1838.] the Ghorband Mines, and Hindu Kush. 523 



and which had already proceeded to the depth of 180 feet, had altoge- 

 ther passed through rolled pebbles of slate and limestone, the consti- 

 tuents of the Khaiber range of hills. But the wells of Peshdwar, gene- 

 rally twenty or thirty feet deep, never passed through any thing but 

 mud and clay strata. Now the fort I have mentioned is situated at the 

 very mouth of the Khaiber pass, and Peshawar is twelve or fourteen 

 miles distant towards the other extremity of the plain. If then this 

 plain were once the basin of a lake, into which a stream had poured 

 through the Khaiber pass, it is obvious that such a stream would at its 

 very entrance into the lake have deposited the rolled pebbles and 

 heavier matter with which it was charged, while the lighter mud and 

 clay would have floated on to a considerable distance ; in other words, 

 the former would have dropped at Jamrad, the latter gone on to Peshd- 

 war, and this is precisely the fact*. 



Connected with these three basins and joining that of Kabul almost 

 at a right angle from the north, is the plain of Koh-i-Damun (the 

 mountain's skirt), which stretches away to the very foot of Hindu Kush, 

 and gives exit at its northern end to four several routesf by which 

 that chain may be passed. It is an extensive and fertile plain, bounded 

 on all sides by primitive hills, those to the north, east and south, being 

 chiefly of slate including all the gradations from clay to mica, and even 

 at times closely bordering upon gneiss ; while the rid^e to the west- 

 shows the bare granite, and it is at the base and along the windings of 

 this, that occur the vineyards, orchards and gardens of Shakar-darrd, 

 Istalif and Isterkhech so famed in the commentaries of the emperor 

 Baber. 



The plain is about forty miles in length, with a mean breadth of per- 

 haps sixteen or eighteen. Mountain streams^ pouring down from each 

 of the four passes I have mentioned, and bearing their names, unite 

 their waters in its centre, and afford facilities for irrigation which have 

 been by no means neglected ; the mulberry, the vine, the walnut, the 

 almond, with peaches, apricots, melons, and fields of cotton, tobacco, rice, 

 wheat, barley, juwari and other grains occur in the richest abundance. 



Naturally anxious to visit a place of which we had heard so much, 

 and the praises of which the Afghans are never tired of reciting, we 



* No mere irruption of water from a mountain lake would have time to grind 

 down masses of rock into boulder, pebble, gravel aud sand. These deposits are 

 rather attributed to very long continued action of ocean beaches, or mountain 

 detritus. — Ed. 



•f* From a point towards the centre of the plain ( Dush-i-Bo gram) I found the 

 bearings of these four passes as under : — 



Panjthnr pass, bearing N. Shahsl, J 5 N. W. Parwan, 25 N.W. Ghorband, 50 N.W. 



