^ov. 14, 1878] 



NATURE 



41 



Empire. A good deal has been written on the country, 

 and some valuable records of the observations of tra- 

 vellers who have been permitted to penetrate it have 

 been published. One of the best sketches of Afghan- 

 istan in its various aspects will be found in the mag- 

 nificent " Noveau Diet, de G€og. Universelle," by 

 Vivien de St. Martin, now being issued by Hachette 

 and Co. On this the present article is mainly based. 

 For further details we would refer our readers to this 

 ■work, and the long bibliography appended to the 

 article, as well as to a paper in the Geographical 

 Magazine for October, and a pretty exhaustive account 

 of the botany of the country in the Gardener's Chronicle 

 of November 2, and the works referred to in these two 

 journals. 



As a whole, Afghanistan may be regarded as a moun- 

 tainous table-land. It is the eastern half of the table- 

 land of Iran, of which Persia occupies the western half. 

 On the eastern side, towards Sind, the table-land sinks 

 into what may be considered as parallel chains, forming 

 so many staged terraces ; one of these chains, more 

 elevated than the others, and from which shoot several 

 remarkable peaks, is known by the name of the Sulieman 

 Mountains — SoleimCtn-Koh. The mean height of this 

 transverse chain is about 9,000 or 10,000 feet. The 

 Sulieman Mountains are about sixty miles distant from 

 the Sind border, though the crest of the plateau is not 

 reached for about another 1 50 miles. On the south side the 

 plateau descends by similar, but perhaps less pronounced 

 gradations, towards the sea ; up to the present time the 

 southern slope has been but incompletely explored. To the 

 west the Afghan plateau undergoes a very considerable de- 

 pression, at the bottom of which lies the marshy lake, 

 Tamoun, into which the Helmand river finds its way ; 

 t it again rises in the vast plains which lead towards 

 r arsistan. On the north the plateau falls rapidly towards 

 the plains through v.hich flows the Oxus, and in the 

 north-east it is connected with the highlands of Central 

 Asia and the Himalayas by the enormous mass of the 

 Hindu-Koosh. The highest summits of the latter chain, 

 which conceals the deep basin of the Cabul river, are lost 

 in the regions of eternal snow ; many of its peaks exceed 

 20,000 feet in height. The Khavak Pass, one of the 

 principal passes of the Hindu-Koosh, is at a height of 

 more than 12,000 feet. On the south the basin of the 

 Cabul river is shut in by the Sefid-Koh chain, which runs, 

 like the Hindu-Koosh, from west to east, and the highest 

 summits of which, to the south-south-east of Jellalabad, 

 reach a height of more than 13,000 feet. The source of 

 the Cabul river is about 8,000 feet above the sea, and of 

 the Helmand, more than 9,000 feet. All this extreme 

 zone of Afghanistan is only a mass of mountains cut 

 by a multitude of rugged valleys ; this is the coldest part 

 of the country. A mass which dominates it, above the 

 sources of the Cabul and the Helmand, the K6h-i-Baba 

 or "Father of Mountains," rising to a height of 15,000 

 feet, may be regarded as the knot which connects the 

 Hindu-Koosh with the Mountains of Ghour. It is in 

 this cold region, which commences at the Mountains of 

 Ghour and is continued eastward by the long valley of 

 the Cabul river, that the primitive race of the Afghan 

 people have been formed, a race unciUtured, rude, and 

 vigorous like their native valleys. 



With the exception of the two basins of the Cabul and 

 the Helmand, Afghanistan is characterised by a scarcity of 

 running water. Elphinstone had noticed this prevailing 

 feature, and all subsequent observations have confirmed 

 it. Only four or five rivers of any consequence flow 

 down the long eastern slope of the plateau, and some of 

 these are lost in the sands. The Helmand, fed by many 

 affluents, after a course of about 600 miles, discharges 

 into a large shallow lake, nearly all covered with reeds. 

 This lake, known variously as Hamoun, Meshileh-Seistan, 

 or Me5hileh-Ru5tem, is black and nauseous, changes 



greatly in its configuration, sometimes even dividing up 

 into two distinct basins. 



Four-fifths of the surface of Afghanistan is, on the 

 whole, a country of rocks and mountains, interspersed 

 here and there with picturesque valleys, fertile and well 

 watered, but presenting in several directions only elevated 

 plains, cold, arid, and covered with meagre pasturage, 

 which, however, supports numerous flocks. Situated 

 under the parallels of Egypt and Syria, but with a sur- 

 face not less varied than that of Switzerland, and moun- 

 tains much more elevated than the Alps, Afghanistan 

 combines in its climate and its products the extremes of 

 the torrid and temperate zones. As the meagreness of 

 its water-supply is characteristic of many parts of the 

 country, dryness is the dominant feature of its climate, 

 as also extremes of temperature, according to the season. 



Of the geology of Afghanistan scarcely anything is 

 knowTi by direct observation. Its mineral products, 

 however, appear to be abundant enough. The sands of 

 the Cabul river are known to furnish gold. The Hindu- 

 Koosh mountains contain silver, copper, cinnabar, lead, 

 antimony, zinc, sulphur, &c. Iron especially abounds 

 there, and copper is found in many other parts of the 

 country; coal also has been proved to exist in several 

 localities. Rock salt has given its name to an entire 

 chain of mountains which stretch into the north of the 

 Punjab. In the north of Daman, in the neighbourhood 

 of Kohat, are mines of sulphur and wells of naphtha. 



The character of the vegetation in all the higher parts 

 of Afghanistan is essentially European ; all kinds of 

 fruits abound, and many of them are found in a wild state. 

 From the article on the botany of Afghanistan in the 

 Gardeners' Chronicle of November 2, we find the follow- 

 ing statement as to the general characteristics of the 

 vegetation of the country : — 



" Afghanistan abounds in spiny plants ; herbs are to 

 a great extent replaced by dwarf prickly shrubs having a 

 relatively small amount of leaf-surface ; and bulbous 

 plants are also numerous. Fragrant flowers prevail, and 

 resiniferous and oleiferous plants are numerous. Stocks, 

 who travelled in Beloochistan and the southern borders 

 of Afghanistan, says the upper region especially is re- 

 markable for the fragrance of its plants, as Artemisia, 

 Perowskia, Salvia, Teucrium, and other Labiatae, from 

 which cause the flesh of the sheep and goats acquires a 

 fine and almost aromatic flavour. There is no nakedness 

 of the soil, for hill and plain are alike covered with 

 depressed shrubs, although their scorched aspect, after 

 the sun acquires power in June, is anything but agreeable 

 to the eye. The prevailing tint of the indigenous vege- 

 tation and of the landscape of the uncultivated plains is 

 olive-green, though the well-cultivated valleys, as Quettah, 

 are charmingly green in the spring time. The aspect of 

 the vegetation of the lower region is far different, the 

 plants being few and scattered over the bare brown and 

 stony soil. Even in spring no annuals appear to diversify 

 the scenery, and the under-shrubs are remarkably similar 

 in external appearance. Woody, stunted, thorny, not 

 above i foot high, with round cushion-like outlines, 

 bleached stems, and a few leaves — they look like skele- 

 tons of plants, the grey ghosts of a vegetation which has 

 perished of thirst. The glaucous aspect of all, and the 

 universality of spines, are noteworthy features." 



Wild animals are not over-abundant. The high val- 

 leys of the Hindu-Koosh shelter lions and leopards, which 

 have neither the size nor ferocity of those of India. 

 Wolves are met with, and in the eastern jungles tigers 

 and hyaenas. There are two species of bear, a black and 

 a brown, but elephants are not found in the wild state. 

 Jackals and foxes are numerous, monkeys in the north- 

 east, and wild sheep 'and goats in the mountains of the 

 north. The Angora "cat is said to have originally come 

 from Cabul. 



There 4s probably no country of equal extent which 



