The Túmán of Mandráur: monkeys here abound. The Alishang river uniting with the Alingár joins the Bárán, while the Cheghán Sarái river flowing through the north-east quarter enters Katór.*
The Túmán of Alishang is surrounded by lofty mountains covered with snow in which is the source of the Alishang river. The inhabitants are called Káfirs. In the vicinity is a tomb asserted by the people to be that of Lám the father of Noah, called also Lamek (Lamech). The people here pronounce the káf like a ghain, and hence the currency of the name (Lamghán).
The mountainous Túmán of Najráo* also is peopled by the káfirs. Instead of lamp they burn the chilghozah.* There is also an animal called the Flying Fox,* which flies upward about the height of a yard. There is also a rat which exhales the smell of musk.*
Charkh is a village of the Túmán of Loghar which gives its name to Maulana Yạḳúb Charkhi. Sajáwand is also one of the well-known villages of this Túmán.
The mountains of the Túmán of Badráo* are the home of káfirs and wild Házarahs and Afgháns.
The Túmán of Alsá* is situated intermediately between the torrid and cold belts. Birds cross this tract about the beginning of spring and good sport is had.
The Túmán of Bangash* furnishes 7,000 Cavalry and 87,800 Infantry, viz.:—
| Cavalry. | Infantry. | |
| Mohmand | 500 | 500 |
| Khalil, | 500 | 6,500 |
| Dáúdzai, | 3,000 | 37,000 |
| Gagiyáni, | 500 | 4,500 |
| Muḥammadzai, | 400 | 4,000 |
| Ṣáni, | 100 | 1,400 |
| Utmánkhail, | 50 | 850 |
| Ghilzai, | 100 | 2,900 |
| Khizrkhail, | 30 | 950 |
| Shérzád, | 20 | 1,400 |
| Khargúni,* | 10 | 200 |
| Khattaki, | 200 | 4,000 |
| Abdu'r Rahmáni, | 100 | 2,500 |
| Afrídi, | 500 | 10,500 |
| Orúk, (Orakzai) | 500 | 5,500 |
| —— | ———— | |
| 6,510 | 82,700 |
The Túmán of Gardéz* has a strong fort. The houses are for the most part three and four stories high.
Ghaznín is situated in the third climate, and is also known as Zábul, and was the capital of Sulṭán Maḥmúd, Sulṭán Shahábu'ddín and several other monarchs.
This territory was formerly called Zábulistán, and some reckon Ḳandahár as included within it. Here is the last resting-place of Hakím Sanái* and many other saintly personages. The winter season is said to resemble that of Samarḳand and Tabríz. A river* runs from north to south which waters all the arable tracts. The cultivators are put to great trouble as fresh soil has to be supplied each year to fertilize the land and it becomes then more productive than that of Kábul. The metal called ruín* is here abundant and is imported into Hindustán. In the time of Báber there was here a tomb which shook whenever the praises of Muḥammad were recited. The investigations of acute observers discovered that this was effected by the fraud of relic mongers. There is also a spring into which if any filth be thrown, a thunderstorm ensues with a fall of snow and rain.*
The Túmán of Dáman i koh* has a profusion of flowers and its spring and autumn are matchless in beauty.
In the Túmán of Ghorband the variety of floral hues is beyond expression. Three and thirty species of tulips here bloom and one kind named the rose-scented tulip breathes the fragrance of the blush-rose.*
Mines of silver and lapis-lazuli are also found. Near the mountains is a sandy tract called Khwájah Rég i Rawán* and from this quicksand, the sound as of drums is heard in the summer time.
In the Túmán of Zohák and Bámián, the fortress of Zohák is a monument of great antiquity, and in good preservation, but the fort of Bámián is in ruins. In the mountain-side caves have been excavated and ornamented with plaster and paintings. Of these there are 12,000 which are called Sumaj and in former times were used by the people as winter retreats. Three colossal figures are here: one is the statue of a man, 80 yards in height; another that of a woman 50 yards high, and the third is that of a child measuring 15 yards. Strange to relate, in one of these caves is placed a coffin containing the body of one who reposes in his last sleep.* The oldest and most learned of antiquarians can give no account of its origin, but suppose it to be of great antiquity. In days of old the ancients prepared a medicament with which they anointed corpses and consigned them to earth in a hard soil. The simple deceived by this art, attribute their preservation to a miracle.
The territory of Kábul comprises twenty Túmáns. The Emperor Báber in his Memoirs sets down the revenue at twenty lakhs of Shahrukhis, inclusive of Tamgha* imposts, equivalent to three lakhs and twenty thousand Akbar Sháhi rupees, the rupee being reckoned at forty dáms.
At the present time notwithstanding the remission of various taxes, by the blessing of this ever-during rule, the revenue has reached the amount of six krórs, seventy-three lakhs, six thousand, nine hundred and eighty-three dáms. (Rs. 1,682,674-9.) The increase is to be attributed to the improved state of the cultivation, and also that Parasháwar and Ashtaghar* were not included in the former account, and lastly, that the revenue officers of that time were not as capable as they are at present.
Containing 22 Mahals: Revenue 80,507,465 Dáms in money: Suyúrghál 137,178 Dáms. Cavalry, 28,187. Infantry, 212,700.
City of Kábul—Revenue, 1,275,841 Dáms. Cavalry, 7,000. Infantry, 15,000.