KARABAGH. 



371 



for one rupee each, large sheep two rupees : dhal, atta, barley procura- 

 ble ; and Herat rugs. 



To-day the native troops were put on short rations of twelve 

 chatacs ; servants, etc. on eight. Horsemen to the number of 100 ? 

 came to meet the Shah, all mounted on decent ponies, but quite inca- 

 pable of coping with our irregular horse. Barometer 23*305, thermo- 

 meter 87°. Wooll. new thermometrical barometer 697*6, old 595*8. 



From 11 p. m. to 12 p. m. heavy rain ; very heavy for about twenty 

 minutes, with a threatening aspect in the horizon at 7 a. m. to south 

 by east, from which direction the rain came : thunder and lightning ; 

 latter very frequent. 



18M. — Entered the district of Karabagh, distance to our present 

 place of encampment from that we had left eight and a half miles. The 

 road decent, traversing several watercuts, one or two ravines, and a 

 small stream, indeed water becomes more abundant to-day than 

 in almost any other march : our direction lay the same as before, 

 but as we approached the low hills, separating us from Ghuznee plain, 

 we proceeded more east in order to turn them. The features of the 

 country are the same, together with the vegetation, the only novelty 

 being a genuine Statice and a Cruciferous plant, which I observed 

 at Mookhloor, and a Composita, Echinops spinis radiantibus con- 

 tinued. The medicated suffruticose Artemisia : Joussa in old culti- 

 vation, and Peganum are the most common plants. 



Grass abundant along the cuts and streamlets, mixed with a pretty 

 new Astragalus, and the Astragalus of Mookhloor, Coryposita depressa, 

 etc. 



The valley narrowing, we halted at the foot of low hills, which we 

 are yet to traverse ; the ground about our camp stony and barren, pro- 

 ducing Astragalus, thorny Staticoides, Centaurea spinosa, Verbascum, 

 and Thapsus. 



The soil of the plain good and deep, as instanced by ravines, and the 

 deep beds of streamlets. Cultivation is abundant, villages numerous, 

 and, as usual, all walled ; their form generally square, with a bastion 

 at each corner, and often two at each face, in which there is a gate. 

 The people are very confident of their own security in these parts, 

 crowding to our camp with merchandise. The country continues bare 

 of trees, except about some of the villages ; northern boundary hills 

 lofty ; a curious snow-like appearance is occasionally produced from 

 denudation of land slips, like a long wall running along one of the 

 ridges : southern hills distant, presenting limestone characters. 



