Ghazni, the capital of the Ghilzai country and the principal centre between Kandahar and Kabul, occupies a very important point, since it commands the road through the Gomul Pass to Dera Ismail Khan. From its strategical position, too, it must be considered the pivot to any line of operations against an enemy advancing from the west or north; while its possession in the hands of an Indian army would place such a force astride one of the most important channels of communication in the state. It is situated upon the left bank of the Ghazni river, on level ground between the river and the termination of a spur, running east and west from the Gilkoh Range 7730 feet above sea-level. The place spreads itself out to the south and east, but the river checks its expansion on the west, the stream leaving but a confined space between its left bank and the knoll where the citadel stands. It is surrounded by a high wall, built upon the top of a mound, in part natural and in part artificial. The wall is of composite construction, stone and brick-masonry laid in mud having been employed in its erection. It is flanked at irregular intervals by towers and possesses a total circumference, inclusive of the citadel, of 1750 yards. The citadel is situated at the north angle of the town, upon an abrupt, detached knoll where the hills terminate. It lies 150 feet above the plain and dominates the city completely. Its defences are a high masonry wall, loopholed and provided with a parapet, but no rampart save the natural hill. There are four towers at the angles, but these are small and insignificant. The citadel has no other strength than that afforded by its commanding situation and formidable slopes; the area of the summit of the knoll is limited and the buildings are not adapted to shell-fire. The town and citadel are both commanded by hills to the north, but the former is in a measure sheltered by the position of the latter. The supply of water is unreliable and there is only one well within the walls. The view from the citadel is extensive, but by no means inviting, as the plain is very indifferently furnished with villages. There are very numerous shrines--197 being the number given--which are surrounded by orchards, vineyards, and small corn-fields. Excepting along the course of the river the plain is bare and empty, although it is broken up by the irrigation channels which cross the road at intervals of 8 or 10 miles. Distant hills extend in low ranges of bare rock. The country skirting them is a waste of stone and scrub, in the possession of wandering Ghilzais whose flocks of goats, sheep and camels share the pastures with wild deer, wolves, foxes and hares. The black-hair tents of these nomads of the desert, pitched in the sheltered hollows of its surface for protection from the keen westerly wind, impart to the scene its sole sign of human habitation.