ars are good, of good breadth, well covered in by flat
ornamented roofs: the shops are clean, and well laid out. Shoemakers and
leather-workers, and fruiterers, are the most common: there are
armourers, blacksmiths, drapers and bakers. Hindoos and Mussulmen
intermixed, form the population. There is great bustle and activity,
everywhere profusion of fine fruit, especially melons, grapes, and apples
are presented.

_13th_.--I ascended this morning the ridge above us, up which the wall
runs; the ascent is, after surmounting the summer-house of Shah Zumaun,
considerably steep, and very rugged. The highest position of the wall is
1,150 feet above the city. It is eight feet high, and six or seven
thick, composed of slabs of the micaceous slaty stone of the place,
cemented by mud, with a parapet of two feet, generally of _kucha_, or
mud, with loopholes, and bad embrasures. It is furnished with bastions,
but is now in a ruinous state. It is a work completely thrown away. To
the south, the wall bends eastward, and is continuous with the outworks
of the upper citadel; to the north it dips into the gorge, and re-ascends
the hills on the opposite side.

From the peak, (which is not the highest point of the ridge, there being
two higher to the south, on the nearest of which is a mound, and a small
pillar) a beautiful view is obtained of Cabul, its valley, and its
mountains, together with the far more beautiful valley in which the army
is encamped.

The town itself presents an irregular outline, and is, with the exception
of some gardens towards its northern side, some lucerne fields near its
centre, and one or two open spots of small size, densely crowded with the
usual terraced-roofed, _kucha_, or mud houses, which are so close, as to
show no streets whatever.

There is not a single conspicuous building in it, with the exception of
the lower Bala Hissar and a mosque of small size on the right bank of the
river, occupying an open space near a garden, which alone renders it
distinct.

The Bala Hissar occupies the eastern corner: its outworks are regular
enough. It is surrounded by the remains of a wet ditch; its works have
been lately improved. Excepting the part occupied by the Shah, etc. the
space is crowded by houses exactly like the town. The fort to its south
and commanding it completely, is the upper citadel, and is altogether out
of repair; this continues the defence formed by the wall. The walls of
the city