and forms a station or an important line of communication between
the Indus and the Murghab. In the tenth century it was the seat of
an empire comprising the present territory of Afghanistan, and which
had in the space of seventy years absorbed thirty-eight degrees of
longitude and twenty degrees of latitude. Its decline dates from the
twelfth century, when the seat of government was transferred to
Lahore. From 1839 to 1880 it has been occupied alternately by the
British and the Afghans. The climate is not exceptionally severe,
although in winter the mercury drops to 25 degrees below zero at
times. The population averages about ten thousand.

Peshawur is one of the most important towns, both in a military and
commercial sense, in the _Derajat_. It is the capital of a province
of the same name on the N. W. frontier of India, eighteen miles from
the Khaiber Pass and one hundred and fifty miles S.E. of Kabul. It
has the usual bastioned defences, besides some detached works of
more importance. It was once a rich and populous city, but has, like
many other like places in that region, fallen from its high estate.
It is garrisoned by the British, and can boast of fair trade and a
population of about fifty thousand. It is the centre of a fruitful
district containing more than one million inhabitants.

The fruitful valley and pass of Bamian lie on the road leading from
Kabul to Turkestan. The pass, at an elevation of 8,496 feet, is the
only known defile over the Hindu Kush practicable for artillery.
This valley was one of the chief centres of Buddhist worship, as
gigantic idols, mutilated indeed by fanatical Mussulmans,
conclusively prove. Bamian, with its colossal statues cut out in the
rock, was among the wonders described by the Buddhist monks who
traversed Central Asia in the fourth century. The statues are found