write of, it was a very fair military road as far as Akrob[=a]d. Poor
Broadfoot was slain in the gallant and desperate charge made by the
officers of the 2d Bengal Cavalry at Purw[=a]n Durrah, of which I
hope in the proper place to be able to give the reader a slight
description.

The hills about Akrob[=a]d are so situated as to form a funnel for all
the winds of the snowy range, rendering the temperature of the little
table-land bitterly cold both in summer and winter--so much so in
winter, that the Huz[=a]reh inhabitants desert the fort in autumn for
some more sheltered locality, and return again with the spring.

We now entered Toorkisth[=a]n, the pass of Akrob[=a]d dividing it from
Affghanist[=a]n. Should the traveller form his opinion of the country
beyond by the specimen now before us, he would be loth indeed to
proceed, for a more dismal corner can hardly be conceived. The outline
of the adjacent mountains was dreary and uninviting, with very little
cultivation in the valley, which also bore a most desolate aspect--it
was barren and unpromising, without participating in the wild and
grand features which generally characterize these regions. Fuel was
with difficulty procured, and our camp was but scantily furnished with
even the most necessary supplies.

CHAPTER VII.

On the 1st of July we left this sad region, and pitched our tents
some five miles further onwards, in a pleasant meadow, where we met a
brother of Dost Mahommed, the well-known Sird[=a]r Jubber Kh[=a]n, who
arrived in the course of the day from the interior of Toorkist[=a]n,
and encamped close to us. He was then on his way to Cabul, having
in charge the women and children belonging to the seraglio of the
ex-king. He invited us to pay him a visit, which we did in uniform,
and found him an agreeable old gentleman, with manners far more
polished than the generality of his countrymen, who, though not
deficient in a certain national savage grace, frequently shock our
European notions of propriety by their open disregard of what we are
accustomed to consider the decencies of society; but Jubber Kh[=a]n
seemed to have all the good qualities and few of the vices so
prevalent in the Affgh[=a]n character. No doubt that superior polish
of manner was derived from his more extensive intercourse with
Europeans. During our visit he presented us each with a small silver
Mahommedan coin, saying at the same time with peculiar grace and
dignity that he w