118 Extracts from Demi-Official Reports. [No. 110. 



took us in 3 marches over spurs from the main ridge of Hindoo Koosh 

 (Koh~I-Baba) to the fertile and well inhabited valley of Yaikobung,. 

 which has the breadth of from \ to f a mile, in a length of 15 miles, and is 

 well watered by a cletn trout stream from the famed 'Bendemir,' which 

 flows on to Bnlkh. 



We slept the first might in the cold damp valley of Shebbertoo, which, 

 according to the boiling point of a Thermometer, is about 10,500 feet above 

 the level of the sea. The mercury at sunset stood at 37° ; in the course 

 of the next § of an hour it fell to freezing point,in fact before sun rise next 

 morning it was down at 10°. The residents say that they have 5 months 

 winter, which commences late, but is every rigorous, and the deep snow 

 which falls, is not all off the ground two months after the vernal equinox. 

 The rest of the march brought us to the valley of Fuor Behar, about 2,100 

 feet lower than Shebbertoo, where the barley crop was not all ripe 

 and the Thermometer showed about 11 degrees difference of temperature. 

 The third took us 8 miles down the valley of Yaikobung, 1,100 feet still 

 lower, where the people had just got in their crops of fine wheat. 



The present chief of Yaikobung is Meer Mohib, a vulgar and coarse 

 man. He put Shah Shoojah's letter to his head, and came to pay his 

 respects to us as the bearers of it, when we gave him a suitable pre- 

 sent. Having taken leave, he sent to beg for my furred cloak, and on 

 my giving his messenger a note which would procure him one from 

 Bameean, he sent to say that he must have my girdle shawl and 1,000 

 rupees, and he would permit us to depart. We were too many to be 

 thus bullied here, therefore replying that the Meer seemed to misun- 

 derstand our condition, we marched away at once without his daring 

 to interrupt us. 



West of Yaikobung, the main ridge of Hindoo Koosh sweeps round 

 to the northward, after which turning westward again, it forms the 

 northern boundary of the hills which slope down to the right side of 

 the Heriroad valley. Our fourth march took us by a very steep defile 

 across this ridge, from the base of which we descended through a deep 

 valley, about 5 miles westward, to the fountain head of the Heriroad a 

 clear pool of gently bubbling springs, where the boiling point shewed 

 an elevation of 9,500 feet, 1,100 higher than the bed of the stream flow- 

 ing northward from Yaikobung. 



We followed the course of the Herat river, in its clear, quick wan- 

 derings through different breaks of the limestone valley, which forms its 

 bed, for four marches, the first taking us to the head quarters of Meer 

 Sadik Beg in Dab Yungee. This chief, who is a vulgar but well 



