AFGHAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 181 



the size of the city. Local tradition is, however, quite silent as to 

 the origin and history of this city. 



Towards the north the Band-i-Turkistan mountains break up 

 into long, rough, and very irregular spurs, which have a tendency 

 to assume a plateau-like formation, with steep scarped cliffs flanking 

 broad and comparatively level flats. The mountain streams have 

 formed at the foot of these spurs broad alluvial plains, which are 

 rich and fertile and full of flourishing villages. The Kaisar, Ahnar, 

 and Maimana plains are of this nature. Maimana is an irregular 

 walled town, covering something less than a square mile in extent, 

 most picturesquely situated, with the snowy peaks of the Band-i- 

 Turkistan and Koh-i-Saf to the south and the rolling grass hills 

 of the clwl. Viewing the city from the Governor's residence in the 

 citadel, its general appearance was not unlike that of Oabul. The 

 bazaar was full of trade, and the mixture of races in its streets was 

 extraordinary. 



The hill districts to the east of Maimana, between that place and 

 the Balkh Ao, had been very little known previously. They were 

 surveyed in the spring of 1886 by Imam Sharif, and the results 

 of his observations and mapping form a good record. Skibrghan 

 is a walled town some 500 or 600 yards square, the walls being in 

 a very ruinous condition. The Ersari Turkomans bring in grain 

 and " pushin," which is purchased by the Peshawari bunniahs, and 

 take away in exchange salt, cloth, and other necessaries. Imam 

 Sharif reckoned that even in winter there are not 1,000 permanent 

 inhabitants. Round Saripul, which lies about 35 miles to the south, 

 there is a good deal of cultivation, Saripul and the adjoining district 

 of Sancharak being reckoned two of the richest districts in Afghan 

 Turkistan. They are especially famous for fruit. Saripul itself 

 is a small walled town, with the usual bazaar and citadel. Imam 

 Sharif surveyed a large portion of the intricate and difficult country 

 lying south of Saripul and about the water-parting between the 

 upper Murghab and Oxus tributaries. This region is remarkable for 

 deep gorges similar to those described by Conolly (vide supra, p. 178). 

 Cave villages were found in some of the defiles, the dwellings not 

 being entirely excavated, but half natural fissures in the strata and 

 half artificially constructed. Mr. Griesbach, of the Geological 

 Survey, remarks on these extraordinary deep gorges, which are due 

 to erosion. Some of them are scarcely wide enough to admit of an 

 unladen mule being driven through without considerable difficulty. 



