528 Account of the Koh-UDdman, [June* 



I should mention, that since commencing this report I have been 

 agreeably interrupted by an invitation in my professional capacity, 

 to the court of Meer Minad Bey, the chief of Kunduz, in ac- 

 cepting which, anxious to explore a new route, I first in company 

 with Lieut. Wood, N. I. attempted the valley of Parwdn and pass 

 of Sir-Alang, but being repelled by the depth of snow and a vio- 

 lent storm which came on just as we had reached the summit, we 

 were obliged to return and go by the road of Bamian. In this way 

 I have been enabled considerably to extend my acquaintance with the 

 chain of Hindu Kush, and shall therefore venture one or two observa- 

 tions further respecting it. A core of granite, and resting on it a deep 

 bed of slate, are the prominent features in its structure. The direction 

 of those as well as of the chain itself is generally from east to west, 

 and as a consequence of this its largest and most open valleys will na- 

 turally lie in the same direction, while the steepest ascents will be met 

 with in proceeding from south to north. This a-priori induction is 

 perfectly confirmed by my experience. The pass of ^ir-Alang and 

 the pass, as it is called par excellence, of Hindu Kush, are both met in 

 an attempt to proceed north, and the roads leading to each are for 

 wheeled carriages perfectly impassable, while the vale of Ghorband, 

 which runs east and west through the heart of the mountains for thirty 

 or forty miles^ would admit of a coach being drawn the greater part of 

 the way ; and the Bamian road, which has in every part been traversed 

 by heavy guns, is so nearly in the same direction that Hajighdt, the 

 point at which it turns the extremity of Hindu Kush, though 80 miles 

 in a direct line from Kabul, is according to Lieut. Wood's observations, 

 but ten miles north of the latitude of that city*. 



The granite that forms the summit of the entire ridge is from the 

 pure whiteness of the felspar and the glossy blackness of the horn- 

 blende of a very beautiful appearance. A peculiarity was observable 

 in its structure where we first reached it, which I do not remember to 

 have seen before. The hornblende had become so collected in patches 

 through the rock that the whole looked as though it were a conglome- 

 rate containing dark-colored pebbles of a previous formation, nor was 

 it without a closer examination that I was able to satisfy myself as to 

 the real nature of the fact. These concretions were always of a sphe- 

 roidal form, varying in size from a diameter of two or three inches to a 

 foot and upwards, and evidently possessed of superior powers of resis- 

 tance ; for in cases where the mass of the rock had suffered from wea- 



* See Lieut. Wood's survey for thifa-and all other topographical details alluded to 

 on the Bdmian and Sir-Alang roads v 



