talked a great deal of what he was going to do, and expressed a poor opinion of the Toorkmuns; but when I asked him why he did not colonize the magnificent Zungalanee valley, he could only say such was his intention, and poor though his opinion of the Toorkmuns may be, I never saw such mortal dread of these gentlemen as all his arrangements showed.

Long before it was dark, he quitted the garden-house I have mentioned above, and when I suggested it would be a very nice place to sleep in during the hot weather, he turned quite green. When we left we were all huddled into the town, and the gates were shut, though the sun was only just setting. According to his own showing, the whole country round was occupied by roaming bands of Toorkmuns, and even if he had not said so, the very large number of Toorkmun towers alone proved it. The two days I was there, the gates were not opened till nine in the morning.

Alayar Khan, however, has a body of some 1,000 horsemen, worthy of all commendation. Their equipment is the same as that described of the horsemen of the lower part of the Mushudd valley; but these men seem more in hand. They are dressed for the most part in black lambswool busbies, and coats made of the striped Khorassan silk; they have a most soldierlike appearance, and are extremely well mounted. He can also, he informed me, turn out over 1,000 foot men, but these are of the "catch 'em alive o" description, with which we are familiar on the Indus frontier. His cavalry are, I believe, chiefly mounted on horses captured, or taken as ransom from the Toorkmuns, a supply which though it seems sufficient, must be more or less precarious, and it is therefore a matter of surprise that some arrangement for breeding horses is not come to.

I asked Alayar why he did not do this, but the idea did not take with him, and I suppose as long as this Toorkmun difficulty is not arranged, he will go on as he has done. The system of border .defence, though of course not so regularly organized, is much the same in principle as that of the Punjab frontier, viz., a system of reprisals. It is a bad system, I think, as neither side can ever settle down as long as it goes on.

The Khanate of Durraguz is smaller than that of Kullat-y-Nadir; the southern boundary goes from that of the latter along the Koh Huzar Musjeed range, round the head of the Zungalanee river, which is there called the Rood-y-Kibkan, north of the Maidan Khoonee pass, and thence to Kulta Cheenar. Whence it takes the crest of the Zurreen Koh ridge, to the exit of the Mahamadabad stream, beyond which there are a few settlements in the Attruk, held on a precarious tenure. It then runs on and meets the boundary of Kullat, whence the east bounds may be said to run up the spur which divides the drainage of Laeen from that of Zungalanee. In this tract, as well as in Kullat, there are some magnificent tracts of country with plenty of water and very fine grazing, so that there is no doubt much might be done to improve it agriculturally, while it would afford great facilities for the rearing of a splendid breed of horses and mules.

The main range, or

spur of that range, The road to Durringa, said to be about thirty

From Mahamadabad I got the following bearings. The Allaho Akbur pass, 217°. rather perhaps the Allaho Akbur stretches from 143° to 268°. bears 295°, and that place is miles distant, beyond which to Annow, one of the Ukhal Toorkmun villages, is from sixteen to eighteen miles, the road is said to be quite practicable.

The Zurreenkoh stretches from 302° to 43° across the north of the valley, the fort being not more than three miles distant. A low ridge runs out from Karajukhar hills which bears 140° to a bearing of 112°, and a glen called Talkeedurra, and a pasturage named Pad Alung, bear 115°. The road from Kullat bears 125°, and the valley is quite shut in on the east, by a ridge running north and south, which is continuous with that which comes down from Karajukhar. One mile off, on a bearing of 320°, is the village of Arteean. Nowkundan, said to be a large village about six miles off, is on a bearing of 300°. The river, whose bed passes Mahamadabad to the east, is joined below that place by the river of Durringa, the head of which is said to be a long way off in Koochan territory.*

The route from Daragoz to Mushudd. As far as Mankoh the route is the same as that I followed, from this the road follows that to Kuchan for three miles, when the Mushudd road goes off to the right, and ascending a valley, crosses over the main range by the pass, and descends to the village Yeshagi, whence to Mushudd it goes down the valley by Ratkan, Chinaran, &c.

77

CHAPTER III.

DURRAGUZ TO SHAHROOD

On the morning of the 18th August, as soon as we could get out of the town (not till 9 A.M.) I commenced my march to Koochan, without waiting for the horsemen who were to have come with me.

The road goes out to the SE., and in a mile passes the old site of the chief village of the Khanate. It then goes between low hills for two miles, when it passes the village of Pai Kulla half a mile on the right, and two miles further comes to the village of Khulk Vurdee, that of Chubeshlee being about one mile further on to the left frontier. One mile to the right of Pai Kulla is Kulla Abbas, and one mile still further to the right Saadabad, Kotallee being three miles further off still on the right.

From Khulk Vurdee the road goes over an open undulating plain for four miles to the village of Kulla Meena, which is one mile off the regular road to the left. Here, as it was now past eleven, I determined to halt for breakfast and wait till my escort came up; so I got under the shade of a really magnificent plane tree and bivouacked. The villagers were extemely civil at this place, and brought me bunches of splendid grapes which were most welcome, as from the long absence of green food with my meals I used to long always for the grapes which at this season are nearly everywhere

procurable. About one the escort turned up, in twos and threes, till some twenty-five had assembled, and I was glad to find they were a particularly fine body of

men.

As the sun was very hot I didn't start again till 3 p.m., when we went on. We had got a little off the main road by going to Kulla Meena, and I was afraid that in trying to regain it we should find ourselves in a tract. where it would be difficult for the mules to go; but as it turned out the line we took by the villages of Aktash and Kolyell was actually shorter and easier than the regular road, which joined about a mile up the ascent by a steep gradient. The whole road to the top of the Allaho Akbur Pass is very easy, and except a few short bits, where it could easily be improved, is practicable for artillery now. Near the top of the ascent, which is a little over three miles and takes one and a half hours to accomplish, the road goes under some very high precipitous cliffs which completely command it, but the crest could not long be held by an enemy, as the whole of this range is so practicable everywhere as to offer but little difficulty in turning any position taken up on it. A little below the actual crest is a tower held by some Durraguzees, but, from its faulty site, I should say it cannot be of much use.

From the crest of the ridge of Allaho Akbur I got a fine view of the Durraguz plain, and saw what I had taken for the Zurreen Koh was in tributary spur of that higher and parallel to it. drainage of the valley as Meena, ran out through a defile I had passed in the road to Mahamadabad, and draining eventually into the Zungalanee river, while all to the west of this goes

reality a small range, which rose up much I also made out that all the far west as Chibushlee and