ough which we had been travelling
ever since we left Cabul. The aspect of the country in the immediate
vicinity of our path has been well described by one of the most
lamented victims to Affghan ingratitude and treachery. "If the reader
can imagine," writes Sir Alexander Burnes, "a plain about twenty
miles in circumference, laid out with gardens and fields in pleasing
irregularity, intersected by three rivulets which wind through it by
a serpentine course, and dotted with innumerable little forts and
villages, he will have before him one of the meadows of Cabul." To
complete the picture the reader must conceive the grey barren hills,
which, contrasting strongly with the fertility of the plains they
encompass, are themselves overlooked by the eternal snows of the
Indian Caucasus. To the English exile these valleys have another
attraction, for in the hot plains of Hindoostan artificial grasses are
rarely to be found, and the rich scent of luxuriant clover forcibly
reminds the wanderer of the sweet-smelling fields of his native land.

But these pleasing associations were soon dispelled by the steep and
rugged features of the pass through which we ascended on leaving the
plain. It is called the Suffaed K[=a]k or White Earth, and we found by
the barometer, that the gorge of the ravine was about a thousand feet
above our last encamping ground. The hills on either side were ragged
and abrupt, but of insignificant height: the length of the pass itself
was about two miles, and from its head to Koteah Shroof the road was
stony and difficult; but, as we had been careful at starting not to
overload our baggage animals, they got through their work without
being much distressed.

CHAPTER III.

I find it difficult to convey to the reader an adequate conception
of the strange character of the hilly country we had now entered: no
parts of Wales or even the varied groupings of the Swiss mountains
offer a correct analogy. After passing the defile of the Suffaed
K[=a]k the hills recede to a distance of about two miles on either
side of the road, and the whole space thus offered to the labours of
the peasant is very highly cultivated; but the barren rocks soon hem
in the narrow valley, and as you approach nearer and nearer you
find your enchanting gardens transformed into a dreary and desolate
defile,--this succession of small plots of fertile ground, alternating
with short rugged passes, extends to Julrez, ten miles beyond Kotea