Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries Part 49

_5th_.--To Maidan, distance eight miles? direction at first as before, but after crossing the river due north, we continued down the valley, pa.s.sing some villages and cultivation consisting of beans, etc.; water being abundant about three miles from camp, forming a small brook, which falls into the Cabul river at the end of the valley. Before reaching this we crossed a low spur, and then descended into Maidan valley: which presented a beautiful view; much cultivation, and trees abundant along the Cabul river.

Crossing this which is a rapid current one foot deep, twenty yards wide, running south, or in the contrary direction to that which is given in Ta.s.sin's Map, we ascended an eminence on which a ruinous stone fort is built, we crossed this eminence between the fort and main ridge and descended into a valley again, keeping above the cultivation at the foot of the east boundary range, for about a mile, when we halted. The ruins of a stone bridge exist over the river, one arch remaining on the left bank.

The valley is the prettiest we have seen, the hills to the west and north being lofty and picturesque; one to the latter direction presenting an appearance exactly like that of snow on its ridge, quite white, but not changing even at noon, nor occupying such places, as it would do if it were snow. The mountains, except those to the west, are not boldly peaked, the valley is prettily diversified with wood, all of the usual sombre cypress-like appearance, from the trees, especially poplars, being clipped. Cultivation and water both plentiful: villages and small forts numerous, with very barren mountains. This was the place where Dost Mahommud was to have fought; he could not have selected a better, the ridge entering the valley, and the pa.s.sage of the river, as well as that of the fort would have afforded good positions: a road however runs round the base of the eminence on the river side. By swamping the valley, or cutting a ca.n.a.l, and entrenching himself he might have caused great difficulties. Apples are abundant here, rosy and sweet.

Cultivation of the valley consists of wheat, barley, Cicer, not _chunna_, maize, rice, carrots, beans, peas.

The river side is well furnished with willows and poplars, Salix viminea also occurs; the villages are generally square, with a bastion at each corner, and loopholes. Cyprinus microsquamatus, {383} common.

_6th_.--Arghundee, distance eight miles, direction for the first fourth of the way NE., then considerably to the eastward, when we soon left the valley and commenced with an ascent over a low ridge by a vile stony road over undulating ground. On reaching the ridge a similar descent took place, where the road becomes less stony, but much intersected by ravines. We encamped about three miles from the ridge, in a rather barren narrow valley. Nothing of interest occurred on the road, except Dost Mahommud's guns, which are the best I have seen in the country. The hills to our north crowded closely together, the inner ranges are very high, with the appearance of snow.

Hindoo-koosh is dimly seen in the distance to the eastward. In some streams water birds, particularly the small kingfisher of India are seen.

The Hoopoe is common, Merops, Pastor, and ravens. New plants a Boragineae floribus infundibuliformis, tubiformibus, loeta caeruleis, venosa roseis, melons. Snow on the Hindoo-koosh: rain in the afternoon, and at night a heavy thunderstorm to the north.

_7th_.--Kilah-i-Kajee, lies one mile to the eastward: distance of to-day's march, nine miles? one continued but gradual descent over a bad, frequently very stony road, not much water. Direction at first ENE., then on descending into the first valley, due east or even to the south of east, we encamped in the centre of a well-cultivated valley; near dense gardens, having good apples; apricots indifferent. Hindoo-koosh is here more distinctly visible with several ranges interposed; the outline is rugged, highest point presenting a fine conical irregular peak towards the south-east.

_8th_.--Halted: encamped close to gardens and rich cultivation. The fields are separated by rows of poplars, willows, and Elaeagnus; scenery pretty from abundance of trees with rice fields interspersed among woods; the umbrageous banks of the rocky river of Cabul, are quite of unusual beauty for Afghanistan: extensive fields of cultivation lie in this direction, as well as across the valley in the direction of Cabul, consisting of rice in great quant.i.ties, mixed with much of a Panic.u.m stagninum, lucerne, carrots, peas, quant.i.ties of safflower, which appears to me to be of a different species, wheat and barley both cut, the rice is just in flower.

In orchards, hazel-nuts, apples, pears, etc. some of the fruit excellent, particularly pears, but generally they are coa.r.s.e; apples beautiful to look at, but poor to the taste, excellent but too luscious plums, good grapes, excellent and fine sized peaches, melons as good as those of Candahar, water melons, cherries of very dark colour.

Some change is to be observed in the vegetation, see Catalogue, two or three l.a.b.i.ata, an Ononis, an Aconite, Tussilago? etc. among the most striking, Ammannia and Bergioides, remarkable as tropical forms, but it is now hot enough for any plant: rice fields crowded with Cyperaceae and Alisma.

Crataegus oxycantha, or one very like it. The poplar here grows like the Lombardy one, either from cropping or crowding; its leaves (when young) are much smaller! and at this stage it might easily be taken for another species.

Heliotropium ca.n.u.s common. The large poplar when young, or even when matured, has its younger branches with terminal leaves like the sycamore.

The pomaceae-foliis palmatis subtus niveis of Quettah and Candahar are nothing but this poplar in its young state!! Nothing can exceed the difference between the two, both in shape and tomentum.

_12th_.--Halted since 10th at Baber's tomb, situated at some fine gardens, or rather groves very near the summer-house of Shah Zumaun, and to the right of the entrance into the town. It is a delightful residence, and for Afghanistan, a paradise. There are some tanks of small size, around one of which our tents are pitched under the shade of sycamores and fine poplars; the tank is fed by a fall from a cut above its level, and which skirts the range of hills at an elevation of fifty feet in some places from its base. The tomb of Baber is poor, as also is the so-called splendid mosque of Shah Jehan, a small ordinary open edifice of coa.r.s.e white marble. In the gardens, one finds beautiful sycamores, and several fine poplars both round the tank and in avenues.

Below them a Bauhinioid fruit was found, together with abundance of hawthorn, roses, and jasmines.

The view from this spot is beautiful, as fine as most woodland scenery.

The view from Shah Zumaun's summer-house is also extensive, and not to be exceeded as a cultivated woodland scene; it is variegated with green swardy commons, presenting all sorts of cultivation; with water, villages, abundance of trees, willows, poplars, hedgerows, and by the grand but barren mountains surrounding it, the Pughman hills, which must be at least 13,000 feet above the sea.

The entrance to Cabul on this side, is through a gorge flanked by hills; these to the left are low, those to the right reaching 1,000 feet, through which the Maidan river, here called the Cabul river, runs; it may be 100 yards wide. The river is subdivided, and crossed by a ruined stone bridge of many arches, one parapet of which (the outer) is continuous with the wall before mentioned. The gorge is occupied by cultivation of several kinds, having the city wall at its termination, running irregularly across the valley. A village is situated between the entrance of the gorge and the wall. There are no defences to the city worth mentioning: one enters immediately into narrow dirty streets, with here and there a fever-breeding stagnant sewer; while the streets are narrow, the bazars are good, of good breadth, well covered in by flat ornamented roofs: the shops are clean, and well laid out. Shoemakers and leather-workers, and fruiterers, are the most common: there are armourers, blacksmiths, drapers and bakers. Hindoos and Mussulmen intermixed, form the population. There is great bustle and activity, everywhere profusion of fine fruit, especially melons, grapes, and apples are presented.

_13th_.--I ascended this morning the ridge above us, up which the wall runs; the ascent is, after surmounting the summer-house of Shah Zumaun, considerably steep, and very rugged. The highest position of the wall is 1,150 feet above the city. It is eight feet high, and six or seven thick, composed of slabs of the micaceous slaty stone of the place, cemented by mud, with a parapet of two feet, generally of _kucha_, or mud, with loopholes, and bad embrasures. It is furnished with bastions, but is now in a ruinous state. It is a work completely thrown away. To the south, the wall bends eastward, and is continuous with the outworks of the upper citadel; to the north it dips into the gorge, and re-ascends the hills on the opposite side.

From the peak, (which is not the highest point of the ridge, there being two higher to the south, on the nearest of which is a mound, and a small pillar) a beautiful view is obtained of Cabul, its valley, and its mountains, together with the far more beautiful valley in which the army is encamped.

The town itself presents an irregular outline, and is, with the exception of some gardens towards its northern side, some lucerne fields near its centre, and one or two open spots of small size, densely crowded with the usual terraced-roofed, _kucha_, or mud houses, which are so close, as to show no streets whatever.

There is not a single conspicuous building in it, with the exception of the lower Bala Hissar and a mosque of small size on the right bank of the river, occupying an open s.p.a.ce near a garden, which alone renders it distinct.

The Bala Hissar occupies the eastern corner: its outworks are regular enough. It is surrounded by the remains of a wet ditch; its works have been lately improved. Excepting the part occupied by the Shah, etc. the s.p.a.ce is crowded by houses exactly like the town. The fort to its south and commanding it completely, is the upper citadel, and is altogether out of repair; this continues the defence formed by the wall. The walls of the city themselves are not distinguishable, excepting those of the nearest quarter, occupied by Kuzzilbashes. The river intersects the town, it is crossed by two, three, or perhaps more small stone bridges, and runs nearly due east, and may be traced almost to the foot of the eastern boundary range. From near the mosque a fine straight road runs NNE. or thereabouts, with avenues of trees of small size near the town.

Two other roads are visible on the east side; one is continuous with that which runs along the north face of the lower citadel, it runs due east; and the other slopes towards this, and meets it about two or three miles from the city at the end of a low range of hills.

The valley is not so well cultivated as ours, (i.e. the one in which the army is encamped) nor by any means so well wooded; it appears bare some way from the city, but this may arise from the stubble of the prevailing cultivation of wheat and barley. There is abundance of water, the only distinct _Chummun_ is to the south of the citadel, it is now under water.

Some low isolated hills or ranges are interspersed in the valley; of these the largest is that running nearly parallel to the central road; the next is due north of the city, and midway between it and the salt- water lake which stretches several miles along the north of the valley, and which appears to be a large body of water.

The boundary hills are generally fine; to the east is a high scarped bold range, running nearly due north and south, its terminations being plainly visible; near its southern end commences the ridge that forms the oblique south boundary of the valley, and which runs up towards the south into a fine broadly conical peak, very conspicuous from Arghandab. To the north are the fine Pughman mountains; these run east and west: they are of great elevation, and of fine outline, presenting here and there appearances of snow. To the west is the walled ridge, not exceeding 1,300 feet in its highest point above the general level; this is interrupted by the Cabul river, and never reaches such elevations again; before ending to the north, it sends off a spur to the east.

Beyond the eastern boundary, glimpses of the Hindoo-koosh are obtainable.

To the west, there are no very high hills visible, excepting the western part of the Pughmans; those of our valley are not exceeding 2,000 feet in height, and are low to the south, in which direction the Maidan river flows into the valley. Beyond the highest point of the walled ridge, are several crowded high mountains.

The vegetation of the western hills is not peculiar, Echinops, a tallish Carduacea, Carduacea alia, Senecionoides, Astragali, Artemisiae 2, Statice of Dhuni pa.s.s.

Leucades, l.a.b.i.ata of Karabagh, Gramineae, several small Compositae, foliis dislocatis, Leguminosa, fructu echinatis, Santalacea, Asphodelus luteus, Ruta angustifolia, Umbellifera, foliis maximis of Chiltera, a very stout plant, with a very medicinal gum, a new Polanisioid, a Centaureoid, and a fine Carduacea are to be found in it.

A Marmot, the size of a large rat, is also found here, the large specimens are of a reddish tinge, the small ones of a blackish.

The bazars are crowded all day, and in the morning are obstructed from a.s.ses loaded with wood. Most things are procurable; the cloths seen are mostly the indifferent common kind of cloth related to the Seikh Puttoo; camel hair _chogas_, posteens or coa.r.s.e blankets; these last indicating very cold winters: there are not many other things peculiar--long knives, and the shoes and boots are among the most so, and wretched silk handkerchiefs.

The most common grapes are the _kismiss_, a long coa.r.s.e grape which answers for packing, a round, very sweet, purple grape, with large seeds, and small seedless ones intermixed, are all capable of being much improved by thinning, and a huge, tough-skinned, coa.r.s.e, purple grape, of good flavour.

The best peaches have a green appearance, even when ripe; the ordinary ones are coa.r.s.e, and not well-flavoured; but the Affghans are quite ignorant of the art of packing fruit, and hence most are bruised.

Two sorts of apples are common, both rosy; one very much so, but much inferior to the other.

Pears princ.i.p.ally of two kinds, both allied to the common pear in shape; the large ones are very coa.r.s.e, but well adapted for stewing.

_Aloocha_ excellent for jellies, as also the cherries: most kinds of plums are now out of season.

The melons vary much in quality, the watermelons are generally better, and vary less: the muskmelons I have here seen, are ruined by inattention to the time of gathering; some are very fine, the pulp is never very deep coloured; it is very rarely green; some of the Kundah sort are very good; this and the _turbooj_ are both excessively common. The usual Cucurbita is cultivated, as well as the other common cuc.u.mber, pumpkin, Luffa foetida, and L. acutangula.

Cabbages common, beet root ditto, _bangun_ ditto, excellent spinage (Spinaceae).

All sorts of spices procurable, but they are generally old: sugar very good, is sold in flat candied cakes, one and a half inch thick; _koorool_ in small cakes resembling chunam.

CHAPTER XVI.

_From Cabul to Bamean--The Helmund_, _and Oxus rivers_.

_24th August_, _1839_.--Left Cabul for Bamean, and marched to Urghundee.

_25th_.--To the Cabul river, distance twelve and a half miles; diverged from the Cabul road at Urghundee Chokey, striking obliquely across a ravine that debouches into the main valley at this point. The course of the river ENE. or thereabouts, then we entered a ravine to the west side of the river, and commenced ascending the pa.s.s, which is not difficult, and although rather steep at first, subsequently it becomes merely undulated, the surrounding hills of the pa.s.s have the usual character, but are separated by mere ravines. Vegetation very scanty; Senecionoides very common, as also _Joussa_ and Statice of Dund-i-sheer; here I noticed the Solora found in the wood at Kilatkajee. The Barometer at the summit of the pa.s.s, 22.148: thermometer 60 degrees. An extensive view is had from it, up the Cabul river, the valley of which is well cultivated, but presents nothing very striking in its neighbouring mountains. Great numbers of sheep pa.s.sed us going towards Cabul, also numbers of Patans with their families, all on camels, than some of which last nothing could be finer. The women's dress consists of loose gowns, generally bluish, with short waists coming almost up under the arms, and leggings of folded cloths; they are a gipsy-like, sun-burnt, good looking people. Numbers of a.s.ses laden with grain were also pa.s.sed. At the halting place indifferent apples only were to be had. Slight rain fell in the afternoon from east, then it became heavier from west.

_26th_.--Distance eight miles, the road lay along the Cabul river up a gentle ascent, over undulated ground; features of country the same, villages, etc., abundant. Heavy rain set in from the west after our arrival at the encamping ground at 4 P.M., with thunder. Night hazy, heavy dew.

_27th_.--To Sir-i-Chushme, distance ten miles, direction continues easterly up the Cabul river valley: features the same; road generally good, here and there stony, crossed a large tributary falling into the Cabul river, from the north at Juljaily, a large village, the largest in the valley, and very pretty. Poplars and willows in plenty along river.

Near Sir-i-Chushme the valley becomes narrow; the river pa.s.sing through a gorge, on the left side of which on rugged rocky ground, are the remains of a tower. The rocks here are mica slate, reposing at a considerable angle, occasionally nearly vertical. The surface is thinly vegetated, Silenacea, two or three _Muscoides_ (981), Scrophulariae sp., common, etc. (see Catal. 971, etc.) Beyond, the valley again widens, presenting similar features to those just mentioned. To the right side of the valley there is a beautiful narrow ravine, bounded on the south with springs, to the north by a n.o.ble bleak rugged ridge, with much snow; it has the usual features, namely, a s.h.i.+ngly inclined plane between huge hills. The village of Sir-i-Chushme is built on a rising ground or small spur, surrounded by numerous springs which supply the source of the Cabul river; the bed of which above them is nearly dry. The springs abound with the usual water plants, a Cinclidotoid moss in abundance, a Celtoid tree stands over one spring; Peganum continues. A shallow circular pool occurs at the foot of the hills, on which the village is built; it is crowded with the peculiar Cyprinidae of these parts, {390a} some of which attain three pounds in weight, as also a small loach. {390b}

The cultivation throughout this valley is good. The soil is however heavy, but in places it gives way to a brown mould: rice is cultivated up to Julraiz, but not beyond, millet (Setaria), Indian-corn, lucerne, mustard, beet root; beans and peas are very common.