1012 Lieut. Irwin s Memoir of Afghanistan. [J)kc. 



some striking varieties ; black is the most common colour, but those 

 of the mountains from which issue the Beah and Sutluj are generally 

 white. The goats of the Kafeir's have sometimes very long horns, curi- 

 ously twisted ; those of the Wuzurous have sometimes long horns, 

 and each horn twisted as it were round itself, like the pillars of Jewish 

 architecture. In that great range of mountains from which the 

 Ganges and Jumna flow, we find even as far as the left of the Indus 

 a breed of goats of great size and strength, and the natives employ 

 them to carry commodities on roads not practicable to any other beast 

 of burden. 



160. In the Punjub the same animals are employed for carriage 

 and burden as in our provinces, and the properties are nearly the 

 same. Elephants, become rarer and rarer as you proceed westward. 

 Beyond the Indus an elephant draws as many spectators as an 

 European. In the Doab of the Hydaspes and Indus, mules are a good 

 deal used for carriage. In Sindh, the countries bordering to the east 

 of the Indian desert, and Bulochistan, camels are the chief beasts of 

 burden, and are cheap and good. With respect to the other countries, 

 we are to distinguish carriage as it may be, 1st, that of armies ; 2nd, that 

 of caravans or of persons making distant journies ; 3rd, that of farmers 

 on their own farms, or for the supply of provisions to towns, or distri- 

 bution of town manufactures in the neighbourhood, or the interchange 

 of commodities, within small or moderate distances. The chief car- 

 riage of the Persian army is by mules and strong ponies. The latter 

 are by no means so esteemed as the former, yet by reason of their 

 cheapness are actually found in the proportion of sixty or seventy to 

 one hundred of the whole. All other carriage is but inconsiderable. 

 Bullocks are not used except for dragging artillery, a use they are 

 also put to in the Doorany army. In both countries it would be much 

 more advisable to employ horses. Certain of the Loor tribes em- 

 ploy asses, and officers of rank who may have heavy baggage keep 

 some camels ; were it not for these last, the motion of an army would 

 be scarcely impeded by its baggage, for the camp followers who do 

 not in number exceed the fighting men are almost to a man mounted 

 on the sumpter animals of their masters. This constitution of their 

 army must alone give the Persians infinite advantages in a war with 

 Hindoostanee forces, incumbered with multitudes of timid attendants, 

 and impeded by a sluggish baggage. The Afghans, intermediate in 

 situation between those two nations, adopt in part the usages of both, 

 in this important particular, camels however are certainly the chief 

 carriage of their army, which generally makes slow marches. On oc- 



