inhabitants of Peshawer and Caubul, who have, at different times, been under his government.

The city of Candahar is large and populous. Heraut and Candahar are the only cities in the Dooraunee country; and, except Furra, probably the only places which even merit the name of a town. The ancient city is sometimes said to have been founded by Lohrasp, a Persian King who flourished in times of very remote antiquity, and to whom also the founding of Heraut is attributed. It is asserted by others, with far greater probability, to have been built by Secunder Zoolkurnyne, that is, by Alexander the Great. The traditions of the Persians here agree with the conjectures of European geographers, who fix on this site for one of the cities called Alexandria.

The ancient city stood till the reign of the Ghiljies, when Shauh Hoossein founded a new city under the name of Husseinabad. Nadir Shauh attempted again to alter the scite of the town, and built Nadirabad; at last Ahmed Shauh founded the present city*, to which he gave the name of Ahmed Shauhee, and the title of Ashrefool Belaud, or the noblest of cities; by that name and title it is still mentioned in public papers, and in the language of the court; but the old name of Candahar still prevails among the people, though it has lost its rhyming addition of Daurool Kurrar, or the abode of quiet. Ahmed Shauh himself marked out the limits of the present city, and laid down the regular plan which is still so remarkable in its execution; he surrounded it with a wall, and proposed to have added a ditch; but the Dooraunees are said to have objected to his fortifications, and to have declared that their ditch was the Chemen of Bistaun (a meadow near Bistaun in the most western part of Persian Khorassaun). Candahar was the capital of the Dooraunee empire in Ahmed Shauh's time, but Timour changed the seat of government to Caubul.

I am utterly at a loss how to fix the extent of Candahar, or the

* In 1753, or 54.

number of inhabitants it contains. I have always heard that Candahar was larger than Heraut; but Captain Christie, who resided for a month at Heraut, considers the numbers of its inhabitants to be one hundred thousand, a number which I cannot reconcile with the comparison I have heard between Candahar and Peshawer. *

The form of Candahar is an oblong square, and as it was built, at once, on a fixed plan, it has the advantage of great regularity. Four long and broad bazars meet in the middle of the town, and at the place of their junction, there is a circular space of about forty or fifty yards in diameter, covered with a dome, into which all the four streets lead.

This place is called the Chaursoo ; it is surrounded with shops, and may be considered as the public market-place; it is there that proclamations are made, and that the bodies of criminals are exposed to the view of the populace. Part of the adjoining bazar is also covered in, as is usual in Persia, and in the west of the Afghaun dominions.

The four bazars are each about fifty yards broad; the sides consist of shops of the same size and plan, in front of which runs an uniform veranda for the whole length of the street. These shops are only one story high, and the lofty houses of the town are seen over them. There are gates issuing into the country at the end of all the bazars, except the northern one, where stands the King's palace facing the Chaursoo.

Its external appearance is described as not remarkable, but it contains several courts, many buildings, and a private garden. All the bazars, except that leading to the palace, were at one time planted

* I feel much greater hesitation in every thing I have to say of towns which I have not seen, than in my accounts of the country; the inhabitants of the country are less given to falsehood, and a comparison with neighbouring regions renders it easier to detect them, when they are disposed to exaggerate; nor is it so easy to invent a consistent account of the produce and character of a country, as to magnify the size, and heighten the magnificence of a town.

with trees; and a narrow canal is said to have run down the middle of each; but many of the trees have withered, and if the canals ever existed, they are now no longer visible. The city is, however, very well watered by two large canals drawn from the Urghundaub, which are crossed in different places by little bridges. From these canals, small water-courses run to almost every street in the town, which are in some streets open, and in some under ground. All the other streets run from the four great bazars. Though narrow, they are all straight, and almost all cross each other at right angles.

The town is divided into many Mohullas, or quarters, each of which belongs to one of the numerous tribes and nations which form the inhabitants of the city. Almost all the great Dooraunees have houses in Candahar, and some of them are said to be large and elegant.

There are many caravanserais and mosques; but of the latter, one only near the palace, is said to be handsome. The tomb of Ahmed Shauh also stands near the palace; it is not a large building, but has a handsome cupola, and is elegantly painted, gilt, and otherwise ornamented within. It is held in high veneration by the Dooraunees, and is an asylum against all enemies, even the King not venturing to touch a man who has taken refuge there. When any of the great lords are discontented, it is common for them to give out that they intend to quit the world, and to spend their lives in prayer at the tomb of Ahmed Shauh; and certainly, if ever an Asiatic king deserved the gratitude of his country, it was Ahmed Shauh.

On the whole, Candahar, though it is superior to most of the cities in Asia in its plan, is by no means magnificent. It is built for the most part of brick, often with no other cement than mud. The Hindoos, as usual, have the best houses of the common people, and they adhere to their custom of building them very high. The streets of Candahar are very crowded from noon till evening, and all the various trades that have been described at Peshawer, are also carried on there, except that of water-sellers, which is here unnecessary, as there are reservoirs every where, furnished with leathern buckets,

fitted to handles of wood or horn, for people to draw water with. Ballad-singers and story-tellers are also numerous in the bazars, and all articles from the west, are in much greater plenty and perfection than at Peshawer.

Contrary to what is the case with other cities in Afghaunistaun, the greater part of the inhabitants of Candahar are Afghauns, and of these by far the greater number are Dooraunees. But their condition here bears no resemblance to that of their brethren in the country. The peculiar institutions of the Afghaun tribes are superseded by the existence of a strong government, regular courts of law, and an efficient police. The rustic customs of the Afghauns are also in a great measure laid aside; and, in exteriors, the inhabitants of Candahar a good deal resemble the Persians; the resemblance is, however, confined to the exterior, for their characters are still marked with all the peculiarities of their nation. The other inhabitants are Taujiks, Eimauks, Hindoos, Persians, Seestaunees, and Beloches, with a few Uzbeks, Arabs, Armenians, and Jews.

There are many gardens and orchards round Candahar, and many places of worship, where the inhabitants make parties more for pleasure than devotion. Their way of life is that of the other inhabitants of towns, which has already been explained.

Shoraubuk, the country inhabited by the tribe of Baraich, is situated between the Dooraunee lands on the north, and the mountains belonging to the Brahoee Beloches on the south; the range of Khojeh Amraun (there called Roghaunee and Speentaizeh), separates it from Pisheen on the east; and the great sandy desart extends round all its western frontier. The south-western part is inhabited by Rind Beloches, to whom Noshky, forty or fifty miles from Shoraubuk, belongs.

It is cut by the river Lora, near which are some trees and bushes, but the rest is a bare plain of hard clay, quite flat, and very arid. The whole country is about sixty miles square. The number of inhabitants is two thousand five hundred, or three thousand families. They are divided into four clans, under four Khauns, who have great

power. The King receives four hundred horse from the tribe, and takes no farther concern in its affairs.

They have many camels that feed on their numerous and extensive wastes, are used to ride on, and are almost the only animal used to draw the plough.

They live in Cooddools, or large arched huts of wattled tamarisk branches, covered with hurdles of basket work, and plaistered with clay. The rich, however, have often houses; and all spend the spring in tents on the borders of the desart, which is their greatest pleasure. Their dress, food, and manners, are like those of the rudest Dooraunees, but they often eat camels' flesh, and even horse flesh. They are a very simple and inoffensive people.

Adjoining to the Baraiches on the east, is Pisheen, the country of the Tereens. That tribe is divided into two great branches; the Tor (or black) Tereens, and the Speen (or white) Tereens. It is the Tor Tereens who inhabit Pisheen.

Pisheen is divided from the Dooraunee country on the north by hills; other hills cut it off from the Caukers on the east; and on the south, it is divided from Shawl by the range of Tukkatoo, which stretches east from the Table Land of Kelaut. Its greatest length is about eighty miles from north-east to south-east, its greatest breadth about forty miles.

Pisheen is much higher than Shoraubuk. Its surface is much more uneven, and it is much better cultivated. It also is divided by the Lora. Bullocks are a great deal more used to plough than camels, though these are numerous.

The principal employment of the people is agriculture, but a great proportion of them is occupied in trade between Candahar and Upper Sinde, and in the business of carriers.

Their manners have a great resemblance to those of the Dooraunees, with whom they are closely connected both by descent and friendship.

The Khaun is on the same footing as a Dooraune Sirdar; but the