AFGHAN BOUNDARY COMMISSION. 189 



before reaching the outskirts of Mazar-i-Sharif the direct road 

 runs through the new cantonment of Takht-i-pul, a place of 

 considerable strength, with a ditch and double wall pierced by 

 massive gateways. It is said to have been the residence of the first 

 governor of Afghan Turkistan before Mazar was made the seat of 

 government. 



The Mazar of the present day is a very different place to that 

 described by Ferrier. Its gardens and orchards cover an area of 

 about four square miles, and the citadel and residence of the 

 governor as well as the far-famed mosque, the burial place of Ali, 

 are all in a state of flourishing repair, which is lamentably deficient 

 in most Turkestan cities. It is inhabited now chiefly by Afghans, 

 the Uzbeg population being rather on the decrease. As a trade 

 centre it is inferior to Tashkurghan, which occupies a better geo- 

 graphical position, but its climate is said to be far healthier, and as 

 the seat of government in Afghan Turkistan it certainly ranks first 

 among the cities north of the Hindu Kush. 



Between Mazar-i-Sharif and Tashkurghan the road passes over 

 an open plain, on the right of which are imposing cliffs presenting a 

 long uninterrupted line of straight wall rising sheer above the plain 

 to a height of from 4,000 to 5,000 feet, and forming the northern 

 edge of a vast plateau extending up to the Hindu Kush. 



Tashkurgan is about 35 miles nearly due east of Mazar, and about 

 a mile and a half from the gates of a magnificent gorge barely 

 40 feet wide at one point, with sheer cliffs on either hand thousands 

 of feet high, which leads towards Haibak. Tashkurghan is a large 

 and exceedingly picturesque town clustering round the slopes of a 

 sandstone hill, crowned by a fort and citadel. Its busy bazaar is 

 the great trade centre of the country. 



The conformation of the great plateau region, which embraces the 

 basins of the Band-i-Amir (or Balkh Ao), the Dara Yusuf, the Khulm, 

 and the Kunduz, is difficult to describe from its extreme irregularity. 

 North and east of the Balkh Ao there is a raised plateau rising 

 gently northwards and culminating in rounded knolls, the whole 

 region, except where intersected by the Dara Yusuf, being apparently 

 uninhabited. Captain Talbot visited the head waters of the Balkh 

 Ao, which are dammed by a succession of small lakelets, the 

 formation of which is ascribed to Ali. The course of the Dara 



