Page 46

29 moderately placid and shallow, the fords are always bad because of the boulders and stones in the bed. The Kunar valley of Bashgul, or Arnawai, together lead up to the Mandal and Dorah Passes, either of which is the gateway to the rich valleys of Eastern Afghanistan, and opens a direct line to Jalalabad from the Oxus, which does not touch Kabul at all. These passes are high, difficult, and very much more deeply buried under snow than those further west. The Broghil Pass, which leads out of the Yarkhun valley into Wakhan, is practicable for laden animals during eight months of the year. The Dorah Pass is also much trodden, and is also used by pack animals as a commerical link between the Kunar valley and Badakhshan, but it is open for traffic for three months only—from July to September. Other important rivers of this category are : the Kurram, the Tochi, the Gomal, the Kundil and the Sharan Toi, all flowing east to join the Aba-sin, or the Indus. (3) Rivers that empty their waters into the Seistan Lakes: The most important river of this group is the Helmand, which drains the south-western part of the country. The name also takes the forms of Heirmand and Hilman ; ancient names are : Etymander, Etyman-doros, Erymanthus and Hætumat. The Helmand is the largest of the inland rivers, being 625 miles in length. It rises in an elevated valley on the western side of the Paghman range, an offshoot of the great Hindu Kush. In its preliminary course, for a distance of nearly 200 miles, it flows in a westerly direction through the heart of Hazara country. Then it breaks out of the mountains and drains the open country and cultivated plains of Zamindawar. Below Girishk it receives the joint stream—the Arghandab-Tranak-Arghastan—which drains south-western Afghanistan. The Helmand then enters a desert