which the fort of Badjgh[=a]r was once taken, explained to me the plan
adopted, which bears a rude analogy to the modern plan of mining under
the glacis to the foot of the counterscarp.

To-day a horseman came into our camp at about 3 P.M. with letters from
Bamee[=a]n; he had left early in the morning, and thus accomplished a
journey of fifty miles with the same horse, over two severe passes,
and through a succession of difficult defiles. On alighting, he tied
his horse to the branch of a tree, merely loosening the girths, but
not intending to give him food till the evening. The horses are
habituated to the want of any midday feeding, and at night and morning
seldom get grain. But the dried lucerne and other artificial grasses
with which they are supplied must afford them sufficient nourishment,
as they are generally in very good working condition; they are
undersized, but very sure-footed; it is indeed astonishing over what
fearful ground they will carry their riders. The yabboo is a different
style of animal, heavier built and slower; its pace is an amble, by
means of which it will get over an immense distance, but it is not so
sure-footed.

I remarked that aged horses were very rarely met with, and on
inquiring the reason, was informed that the horses were all so
violently worked when young as soon to break down, after which they
are slaughtered and made into _kabobs_. I was assured that the
eating-shops of Cabul and Kandah[=a]r always require a great supply of
horseflesh, which is much liked by the natives, and when well seasoned
with spices is not to be distinguished from other animal food.

At this station fruit was in great profusion; I observed that the
sides of a barren hill near our camp were of a bright yellow tint