Independent of the regular garrison at Herat, there is a levy roll for the Bala Murghab district of 1000 mounted and dismounted men. Two hundred of the former are supposed always to be mustered as Bala Murghab finds details for a number of outlying fatigues, including pickets at the fords and certain mounted patrols. In the immediate vicinity of the fort there is a settlement containing several thousand families. It should be remembered that the garrison at this point is comprised of Afghan Irregulars, who still retain their old titles and organisation. Their company strength is 100 and each company is quite independent of the remaining ones. Five companies form the command of a Sarhang, whose superior officer is a Sartip. Each company commander is known as a Sad Bashi; and for every ten men there is a Dah Bashi. In the regular Afghan army the commissioned ranks are known by the English equivalent; but in general the military organisation, whether regular or irregular in men as in _matériel_, is hopeless. No point in the Murghab region is more important than the Pendjeh oasis as an agricultural colony. It is principally confined to the limits of a single valley, some 25 miles in length and 2 miles in breadth. Dotted about its spreading expanse there are a number of tiny settlements, containing in all some eight to nine thousand households. The areas under cultivation do not return sufficient grain to support so large a population; there is, therefore, a constant migration of Pendjeh Sariks to the adjacent valleys of Kushk and Maruchak as well as to the more distant oases of Yulatan and Tejend, where they have become ardent agriculturists. The settlers in the Pendjeh valley are divided into five sections. Although united by tribal ties intercommunal jealousies are responsible for continuous discord. The richest and most influential section is that of the Soktis, who occupy the land on the western bank of the Murghab between Pendjeh, Kuhnah and Sari Yazi, a distance of some 35 miles. The Harzagis settlement, lying on the same bank, extends between Takhta Bazar and Maruchak; between these two large settlements are the areas occupied by the Khorassanlis. The two remaining sections, the Bairach and the Alishah, share the opposite bank.