390 



CABUL TO B AM E AN. 



through a gorge, on the left side of which on rugged rocky ground, 

 are the remains of a tower. The rocks here are mica slate, reposing 

 at a considerable angle, occasionally nearly vertical, The surface 

 is thinly vegetated, Silenacea, two or three Muscoides (981), Scro- 

 phularise sp., common, etc. (see Catal. 971, etc.) Beyond, the valley 

 again widens, presenting similar features to those just mentioned. 

 To the right side of the valley there is a beautiful narrow ravine, 

 bounded on the south with springs, to the north by a noble bleak 

 rugged ridge, with much snow ; it has the usual features, namely, 

 a shingly inclined plane between huge hills. The village of Sir-i- 

 Chushme is built on a rising ground or small spur, surrounded by 

 numerous springs which supply the source of the Cabul river ; the 

 bed of which above them is nearly dry. The springs abound with 

 the usual water plants, a Cinclidotoid moss in abundance, a Celtoid 

 tree stands over one spring ; Peganum continues. A shallow circular 

 pool occurs at the foot of the hills, on which the village is built ; it is 

 crowded with the peculiar Cyprinidae of these parts,* some of which 

 attain three pounds in weight, as also a small loach. f 



The cultivation throughout this valley is good. The soil is how- 

 ever heavy, but in places it gives way to a brown mould : rice is culti- 

 vated up to Julraiz, but not beyond, millet (Setaria), Indian- corn, 

 lucerne, mustard, beet root ; beans and peas are very common. 



Great pains are taken with watercuts, w r hich are led off into each 

 ravine that debouches into the valley, at elevations of sixty to eighty 

 feet above the river ; opposite each, the river where led off is bunded 

 across. The watercuts or courses are in some places built up with 

 stones. Apricot trees continue, also mulberries near Julraiz, but 

 they are not productive. 



Timber is cut in good quantities, and is floated down in the 

 spring to Cabul. We continue to meet flocks of sheep and camels 

 with Patans, Momums, and Ghilzees going to Cabul, thence to 

 Julallabad ; after selling their produce at Cabul, they return in the 

 summer to the same pasturages. 



The oxen used to tread out corn are muzzled : grain is winnowed 

 as in Europe by throwing it up in the wind, the corn falls nearest 

 the wind, the coarse chaff next, then the fine chaff. Sir-i-Chushme 

 is about the same height as the pass into the valley of the Cabul river. 



* Schizothoracinae. 



t Cobitis mannorata, see Calcutta Journal of Nat. Hist. Vol. II, p. 560, where 

 the Fishes collected by Mr. Griffith in these parts are described. 



