The New Orleans daily Democrat., 1878-10-26
INDIAN AND AFGHAN.
TWE STRENGTH OF TME COMING FOES
THEIR RESOURCES AND CHHARAC-
TEREsTHCs.
The Afghan sat Home.

She Puniaub the nortwesternlnoEto OF the Brit
fst possessions, north of Beloochistan, and
east of Persia. It's eastern boundary Is a lit
Tie west Of the Indus river.
This country Is about GOO miles from east
TO west. and $50 miles from north to south,
leaving out certain provinces that are more
or less intimately connected with 1t. Including
these, It measures about 600 miles each way.
Such is the elevation Of this territory that
were the sea to rise four thousand feet, 1T
would cover only small portions Of it, such as
the lower part of the Kabul valley, some
ground near the Indus, aud triangle bounded
by lines from the lake of Seistan to Herat
thence to Kandahar, and back to the lake.
Were the sea to rise seven thousand feet, o
section of the country measuring two hum
sIred miles by two hundred and fifty miles
would be untouched.
or the natural divisions Of the country the
chief Is tho Kahu basin, and others are the
tahle-land on which stand Ghazn and Kant-
i-Ghilzai, the upper Hemand basin, the lower
Helnand basin, embracing Girish, Kandaba,
and the Afghan part of tho Seistan, the basin
OF the Herat river, and the eastern part of the
table land draining by streams. chiefly occa-
slonal torrents, toward tho Indus. The Al
ghans apply the name Kabul to the entire ka-
bul valley and call the rost Of their country
Khorasan. North OF
THE KABUL BASIN
the mountains Of the Hindoo Kush range rise
TO the regions Of perpetual snowy Even In the
passes snow Is rarely absent, apd glaciers OK
ist among the mountains. Tho height OF the
Kushan pass is estimated at $4,000 feet The
kabul Is decidedly the MOST important river
Of the city Of Kabul blythe junction of the
Kabul the Tagao, and "a third river coming
down from tho Hind6o Kush. Further east
two Or three large streams empty ~ into to- the s
Al NDht IA Pa oh nIFa
the Hindoo Kush ,/separates the valleys OF the
Kabul and the Hblmand Up the headwaters
of the stream that passes Kabul, leads the
chief road tofrurkestan, crossing for q brief
space into Khe Helmand basin by the easy
pass Of Up4Ai II 1920 feet, and then over the
Koh--bahfa, by the Hajgak pass (about $4,000
feet to Bamian.
TO thle south of the Kabul valley is the Safed
koh, fSpingar. an Alpine chain. attaining q
height OF 15.G22 feet. Among the spurs Of this
rap4ge are those formidable passes between
F.abul and JalaIabad in which the disasters
rof 1912 eliminated as well rs the famous
Khyber passes, Khoren Jalaabad, and Pes
hawar. The lowest ford on the kabul is q
bad one near Jalalabad, only passable at the
dry season. Below the place where the kunar
enters it, the river is deep and ,copious, cross
ed by ferries only except that there Is g
bridge Of boats at Naoshera, below Peshawar
Near Gaudawak, above Jalalabad there Is q
sudden descent OF the general surface amount
ing to 5000 feet. This causes a diiference OF
several weeks within few miles of the time
OF harvest.
and the Safed koh arc often clad with grand
forests Of pine, oak, and other Alpine trees
and often resemble the wooded ranges ,of
Iiimalaya. But the lower hills are generally
utterly woodess, and almost entirely naked:
On the bottoms often watered by clear and
copious streams. ore the beauties Of verdure
and fertility on which some travellers dwell
Generally the characteristics OF Afghans-
tan outside of the Kabul valley, known by the
Afphans as KhOrasan are
ELEVATED PLATEAUx
OF sandy or gravelly surface broken by ranges
OF rocky hills, and often expanding IN wide
spacesso Of arid waste, which terminates to the
southwest in n regular desert of shifting sand.
Even in cultivated parts there is o singular
absence Of trees. and when the crops are not
visible this imparts an aspect Of great desola-
ton and emptiness to the landscape.
In addition to Kabul, Ghazni, kandabar and
Herat there are not many towns OF any ac-
count In Afghanistan. Among the few are
Jalalabad 100 miles from Knbul and ninety
one from Peshawar. Between it and the lat
ter are the khybef passes, and between it
and the former are tho passes OF Jaldalak and
Khur Kabul It is situated on n highly cul-
tivated plain twenty-five miles long and three
or four wide
Istalf is u town twenty miles north-north-
west of Kabu, which was stormcd and de-
stroyed September 20, 1912, by force under
Gen. McCaskill, to punish the townspeople for
the massacre of the garrison of Charikar, aud
for harboring the murderers Of BURNS. The
town and its suburbs have q population OF
$4,000 people
,i,'. an", noi% , oJoT F IetIit WITH ThiIgo ia
W t,,et, n,S nol nt W" ,v"on w. ahayn and knndnhor
ha, ~ in,9 @ niIo f,o,' 10 lattar Tho rn
Is1oJ - the nfghons I'm in 1gl2 hv aennv oar
, pl1e y, ,dn. t" rant rraire VIC ono If tho
1lsol' uiuG, f+ 20 ti ,; o Girh,1 ID
& % % IA on - tn ,od from Eanda
bar to Herat, commanding the ordinary pass
ise tlld l Ny ~ Ri,i ioI fo ~, To- Iu9a ~ 1ado
~ ""7 'o'' ~ 'D' 80 '.',,l [ap'' '''' W 1''1'
AT kAbUh~
and oil over the northern part of the country
The winters are severe In Kabul the snow is
often several feet deep.
At Jalalabad the climate assumes an Indian
character and the fatal simeon is sometimes
felt The summer heat Is great all over AZ
ghanistan, especially in the districts border
ing on the Indus. In Khorasan during the