The mountains are very barren, much varied in the sculpture of their outlines, and are by no means so rugged as those of limestone in the Turnuk valley.  The lofty one which presents the appearance of a wall near its ridge, and of snow, alluded to during the march hither on the 18th ultimo, is still visible.  Considerable as is the cultivation, it bears a very small proportion to the great extent of waste, and probably untillable land, untillable from the extreme thinness of the soil and its superabundant stones.  Cratoegus occurred near Mahmoud’s tomb, also Centaurea cyanea.

29th.—­Halted:  nothing new; botany very poor; poorer than ordinary.

30th.—­Moved to Shusgao, distance thirteen and three-quarter miles, direction still the same, or, to the north of the star Capella.  The road extends over undulating ground, is cut up by ravines, but easily traversed, ascending and descending; then crossing a small valley, at the north-east corner of which the ghat is visible:  the ascent to the mouth of this gorge equals apparently the height attained before descending into the valley.  The pass is narrow, the sides steep but not precipitous; the hills are not very rugged, and they are generally thinly clothed with scattered tufted plants; the pass gradually widens, and has a ruin or remains of a small fort-like building as at the entrance.  This ruin, or fort, looks down into a poorly inhabited, poorly cultivated, Khorassan valley:  road good, with a gradual ascent for one and a half mile from the exit of the pass, where we encamped, about five miles on the Cabul side.

The Botany is rather interesting, the general features are the same as those of the hills round Ghuznee; the most common plants Senecionoides glaucus, Plectranthus of Mookhloor in profusion, a new densely tufted Statice very common, Verbascum, Thapsioides, Linaria, Artemisia very common, Cnici, two or three of large stature, Astragali, two or three, Asphodelus luteus, Labiata of Mookhloor, Santalacea, Dipsacus, Thymus, Lotoides, Staticoides major.

In the undulated ground before reaching the valley preceding the pass, a fine tall Cnicus occurs, also Plectranthus; Peganum is very common.

About our halting place the same small Artemisia and Composita dislocata occur in profusion; Cnicus zamiafolius, Dianthus aglaucine, Astragalus, a peculiar prim-looking species.  Leguminosae, Muscoides two or three, very large Cnici, Plectranthus, Iris out of flower, Astragali alii, 2-3.

Cultivation consisting of mustard and very poor crops, of which wheat is the principal:  a few ordinary villages are seen with good and abundant supplies of water; the country notwithstanding is inferior, as compared with that about Ghuznee.  The soil coarse and gravelly, or pebbly.  Thermometer 47 degrees at 5 A.M.

After descending from the gorge, the summit of which may be estimated at 400 to 500 feet, the ascent is considerable:  barometer standing at 1.5 P.M. at 22.323; thermometer 86 degrees; so that the extreme ascent since leaving Ghuznee has certainly been between 1,100 to 1,200 feet.