1839.] Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. 885 



Borax is dug up near Mushhud in an impure state. A salt call- 

 ed black salt is found in a hill some miles south-west of Kala Bagh. 

 The most famous product of Kala Bagh is its alum, which however is 

 not native, but is prepared from a mixture of pure clay and sulphur, 

 found in the same hill which yields salt. The same exists in small 

 quantities in the quarter where the Lahouree salt is produced. 



114. I have made no mention of the minerals of the Tibets, or 

 country north of the Punjab, or those of the Rajpoot country. We 

 know little of the minerals of Chinese Toorkistan, except that coal is 

 burnt at Ela^ in that country ; and some mistakes have probably been 

 committed in assigning the situations of mines in independent Toor- 

 kistan. With respect to the structure and general composition of the 

 hills and mountains, it is needless offering conjectures ; the hills seen 

 by us were plainly secondary. Soft and composite rocks appear 

 to be very common in Afghanistan, and hence it is that in a country 

 so mountainous, few houses are built of hewn stone. The valley of 

 Kushmeer is peculiarly destitute of stones proper for building ; wood 

 at the same time is cheap and abundant, and therefore the inhabitants 

 erect lofty houses of that material. Good flints are found in many 

 places in the south-east of Bactria, (from whence they are brought to 

 Cabul) in some low hills in the districts of Muro, in those west of 

 Sindh, and doubtless many more. Upper Bungush produces a mar- 

 ble much esteemed. 



Section II. — Of Vegetables. 



115. The present is a subject on which little is known. What 

 here follows being also very imperfect, it is needless to affect nice divi- 

 sions, and it is enough if we distinguish plants into three classes * 

 first, grasses and small succulent plants; — second, shrubs; — third, 

 trees. 



1st. Of Grasses, §c. 



116. It is moisture which chiefly encourages the growth of herbage. 

 Those countries however are not the most verdant in which the 

 greatest quantity of water falls in the year, but those in which 

 there are many days of rain, dew, and mist. The water which falls 

 in low latitudes, does so generally in a short space of time, and with 

 great violence, so that drought prevails during the greater part of the 

 year; hence warm countries are seldom verdant. We should be in 

 error if we supposed that heat, as distinguished from drought, was 



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