2 SUEG.-MAJ. J. E. T. AITCHISON ON THE FEOBA OF 



Owing to the massacre in Kabul, and the simultaneous move 

 of the troops to the front, my plans, for the latter end of the 

 season, had to be altered. My collections had to be hurriedly 

 packed and conveyed out of the country, and many of my museum 

 and living specimens were left behind on account of the difficulty 

 of obtaining carriage ; besides it seemed probable that my ser- 

 vices as a medical officer would again be required to accompany 

 the army, so that the great point was to succeed in getting my 

 collections deposited in safe keeping. I therefore accompanied 

 them by hurried marches to Thai, and there meeting General 

 Eoberts returned by his orders to Alikhel, from which the ad- 

 vance of the army was taking place. Here I received further 

 orders from the General, which were to proceed to England and 

 there collect what information I could during the winter to assist 

 me in the continuance of my work on my return to the force 

 this spring. I arrived in England with my collections on the 

 29th November, and since then have been at work with them at 

 the Kew Herbarium ; and had it not been for the assistance I 

 obtained there, the information I now lay before you could not 

 have been prepared within the time placed at my disposal, as I 

 have to leave England during the first week in March. 



To the late much-lamented General Munro I am indebted for 

 the identification and naming of my grasses (this, I believe, was 

 one of the last works on which he was engaged previous to his 

 death) ; to Mr. Boeckeler for naming my Carices; to Mr. Baker, of 

 the Kew Herbarium, for naming and identifying Leguminous 

 and Petaloidese ; to Mr. C. B. Clarke for the naming of my Com- 

 posite ; and to Mr. Hemsley for the great assistance he afforded 

 me in working with me daily. When it is known that my col- 

 lection consists of 15,000 specimens, belonging to 950 species, 

 some idea can be entertained of the hard work it has entailed upon 

 all engaged upon it, especially when it is taken into consideration 

 that the time was so limited. 



2. Geography and General Conformation of the Country. 



The collection of plants, regarding which I now write, was 

 made during the summer of 1879 in Afghanistan territory, along 

 the left bank of the Kuram river from Thai to Pewarkotal, and 

 thence upon the higher plateaux, the basins of the Karaia and 

 Hazardarakht rivers, tributaries of the Kuram. 



Before describing its botanical features I deem it of import- 



