’s belief that he saw cuneiform inscriptions upon bricks dug up there. A late Indian report by an intelligent Mahom-medan speaks of a stone throne in the citadel, to which traditional antiquity is ascribed, but of this we know no more. The remains that exist are scattered over some 20 miles of circuit, but they consist mainly of mosques and tombs of sun-dried brick, and show nothing even of early Mahommedan date. The inner city, surrounded by a ruined wall of 4 or 5 miles in compass, is now entirely deserted; a scanty population still occupies a part of the outer city. In 1858 Mahommed Afzal Khan, ruling the districts of Turkestan on behalf of his father, Dost Mahommed, transferred the seat of the Afghan government and the bulk of the population to Takhtapul, a position which he fortified, some 8 miles east of the old city; and this remains the capital of the Afghan territories on the Oxus.

The only other place of note in the district is Mazâr-i-Sharîf, or the “Noble Shrine,” on the road to Khulm, where a whimsical fiction has located the body of ’Ali, the son-in-law of Mahommed. It is the object of pilgrimages, and the scene of a great annual fair. Vámbéry speaks of the roses, matchless for colour and fragrance, that grow on the pretended tomb.

Of the districts lying on the Balkh river within the hills we know nothing.

Akcha, some 40 to 45 miles westward from Balkh, was an Uzbek khanate before the last Afghan conquest. It is small, but well-watered and populous. The town is fortified, and has a citadel. Accounts differ as to the population; one writer calls them Uzbeks, another Sarak Turkmans.

IV. The provinces known as the Four Domains are :— (1.) Shibrghan, some 20 miles west of Akcha. This was another small Uzbek khanate. The town, which contains about 12,000 Uzbeks and Parsiwans, has a citadel, but is not otherwise fortified. It is surrounded by good gardens, and excellent cultivation, but its water supply is dependent upon Siripul, and, in the frequent case of hostility between the two, is liable to be cut off. Ferrier speaks highly of the climate and the repute of the inhabitants for valour. Shibrghan (Sapurgan) and its fine melons are mentioned by Marco Polo. (2.) Andkhui, about 20 miles north-west of Shibrghan, forms an oasis in the desert, watered by the united streams from Siripul and from Maimana. It was once a flourishing city, and the oasis was reckoned to contain 50,000 inhabitants, but the place has scarcely recovered from the destruction it endured at the hands of Yar Mahommed of Herat in 1840. It was at Andkhui that Moorcroft died in 1825; but his grave is at Balkh. Tre-beck, the last survivor of his party, died and was buried at Mazar. (3.) Maimana, 105 miles from Balkh, and some 50 south-west of Andkhui, contains some ten or twelve villages or townships, besides the capital, and a population estimated at 100,000 souls. It is a district of considerable productiveness, industry, and trade, and the Uzbek inhabitants have a high reputation as soldiers. The chief was formerly a notorious slave-dealer. (4.) Siripul. This khanate lying within the limits of the undulating country south-west of Balkh and east of Maimana, is of about the same calibre as the latter, but somewhat lower in estimated population. Two-thirds of the people are Uzbeks, the rest Hazaras. From the last a tribute of slaves is, or used to be, exacted; and Hazara widows, it is said, were claimed as government property, and sold by auction. The town of Siripul is an irregular mass of houses clustered on the slope of a hill crowned by a fort. Many tents gather round it also, and Ferrier estimates the population of town and tents as high as 18,000. The valley below is abundantly watered, and the breadth of orchards and tillage is considerable.

Population. —In the estimate of population cited under Afghanistan, that of Afghan Turkestan is reckoned at 642,000. This includes 55,000 for Badakhshan (no doubt too low an estimate); and the remainder, for the provinces included under our present article, excluding Hazaras, will be 587,000. Anything but a round number is entirely inappropriate to such an estimate; but we shall probably not be far wrong if we reckon the population at 600,000.

The Tajiks, or people of Iranian blood, are probably tho representatives of the oldest surviving race of this region. They are found in some districts of Balkh and valleys of Kunduz. Khost, for instance, is said to be chiefly occupied by them. Uzbeks seem to be the most numerous race; and there are some other Turk tribes not classed as Uzbeks.z There seem to be a good many families claiming...

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...