The climate of Ghazni for several months of the year is very cold, the snow lying upon the ground from November until the middle of March. Frosts fall early in October and the ice lasts until mid-day; from November for many weeks there is no thaw at all. In December the country is covered with 3 feet of snow, which remains on the ground until March. The spring is genial and, as the fields become green, flowers appear on the plain. Rain falls irregularly and only for a few days, but the bane of the climate is the dust which comes up with the westerly winds. In summer the heat is less than that which prevails at Kabul and Kandahar. The severity of the winter months entails as a rule heavy mortality among the people, the lack of fuel being the principal cause of the deaths. The flocks of sheep and goats and the droves of camels also suffer; and, as there is a large nomadic population in the district, the distress is not confined to the limits of the town. Indeed, the Ghazni centre experiences a higher rate of mortality than anywhere else in Afghanistan. Kabul is situated at the western extremity of a spacious plain in an angle formed by the approach of two converging heights, the Asmai and the Shere Darwaza, with which the Takht-i-Shah is joined by a narrow ridge 7 miles above the confluence of the Logar and Kabul rivers. The elevations of these three hills are Asmai 6790 feet, Shere Darwaza 7166 feet and the Takht-i-Shah 7530 feet. The city is about 3 miles in circumference, but there are no walls round it at the present time. Formerly it was encircled by walls constructed of sun-baked bricks and mud. Traces of the wall may be seen in many places; along the crests of the Asmai and Shere Darwaza it is still standing and follows those heights to the Kabul river, which separates the two. If the existing landmarks are any indication of its original size, it is improbable that old Kabul ever can have boasted a permanent population of 20,000 inhabitants. The walls of the old city were pierced by seven gates, the Lahore Gate being now the only one which is left. These earlier gates were the Sirdar, Pêt, Deh Afghanan, Deh Mazang, Guzar Gah, Jabr--and the Lahore, the existing entrance. Of these, the Sirdar was the last, and the Jabr Gate the first, to be removed. The sites of the others, although no longer existing, are quite well known and serve as Custom stations to the revenue officers. Many of the names by which these seven gates were known belonged to 1504, when Baber raised the fortunes of the city to the dignity of a capital--a period so remote from to-day that it is only by the recapitulation of the names that the incidents of that epoch are recalled. Nowadays the Lahore Gate has fallen into decay and its heavy wooden doors, studded with iron, appear as if about to fall. The brickwork of the gateway has also crumbled and the loopholes in the arch are choked with rubbish. In spite of its