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191 in corn, wheat, rice or clover. There are mulberry trees all around. In July the edges of the fields show yarrow, morning glories, chicory and hollyhocks. The Ghorband valley shrinks as the road approaches Shibar Pass. Now it is a twisting defile with little place left for any farming Project. The cliffs rise straight and steep, showing limetone, sandstone and granite. The road climbs sharply, winding along the edges of cliffs, swinging in cutbacks across rugged slopes, rising to a crest and then dropping to narrow canyons, only to climb again. The road drops into a gorge that gets narrower and narrower for 20 miles or more. Now the walls of the canyons are squeezed so close that there is often little land to till and so none is tilled. On the south side of the Shibar, the green rive-bottoms stand like oases between dry hills. On the north side of the Shibar, the contrasts are slightly different, dark-green river bottoms against barren hillsides, grey-green water under purple and red cliffs, and a winding strip of fields and orchards that run like a lush furrow down a dry, winding mountian defile. The famous places en route are Burj Guljan (55 miles from Kabul), Siah Gird, 70 miles Chardeh, 78 miles and Kazi Baiza, 111 miles at the foot of the Shibar Pass, where the Ghorband takes its source. Shibar is a difficult pass and during winter is often blocked with snow. About 19 miles west of the pass the road branches off; one taking to right enters the Shikari Pass, whence it leads to Mazari-Sharif and Kataghan, while the second, turning left, leads to Bamian, the City of Caves, which is only 15 miles from the junction and 145 miles from Kabul. The road to Bamian runs roughly parallel to the river of the same name in the opposite direction, and skirts a range of hills. After six miles from the pass an old mud fort perched on a steep rock attracts the attention