328 Notes on Kajiristan. [No. 4s. 



barley, and arzdn or millet, together with small quantities of riee in 

 the low grounds in the southern parts of the country : for only those 

 who have been much among Muhammadans, and have seen it cooked, 

 know how to boil it. A few varieties of vegetables and greens are 

 grown wherever the land is suitable. They use the spring-water 

 for drinking purposes, having no wells; and the fields are entirely 

 dependent on rain, or are irrigated artificially from the innumer- 

 able small streams Intersecting the country, wherever the situation 

 ol the ground enables them to distribute the water by means of 

 small cuts or channels. The quantity of land conveniently situated 

 for this purpose is by no means great ; and it is necessary to cul- 

 tivate all the smallest available spots on the sides of mountains, and 

 often on the terrace-like ridges. Many of the latter are artificial, 

 and formed after the employment of great labour, time, and perse- 

 verance: indeed, no favourable bit of land, be it ever so small, is 

 neglected. This somewhat unfavourable situation of the tillable 

 land, and the often barren nature of the soil in many parti of the 

 country, compels the people to depend, in a great measure, on the 

 produce of their herds and flocks, and on their orchards and fruit- 

 gardens, for subsistence. 



The slopes and ravines of the Hindu Kush, as well as many of the 

 lower ranges of hills, are generally covered with primeval forests, 

 containing trees of immense size, the growth of ages, especially the 

 diflerent kinds of pine and fir, such as the deodar, chilghozah, and 

 five or six other sorts ; the oak ; hazel ; alder ; zaitiin (wild olive) 

 chinar (plane); horse-chesuut ; di'ar; shishain (Sisu Dalbergia) 

 karkarah (species of fir) ; tut (mulberry) ; anandar ; joz (walnut) 

 rut; sanjit (jujube tree, or Eleagnus orieutalis ?) ; together with 

 several others. In the year 1849, when the Bombay troops were 

 at Peshawer, the late Surgeon J. P. Malcolmson collected some 

 twenty-five or thirty specimens of timber from the vicinity, amongst 

 which were many hard, strong, and useful kinds of wood. Many of 

 the specimens of fir and pine were dark and heavy from the quantity 

 of turpentine they contained, and were just the same in appearance 

 as the Riga deals we see in England. 



The dense forests of pine and other trees supply the people of 

 these Alpine regions with an inexhaustible stock of fuel, as well as 



