26th.—I went to see Mahmoud of Ghuznee’s tomb, which is situated in a largish and better than ordinarily built village, about two miles from the Cabul gate, on the road to Cabul, at a portion of the valley densely occupied with gardens. The situation is bad, and the building which appears irregular, quite unworthy of notice; it is situated among the crowded houses of the village, and to be found, must be enquired for.
At the entrance of the obscure court-yard which leads to it, there is a fine rivulet that comes gushing from under some houses, shaded by fine mulberry trees; in this court are some remains of Hindoo sculpture in marble; the way there leads past an ordinary room under some narrow cloisters to the right, then turning to the left one enters another court, on the north side of which is the entrance to the tomb; there is no architectural ornament at all about it, either inside or out. The room is an ordinary one, occupied towards the centre by a common old looking tomb of white marble, overhung by lettered tapestry, and decorated with a tiger skin: over the entrance, hang three eggs of the ostrich, for which the natives have the very appropriate name of camel bird, and two shells, like the Hindoo conches, but smaller. The roof is in bad order, and appears to have been carved. The doors appear old; they are much carved, but the carvings are effaced; they are not remarkable for size, beauty, or mass; and appear to be cut from some fir wood, although the people say they are sandal wood. The tomb strikingly confirms the idea that the Putans became improved through their connection with Hindoostanees, rather than the reverse; the tomb is unworthy of a great conqueror.
I then ascended the ridge, and descended along it to the picquets on the flank of our camp. This ridge, like all the low ones from Mookhloor to this place, is rounded, very shingly, and generally on the northern face, is partly covered with rocks, apparently limestone. The vegetation presents nothing unusual, with the exception of a very large Cnicus, Cnicoideus zamiafolius, capitulis parvis, an Umbellifera, a Scutellaria, Dipsacus; otherwise they are thinly scattered with two or three Astragali, two or three Artemisiæ, among which A. gossypifera is the most common, Labiata fragrans of Karabagh, Senecio glaucescens, Compositæ, Eryngioides, Centaurea alia, magnispinæ affinis, Santalacea, Leucades, Onosma major, et alia, foliis angustis, Echinops prima, Sedoides, Cerasus, Canus pygmæus, Dianthoides alia.
The view from this ridge is beautiful, it shows that three valleys enter the Karabagh one about Ghuznee, the largest to the eastward; then the Cabul one, then that of the Ghuznee river. The slope of this valley from the mountains to the river, presents a very undulated appearance. The cultivation is confined to the immediate banks of the river, which is thickly inhabited, and to most of the ravines of the mountains, shewing that water is generally plentiful. The river is to be traced a long way by means of the line of villages and orchards which follow its banks.
The mountains are very barren, much varied in the sculpture of their outlines, and are by no means so rugged as those of limestone in the Turnuk valley. The lofty one which presents the appearance of a wall near its ridge, and of snow, alluded to during the march hither on the 18th ultimo, is still visible. Considerable as is the cultivation, it bears a very small proportion to the great extent of waste, and probably untillable land, untillable from the extreme thinness of the soil and its superabundant stones. Cratœgus occurred near Mahmoud’s tomb, also Centaurea cyanea.
29th.—Halted: nothing new; botany very poor; poorer than ordinary.
30th.—Moved to Shusgao, distance thirteen and three-quarter miles, direction still the same, or, to the north of the star Capella. The road extends over undulating ground, is cut up by ravines, but easily traversed, ascending and descending; then crossing a small valley, at the north-east corner of which the ghat is visible: the ascent to the mouth of this gorge equals apparently the height attained before descending into the valley. The pass is narrow, the sides steep but not precipitous; the hills are not very rugged, and they are generally thinly clothed with scattered tufted plants; the pass gradually widens, and has a ruin or remains of a small fort-like building as at the entrance. This ruin, or fort, looks down into a poorly inhabited, poorly cultivated, Khorassan valley: road good, with a gradual ascent for one and a half mile from the exit of the pass, where we encamped, about five miles on the Cabul side.
The Botany is rather interesting, the general features are the same as those of the hills round Ghuznee; the most common plants Senecionoides glaucus, Plectranthus of Mookhloor in profusion, a new densely tufted Statice very common, Verbascum, Thapsioides, Linaria, Artemisia very common, Cnici, two or three of large stature, Astragali, two or three, Asphodelus luteus, Labiata of Mookhloor, Santalacea, Dipsacus, Thymus, Lotoides, Staticoides major.
In the undulated ground before reaching the valley preceding the pass, a fine tall Cnicus occurs, also Plectranthus; Peganum is very common.
About our halting place the same small Artemisia and Composita dislocata occur in profusion; Cnicus zamiafolius, Dianthus aglaucine, Astragalus, a peculiar prim-looking species. Leguminosæ, Muscoides two or three, very large Cnici, Plectranthus, Iris out of flower, Astragali alii, 2-3.