One of the Bulūks of Kābul is Alah-sāi,* which lies two or three farsangs to the east of Nijrau, from which you advance in a straight level direction towards Alah-sāi. On reaching a place named Kūrah, you proceed by a small kotal, or hill-pass, towards Alah-sāi. In this quarter, the space between the warm climate (garmsīl) and the cold (sardsīl) is merely the extent of this hill-pass of Kūrah. By this hill-pass, at the beginning of the spring, the birds take their flight from the one to the other. The people of Pīchghān, a place dependent on Nijrau, catch a great number of birds in their passage. In the ascent of the pass they build from distance to distance cots of stone, in which the fowlers sit and conceal themselves. They fasten one side of a net strongly, at the distance of five or six gaz;* one side of it is fixed down to the ground by stones, the other end, as far as half its length, three or four gaz, they fix to a stick, one end of which is held by the fowler, who is concealed, and sits on the watch, looking through holes left in the cot for the purpose, and waiting for the approach of the game from below. As soon as the birds come close up, he elevates one end of the net, and they rush into it by their own impulse. By this device, they take a great quantity of fowl; they boast, that sometimes they take such a number, that they have not time to kill them in the mode commanded by the law.* In this country, the pomegranates of Alah-sāi are famous: for, although they are not very excellent, yet there are none better in the country. They carry them all to Hindustān. Its grapes too are pretty good. The wines of Alah-sāi are not stronger, but are pleasanter than those of Nijrau.*
Bedrau.Bedrau* is another Bulūk, which lies close by Alah-sāi. Here there are no fruits, and the cultivators are all Kafers. They raise corn.
Inhabi-As in Khorasān and Samarkand the possessors of the Wolds* are the Tūrks and Aimāks, so, in this country, the inhabitants of the Waste are Hazāras and Afghans. The most powerful of the Hazāras in this territory are the Sultan Masaūdi Hazāras, and the most powerful of the Afghans are the Mahmend Afghans.
Revenue.The amount of the revenue of Kābul, whether arising from settled lands, or raised from the inhabitants of the wastes, is eight laks of shahrokhis.*
Pasture.The mountainous country on the east frontier of Kābul is broken and of two kinds, and the mountainous country on the west of Kābul is also of two sorts, in which it differs from the hilly countries in the direction of Anderāb, Khost, and the Badakhshānāt, which are all covered with the archeh, or mountain pine, well watered with springs, and abounding with soft and smooth heights; the vegetation on these last, whether on the hills, the gentle heights and eminences, or the valleys, is all of one sort, and is of good quality. It abounds with the grass named kāh-būtkeh, which is excellent for horses. In the country of Andejān, they also call this grass būtkeh-aūti,* but I was not acquainted with the origin of the name. In this country I learned that it is so called because it grows in būteh, knots, or patches.* The yāilāks, or summer residences of Hissār, Khutlān, Samarkand, Ferghāna, and Moghulistān, are all the same kind of yāilāks and pasturages as these; and though the summer retreats of Ferghāna and Moghulistān are not to be compared with the others, yet the hills and pastures are of the same sort. Nijrau again, and the hill country of Lamghānāt, Bajour, and Sawād, are of another kind, having many forests of pine, fir,* oak, olive, and mastic, but the grass is by no means equal to that of the hill country just mentioned. It is abundant enough and likewise tall enough, but good for nothing, and not kindly either for horses or sheep. Though these mountains are not nearly so elevated as those that compose the other hill-country, and appear diminutive in comparison, yet they are singularly hard* hills; there are indeed slopes and hillocks which have a smooth, level surface; yet hillocks and hills are equally hard, are covered with rocks, and inaccessible to horses. In these mountains there are many of the birds and animals of Hindustān, such as the parrot, the shārak,* the peacock, the lūkheh, the ape, the nil-gau,* and the koteh-pāi (short-foot*), and besides these, many other kinds of birds and animals, exceeding in number what I have heard of even in Hindustān.*
WesternThe mountainous country which lies to the west is composed of the hills that form the valley of Zindān,* the vale of Sūf, with Garzewān and Gharjestān, which hills are all of the same description. Their grazing grounds are all in the valleys; the hills, or hillocks, have not a single handful of grass such as is to be found on the mountains to the north, nor do they even abound much with the archeh pine. The grass in the grazing grounds is very fit for both horses and sheep. Above these hills, the whole country is good riding ground, and level, and there all the cultivated ground lies. The deer are very numerous in these mountains. The courses of the streams are generally profound glens, often quite perpendicular, and incapable of being descended. It is a singular circumstance, that, while in all other mountainous tracts, the strengths,* and steep and rugged places, are at the top of the hills, in these mountains the strong places are all towards the bottom. The hill-countries of Ghūr, Karbū,* and Hazāra are all of the kind that has been described. Their pasture-grass is in the valleys and plains. They have few trees, and even the archeh pine does not grow in them. The grass is nutritive to horses and sheep. The deer are numerous; and the rugged and precipitous places, and strengths of these hills, are also near the bottom.*
SouthernThis hill-country, however, bears no resemblance to the hill-countries of Khwājeh Ismāel, Dasht,* Dūki, and Afghanistān, which have all a uniformity of aspect, being very low, having little grass, bad water, and not a tree, and which are an ugly and worthless country. At the same time, the mountains are worthy of the men; as the proverb says, ‘A narrow place is large to the narrow-minded.’ There are perhaps scarcely in the whole world such dismal-looking hill-countries as these.
Fuel.In Kābul, although the cold is intense, and much snow falls in winter, yet there is plenty of firewood, and near at hand. They can go and fetch it in one day. The fuel consists chiefly of mastic, oak, bitter almond, and the karkend. The best of these is the mastic, which burns with a bright light, and has also a sweet perfume; it retains its heat long, and burns even when green. The oak, too, is an excellent firewood, though it burns with a duller light; yet it affords much heat and light; its embers last a long time, and it yields a pleasant smell in burning. It has one singular property: if its green branches and leaves are set fire to, they blaze up and burn from the bottom to the top briskly and with a crackling noise, and catch fire all at once. It is a fine sight to see this tree burn. The bitter almond is the most abundant and common of all, but it does not last. The karkend is a low, prickly thorn, that burns alike whether green or dry; it constitutes the only fuel of the inhabitants of Ghazni.
Animals. The different districts of Kābul lie amid mountains
which extend like so many mounds,*
with the vales and
level plains expanding between them. The greater part
of the villages and population is found on these intermediate
spaces. Deer and game are scarce. In the autumn and
spring, the red deer, which is the arkārghalcheh, always
has a stated track which it follows, in going from its winter
to its summer range. Those who are fond of hunting,
and who have hounds, preoccupy this track, and, remaining
on the watch, catch the deer. The red deer*
and*
wild
ass*
are also found near the Surkhāb,*
and Little Kābul,
but the white deer*
is never found there. In Ghazni,
they have both the white deer and wild ass, and the white
deer is seldom to be met with so plump as near Ghazni.
In the spring*
there are many hunting grounds in Kābul.
The great passage of the fowls and animals*
is by the
banks of the river Bārān, for that river is enclosed by
Modes of
fowling.
mountains both on the east and west. Right opposite to
this spot, that is, by the banks of the river Bārān, is the
grand pass up Hindū-kūsh, and there is no pass but itself
in this vicinity. On that account all the game ascend the
mountain by this route. If there be wind, or if any clouds
rest on the pass up Hindū-kūsh, the birds are unable to
ascend it, and they all alight in the vale of Bārān, when
multitudes of them are taken by the people of the neighbourhood.
About the close of the winter, the banks of the
river Bārān are frequented by multitudes of water-fowl,
which are extremely fat. The cranes, the karkareh*
(or
begla heron), and the larger game afterwards arrive in
innumerable flocks, and are seen in immense quantities.
On the banks of the river Bārān, great numbers of cranes
are caught in springes, which they make for that purpose,
as well as the heron,*
the begla heron, and the khawāsil.*
This last-mentioned fowl is rare. The mode of taking these
fowls is as follows: They spin a thin sliding springe, about
an arrow’s flight long, and to the one end of this cord fix
a double-pointed arrow, while on the other end of it they
fasten a cross handle of horn.*
They then take a stick,
of the thickness of the wrist, and a span in length, and
commencing at the arrow, wind up the cord till it is all
wound on, after which they make fast the horn handle,
and pull out the stick of the thickness of the wrist, on which
the cord had been wound; the cord remaining wound up
and hollow. Taking a firm hold of the horn handle, they
throw the dart, having the cord attached to it, at any fowl
that comes near. If it falls on the neck or wings of the
bird it twists round it, and brings it down. All the people
on the Bārān catch birds in this manner; but this mode of
fowling is extremely difficult and unpleasant, as it must
be practised on dark and rainy nights, for on such nights
for fear of the ravenous animals and beasts of prey, they
fly about constantly all night long, never resting till the
morning; and at such times they fly low. In the dark
nights they keep flying over the running water, as it
appears bright and white, and it is at such times when,
from fear, they fly up and down above the streams all
night long, that the fowlers cast their cords. One night
I threw the cord many times, but at last it severed and
the bird escaped; next morning, however, they brought in
both the bird and the severed cord twisted round it. In
this manner the people of the Bārān catch great numbers of
herons. The kalk i tāj*
are of the heron’s feathers. These
plumes, or kalk i tāj, are one of the commodities carried into
Irāk and Khorasān from Kābul. There is a body of slave
Slave
fowlers.
fowlers,*
whose trade and occupation is to act as fowlers;
they may consist of about two hundred or three hundred
houses. One of the family of Taimūr Beg first caused them
to be brought from the neighbourhood of Multān. They
have constructed tanks, and bending down the branches
of trees,*
have placed nets over the tanks; in this way they
take every species of bird. These, however, are not the
only persons who practise fowling, for all the inhabitants
along the river Bārān are extremely skilful in throwing
the cord, in laying nets, and in every other device for
taking fowl; and they take birds of every description.