1833.] and Dr. Gerard, from Péshdwar to Bokhara. 3 
«* We entered Kabul after a fatiguing journey at four o'clock, having 
been 24 hours from the last encampment, and with the exception of a 
short slumber our guide unwillingly allowed us at midnight, and my 
doze upon the raisin bags of a small grocer’s dukan by the road side, 
where my horse made his repast while I reposed, I may say, I was in 
a high state of corporal suffering during that long period, with a fever 
raging in my blood, and a fiery heat in my face, which haslatterly burn- 
ed to parchment. I need not describe Kabul to you, who have travelled 
over the same ground, andI should certainly fail in my attempts, having 
seen but little of the place. One is not disappointed in the display, after 
the uniformly arid aspect of the surrounding country; but it is in this 
contrast, rather than in any peculiar scenery, that we are delighted with 
the spot. Frail mud houses, which seem only to be renewed by the 
accessions of patch-work, form a penurious threshold to a great entre- 
pot of commerce ; but when the bazar opens, one is amply gratified by 
a scene, which for luxury and real comfort, activity of business, 
variety of objects, and foreign physiognomy, has no living model in 
India. The fruits which we had seen out of season at Péshawar loaded 
every shop; the masses of snow for sale, threw out refreshing chill, and 
sparkled by the sun’s heat: the many strange faces and strange figures, 
each speaking in the dialect of his nation, made up a confusion more 
confounded than that of any Babel, but with this difference, that here 
the mass of human beings were intelligible to each other, and the work 
of communication and commerce went on. ‘The covered part of the 
bazar, which is entered by lofty portals, dazzled my sight, even quite 
as much as the snow of the Himalayan peaks, when, reflected against 
the setting sun. In these stately corridors, the shops rise in benches 
above each other, the various articles with their buyers and sellers, regu- 
larly arranged in tiers, represent so many living strata. The effect of 
the whole was highly imposing, and I feel at a loss adequately to 
describe the scene presented to our eyes. 
‘Our stay at Kabul furnished few objects of interest ; the time passed 
rapidly, and my own ill health prevented me making any  exer- 
tion. We were Nawab Jabar Khan’s guests, and though our quar- 
ters occupied one side of a square which was a rendezvous for courtiers, 
we were infinitely more at liberty than at Péshawar, and even quiet 
till we were roused up by Mr. Wolff, who amused us greatly by his various 
adventures. As long as he staid at Kabul, we were in a perpetual stir ; 
the house was filled with Jews. 
“« The climate of Kabul was considerably colder than I was prepared 
for, when the barometer announced an elevation of 6000 feet. The 
B 2 
