586 Notes on Geology and Mineralogy of Afghanistan, 



to be the only agent which could have brought them so far 

 from their natural sites, for had glaciers ever descended from 

 any of the ranges which bound the valleys of Afghanistan 

 in the southern tracts of which I am speaking, they must 

 naturally and of necessity have followed the direction of the 

 valleys and the drainage of the country, instead of crossing 

 the district transversely ; besides which the configuration of 

 all these valleys is such as to preclude the possibility of any 

 glacier crossing the country from west to east, for they one 

 and all present a sloping surface from either side towards 

 the centre, which generally more or less forms the line of 

 drainage towards the south, and these slopes are invariably 

 covered over with fragments of rocks, chiefly volcanic, and 

 diminishing in frequency as they recede from the ranges, 

 which on either side, wall in the valleys. Besides which 

 there are no accumulations of debris against the sides of any 

 of the ranges, to indicate the transverse passage of glaciers, 

 nor indeed is it possible that they could so have passed, 

 because it is only reasonable to suppose that at the time when 

 these southern ranges produced glaciers, the higher and 

 more northerly mountains with which they are connected, 

 were likewise covered with ice; and in such case the passage 

 of the northern glaciers would have been down the sloping 

 valleys towards the southern desert, sweeping with them or 

 before them, the glaciers of the district of which I am speak- 

 ing. 



In the valley of the Argandab, the river has carved its 

 channel along the eastern side, leaving a very narrow strip 

 between it and the limestone range, dividing it from the Can- 

 dahar valley ; consequently the right bank is the highest 

 ground, and slopes up rapidly for some miles towards the 

 base of the Shah-muksood range, which is in some places very 

 lofty, and furnishes evidence of greater volcanic irruption 

 than any other range which I had an opportunity of examin- 

 ing. Vast masses of basalt and greenstone not only run 



