BASSOOLLAH. 



421 



No water nor cultivation on the road, nothing can exceed its bar- 

 renness. iErua Nerioides, Lycioides, Andropogon albus, are the 

 principal plants on the plateau ; Kochia common, and a few strag- 

 gling Bheirs, small rock pigeons. Geology unchanged, sandstone and 

 conglomerate, with enormous boulders. 



We passed the gorge through which the Cabul river runs. The 

 road, by this is said to be only six miles, but is only passable by 

 pedestrians and horsemen. 



One village of some size is situated in the south towards Sofaid- 

 Koh ; from the plateau as well as from our camp, a curious and 

 characteristic scene is visible to the north, showing a barren lofty 

 range with peculiar undulations at the base, as well as the isolated 

 hills jutting up above its surface : the trees and villages being con- 

 fined to the course of the river which may be thus traced by its 

 fertility. In this last direction there is a good deal of Abadi, but 

 nothing comparable to that about Jallalabad. 



At camp Serratuloid australasicus, very common, as indeed it was 

 yesterday ; foliis verticalibus in consequence of both surfaces being 

 stomatose, the base of the leaf is so twisted as to present each surface 

 equally to the light. It is curious that all such leaves have the veins 

 prominent on both surfaces, showing a relation between the veins 

 and the stomata, the more stomata the larger veins. 



29th. — To Bassoollah, eight and a half miles, the road for guns is 

 good throughout ; better perhaps than any yet met with, from the 

 soil being sandy. We came by a straiter road, and a very bad one, 

 instead of diverging to the south, and rounding a range of hills, we 

 entered these, and passing through a gorge coming upon marshy 

 ground, running for some distance along the Cabul river, to which 

 we were here quite close. Passed several villages about the mouth 

 of the gorge, which is a short one. 



The general features of the country continue the same ; we crossed 

 a nullah near the camp, and another near the gorge, six miles from 

 camp, towards this last, grass covers the plains, though of a coarse 

 kind ; iErua Nerioides most common on the barren ground. 



We observed on the way a new Pterocles, and passed an old tope 

 situated on a low ridge. 



The gorge is rather pretty ; the Cabul river runs close, along the 

 foot of a range, forming the northern boundary of the place, where 

 Bassoollah is situated, this is also a pretty place, with much good 

 grassy ground for encamping on. 



