480 



CABUL TO KOHI-BAB A. 



hen, wild ducks on the lake, and Merops; almost all these as at 

 Khujgal, but no minas, or Edolia. 



At Urghundy occurs Potentilla quinquifolia, repens radicans pubes- 

 cens, stipulis oblongis. 



28th. — Halted at Koti-Ashruf. The most common plants on the 

 Khak-i-Sofaid pass are two or three of the small pulvinate Statices, 

 Senecionoides glaucescens. The yellow Asphodelus is very common, 

 and I also saw A. mesembryanthemifolia. At the foot of the pass, I 

 saw Scabiosa, which also occurred on the summit. 



First march on the Cabul side of Ghuznee. Whole tracts blue with 

 the Labiata Plectranthoides ; at Urghundy, along a watercut, are plant- 

 ed several willows of the common large-leaved kind, the bark of these 

 'on all the older parts is cracked longitudinally, and the trunk has 

 the appearance of being twisted, which I have no doubt is the natural 

 state, the spire is from left to right. The prevailing winds are easterly. 



Bean cultivation is very common in the valley of the Cabul river to 

 the west beyond trie Khak-i-Sofaid pass ; I suspect it requires a greater 

 altitude than most of the other cultivated plants of Affghanistan, it 

 abounds in the high ground about Shaikhabad. 



29th. — Proceeded in the morning from Julraize to Sir-i-Chushme. 

 The fish of the place are the same, the Silurus being common. The 

 two sorts of Oreinus vary much in the length of the intestinal canal, — 

 the yellowish and large one having it five times : the small and less 

 yellowish, three and a half lengths of the body. Both these species 

 come close to Barbus, showing that the spinosity of the cforsal fin is a 

 more valuable character than that of the form of the mouth. 



The cartilaginous disc of Oreinus is a reflection outwards of the 

 osseocartilaginous part of the mouth, the fleshy part alone is the lips. 

 Oriolus, Upupa, and Percnopterus, continue with Columba. Grapes 

 and apricots khar see, and the common ones reach as far as this, but 

 are very inferior to those of Cabul ; rice cultivated here and there. 

 The chief trees are Populus lombardensis, Salix magnifolia, and S. 

 pendula, Hippophae. 



At Koti-Ashruf Salix angustissima is found, and on it Cuscuta 

 gigantea ; on to-day's march Hippophae, but this is found also at 

 Maidan : Merops was heard at Koti-Ashruf. In the spring of Sir-i- 

 Chushme, a Typhoid plant occurs in profusion, Veronicas 2, alta et 

 repens rotundifolia, Nasturtium aquatica, Scrophularia of Julraize, 

 Juncus, Triglochin, and Plantago of the green sward, everywhere 

 between 6,000 and 11,000 feet. 



