867 



A Geographical Notice of the Valley of Jullalabad. By Capt. G. H. 

 MacGregor, C. B. 



1. The country which is subject to the control of the Governor of 



. , Jullalabad is the valley of the Cabul river, but it is gene- 

 Geographical ° 

 Notice. rally termed Ningrahar, or Nungnihar, the former be- 

 ing a corruption of the latter word, which signifies in the Affghan 

 language nine rivers, or rivulets, and has reference to those by which 

 the valley is intersected. 



2. The Khybur mountains cross the valley at its eastern end ; the 



snowy ridge of Soofaid Koh forms its Southern boundary ; 



the hills of Kourkutcha, and Seah Koh, and the desert 

 of Gumbeer, trace its Western limits ; and on the North it is bounded 

 by the primary and inferior ranges of the Safee and Momund hills, 

 which are separated by the Coshkote river. 



3. The Cabul river flows through the Northern part of the valley, and 

 its direction is East by South, and West by North ; on its left bank from 

 Lalpoorah to Kama, a distance of about thirty-five miles, lie the Mo- 

 mund, (Be-doulut) hills ; in some places they form ridges which ad- 

 vance and overhang its banks, and then bend back and form the plains 

 of Goshta and Kama : at the confluence of the Hoshkote and Cabul 

 rivers, the valley opens out to the North, and forms the fertile districts 

 of Shiwah Shegee and Beysoot; the two latter are divided by a low 

 ridge of barren hills, called Tungee Phagoo. The Northern boundary 

 of Shiwa, which skirts the Safee hills, may be estimated at fifteen 

 miles from the left bank of the Cabul river, and the mean width of 

 these districts, limited on the East by the Koshkote river, and on the 

 West by the Gumbeer desert at six miles. This part of the valley is 

 not generally considered as belonging to Nungnihar, but as it bears 

 on the Koshkote river, which is one of those that give origin to the 

 term, it seems to me to be very properly included under the deno- 

 mination 



4. On the South side of the Cabul river are the plains of Jullalabad, 

 Chardeh, Butteekhote, Besh Boolay and Dukka,. The first men- 

 tioned are divided by the Alee Boghan hills, termed by the natives 

 ' Soorkh Dewar ;' these cross the valley, and form a low connecting 

 ridge between the Momund hills and the Soofaid Koh. The plain 



