In the western districts a mixture of alum and white clay is used in preference to the pomegranate rinds. In such cases the skins, when cured, are white and somewhat coarser to the touch than those prepared with pomegranate rinds. In the Kabul process the pomegranate rind is used most freely; as the Kabul skins are prepared with the greatest care, they are esteemed more than those of Ghazni and Kandahar. Before the tanning is completed the skins are handed over to tailors, who reduce them to strips of 2 feet long by 4 or 5 inches wide, from which they make three varieties of coats. One class comprises small coats with short sleeves and requires only two or three skins; another description reaches to the knees and is furnished with full sleeves fitting close to the arm. This takes five or six pelts. A third pattern forms a large loose cloak of capacious dimensions extending from head to heel and furnished with long sleeves, very wide above the elbow and very narrow below it; it also projects several inches beyond the tips of the fingers. These require ten or twelve skins. Usually the edges and sleeves of the coats are embroidered with yellow silk. The completed articles cost from one to fifty rupees, according to size and finish. They are well adapted to the climate of the country; except in exposure to rain, when they are reversed, the woolly side is worn next the body. The full-length coat is a very cumbrous dress and is usually only worn in the house; it serves alike for bed, bedding, or as a cloak. The nature of the material favours the harbouring of insects, and few people are met whose coats do not serve as a breeding-ground for an immense colony of vermin. An industry of equal importance with the postin trade is the manufacture of felts, which similarly centres in Kandahar. From there these goods are distributed throughout the country, besides being exported to India, Persia and the Trans-Oxus region. Rosaries are also extensively manufactured at Kandahar from soft crystallised silicate of magnesia. This is quarried from a hill at Shah Maksud, about 30 miles north-west of the city, where soapstone and antimony are also obtained in considerable abundance. The stone varies in colour from a light yellow to a bluish white and is generally opaque. The most popular kind is straw coloured and semi-transparent. A few specimens are of a mottled greenish colour, brown or nearly black; they are used for the same purposes as the lighter varieties. Rosaries and charms of various sorts are made for exportation to Mecca. They range in price from a couple of annas to a hundred rupees. The refuse from the work is reduced to powder and utilised by native physicians as a remedy for heart-burn. The land measure used by the Afghans is--