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100 Higher up the river the valley closes long before Chitral is reached. It narrows exceedingly. Here the northern winds rage down the funnel with bitter fury and make life burdensome. The villages take to the hill slopes or cluster in patches on the terraces at the feet of the hills. To the south-west of the great gorges that come down from the Pamirs lies the most fascinating region of Nuristan (old name Kafiristan, that is the Land of the Unbelievers). Until 1892 a popular legend and belief peopled this region with the descendants of Alexander's army-men whom he had left behind. In that year, George Robertson entered the country twice, on the latter occasion making a prolonged stay, visiting several of the valleys and staying at the villages. He made close study of their languages, manners and customs. His report for the first time dispelled the idea that the inhabitants of this part of the country had any Macedonian origin. It is also related that when the Macedonian army was passing that way, some- where among these hills, probably at the lower spurs of the three-peaked Koh-i-Noor, there dwelt a people who told the invaders that they were the descendants of the western people who had come into those parts with their god Dionysus. Nuris- tan has created much interest in various foreign countries, several missions (from Germany and Denmark) having visited it quite recently. The valleys of Nuristan strike the traveller with their neat- ness, their beauty and well-cultivated fields. Near the houses are planted trees, laid out paths, and carefully conducted water- ways, by which the antiquity of sedentary culture is felt. The crops are sown in small patches. Every foot of land is cultiva- ted. The fields are surrounded by fences.