324 Topographical Remarks regarding Afghanistan. 



but partially cultivated. From this valley the road to Can- 

 dahar leads over the Kojuk Amran mountains by the Kojuk 

 pass, where the troops suffered greatly from hard labour and 

 exposure. 



The crest of the Kojuk pass attains to an elevation of 

 about 7^500 feet, the base being 6,800. The rocks are of 

 ferruginous clay slate of a soft friable structure, the strata 

 nearly vertical, with a slight dip to the East, and running 

 North and South ; the acclivity is gradual from the Pisheen 

 valley, and the descent abrupt and precipitous towards Can- 

 dahar. 



The Ferula asafcetida and rhubarb were very luxuriant, 

 and abound in the hills ; there was also a tree which I 

 believe to be the Pistacia terebinthus, from which there 

 exuded a viscid gum, having a strong terebinthinate odour : 

 the Amygdalus nana, with many forms of European vege- 

 tation, such as Stellaria, Boraginese, Ranunculaceae, Sedum, 

 several of the natural family of the Piperita^, Leontodon 

 Taraxacum, Gentiana viscosa, Allium montanum, &c. 



From the Kojuk to Candahar, the regiment moved over 

 arid plains, covered with the usual stunted and prickly 

 herbage, surrounded by bare rugged hills ; it suffered great- 

 ly from the want of water, which when procured, was often 

 brackish. After being exposed to great fatigues and ex- 

 tremes of temperature, (the thermometer ranging from 54° 

 to 103°,) we arrived at Candahar on the 27th April, and en- 

 camped on a plain to the S. E., and distant about two miles 

 from the city. 



Candahar, in lat. 31° 30' North, and long. 55° 30' East, is 

 a walled town, containing about 60,000 inhabitants, situated 

 in a fertile and well watered valley, about 3,500 feet in 

 elevation: the surrounding hills are chiefly of limestone 

 formation, rising above the plain from 300 to 3000 feet. 

 The Urghundab river, which flows to the west of the town, 

 supplies the country with water, and around Candahar the 



