62 THE CRUISE OF THE BETSEY ; OR, 



the reverberations attained the loudness of distant thunder, 

 causing the rock on which we were seated to vibrate ; and 

 our camels, animals not easily frightened, became so alaign> 

 ed, that it was with difficulty their drivers could restrain 

 them." 



" The hill of Reg-Rawan, or the * Moving Sand,' " says the 

 late Sir Alexander Burnes, by whom the place was visited 

 in the autumn of 1837, and who has recorded his visit in a 

 brief paper, illustrated by a rude lithographic view, in the 

 "Journal of the Asiatic Society" for 1838, "is about forty 

 miles north of Cabul, towards Hindu-kush, and near the base 

 of the mountains." It rises to the height of about four hun- 

 dred feet, in an angle formed by the junction of two ridges 

 of hills ; and a sheet of sand, " pure as that of the sea-shore," 

 and which slopes in an angle of forty degrees, reclines against 

 it from base to summit. As represented in the lithograph, 

 there projects over the steep sandy slope on each side, as in 

 " the Mountain of the Bell," still steeper barriers of rock ; 

 and we are told by Sir Alexander, that though " the moun- 

 tains here are generally composed of granite or mica, at Reg- 

 Rawan there is sandstone and lime." The situation of the 

 sand is curious, he adds : it is seen from a great distance ; 

 and as there is none other in the neighbourhood, " it might 

 almost be imagined, from its appearance, that the hill had 

 been cut in two, and that the sand had gushed forth as from 

 a sand-bag." " When set in motion by a body of people who 

 slide down it, a sound is emitted. On the first trial we dis- 

 tinctly heard two loud hollow sounds, such as would be given 

 by a large drum ;" " there is an echo in the place ; and the 

 inhabitants have a belief that the sounds are only heard on 

 Friday, when the saint of Reg-Rawan, who is interred hard 

 by, permits." The phenomenon, like the resembling one 

 in Arabia, seems to have attracted attention among the in- 

 habitants of the country at an early period ; and the notice 



