GEOGRAPHICAL SURVEYS AND EXPLORATIONS. 133 



Embassy at Kabul. An immediate advance was ordered, and 

 two survey parties were organized, one under Major Woocltborpe to 

 proceed under General Sir F. Roberts, the other under Captain 

 Holdich to join the column under General Bright via Peshawar and 

 Jalalabad. Eventually both parties met at Kabul, where they made 

 the most of every opportunity of acquiring a geographical know- 

 ledge of the adjoining country, and in continuation of the preceding 

 surveys operated westwards and southwards up to the Pugh- 

 man range and over almost all the country which is drained by 

 the Logar, Shiniz, and other affluents of the Kabul river. In 

 Southern Afghanistan some additional geography was obtained 

 between Kandahar and Girishk and along the valleys to the west 

 and north-west of Kandahar. A connexion with the operations in- 

 Northern Afghanistan was also made by the survey of the route 

 from Kandahar to Ghazni through the Khushk-i-rud, Tarnak, and 

 Ghazni valleys. In Baluchistan a rough reconnaissance was made 

 of a considerable portion of the country north of Sibi inhabited by 

 the Marri tribes, and detailed surveys were commenced in the 

 plains around Sibi and Dadur. 



The party under Major Woodthorpe reached Ali-Khel on the 

 4th October, a few days after the force under General Sir F. Roberts 

 had advanced on Kabul. It was not till the end of the month that 

 they proceeded on to that city, an interval which enabled Major 

 Woodthorpe to connect the triangulation of the Kuram valley with 

 that of the Logar and Kabul valleys, and thus establish the 

 continuity of the series from Thull round by way of Kabul to 

 Jalalabad. Mr. Ogle, of Major Woodthorpe' s party,- was detained 

 in the Kuram valley, and accompanied General Tytler's column into 

 the Zaimukht country, west of Kohat, where he secured topography 

 to the extent of 880 square miles in country which was very little 

 known, after which he joined the rest of the party at Kabul, where 

 Captain T. H. Holdich, R.E., as the senior departmental officer, 

 had assumed charge of the operations in Northern Afghanistan. 



On the occupation of Kabul and partial investment of Sherpur bv 

 Mahomed Jan's forces in December, the officers of the survey had 

 to help in the construction of defensive works, but after the defeat of 

 Mahomed Jan Captain Holdich and Major Woodthorpe accompanied 

 a brigade to the Koh Daman and mapped a portion of the country 

 on the J-inch scale and established two trigonometrical stations 

 there. The former then joined General Bright's division in the 

 Lughman valley, between Kabul and Jellalabad, on the north side of 



