900 Lieut. Irwin's Memoir of Afghanistan. [Nov. 



almond shrub (which when cultivated attains a great size) is very 

 common in many places, but its fruit is not eatable. An oil esteemed 

 in medicine is extracted from the stones both of this and the cultivated 

 sort. The oil of walnuts is so cheap in Kushmeer, that it is more used 

 in food than any other oil or fat. The tree requires a colder climate 

 than the mastich, but like it is found in the very cold ones. Where it 

 is naturally very abundant, it is not cultivated. A good tree in per- 

 fection will bear, it is said, forty thousand walnuts in a season, and 

 two thousand in Cabul fetch a rupee when cheap. The wood is good 

 for some purposes, by reason of its strength and hardness. The natives 

 are not accustomed to use olive oil in their food, but apply it to 

 medicinal purposes: this plant grows on most of the low hills. 

 Though it is not found in Cabi^l, Toorkistan, or Khoorasan, it is 

 plentiful in some places between the Euxine and Caspian. 



141. Nearly all the species of fruits cultivated in these countries are 

 also found natural in some parts of them, chiefly in the vallies of 

 cool and cold mountains. These are the apple, pear, cherry, plum, 

 apricot, peach, quince, and pomegranate. The fig, though found in 

 most of these climates seems yet to prefer the warm. The naring, 

 a species of wild orange, grow on the hills south west of Kushmeer. 



142. Of these countries Kushmeer has probably the greatest variety 

 of indigenous species, and is at the same time as well wooded as any. 

 It may be remarked that the same situations are generally well 

 wooded which have been already described as favourable to the pine 

 (see paragraph 135), the steep sides of hills being favourable to its 

 growth, whether it be that forest trees love shelter, or because they are 

 here best secured from animals. The low hills are not so woody as the 

 high, being more affected by shrubs and low trees of little use as timber, 

 than by forest trees. On the whole these countries are but ill wooded, 

 though superior to Persia. Toorkistan, excluding the deserts of the 

 west, is on the whole superior to Afghanistan, and the northern 

 part of that country to the southern Bulochistan has very little 

 wood. The plains of these countries have naturally but few trees 

 and (contrary to what takes place in most countries of Europe) 

 they become better wooded with the progress of cultivation. Few 

 of the natives plant for timber, but a good deal is yielded from the 

 numerous orchards of the countries of the west, which have been 

 planted for fruit. 



(To be continued.) 



