1844.] Itinerary from Herat to Cabool via Candahar. 849 



villages did ; however, they still wear a veil, which partly conceals their 

 countenance. Their dress is of a peculiar shape, which somewhat ap- 

 proaches to the European. Their hair is divided in front by two long 

 plaits, which with married women are allowed to hang negligently over 

 their shoulders : but before marriage, they are studded with coins, and 

 partly cover the face before strangers. 



At Tazi, we were stopped by a chief of the Giljies, who living in- 

 dependently, and under no control, assumes the right of levying toll 

 upon all caravans : the tax is not fixed, but taken according to his own 

 will and pleasure. He was most arbitrary with us, seizing any of our 

 arms to which he took a fancy, and seeming to be much surprised, as 

 well as offended at our attempting to prevent it. The plain about 

 Tazi was the scene of a bloody battle between Shah Zamoon and Ma- 

 homed Shah, sons of Timour, and who disputed the throne of Afghanis- 

 tan ; the former in losing the battle, was also deprived of his eye- sight 

 by his brother. 



A stranger in passing this country on the approach of winter, would re- 

 mark the number of poles erected in all the villages, and to which are sus- 

 pended the carcases of sheep, salted and hung to dry, as their food during 

 this season ; which practice they probably learnt from their neighbours. 



The village of Mokur is situated close under the southern face of 

 the Goolkun chain, which defends it from the strong wind of the north ; 

 near the village is the source of the Turnuk river, and in which are 

 found plenty of fish of a good kind. 



The people of this hamlet are exceedingly obliging, lodging all stran- 

 gers in their houses, and their cleanliness, so unusual in the East, would 

 make one fancy they were settlers from another country. Six coss be- 

 yond the hills, which border the plain towards the south, is the salt 

 lake of Zourmal. 



From Mokur we continued our journey to Guzni. In traversing the 

 plains of Kuzabak and Nani, in advance of this, the country is covered 

 with numbers of small villages, each enclosed by a mud wall with small 

 towers at the angles ; this manner of protecting the villages is very 

 common in Asia, but above all, in Affghanistan, where the number of 

 civil wars that have constantly taken place, have rendered this mode of 

 defence necessary ; as in case of danger, it offers a place of refuge, and 

 enables them to keep what they possess in safety. 



