Topographical Remarks regarding Afghanistan. 323 



Afghanistan dominions, as well as Cashmere, Herat, and 

 Beloochistan. 



Within these boundaries are comprehended a great variety 

 of soil and scenery; but generally speaking, Afghanistan 

 may be described as a vast aggregate of mountains, with 

 intervening valleys of greater or less extent, varying in 

 fertility and size ; sometimes stretching out into barren and 

 arid plains almost entirely destitute of water, and with a 

 scanty vegetation of camel thorn and prickly shrubs, only 

 affording for a short time a little pasturage for the camels 

 of the wandering tribes : in other places is to be found the 

 well-defined fertile valley, highly cultivated, with a plentiful 

 supply of water, producing abundance of fruit, grain, ve- 

 getables, &c. 



Affghanistan may contain from 420 to 460,000 square 

 miles, a great proportion of which space is but imperfectly 

 known, and has never been visited or surveyed, and consists 

 in a great measure of a maze of mountains, for the most 

 part bare and barren ; but some are covered with deep 

 forests of pine and wild olive trees. The principal ranges 

 are the Himalayah or Hindoo- Koosh, Parapamisan, and 

 the Solyman range, from which spurs and off-shoots branch 

 in every direction. 



The portion of country traversed by H. M. 13th Regi- 

 ment was from Quetta to Cabul, by Candahar and Guznee. 



The general aspect of the country between Quetta and 

 Candahar is barren and cheerless : consisting chiefly of arid 

 plains, (almost a desert,) scantily supplied with saline brack- 

 ish water, surrounded by rugged rocky mountains, with 

 hardly any signs of vegetation. The regiment was exposed 

 to severe and 'fatiguing duty, extreme heat, and great vicis- 

 situdes of temperature. The bazar was without supplies, and 

 the country furnished almost nothing, for the crops had 

 not yet ripened ; and even the Pisheen valley, which had 

 been described as a paradise or oasis in the desert, was 



