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205 (4) Puli-Khumri to Khanabad: (Distance about 70 miles). At Puli-Khumri the Kabul-Mazar road branches off. One turns right and via Baghlan leads to Khanabad. Baghlan is now the centre of the Kataghan province. It is newly built and well-laid out and has a big sugar factory, the annual output of which is about 4,000 tons. The road from Puli-Khumri to Baghlan is level, but between Baghlan and Khanabad there are some low hills. From Khanabad roads lead in various directions. One goes to Taluqan, while a second runs straight north to Kunduz, and from there to Hazrat-i-Imam on the Oxus, beyond which lies the district of Badakhshan, a country of numerous lofty mountains in whose bosom some very fine valleys are located. To some people, this small and enchanting mountain district has an attraction of an almost unique kind. Winters are severe, the passes are blocked with snow, and the streams are frozen over, but summers are genial. Rainfall, owing to the presence of forests, is sufficient. Badakhsan has considerable mineral wealth. Salt deposits and rubies, lapis-lazuli and sulphur mines are known to exist in several places. Badakhshan was famous for its lapis-lazuli some three thousand years before the Christian era and had a brisk trade with China, Bokhara, and other countries of western Asia, even as far as Egypt. Another article of export was rubies, which have furnished the poets with many a simile. Marco Polo, the Venetian traveller of the 13th century, fully appreciated these beautiful rubies. He also speaks of "the finest azure in the world." The mines of Lapis-lazuli (Lajaward) are still worked. Grain mills, driven by water, are very frequently met with in this area. The mountaineers have taken full advantage of this natural source of power. Gushing streams are to be seen in all directions.