s and blocks of
stone, which strewed the way, were removed or blasted into pieces.

On the 23rd the Rangers, with the Horse Artillery battery and two
native regiments, marched towards Hazir-pir; but the difficulties
of the road were so great that they had to camp, for the night,
four miles short of that place. General Roberts and the
headquarters went forward the same day.

As the general passed along the road, the headmen of all the
villages near came and paid their respects; and the villagers lined
the roads as the troops passed, offering fowls, eggs, milk, and
dried fruit for sale. As William Gale had brought a supply of money
with him, he was able to indulge in all those luxuries and, indeed,
as the men had had few opportunities of spending money at Thull,
all were well supplied with cash.

The halt at Hazir-pir was, then, a very pleasant one. Supplies of
grass, fuel, and provisions were brought in, in considerable
quantities, there; but much difficulty arose in settling the terms
of purchase, as coin was almost unknown in the valley and,
therefore, there was no established price--one native being ready
to sell, for a few coppers, articles for which another demanded as
many pieces of silver. On the hills around a considerable number of
sheep were seen grazing; but the natives did not care about selling
these which, indeed, belonged for the most part, not to the
Turis--the tribe which inhabit the valley--but to nomad Ghilzais
who, like the Swiss shepherds, move about with their charges among
the mountains, wherever fodder is to be obtained.

Khuram valley, itself, is bare and monotonous. With the exception
of fruit trees planted round the villages, scarce a tree is to be
found; but each village is marked by a huge chunar--or oriental
plane--beneath which the villagers rest during the noonday heat.

But if the valley itself was bare and desolate, the scenery around
was lovely. The great range of mountains known as the Safaid-Koh
bound the valley on the east and north. This range averages 14,000
feet high, from which spurs run out at right angles, enclosing
narrower valleys, with broiling torrents rushing through boulders.
The slopes of these valleys are covered with luxuriant vegetation,
till the limit of trees is reached at a height of about 11,000
feet; above which, in winter, the snow lies thick while, in summer,
it furnishes the finest pasture to the Ghilzai flocks and herds.
The valley lands and the lower