1841.] Report on subjects connected with Afghanistan. 999 



Minerals. — With regard to the former, I have to observe, that in 

 the absence of coal, which does not appear to have been discovered, 

 the mineral productions are only likely to become useful in the wooded 

 parts of the country, that is, about the great ranges, Sofaid Koh and the 

 eastern end of Hindoo Koosh, such for instance, as the Koonur and 

 Bajore valleys. 



On the subject of Minerals, I am not competent to afford any sound 

 information, but I trust that in the prosecution of my experiment, the 

 expence of land carriages, of labour, the general scantiness of streams, 

 and perhaps their general inapplicability, may always be borne in mind. 



If mines are ever worked at Taigea, the products will be chiefly limit- 

 ed to the supply of the Cabool markets, for, so far as my information 

 goes, the Cabool river is not used for descent above Balabagh. This 

 may possibly arise from prejudice on the part of the natives, and it 

 may perhaps be considered worth while putting it to the test by means 

 of a survey. 



Bajore, I have always understood, to be deficient in streams. Forests 

 of firs and oak doubtless exist on the ranges to the north of the val- 

 ley, but whether so near to the mine as to be thoroughly applicable, 

 remains to be discovered. 



On the subject of minerals, generally, the remark may be made, that 

 those of Afghanistan can only be expected to meet with a market in 

 the country. India is I imagine independent in this respect, and to sup- 

 ply the European market appears to me a problematical assumption. 



Wool. — It is to the wool of the country that I conceive especial 

 attention should be paid : the material exists in great abundance, and 

 trading in it will be in perfect unison with the habits of a great part of 

 the Afghan population. A good deal will depend upon the time at 

 which the best shearing takes place ; this is stated by Captain Hutton 

 to take place in the summer. If this is generally the case, the wool 

 will be subjected to land-carriage from the higher districts to the 

 lower. Captain Hutton states, that the winter shearings are reckoned 

 inferior from the dirt occasioned by penning ; but this scarcely applies 

 to Eastern Afghanistan, throughout all the parts of which known to me, 

 the flocks are in the autumn driven from the high to the low lands. 



The great emigrations which thus take place towards Julalabad, 

 wjll abstract a good deal of the wool, from additional expence of land- 



