was a sandy valley, bounded by craggy hills, watered by a little stream, and interspersed with clumps of date trees, and with patches of green corn. The village itself stood in a deep grove of date trees, on the side of a hill, from which many streams gushed through little caverns in the thickest part of the wood. The inhabitants were Beloches and Shaikhs, of Arabian descent. They plundered some of our people, and made others prisoners; and though this was made up, and we hired a strong safe-guard from them, we still lost some camels, and had stragglers plundered after we had left the place.

The next forty miles of our journey were up the valley of Largee, which, though only separated by a ridge of hills from the Indus, was so dry and sandy, that we were obliged to carry water as in the desart: yet even there we saw some camps of shepherds of the Afghaun tribe of Murwut, to whom the country belongs. After two dreary marches through the valley, we came into a rich and beautiful plain thirtyfive miles in diameter, encircled with mountains, and divided by the Indus. We encamped that day on the river Koorrum, then shallow, though broad, but in summer a deep and rapid river. From this we made three marches across the plain to Callabaugh, or Karra-baugh. The country belonged to the tribe of Esaukhail. It was naturally fertile, highly cultivated, and wa

tered by canals four feet broad, and as many deep. The people were more swarthy than we expected to see men of their nation, and looked more like Indians than Persians; they were, however, easily distinguished from the former people, by their long and thick hair, their beards, the loose folds of their turbans, and a certain independent and manly air, that marked them for Afghauns. They are notorious robbers, and carried off some of our camels, and of the King's horse; but their ordinary behaviour was civil and decent. I was surprised at their simplicity and equality: though they are a wealthy and flourishing tribe, their chief, who accompanied me through the whole of their lands, was as plain in his dress, and as simple in his manners, as the most ordinary person in the tribe.

While in the Esaukhail country, we were met by Moossa Khaun Alekkozye, the Dooraunee nobleman who was sent by the King to conduct us to court. He was a tall man, rather corpulent, but of a good figure. He had a fine beard, and was handsomely dressed in cloth of gold, with fine shawls; his sword, and other accoutrements, were mounted in gold; his horses were good, his trappings handsome, and he had good pistols in his holsters, with lions' heads in gold upon the butts. Though he scarcely looked forty, he was near sixty, had been engaged in civil and

He

during a rebellion, to the high rank of Sirdar. He had travelled in his own country, and had long been stationed in Cashmeer, in praise of which country, or rather of its licentious pleasures, he used often to enlarge. Altogether I found him very lively and entertaining, and perfectly gentlemanlike in his manners. was accompanied by a party of four or five hundred horse, who belonged to a Calmuk Dusteh, or regiment, though I saw no Calmuks among them. He was also accompanied by the chiefs of the Afghaun tribes of Bungush and Khuttuk, and by the chief of the town of Karra-baugh, plain men like Arabs, who accompanied us as far as the plain of Peshawer, each bringing a strong body of militia as we entered his lands.

Calla-baugh, where we left the plain, well deserves a minute description. The Indus is here compressed by mountains into a deep channel, only three hundred and fifty yards broad. The mountains on each side have an abrupt descent into the river, and a road is cut along their base, for upwards of two miles. It had been widened for us, but was still so narrow, and the rock over it so steep, that no camel with a bulky load could pass to obviate this inconvenience, twenty-eight boats had been prepared, to convey our largest packages up the river. The first part of this pass is actually overhung by the town of Calla-baugh, which is

built in a singular manner upon the face of the hill, every street rising above its neighbour, and, I imagine, only accessible by means of the flat roofs of the houses below it. As we passed beneath, we perceived windows and balconies at a great height, crowded with women and children. The road beyond was cut out of solid salt, at the foot of cliffs of that mineral, in some places more than one hundred feet high above the river. The salt is hard, clear, and almost pure. It would be like chrystal, were it not in some parts streaked and tinged with red. In some places, salt springs issue from the foot of the rocks, and leave the ground covered with a crust of the most brilliant whiteness. All the earth, particularly near the town, is almost blood red, and this, with the strange and beautiful spectacle of the salt rocks, and the Indus flowing in a deep and clear stream through lofty mountains, past this extraordinary town; presented such a scene of wonders, as is seldom to be witnessed. Our camp was pitched beyond the pass, in the mouth of a narrow valley, and in the dry bed of a torrent. Near it were piles of salt in large blocks (like stones at a quarry), lying ready for exportation, either to India or Khorassaun. It would have taken a week to satisfy us with the sight of Calla-baugh; but it

we were there, our whole camp must have been swept into the Indus.

On the 16th of February we marched up the valley, which became narrower as we advanced. After proceeding about seven miles, we entered a winding passage, so narrow that in many places our camels could scarcely pass: the rock rose some hundred feet on each side. This passage continued with a gentle ascent for three or four miles, during which time we saw nothing but the rocks on each side, and the sky overhead; at length the ascent grew more sudden, the hills on each side became gradually lower, and more sloping, and after going over some very rough and steep road, we reached the top of the pass. The view that now presented itself was singularly wild and desolate. We were on the highest part of the mountains, and beneath us were the bare, broken, and irregular summits of the rest of the range, among which we saw several valleys like that we had ascended. There were also still higher mountains to the north, covered with snow. We were shown what seemed a little brook for the Indus; and some smoke on its banks, was said to mark the site of the town of Muckud. Many other places were pointed out, but in such a confusion of hills and valleys, nothing made a distinct impression. From this point we descended a steep and rugged road, where, for the