2 Continuation of the Route of Lieut. A. Burnes [JAN. 
power under his republican spirit of government, and I should say is destin- 
ed to an importance in spite of itself, for in every view it is the key to 
India. It is astonishing how much the country is relieved by the over- 
throw of the royal dynasty ; and with respect to the latest reigns of the 
Timur family, the change in the condition of things for the better is 
not more wonderful than it isnatural. In Shah Shujah’s haughty career, 
there was little security in all we most value, and robberies and bloodshed 
disgraced the precincts of his court. Dost Muhammed’s citizen-like demea- 
nor and resolute simplicity have suited the people’s understanding; he has 
tried the effect of a new system, and the experiment has succeeded. 
My fellow traveller pursues a very good plan for any political object, 
by keeping up correspondence with every one who has treated him with 
civility ; particularly with our friends in Kabul and Péshiwar. We may 
soon have to ask Sultan Muhammed for a supply of coals to navigate the 
Indus ; mines have been discovered ; and they ought to be worked upon 
scientific principles. Moorcroft searched in vain for seams, but no doubt 
the people took up the hint. The specimens which were brought to us 
indicate the variety to be what is termed anthracite, or slate coal, and con- 
sequently as fuel is very meagre; but this may be the exterior crust or 
shell, and when penetrated, a richer material may be discovered. We saw 
it inthin plates, of a concave-convex form ; the fracture was grey, but with- 
out any lustre, and it soiled paper ; at first I took it for graphite or plum- 
bago, and IJ shall not be surprised if that mineral is contiguous. It burnt 
by the flame of a candle, and gave out a dense gas. We should have senta 
specimen to Calcutta, had an opportunity offered. The mine is in the dis- 
trict of Kohat, in the plain-ward hills, and therefore most conveniently si- 
tuated at the navigable extremity of the Indus. I hear there are mines in 
Cuch, which thus sets the question of physical capabilities at rest, and sup- 
plies the only remaining desideratum. Sultan Muhammed Khan would be 
delighted at the proposal of working the coal seams, for reciprocal ad- 
vantages must flow from sucha medium. There are also sulphur seams in 
Kohat; and adjacent, even conterminous with that estate, is the fertile 
country of the Waziris, famed, I believe, for a superior breed of horses, 
and report says, rich in indications of auriferous and other precious ores. 
Moorcroft paid a visit to that district, and I suspect that he was aware of 
its mineral deposits. The whole of Afghanistin teems with the germs 
of metallic treasures, but it may be long ere we become better acquaint- 
ed with those hidden stores. I was disappointed in not discovering any 
traces of shells or fossils on the route to Kabul, but we durst scarcely 
look around us. I was too ill besides, and our journey was too precipitate 
for any useful purpose. 
