nion that the memory of any mistake committed, either in
a political or military light, will by the noble-minded be drowned in
sorrow for the sufferings and death of so many thousands of brave men.

In the month of June, 1840, Lieutenant Sturt was ordered to survey the
passes of the Hindoo Koosh, and I obtained leave from my regiment,
then in camp at Cabul, for the purpose of accompanying him; my object
was simply to seek pleasant adventures; the "_cacoethes ambulandi_"
was strong upon me, and I thirsted to visit the capital of ancient
Bactria; the circumstances which prevented our reaching Balkh will
hereafter be detailed, but the main object of the expedition was
attained, as Sturt executed an excellent map of the passes alluded to,
and satisfactorily demonstrated that almost all the defiles of this
vast chain, or rather group of mountains, may be turned, and that it
would require a large and active well-disciplined force to defend the
principal ones. I have made every possible inquiry as to the fate of
the results of Sturt's labours, but fear that they too were lost
in the dreadful retreat. Whatever still exists must be in the
Quarter-Master General's Department in India, far out of my reach, so
that I am obliged again to request the indulgence of my reader for the
want of a proper map on which he might, if he felt so inclined, trace
our daily progress,[*] and to crave his forgiveness if I occasionally
repeat what has been far more ably related by Moorcroft and the other
authors whom I have already mentioned.

[* Note: Since receiving the proof sheets for correction I have been
kindly supplied by my friend Major Wade with a map taken principally
from the one executed by the late Lieutenant Sturt.]

To the traveller whose experience of mountain scenery is confined to
Switzerland, the bold rocks and rich though narrow valleys of the
frontiers of Toorkisth[=a]n offer all the charms of novelty; the lower
ranges of hills are gloomy and shrubless, contrasting strikingly with
the dazzling, yet distant splendour of the snowy mountains. It is
an extraordinary fact, that throughout the whole extent of country
occupied by these under features, which presents every variety of form
and geological structure, there are scarcely any hills bearing trees
or even shrubs; every valley, however, is intersected by its native
stream, which in winter pursues its headlong course with all the
impetuosity of a mountain torrent, but in the su