978 Peport on subjects connected with Afghanistan. [No. 120. 



Of wild goats, I believe I have seen portions of two species, one of 

 which was sent me by Captain Macgregor. I have never seen either 

 alive. A species of Ibex also exists, with this I am only acquainted 

 from the horns, which it is the custom to attach indiscriminately to 

 the ZearutSj and places of sacred note. 



From the forests of Olipore, I procured a species of Antelope of the 

 Goral kind ; this is known to the natives of those regions by the name 

 Suga. Other species doubtless exist in the dense forests of that part 

 of the country, such, for instance, as the Musk Deer. I also heard of an- 

 other ruminating animal, which the Olipores called Goomast ; but their 

 description was so extraordinary, that I could make nothing from it. 



Afghanistan possesses wild Asses, but these are confined to the 

 western and north-western parts of the country. 



From the general scarcity of jungle and of animals, the country 

 derives one advantage at least, in the absence of the larger carnivora. 

 Mr. Elphinstone, in his very excellent and extraordinarily accurate 

 account of the kingdom of Cabul, mentions, but with doubt, the exist- 

 ence of Lions in the hilly country about Cabul. If Lions do exist in 

 any part of Afghanistan, they must be looked for, it appears to me, to 

 the West. 



Of Tigers. — I did not get any information ; for even about Olipore, 

 where the upper part of the hills is covered with forest, the lower- 

 most parts and the sides of the vallies do not present much deviation 

 from the ordinary Afghan nakedness, and this is ill-suited to what we 

 know of the habits of these animals. Leopards exist about Chugur- 

 serai, and probably in all the wooded portions of the Sofaid-koh 

 system. A large wild Cat, with a tendency to the Lyncean tuft on 

 the ears, is also met with about Olipore. 



A large and a small species of Fox appear to exist. The former, 

 which is perhaps identical with the large Himalayan Fox, I procured 

 from Quettah and at Olipore, at which place it is not uncommon. 

 The small kind seems to resemble the Fox of the plains of N. W. 

 India. Jackalls were observed at Quettah, and in the Koonur valley. 

 Of Wolves and Hyaenas I did not hear, although the nature of many 

 parts of the country would appear, from what is known of the habits 

 of the Indian species, well adapted to them. Of this I am quite sure, 

 that if they do exist, their existence must be more than ordinarily 



