Correspondence. 565 



Cabal. A parallel of latitude, says he, drawn through Kalabagh, and 

 west of the Indus, would present a remarkable difference in the course 

 of mountain chains, as observed to its north and south sides. In the 

 latter direction the Soliman and Kala ranges, the one of which may be 

 looked upon as a continuation of the other, generally preserve an almost 

 perfect parallelism with the course of the Indus, while on the other 

 side, every range, and they are numerous from the Himalaya and Hindu 

 Kush to the salt range, inclusive, are at right angles with the direction of 

 the stream. In other words, the general line of the former is north and 

 south, of the latter east and west; it is of the latter, and the country 

 they include, that I would at present more particularly speak. 



" In addition to the general course of the chains thus laid down, 

 there is another fact of no less importance, towards determining 

 the physical formation of this part of the country. When the two 

 mountain ranges have for some time preserved their parallel east 

 and west course, the northern is observed to deflect, or send off a 

 branch towards the south, while a corresponding deflexion or ramifica- 

 tion of the northern chain comes to meet it, and the plain which other- 

 wise would have been one continued expanse from east to west, is thus 

 cut into a number of vallies, the longitudinal axis of which is still in ge- 

 neral to be found in the same direction. If we can conceive these val- 

 lies to be few, spacious, and well marked towards the north and south, 

 while in the central, or Kohat region, they become small, numerous, 

 and crowded, so as to present a tangled maze, or net-work, we shall 

 have just a general conception of that tract of country west of the 

 Indus, which may be familiarly described as lying between Kabul and 

 Kalabagh." The remarks here given are interesting, as they in part 

 confirm what we have elsewhere stated, viz. that all the principal ranges 

 among the Himalayas parallel with the central or high mountain 

 range, and that all the principal secondary, &c. valleys, are longitudinal, 

 or, in other words, have a direction from NW. to SE. as the central or 

 high mountain chain has, that an eye not accustomed to geological sur- 

 veying may be misled by the grouping of the small subordinate ranges, 

 to form a different idea, is easily accounted for, seeing that the individu- 

 al is not at all prepared to follow out the dip and strike of the different 

 strata, and might consider himself in a "tangled maze," as Dr. Lord ex- 

 presses himself, although he might have presented before him the most 

 beautiful order of superposition. To the groupings of mountains, but 

 little attention has, as yet, been paid by geographers, even our best 

 maps are lamentably inaccurate ; we hope that in the map of Afghan- 

 istan and Cabul, about, it is said, to be given to the world by that ac- 

 complished observer Major Garden, this subject will receive its due 



