Journals of Travels in Assam, Burma, Bhootan, Afghanistan and the Neighbouring Countries Part 54

At s.h.i.+karpore the same.

The most common fruit tree in the gardens here is a sweet lime: grapes are brought in from the villages of Sofaid-Koh, they are the same sort as those at Gundamuck: Narcissus, Rosa, Cerasi sp., Mirabilis, stock, Cupressus, mulberry also in gardens, _Bheir_ of waste places, Salsola, Artemisiae, two or three: Kochia villosa, Peganum, AErua, Croton of Candahar, Ricinus, _Joussa_ of wet places, Lippia, Typha latifolia, angustif., Azolla, Riccia, Cyperaceae, several Lythrarieae, Potamogeton, three species. The fish here will not take a fly, and the bottoms are too foul and stony for worm-fis.h.i.+ng, the largest sort of fish is somewhat like a Barbel. Jackdaws and Corvus, alter atratus, dorso ventre griseo: very few quails. _Furas_ common.

_27th_.--To Ali-Baghan, distance six and a half miles, road winding, generally good: after it crossed the dry bed of the nullah, it then becomes rather undulated extending over raviny ground; it then crosses the broad bed of the stream, in which there are swarms of bulrushes, then the same sort of sandy ground leads to camp, which is near the village Ali-Baghan.

The river here is much increased, much more deep; banks alluvial, steep; soil deep. Chenopodium sp., very common, but too much eaten up to be recognized, also Salsolae sp.

Nothing new observed. We pa.s.sed the break above-mentioned in the northern hills, whence issues the Coomur Nuddee. Serratuloides very common in sandy undulations. Porcupines and foxes. Beds of gra.s.s in islands of the river Barikab.

_28th_.--We proceeded to Bankok, twelve and a half miles from the encamping ground, having turned nearly due south, in order to avoid the slope, which is seen in this direction from Jallalabad; then a valley, with low hills on either side, is pa.s.sed; then the road ascends over undulating ground, until 500 feet is gained; then a long and gradual descent is traversed over a very stony plateau.

No water nor cultivation on the road, nothing can exceed its barrenness.

AErua Nerioides, Lycioides, Andropogon albus, are the princ.i.p.al plants on the plateau; Kochia common, and a few straggling _Bheirs_, small rock pigeons. Geology unchanged, sandstone and conglomerate, with enormous boulders.

We pa.s.sed the gorge through which the Cabul river runs. The road, by this is said to be only six miles, but is only pa.s.sable by pedestrians and hors.e.m.e.n.

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 confined 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 Ba.s.soollah, 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 straighter road, and a very bad one, instead of diverging to the south, and rounding a range of hills, we entered these, and pa.s.sing through a gorge coming upon marshy ground, running for some distance along the Cabul river, to which we were here quite close. Pa.s.sed 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, gra.s.s covers the plains, though of a coa.r.s.e kind; AErua Nerioides most common on the barren ground.

We observed on the way a new Pterocles, and pa.s.sed 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 Ba.s.soollah is situated, this is also a pretty place, with much good gra.s.sy ground for encamping on.

The country under Sofaid-Koh presents a long strip of cultivation, with many villages: hills barrener than ever, chiefly limestone. Very little snow here observed as on the eastern face of the high peaks of Sofaid- Koh, compared with the quant.i.ty visible on the face towards Jallalabad.

About half-past two, a slight shock of an earthquake was felt, presenting a rumbling noise, very audible, proceeding from east to west.

Between the village and the river, an extensive strip of level land occurs, with sandy soil well adapted to rice, of which quant.i.ties are grown. The crops are now ready for the sickle, and some partly cut: much of this land is occupied by a marsh choked with bulrushes of both sorts, Typha latifolia being the most common; Cyperaceae abound, Marsilea in profusion, Azolla, Mentha, Epilobii sp. as before, Lemna, Valisneria _verticillata_? Sium., Sagittaria, Pulicaria, Chara, Lippia, Monniera, _Jhow_.

The river runs close under the hills, which are very barren, its course is rapid, cataracts also are of frequent occurrence transmitting a great body of water; no fish are visible. Some cotton and maize and _Toot_ cultivation. _Furas_ the only trees.

The mountains slope off from Sofaid-Koh in distinct groups, and are seen to advantage, broken in some places into undulations: about the centre of the slope an irregular strip of village forts and cultivation is extended. The course of the Cabul river in many places is curious; flowing between singularly round ranges. Snipe common; quail rare.

Erythraea common on moist sward.

_30th_.--Proceeded to Lalpore, the country undulating, the road skirting the stony portions of the plain is bad to Hizarnow, three miles from thence it is very stony, thence continuing on the skirts of the hills, which are princ.i.p.ally slate, and pa.s.sing through a small ravine, it then extends over sandy or stony ground, until the Chota Khyber is reached: this is a narrow, but short, and not very steep pa.s.s; slate rocks compose the upper parts, and are entirely disintegrated, thence they descend at once into the plain opposite Lalpore; the distance of the march is eleven miles, the road generally decent.

Much rice cultivation occurs, and much land, it must be confessed, also occupied by marshy ground, Typha, etc. The same plants continue; Butomus trigonifolius not uncommon.

On the slate rocks of b.u.t.tencote Kochia recurs, Heliotropium luteum, Nerioides, and Lycioides of s.h.i.+karpore are found.

Near Hizarnow, Serissa, Acaciae sp., which is the black wood of Madras; Sissoo, and _Bheirs_. Hizarnow is a large place, curiously occupying receding slopes of the base of a low range of hills, but it must be dreadfully hot. We pa.s.sed several _Kaburistans_ with pollarded, stunted, excavated _Furas_ trees. One mile before Hizarnow, a curious hill of slate occurred, covered with boulders.

The road is very winding in consequence of its following the bases of the hills forming the southern boundary of the valley. The Cabul river is visible almost throughout the whole march.

All houses in the villages are now roofed in this part of the country with straw. Starlings observed in swarms.

_31st_.--Halted at Lalpore, this is a very busy large place: the houses are one-storied, and flat-roofed. The only peculiarity being occasional square towers. The river is here quite open for commerce downwards, and is well adapted to small canoes: the stream is rapid and crossed by a ferry.

On rocks under which the river flows near this, a species of Fissidens occurs, where the rocky surface has pa.s.sed into sand. Glycyrrhiza, Rubus, Artemisia, Asparagus, Pommereulla, Andropogon albus, Arundo, Cyrthandracea, an Hyoscyamus of the Bolan Pa.s.s, Beebee Nanee, Heliotropium flavum.

It would be curious to enquire why the powers of variation change so completely in the different families? Thus for instance in Orchideae, no character can be taken from the vegetation with some limitations, and none from the fruit or seeds; two products in most orders very fruitful in discriminating marks. This leads one to the idea that in monocotyledonous plants, the fruit is very generally of limited powers of variation; witness Orchideae, Gramineae, Smilacineae, etc. this idea deserves to be followed out as much as possible. The river at the ferry is 100 yards wide, and twelve feet in the deepest part, the current five miles an hour, but confined to one and a half towards its centre.

_November 1st_.--Marched ten miles: the road from the camp extended up an acclivity, the ground becoming more broken than usual to the mouth of the ghat, which is four miles distant; thence up to the ghat which resembles much the Bolan Pa.s.s, it extends up an inclined plane over a s.h.i.+ngly road. The ghat is rather wide throughout, and all the features are the same as the Bolan Pa.s.s, slate rocks most common. We pa.s.sed on the way a large and a deep but dry well, ascribed to the _kafirs_; and near it the ruins of a fort built half-way up a small mountain, the top of which is level with the ghat.

Vegetation to the ghat unchanged. In the ghat Capparis as before, Lycioides, Chamaerops, Andropog. albus, Schaenanthus, _Bheir_, Nerioides, Pommereullioid, Andropogonea, appear at once, AErua, Asparagus.

At 300 feet up, Mimosae sp., foliis tomentosis, occurring here and there.

Heliotropium flavum, Plectranthus lavandulosus, Scrophulariae sp.

At 500 feet, Dodonaea: this is very common, and being very green, gives the ghat a pretty appearance.

At 600 feet, a curious pomaceous looking Rhamnaceous plant is found.

The most common plants are Nerioides, Andropogon albus, _Bheir_, Chamaerops, Dodonaea.

The bed of the ghat is formed of debris from the boundary hills, this bed is very thick, and the particles have the appearance of being carried to their present situation by water.

Our halting place is a confined irregular piece of ground, water abundant, but no gra.s.s, except coa.r.s.e Andropogon; no fodder, except _Bheir_ and Mimosa.

I ascended in the evening the ridge to the south, and which is 1,200 feet above the road, to the ruins that run along the summit. The ridge, like all others in this neighbourhood, is rugged and much distorted, the top is limestone, much varied and weathered; then slate ma.s.ses of greenstone occur towards the base.

The vegetation is chiefly at the summit. Schaenanthus, Periploca, Dodonaea, an arbuscula nova, Euonymus, Chenopodiaceae. Below this, (but the elevation is scarcely sufficient to form any difference,) and along the water, Euonymus, Adhatoda, Buddlaea cana or Syringia, Rhamnacea, Periplocea, Linaria, l.a.b.i.atae, 2-3, Pistacea, Roylea, Acanthoides, _Urticea_! habitu, U. penduliflorae, Vitex, Convolvulus spinosus of Bolan, Sempervivum, Stapelioides used as a vegetable, and for fever by Hindoos, Artemisiae, Solanum sp.

Along water, Adiantum, Mentha, Epilobium, Verbena officinalis, Solanum nigrum, Jacquinifol. pinnatif. spinosus about cultivation.

On slaty rocks which form the bed of the ravine or ghat, Dodonaea, Hyoscyamus, and Cyrthandracea are found.

The building consists of a wall near the edge of a ridge, which terminates some twenty feet from the steep precipice of 300 to 500 feet: it is 200 to 300 yards in length, and is terminated at either end by two towers, both of which are ruinous, it is built of slabs and rough blocks of limestone, between which are layers of slate, much like the Bactrian pillar, and very superior to modern buildings: what its use was, it would be difficult to conjecture as it is out of musket shot of the ghat, which it only commands by being above it. There is no water on the top, nor is there any well-marked path up to it: curious mortar-like excavations were observed in a ma.s.s of limestone just below, probably for pounding rice.

Up the ravine are remains of terraces formerly used for cultivation, but now mostly disused. At 700 to 800 feet above the ghat the ravine abounds with the Ficus of Gundamuck; this and the Adhatoda or _Rooss_ are perhaps cultivated: the ravine is pretty well entangled with Ficus and brushwood.

It consists of metamorphosed rocks and excavated limestone; some mosses occur, and Adiantum abounding.

From the ridge, a rather extensive view to the south is obtained, extending to the Khyber fort, which is of the ordinary square form, and just below it, a tower and house. To the east, and all around a good deal of cultivation occurs; also several high ridges, say 7,000 feet; one terminating 4,000 feet above us, presents a very rugged outline with the appearance of rather large trees. The road up to the ghat is visible, as well as the _Choky_ and a fort, with a small sheet of cultivation to the eastward. Beyond this a ravine, then two other ridges, of which the nearer one is high. The Cabul river pa.s.ses to the NNW., and Lalpoor lies to the north. One peak and a small piece of ridge of Hindoo-koosh, white with snow, is seen very distinctly though distant, it must therefore be very lofty; far more so than any part we have seen to the westward.

[Khyber Pa.s.s: p425.jpg]

_Description of the annexed map of the Khyber Pa.s.s_.

A. k.u.mdhukta. By this is Abkhanah route.

B. Little Khyber ghat, on Peshawur side.

C. Khyber ghat, entrance on the Jallalabad side.

D. Kurraha route.