Notes on Geology and Mineralogy of Affyhanistan. 61 1 



If the mountains of India were of no greater elevation 

 than those of Afghanistan to the south of Cabul, there 

 would be no snows to feed the noble rivers which now ferti- 

 lize its broad plains, and it would consequently present an 

 appearance nearly as bare and sterile during the hot season 

 as Khorasan now does ; but besides the everlasting reser- 

 voirs of its lofty snowy ranges, India enjoys no small advan- 

 tage in the occurrence of its periodical rainy season, of which 

 AfFghanistan is totally deprived, the only rains it experiences 

 being those of winter, when cultivation is at a stand still. 

 The early melting of the snows fills every stream to over- 

 flowing during the spring months, but like all mountain 

 torrents, so rapidly does the water disappear, that it is almost 

 all gone before the summer has fairly set in, and from there 

 being no summer showers to refresh the earth, the greater 

 portion of the country continues arid and waste all the year 

 round. From these natural defects, if such we may presume 

 to call them where all is wisely ordered, the country can 

 never be rendered a rich one in an agricultural point of view, 

 though doubtless the expenditure of capital, if well directed, 

 might improve it vastly from what it now is ; but unfor- 

 tunately for AfFghanistan, security of property is wholly 

 unknown, and capital, alas ! is about as scarce as the water 

 itself: consequently it is to be feared, that a long day must 

 elapse ere its valleys can be made to wear a different and 

 more desirable aspect. 



4 K 



