surroundings, must vary with the character of the operations. For
defence--particularly of their own section--they form an important
consideration; for aggressive purposes their strength lies in
partisan operations, in small detachments, requiring great mobility.

Just as it is difficult to understand the rapidity with which
large numbers are assembled in Afghanistan for fighting purposes,
so the dispersing of an Afghan army together with its attendant
masses of tribal levies in flight is almost beyond comprehension;
men who have been actually engaged in hand-to-hand combat dispose of
their arms in the villages they pass through, and meet their
pursuers with melons or other fruit in their hands, While they adopt
the _role_ of peaceful inhabitants.

A brief description of some of the more noted cities of Afghanistan
may be appropriate here.

Sir Henry Rawlinson gives the following details respecting the
so-called Key of India--the city of Herat:

"That which distinguishes Herat from all other Oriental cities, and
at the same time constitutes its main defence, is the stupendous
character of the earthwork upon which the city wall is built. This
earthwork averages 250 feet in width at the base and about 50 feet
in height, and as it is crowned by a wall 25 feet high and 14 feet
thick at the base, supported by about 150 semicircular towers, and
is further protected by a ditch 45 feet in width and 16 feet in
depth, it presents an appearance of imposing strength. Whether the
place is really as strong as it looks has been differently
estimated. General Ferrier, who resided for some time in Herat, in