XX 



NOTICE OF WILLIAM GRIFFITH. 



and back again. I never saw a more singular place, and never enjoy- 

 ed myself more: we crossed several high ridges between 1 1 and 13,000 

 feet, but so poor is the flora that I have only added 200 species to 

 my catalogue, now amounting to 1200 species instead of 2,400 as 

 I fully expected. But I must say I was as much pleased at the ac- 

 quisition of a genuine Salmo in the Bamean river (which is a tri- 

 butary of the Oxus,) as at any thing. 



" Unfortunately we were so hurried, that I had only one afternoon 

 and that an unfavourable one, for indulging in my fishing propensi- 

 ties : the chief fish seems to come very near the English trout, 

 and so far as I can judge, is not found on this side the Himalaya. 

 The other fish of these rivers are a fine Schizothorax or Oreinus, 

 allied to the Adoee, a flat-headed Siluroid, a loach, and a small 

 Cyprinus. This is a singular country, quite unlike any thing I have 

 seen, and as distinct from the Himalaya in its vegetation, etc. as can 

 well be imagined. Generally it is very barren, and after travelling 

 over so much of the country I have yet seen only three parts of it 

 decently cultivated. It is reported to be rich in minerals. 



" But it will never bear comparison with Hindoostan. It is how- 

 ever capable of much improvement. It consists of a succession 

 of barren valleys, divided from each other by barren ridges, and is 

 generally deficient in the great fertilizer of all things — water. There 

 is scarcely an indigenous tree in the whole country, and generally 

 very few cultivated ones, except about Cabul, although they have 

 poplars and willows well suited to the climate. It has been sub- 

 jected to so much misrule that the natives have become indifferent 

 to its improvement, (if they ever felt alive to any such interest.) The 

 Zoology is very poor, quite at zero. There is a species of Ibex, 

 an Ovis, and a Capra, which from the frequency of their heads and 

 horns about sacred places and gateways of towns, must be common ; 

 but I have never seen more than a portion of one fresh specimen of the 

 sheep. Furs are brought from the Hindoo-koosh, but are all too 

 mutilated to be of any use, except to a Zoologist with antiquarian 

 eyes : one Jerboa. Hares are rather common in some parts, and about 

 here there is a Lagomys. Of birds there are but few, but as the vege- 

 tation is chiefly vernal, these creatures may perhaps be abundant. 

 The game birds are quail, three species of partridge, a huge Ptarmi- 

 gan ? Pterocles of Loodianah. The fauna is richest in Saurian 

 reptiles, and of these one might make a very good collection. I have 

 only seen two snakes, and both are I believe lost." 



