stagnant sewer; while the streets are narrow, the bazars are good, of good breadth, well covered in by flat ornamented roofs:  the shops are clean, and well laid out.  Shoemakers and leather-workers, and fruiterers, are the most common:  there are armourers, blacksmiths, drapers and bakers.  Hindoos and Mussulmen intermixed, form the population.  There is great bustle and activity, everywhere profusion of fine fruit, especially melons, grapes, and apples are presented.

13th.—­I ascended this morning the ridge above us, up which the wall runs; the ascent is, after surmounting the summer-house of Shah Zumaun, considerably steep, and very rugged.  The highest position of the wall is 1,150 feet above the city.  It is eight feet high, and six or seven thick, composed of slabs of the micaceous slaty stone of the place, cemented by mud, with a parapet of two feet, generally of kucha, or mud, with loopholes, and bad embrasures.  It is furnished with bastions, but is now in a ruinous state.  It is a work completely thrown away.  To the south, the wall bends eastward, and is continuous with the outworks of the upper citadel; to the north it dips into the gorge, and re-ascends the hills on the opposite side.

From the peak, (which is not the highest point of the ridge, there being two higher to the south, on the nearest of which is a mound, and a small pillar) a beautiful view is obtained of Cabul, its valley, and its mountains, together with the far more beautiful valley in which the army is encamped.

The town itself presents an irregular outline, and is, with the exception of some gardens towards its northern side, some lucerne fields near its centre, and one or two open spots of small size, densely crowded with the usual terraced-roofed, kucha, or mud houses, which are so close, as to show no streets whatever.

There is not a single conspicuous building in it, with the exception of the lower Bala Hissar and a mosque of small size on the right bank of the river, occupying an open space near a garden, which alone renders it distinct.

The Bala Hissar occupies the eastern corner:  its outworks are regular enough.  It is surrounded by the remains of a wet ditch; its works have been lately improved.  Excepting the part occupied by the Shah, etc. the space is crowded by houses exactly like the town.  The fort to its south and commanding it completely, is the upper citadel, and is altogether out of repair; this continues the defence formed by the wall.  The walls of the city themselves are not distinguishable, excepting those of the nearest quarter, occupied by Kuzzilbashes.  The river intersects the town, it is crossed by two, three, or perhaps more small stone bridges, and runs nearly due east, and may be traced almost to the foot of the eastern boundary range.  From near the mosque a fine straight road runs NNE. or thereabouts, with avenues of trees of small size near the town.  Two other roads are visible on the east side; one is continuous with that which runs along the north face of the lower citadel, it runs due east; and the other slopes towards this, and meets it about two or three miles from the city at the end of a low range of hills.