S32 Account of the Koh-i-Ddman, [June, 



to the mean temperature of the place, inasmuch as different rock for- 

 mations, like different metals, vary much in their power of conducting 

 heat. Thus, a well at Peshawar gave me a temperature of 64°, while 

 one at Attok, almost under the same parallel of latitude and at the 

 same altitude above the sea, was as high as 78°, the thermometer at 

 sunrise in each case standing about 80°. But the well at Peshawar 

 was in loose clay, mixed with vegetable mould, a notoriously bad con- 

 ductor of heat, while that at Attok was in hard black slate, which would 

 thus appear to have a very different quality. Again a well at Agrahad 

 in limestone, latitude 35 Q north, shewed a temperature of 54° Fahr. 

 while another in slate a few miles further north, stood at 48°, the al- 

 titude of both being nearly equal, and the thermometer at sunrise be- 

 low the freezing point ; so that in this instance also, the slate would 

 appear to have had superior powers of conduction. To pursue this, 

 however, would lead me too far from my present subject, besides it is 

 time I should come down from the top of the mountain, which we did, 

 though not until we had gratified our curiosity with many a longing 

 glance down the snow-clad vale that led towards Turkistdn, and indulg- 

 ed our loyalty in a libation to the health of our youthful queen as the 

 first of her majesty's subjects, indeed we may add of Europeans, who 

 had succeeded in surmounting this celebrated range. 



We now turned our attention towards the vale of Ghorband, the 

 opening of which, distant about 14 miles from the plain, we had noticed 

 in our upward course, threading off to the south of west so as to stand 

 nearly at a right angle with the pass we had travelled, the general lie 

 of which was a little to the west of north. And nothing could be more 

 striking than the difference between the two valleys. The one narrow, 

 rocky, and uneven, with an average fall of 200 feet per mile, so that it 

 was impossible it should even have contained any other waters than 

 those of a rapid headlong torrent, while the other, that which we now 

 entered was wide, level, and fertile. The primitive rocks had retired 

 to a distance of from one to three miles, and within them was depo- 

 sited a secondary row of small rounded hills consisting of conglomerate 

 pebbles and clay, and horizontal strata of fine mud, such as could only 

 have been collected during a long series of years from the tranquil wa- 

 ters of a scarcely moving lake. Along such a formation we travelled 

 for about 15 miles, the hills I have described generally lying to the 

 south of the road, while the Ghorband river, of a respectable breadth 

 and not in all places fordable, run close along the edge of the slate 

 which descended in steep cliffs on our north. But on reaching Suja* 

 garh, the hitherto uniform tints of the mountain were seen to be varie- 



