782 Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. [Oct. 



52. Cabul must be reckoned a temperate, perhaps a cold climate. In 

 the three signs of the zodiac, Sagittarius, Capricornus, and Aquarius, the 

 snow lies in the neighbourhood of the city. In Pisces it melts in the 

 low and frequented places, but remains in the higher and less fre- 

 quented. In this month are copious falls of rain, sleet, and snow. 

 The first day of the ensuing sign of Aries is the vernal equinox, by 

 the Persians and the people of these countries called Nouraz, because 

 with it the natural year is considered as commencing. In Persia 

 especially it is celebrated with much joy and festivity. In this 

 month whatever remains of the snow melts in the plains. The sum- 

 mer which now succeeds is so temperate that the heat in the shade is 

 never disagreeable, and no night is so warm as that a thick covering can 

 be dispensed with. But the heat of the summer's day must be great- 

 er and steadier than in England, since rice and maize ripen in this 

 district. The heat of the mid-day sun is indeed described as very 

 great, and equally disagreeable as in the warm climate of Peshawur, 

 where though the heat be unquestionably greater, its effects on the 

 feelings and constitution are moderated by a more copious perspiration. 

 The fact is to be accounted for, not by supposing the atmosphere 

 of Cabul a moist one, for on the contrary the air of high places is 

 usually dry, but by the difference of temperature. A temperature 

 uniformly high, both in the sun and shade, in Peshawur keeps 

 open the pores, which thus admit of a perspiration which relieves 

 the body, but in Cabul they are kept shut by the coolness of the air in 

 the shade. Cabul although warmer in the summer than England, is 

 probably colder in winter. This we are to attribute to a situation 

 more inland, and a sky less overcast ; for it is certain that clouds mode- 

 rate both heat and cold, as indicated by the thermometer. The climate 

 is on the whole good, but is more commended by the opulent than the 

 poor, of whom many leave the district in the winter for the warmer 

 ones to the east, induced by the severity of the cold, the scarcity of 

 fuel, and the difficulty of obtaining employment and wages in that 

 season. 



53. The valley of Cabul itself is diversified with inequalities of 

 surface and varieties of exposure, and the neighbouring districts still 

 more so. The temperature varies accordingly often within short dis- 

 tances, and it is impossible to give accounts more than generally true. 

 The Kohdamun is colder than the immediate vicinity of Cabul, or 

 the eastern part of the valley. The Kohistan and Ghorbund are 

 colder than the Kohdamun. The summer heat of Ghorbund is said 

 to be distressing to the Huzaras of the neighbouring hills. We have 





